TL *Humaning the Best She Can*’s Reviews > Crazy Ambulance Tales > Status Update

And few things are more dramatic in this area then effective CPR. This patient was saved because we were there and started CPR immediately, then zapped him.

So please, go get your CPR card. It makes a tremendous difference.

Take your entire family to learn it.

You never know, you may save the life of someone you love … or they may save yours.

It’s going to sound clichéd, but few things are more satisfying than saving a person's life. It's the epitome of everything we did and everything we worked toward.

I never saw a probationary member officially kicked off the squad. The tryout process was so difficult, anyone who made it usually stayed. But I did see two people go. It wasn’t their EMS skills or reaction to stress that caused their end but, curiously enough, poor interpersonal skills.

I’ve been on many a medical call, across from a lonely old woman, face lined with fear and time, while she went over her symptoms with our crew chief in a faltering voice, embarrassed to have called us, but afraid. As I grow older myself I can understand this all too well.

I’d entered a different world – one that exists under the surface of most normal people’s realties – and is only fully known by cops, firefighters, journalists, and EMTs. You’d drive down the street and see workplaces, homes and cars. I’d drive down the street and see inside those places, and remember heart attacks, diabetic comas, bleeding wounds, car crashes and strokes.

Why do some have a desire to help? In my case, my mother often told me, “There’s plenty of evil in the world. Whatever you do, serve the good and make the world a better place.”

All of the squad members, for whatever reason, were willing to sacrifice their time, talent, and treasure to protect structures and save lives. To relieve the suffering of others. And there was something powerful in that, and in their outsized personalities. They did not “go gently into that dark night.”

Each was loudly greeted by the room with his or her official nickname upon entry: “Grover! Roxanne! Bambi!”

Because that’s what it's all about, isn't it? Not just providing medical care and protecting structures from fire, although the students love doing that. But also giving hope, healing and love to those most in need, in the community.

It’s amazing that the human sleeping mind can differentiate between summons. A frantic call from base to maintenance for a broken toilet would not wake me, nor would security summoned to address a rambling skunk. But the moment ambulance tones went off, I was up.

Before national EMS legislation in the ‘70s mandated money for ambulance care, (around the time the interstate highways were built, and you could kill yourself at high speeds in remarkable ways), if you were the victim of a car accident in Vermont you laid on the pavement until the undertaker could be found.

For you see, the undertaker had the hearse.