What Do You Do?

This is a tough one.  We are all so different.  As our lives go down paths of our choosing, or not of our choosing, we are left to do what we can with what we have.

According to the Department of Labor, as reported on by Fire Engineering magazine some years back, firefighters were the most respected professionals in the United States; more than the president, more than doctors or nurses. Personally, I have always wanted to be in the monkey field.  Not sure which aspect.  Training?  Import and distribution of said monkeys? And I am not leaving out apes.  Ever see that video of the chimp bartender? Definitely Google it.

According to a recent Fire Educators statistic, a paramedic takes their own life every 2.48 days.  Fire and PD were not in the scope of that study from what I could gather.  What is the real number?  Who could say?  Another trade journal said that after 7 years of continuous high levels of adrenaline, the adrenal glands would not shut off.  You would become adrenaline dependent. I can’t comment on the veracity of that study as it was written just as doctors were beginning to understand PTSD and its connection with constant noise and high stress jobs.  I do know that JEMS (Journal of Emergency Medicine) stated that at that time, the average job expectancy of a paramedic was 7 years.

I admit this information is a bit dated, like a decade and a half, but I think the point is made.

This has not gone unnoticed.  NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) requires time spent per shift on PT.  I know of paramedic courses which require you to present a personal fitness plan to be adhered to graduate.  And still, the number one killer of structure firefighters is heart attack.  Try going from a resting heart rate of about 60bpm to an ‘all call’ or ‘general alarm’.  An instant 60bpm to 120bpm would not be out of the realm of reason.  At one particular agency I worked at, in addition to the pre-call out squeal, you got the station alarm as well as all the lights in the facility on.  I slept in Nomex pants and t-shirt with zippers in my boots.  I could be in a big white bus or a big red truck before the call out was finished.  Our agency used radio pagers that used a pre-tone to start the page.  You do this for a bit and you are out the door before the traffic started.  For quite some time, a sound similar to that pre-tone would make me nauseous.  Add to that stress, out of shape and overworked firefighters and heart attacks make sense.

So we have this group of highly trained and respected professionals and yet this mortality rate.  Some lose it.  Though I have not personally witnessed it, I have heard of people turning in their badges after their first REAL fire, or a bad call.

So I’ll put this out to you, and please keep in mind your method may resonate with others.  Here is a chance for open dialogue and an open ended question to make it easy:

WHAT IS YOUR METHOD OF DEALING WITH WHAT YOU DO/DID?

(The pics are part of my method of release.  Not just the driving, but the continuous tinkering and modifying.  The people you meet and the places you go.  Works for me.  Though I think some of the places we go would be more terrifying to some.)

…that others may live…