Listening to Directions Part II

Continued from the post on Thursday last week..

So we took off lights and sirens to our call. We had mapped it out and knew where we were going. Unfortunately, this was a frequent flyer con home with ONE drive way. The engine and ambulance always park in the same spot and have a certain way of doing things at this con home.

The engine was behind us and I noticed in my side mirror they had pulled over already. I was at the location but missed the driveway. I had to go down the street and make a u-turn. As I turned, I see the engineer standing on the sidewalk with his arms above his head with a disgusted look on his face. I turned beat red, we messed up. We ran the call and my partner made a few mistakes on an acute call.

At the end of the call and back at the station. We were told we were only going to be gurney men for the rest of the shift. They understood it was my partners first EMT position and that I had experience. The rest of the shift the Captain assigned me to work on my partners skills. My Captain also reminded me about following the rig out of the house for awhile until we knew the area. I responded with "Yes, sir." and did not give any kind of excuse.

I learned a lot and the crew understood it was our first shift and that we were excited. I have a great bond with my crew now and they always joke when tones go off and that address is said. They always ask me if I want directions on how to get there.  It was a great learning experience that I will never forget to listen to directions.  

Your Name is Everything

Recently, I picked up an overtime shift with a crew that I had never worked with. For those of you who have not worked for a Fire Department, this situation is always a little awkward at first, you never know how it's going to go. Here's a little run down of how my day went.

0630, an hour early to normal changeover, I show up for shift and immediately introduce myself to everyone going off shift and I go into the station locate the Captain and Crew I am working with that day and introduce myself. I get a "Hello, I'm Rank So and So." no emotion that's it. I also drop off the goodies I bring in for the day.

0635, throw a second pot of coffee on and head out to the rig. Coffee(1st pot), newspaper, and Flags are always done by the off going ambulance crew.

The rig checkout is a little more crucial here. It's not my normal rig so I have to make sure I know where everything is because I don't work on this rig and the Firefighters love to test you. So a great way to learn where everything is, is to pull everything out and clean. One, this makes you look good because you're in your rig learning where things are and two, you are cleaning.

0730, *BEEEEEEEEEEP* LINE UP, LINE UP
0731, I make my way into the kitchen and shake the other Firefighter's hands whom I had not met yet.
0732, Captain starts talking about what's going on for the day and they are joking around and I see one of them staring at the wedding ring on my hand and all of a sudden I see him look up and say:

FF: "HEY BIGS. HOW FUCKIN' LONG YOU BEEN MARRIED!?"
ME: "Two years sir."
FF: "You got any kids?"
Me: "No sir, just a dog"
FF: "Good, you don't need any kids yet."
FF: "Where you from?"
Me: "XYZ, sir"
FF: "Holy Shit, that's near me, a good spot."

CAPT: "Bigs, what you guys want to do today?"
ME: "Sir, I am going to wash the rig, clean, perform a full arrest drill, do paperwork, do some area familiarization, and work on a class that I need perform for my next shift."
CAPT: "Good, you guys are dismissed."

I now have a nickname "Bigs" I am 6'-2" and about 240, I'm a big strong guy, I actually feel pretty good I got a nickname right away.

I go out with my partner and wash the rig, clean the office, clean the heads, dorms, office, and sweep the apparatus bay for about two hours. I am noticed.

*RED LIGHTS TURN ON IN STATION, BOOOBEEBOOO BLS97 UNK. MEDICAL AT 123 Maple*

Run a call with a different engine in a different part of town because their BLS unit had gone out on a call. I come back to the station and the engine was gone. I go into the kitchen and wipe down their table, rearrange the newspaper, clean all the dishes, and clean the microwave out.

They arrive back at the station and I hook back up the Plymovent and plug in the engine before they can and I don't say a word just keep going about my business.

Then the Engineer walks over to me while I am doing a little project I came up with in the back of the station with about 20 different hose fittings in his hands.

ENG: "Hey Bigs, you know what these are?"
ME: "Yes sir, these are hose fittings."
ENG: "Ok, pull them all apart and tell me what each one is."
ME: *looks at first one* "2 1/2" Double Male."
ENG: "Bigs, give me a little more confidence when you tell me what they are."
ME: *smiles* "Yes, sir"

We proceeded to go over about 20 more fittings.

ENG: "Bigs, you're going to do great around here if you keep up what you're doing."
ME: "Thank you sir, I will."

At the end of the shift, they thanked me for all my hard work, and that it was nice working with me. They said I was welcome back anytime. I felt really good leaving.

If you work hard and don't expect anything in return, good things will happen in the end.

Ambulance DMV Pre Trip/Check Outs

Have you ever had a partner or someone you relieve say 'The rigs all good', 'There's plenty of O2', 'I checked out all the fluids yesterday, they were good', and 'I checked out the tire pressures'.

GREAT JOB! ...but you still need to do your own checkout. Don't make that mistake of signing off your checkout without doing one. Do it for your own safety and because California Code of Regulations(Well at least I will tell you that I work in California) says you have to.

Responsibility for determining the mechanical safety of the ambulance rests primarily with the driver (13 CCR 1105(f)) and responsibility for equipping and maintaining the vehicle, the owner (13 CCR 1106(c)).

If you are starting to feel complacent at work, you should get back on the responsible train. It's YOUR job and YOUR duty. You are paid to do this and it only take a few hours.

People are really starting to recognize that I take pride in my rig. I spend almost two hours checking out, cleaning, and making sure I am all stocked up. I am still very new at my department and I am constantly tested by Firefighters at my station.

At the end of the day, it's one less thing I need to worry about. Hopefully, if you've gone down the wrong path and have started to get complacent. This post will remind you of why you need to do your checkout EVERY shift.