"Make my Day"

I feel that God has put it in my heart to write about this right now - I think this because I can’t seem to fall asleep, so I figured God wants me to put this to paper now. I’m thinking about how every day we have a free gift that we can give to other people. Well, maybe not free, because we may have to put our own wishes or feelings or problems aside in order to give it I suppose. But it’s free, as in you won’t have to go the store to search and pay for it, type of free. 

I didn't really have a picture for this post.
But she's cute - so she'll do.

Every day, we have the power to make someone’s day - or at least a part of their day. Seriously! I think we are totally under-valuing this power. Just think about it - you can affect someone else’s life for the better every. single. day. You can even do it numerous times a day. 

Sadly, I didn’t really figure this out until last summer when I had my revelation of sorts. But now that I have realized this power I feel I have a responsibility to give this gift and I enjoy the feeling I get in return from giving it. I also feel shame on the days when I could have chosen to give this gift but didn’t because I was in a bad mood, or was preoccupied by thoughts and worries or because I was being selfish or because I wasn’t feeling well. Why? Because it would have only taken me a pittance of time, of focus, of love and caring to do it. 

Now I’m not talking about being a saint, or a martyr or any of those overwhelming words. I just mean taking a small amount of time to touch someone’s day. Like asking how the cashier’s day is going and doing it with sincerity. Being brave enough to compliment a stranger when it strikes you. Smiling at people - just smiling because why the heck not? Pausing to give directions, and when it looks like they don’t get it, taking a few moments longer to write them down, and when they still seem unsure, taking a few moments longer to let them follow you in your vehicle as you lead them. How about tipping your waitress a bit more than usual, even if she didn’t do an extraordinary job. One special thing that has always made my day is when I’m in the drive-thru for an ice cap and when I pull up to the window to pay they give me my drink and tell me that the people ahead of me already paid for it with the message “have a good day” or “pay it forward”. All these small things that have the potential to make someone feel better about the confusing world we live in - even if it’s only for a few minutes. 

I am fortunate that I work in a field where I get to interact with people every day. I’m trying to realize that I have the privilege of making someone feel better, even if it’s not necessarily with medicine. How I enter the room, whether it’s an emergency or a simple transfer, can set the tone for the patient’s entire experience. If I can come in with positive energy, a reassuring smile, introduce myself and ask with sincerity how they are feeling today I believe I can really improve that patient’s situation. If I can try my best to create a rapport with my patient and really listen to them then they might leave me feeling refreshed - the same way I feel refreshed after having a really good conversation with someone. If I can use my small stature, little voice, bubbly-ness and a dose of humility to get a chuckle out of a patient then that should be the least I can do for them.

Then why is it so hard to do that sometimes? When I’m having a less-than-stellar day it can just seem like people are so annoying or mean or stupid or clueless! I don’t really want to look at them, much less try and make their day better. I just want to focus on me. I’m trying to remember that when I’m having one of these less-than-stellar days, I’m at risk for the less-than-stellar part of my nature to negatively impact my friendships, my family, my coworkers, my patients, etc. There are times, when I’m in one of those moods, all that it takes is another person just trying to better my day in a small way. Sometimes that’s enough to snap me out of it. I’m also learning that often it takes more.

I remember when I was about half-way through final practicum I came to my site for the beginning of my shift knowing that I was in a miserable mood. I had a really good site, and a really good preceptor and had been fortunate that up until that day I’d been a pleasant and easy-going student that was well-liked by the staff. But that evening, as I was alone doing the routine check of the ambulance I knew that I was grouchy, and that I could not afford to be grouchy when my paramedic future was riding on this practicum. So there, as I sat in the airway chair staring at a bag full of drugs for what felt like the gazillionth time I tried something I hadn’t done before. I prayed to God to take away my wretchedness and replace it with his grace. You might think this is silly, but for me I realized it as a miracle right away because just then, two staff members walked in and instead of shutting them out or being curt with them, God gave me a warm heart and sincerity in my speech and we were soon laughing over one of many outrageous stories you would only hear on an ambulance. If God can grant me that when I ask, then I need to be asking more often. 

