I got into EMS by going to college for photography; my plan
was to be a photojournalist who specialized in war/riot/danger
photography. One assignment for class was to set
up a slide show set to music that told a story. For that, I spent the day with the Lowry Air Force Base fire
department. In hindsight, they were
either maniacs or badasses. They showed
up to work, found an 18 year old kid with a camera, and said “What the hell –
let’s light the burn tower and put him in it.” On that day, I learned a few lessons. First, they don’t make a light piece of firefighting equipment. Second, photography in an interior fire is
almost impossible without specialized lighting – the contrast between the
darkness and the fire is too much for film. On top of that, as soon as the wet stuff hits the hot stuff, steam takes
over all the pictures. Finally (and most
importantly for me at 18), chicks dig firefighters. So I was sold on becoming a firefighter.
In order to become a firefighter, I discovered that I needed
to take an EMT class. So I signed up for
the class, but knew that I would not like it. To my mind (20 years old by then), this was just something that I had to
do. Silly rules were forcing me to take an EMT class. You could make me take the class but
you wouldn’t be able to make me actually enjoy anything about medicine or the
class. I was only doing it to increase
my chances of being hired as a firefighter. But once I was in the class, I found that I deeply liked EMS. And in hindsight, I was funny – I came out of
EMT class thinking that I was ready to really save some lives. I had all
of the knowledge. So it actually took a
year for me to get that first EMT job – could you believe that people wanted
someone with my vast EMT knowledge and incredible skills to begin in an entry
level job like a wheelchair van driver?!?
One way or the other, I finally found that first EMT job in
1997. I dispatched for a small suburban
ambulance company that transported for the local ALS fire department. After a few months, I moved to the wheelchair
van and after a few months of that I moved to an ambulance with a paramedic
partner. It was a great place to
actually begin to learn EMS skills and knowledge. I found that the EMT class did not especially
prepare me for the work expected of an ambulance EMT. It was actually my first partners who taught
me what I needed to know. I would not
have had the success that I have found in my career without those first
partners who cared enough to teach an EMT. [Columbine shout out – you all know who you are.] A few major lessons from that time were that
riding backwards on a fire truck wasn’t as nice as being in the heated front
seat of an ambulance, in control of the stereo. I also learned that I preferred EMS to firefighting. And finally, I found that I am personally not
a fan of working on the transport ambulance for a non-transporting ALS fire
department.
One of the most ironic points about my career is that I met
the lady who would become my wife just before I took that first EMT job. I actually met her when I was
bartending, waiting for an EMS service to recognize my life-saving genius. In any case, the ironic
thing is that she doesn’t care in the least about my job. I began my EMS journey because chicks dig
firemen, and then met and married a chick who doesn’t care what I do to earn a
living one way or the other.
I went to paramedic school in 1998, so I had spent about two
years as an EMT. In 1999, as the
suburban fire department began to transport and the call volume of my company
fell, I was hired by the Denver Health Paramedic Division. Between then and now, I have worked in every
position outside of Chief for at least one shift. I have also worked in every duty assignment,
including as a field trainer, dispatcher, airport medic, TEMS medic, bike
medic, and so on. I was also a
lieutenant, QA Coordinator, and captain. I’ve even worked a shift on the detox van. I have taught ECG classes for the last 10
years or so, along with other EMS-related topics. More importantly, I have made every mistake
possible for a paramedic to make, either on calls, career choices, partner
choices, etc.
Thinking back, I have run almost every kind of call that can
be run in Colorado EMS. That is to say,
I haven’t run a jellyfish envenomation – I’m in Colorado, after all. And you can’t get too specific: I have run
animal maulings, but I haven’t run a bear attack specifically, let alone a bear
attack on a Tuesday for example. But I
have seen attacks by dogs, cats, deer, mountain lions, and so on. I even ran a pig bite once. The only calls that I haven’t run are a
lightning strike and a rattlesnake bite. It is weird that I have run about 10,000 calls, lightning strikes aren’t
all that uncommon here, I have run electrocuted patients, I’ve almost been hit
by lightning myself a few times, and I have never found myself caring for a
patient who was actually hit by lightning. The way calls fall can be weird sometimes. By the way, I’m waiting for a scuba diver
cleaning the tanks at the aquarium to be bitten by a shark – I really, really
want to run the first shark attack in Denver.
Realizing that EMS secretly stands for “earn money
studying,” I earned a bachelor’s degree in history while sitting in the front
seat of an ambulance. I picked history
because I like history and the degree was easier than the chemistry degree. After that, I earned a master’s degree in
public administration with a concentration in emergency management. The MPA degree is the closest that I could
get to a master’s in paramedicine. I think it probably helped me to get a position as one of the captains for the
Denver Paramedics, and I held that position for four or five years. My job was to function as the Division QA
Coordinator and manage the Division’s operational data reporting. It was a crash course in EMS
administration. The nicest thing about
that job was that I was involved in most of the decisions made by the agency’s management,
due to my role as the reporter of the operational data. I could also manage the clinical quality
assurance with the point of view of a 10-year paramedic. Finally, it was phenomenal to work closely
with the medical directors to learn their point of view on a day-to-day basis.
After that chunk of office time, I felt that I needed a break. I was beginning to hate office work and
really missed working as a street paramedic. So I made the hard choice to demote.
It was the best decision that I have made in a long time. I find myself happy, engaged, challenged, and
content. After about five more years on the streets of Denver, I made another great decision. I reluctantly left the Denver Paramedics for a paramedic position with the Eagle County (CO) Paramedics. I am still in Denver intermittently, but my main job now is to exercise atrophied muscles unused to rural settings and long transport times.
But I miss being able to help other paramedics in their careers. Not to sound immodest, but there aren’t many paramedics with master’s degrees who have run the call volume that I have, plus have experience in urban, suburban, rural, and critical care EMS. I feel like it is my obligation to pay back the paramedics who touched my career by helping others. As a field trainer, I can only touch one medic at a time. Through this blog I can communicate with as many people as who read an article. I hope it helps you, even if only to think about a topic more deeply than you otherwise would have. Enjoy.
But I miss being able to help other paramedics in their careers. Not to sound immodest, but there aren’t many paramedics with master’s degrees who have run the call volume that I have, plus have experience in urban, suburban, rural, and critical care EMS. I feel like it is my obligation to pay back the paramedics who touched my career by helping others. As a field trainer, I can only touch one medic at a time. Through this blog I can communicate with as many people as who read an article. I hope it helps you, even if only to think about a topic more deeply than you otherwise would have. Enjoy.
-Bill Johnston