Branching off of yesterday’s path where we were talking about small departments and their challenge in utilizing the skills and practices needed to successfully put out a fire, I got to thinking about paramedics and sparsely-populated areas.
If there’s anything that requires constant work to stay effective, it’s the medic game. Beginning with accurate diagnosis of the medical problem and continuing on through to proper administration of the correct treatment, there is no room for error there. Not only is there a mountain of information that has to be filed away in the “little gray cells,” but constant work and review is needed to apply it all properly.
And this is where I wonder if we’re expecting too much in some areas. There are many counties, and states, even, who were so anxious to show their citizens that they are “with it” that they have created legal requirements mandating Paramedic-certified people on ambulances. And the local rescue squads joined right in. After all, the ambulance personnel were mostly eager to upgrade their ability to serve the emergency needs of the community.
But over a relatively short time span, a basic problem arose. Looking back (an easy thing to do) we could see that it should have been foreseen, but it wasn’t. Two major hurdles have put the crimps in this policy. For one thing, acquiring the paramedic certification calls for umpteen hours of intense schooling. And we’re talking about legal medical standards that cannot be compromised. For the paid departments you are talking about paying replacements overtime for 1/2 year while the EMT goes to school, with no guarantee of successful completion. In a small-budget department, that can be crushing.
In the volunteer squads, we’re asking people to give up their full weekends for an entire year while they travel to the nearest school, which might not be so near at all. That along with the devoted study time required is a burden that very few people are able to carry. So we end up with situations like it is in Oklahoma where nearly half of their rural ambulance squads have shut down entirely.
By creating an ultimatum of either upgrading or closing, many areas are losing their basic emergency ambulance service that could be serving them well enough for the situation. But we have a mindset now that says that everybody is entitled to the best of everything no matter where they are. It just ain’t working out that way, though.
The second hurdle is the lack of enough calls to effectively maintain your paramedic skills. FossilMedic touched on this briefly last month, too. We’ll pick up on that on another day. But now, we need to see that the equipment is ready for today and get it checked out. I’ve got to get some coffee.