The other thing I need to be doing more often is telling people when they have blessed me. I just think, if I knew when I was really making a difference in someone’s day I think I might be all the more motivated to try to be a blessing to others. I should tell the waitress that she made my day when she remembered my “usual” even though I hadn’t been there in months. I should tell the sales representative that I really appreciated that they went the extra mile to help me get that deal. I need to take the time to sincerely return the thanks that patients will sometimes give for my service in this industry, instead of just brushing it off as “no big deal”. You should know that when you take the time to comment on this blog it encourages me to keep writing. I want to tell my work partner that when he indulges me in one of our deeper conversations it is often the best conversation that I have all week. I want those people that think to invite me to their home for dinner, or to a volleyball game to know that I look forward to it every time and being part of the family means so much to me. I’m only just beginning to fathom the power we have to be a blessing to other people. I hope you see it too!

“If the world is cold, make it your business to build fires”

-Horace Traubel

I Don't Write About Work but. . .

I don’t write about work. A reader noticed this the other day and wondered why. I have a feeling that some people would think that the most exciting thing about me, the most exciting thing I could possibly write about in my blog is my job. Perhaps they are right. I’m sure most people would much rather read an account of my latest adventures in the world of emergency medical services than in the spiritual encounters with my creator, or how I sing when I do mundane things like going grocery shopping. Somedays, I too would rather publish a post on “the funniest patient I had the other day. . .” or my observations on hospital hallways or a commentary on recent EMS political events. I could confidently say that if you were to put a sheet of paper in front of me right now I could effortlessly list at least 20 different EMS blog topics that I would love to comment on. However, for a few reasons I do not. 

The first and arguably most important factor in this decision is that it is not safe. There is of course, the matter of legality when it comes to trying to recreate certain calls that, even if you were to change the date, place, time, and name of your patient, you open yourself up to the possibility that someone could accuse you of breaching confidentiality. It can be done, mind you, as the revolving door of EMS blogs on the web can attest, but it seems like a lot of work for a lot of risk to me. Sadly, though, that is not even my worst fear when I think of safety. Truth be told, like most of my fellow co-workers, I have a lot of opinions on a lot of things related to my industry - some very mainstream and some that would be considered radical. At one time I would not hesitate to write and publish these thoughts. However, I feel that the EMS political climate at this point in time is not particularly conducive to free-thinking. I can console myself with the fact that “EMS is EMS everywhere you go” which translates to mean that no matter where you are working, who you are working with or what is happening in the politics, your high level of knowledge and patient care should remain the same. Put your patient first and be the best you can be regardless of the circumstances. Unfortunately, consoling myself with this fact would be of little use if I suddenly found myself without a place to practice it.

The second reason is that I find EMS fascinating. Much too fascinating. I blame it on the first day of EMR class when my instructor taught me how to MacGuyver a flutter valve after decompressing someone’s chest - something far, far out of my scope at that level, but I was hooked. I wanted to keep learning things that were “above” me. This was good at the time and for many of the years following. However, I now also think that there comes a time when you can become over-saturated. A sponge that is filled with water needs to be wrung out sometimes if we expect it to be able to absorb more. To prevent being over-saturated, I try now to make a greater effort to separate “me” from “my job”. Part of this means I don’t want to get caught up in writing about EMS all the time, it would be way too easy. So that is why you instead get to read about other non-EMS thoughts and events. 

And if there was a third reason it would be because I would forever be editing my EMS short-hand into normal English! Go back and count how many times I used the word “patient” in this post and that is how many times I had to go back and change “pt.” to “patient”. Blah!

After all that explaining however, I have been inspired to do a quick series on some things I have learned from EMS. No, you will not find war stories, political opinions, or instructions on flutter valves. You may not find them exciting at all. It's just going to be some wholesome thoughts that I may not have considered if it wasn’t for my profession. Stay tuned.