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. 

My Mom's Story: Part VII - Extraordinary Women

What does it mean to live an extraordinary life? I highly doubt that my mother thinks that she is leading an extraordinary life - some of you reading may agree with her too. After all, you’ve read about how she had a regular childhood with regular childhood trials, met her husband and married him, had two children to make a perfect nuclear family, was a stay-at-home mom who later went back to work, and that she raised me - as you would expect a good mother to do. You probably think that it’s nice that I’ve chosen to write about my appreciation for my mom, that she sounds like a pretty awesome person, but that nothing she’s done is much different from what your own mother has done, or what you have done, or what your wife has done, or your best friend or your aunt or sister.

I hope you did think that at some point. Because you are right.

My mom has done in her life what many, many women do. But I want you to think about the attitude that these life circumstances were undertaken with. What makes my mom’s story extraordinary to me is how she has viewed her life, respected it and faced every day with determination and a positive attitude. How kindly she treats everyone, how much she loves my dad just the way he is, and how she supports my brother and I unfailingly. I truly do hope you can relate to this and I think you can. I scan facebook on a regular basis just like every other young adult caught in the social networking snare and I know that I have friends who can relate to my mother and that they too are facing their lives with extraordinary attitudes that in turn enrich the lives of those close to them.

I know I have friends and family who were teased in school, so much so that it is burned into their memories. Yet they still have learned to love themselves and trust others.

I know women who are living real-life love stories - high school sweethearts that are finally getting married, women who were making plans to travel and were not even thinking about a relationship when their love story hit them, couples that entered marriage based on fondness, faith and trust in God, women who spent years alone before finding someone to spend their life with.

I have a lot of friends who profess their love for their children practically every other day on facebook. Some of these friends were not expecting these additions to their lives and some have waited for a very long time to welcome them but all would give anything just to keep their daughters and sons safe and happy.

And how many of you have made sacrifices for careers or for your husbands? I have friends whose husbands had to work as medics up north for months at a time, or who were on 48 hour shift schedules at stations far removed from home, meaning they only saw each other a few days out of the week. I have a friend who married the man she loved but had to move to the U.S, leaving her entire family to be with him. I have friends with wonderful careers but who know and accept that they may have to change or alter these careers when they are eventually transferred with their RCMP husbands.

What about the courage it takes to re-enter the workforce when you’ve been away from it for years? I know nurses, teachers, paramedics, police and administrators who have all picked up the books again in preparation to return to the careers they put on hold and even more women who are starting from scratch with resumes, job training and interviews in the hopes of further developing themselves and their finances.

So you see, chances are that your life is extraordinary - you just don’t know it, probably because no one has told you yet. You can be sure though, that those women I mentioned above - I think you guys are extraordinary and I’m so blessed to have you as friends - and for inspiration!

Sure, these are all life events that many people undergo in their lives. But not all people do it well. Not all people get through tough times, not everyone stays committed to their marriage. Some people leave their children or worse, abuse them. Some people’s habits keep them from performing in the workforce, some people never seek to improve themselves or their life circumstances. These are not judgements, they’re facts.

We are born to be women, but we choose what kind of women we want to be. My mom chooses how to handle life circumstances, she chooses what kind of wife she wants to be, she chose how to raise my brother and I and she chose how she wanted to further develop herself and her career. This is especially extraordinary to me because these choices have influenced my own life - and it’s a wonderful life because of my Mom.

So, yes, maybe today you don’t think your life is extraordinary. Maybe you have regrets, maybe the kids are being brats today, maybe your marriage has seen better times or maybe you have no idea what you want to do with your life. When I have doubts, my mom says something along the lines of “hang in there, continue to make the best decisions you can and I love you.”

I figure she knows what she’s talking about.

Happy 50th Birthday Mom.

My Mom's Story: Part V - Career Woman

My mother is an artist. I’m not sure many people are aware of this. I think this is because it’s such a natural talent - such a part of her that it doesn’t come up in conversation. It’s as natural to her as walking. No one brags that they can walk. Of course, the difference is that not everyone can paint.

Her medium is water colour and her inspiration is usually scenery. The mountains, flowers, farms, deer were all committed to canvas in a stunning combination of different shades of colour. I would love to be able to dissect and combine colour and light the way my mother does. Actually, I would love to have just a sliver of my mom’s artistic talent. I have been fortunate enough to inherit her creativity but I seem to often lack the finer artistic skill it sometimes takes to carry out my ideas. My mom’s combined talents of creativity and art have given her what we call “The Martha Stewart Touch.” This is evident as soon as you walk into my parent’s house. It’s never mattered how much money my parents had to play with - our family homes have always looked like the covers of magazines. Parties that my mom hosted had handmade chocolates swans and butterflies, animals cut out of melons and napkins folded like origami. When I went into Grade One we were supposed to bring one of our dad’s old shirts to wear when we were painting in art class. While the other little kids were wearing over-sized shirts with the sleeves rolled up, my old shirt had been altered in length, had sleeves with elastics in them, had velcro to replace the buttons and had my name on the front in puffy paint.

I can guess that most of you have drawn the conclusion that she was obviously a stay-at-home mom. You would be correct. My mom did choose to stay at home to look after my brother and me. My parents couldn’t afford this arrangement when I was born so I did spend the first few years of my life at a day care, but luckily this was an option after we came to Alberta. But as any stay-at-home mother will attest it is still a full-time job. Fortunately, my mom was also blessed with above average organizational skills, so I think she probably accomplished more in a day than average. Besides managing our household my mom volunteered, was part of a women’s group and made numerous craft projects which she sold at the local Farmer’s Market. She has also sold a number of her paintings at local art galleries throughout the years.

When I was 13 my mom decided to go back to work. She got a job as a receptionist at a large and reputable catering company. Not long after, the boss realized that her talents and her positive, cheery people skills could be utilized further and she was promoted to a Sales Representative. This usually meant dealing with “bridezillas” while they booked a date, the food and a venue. Customers valued her recommendations on colours, tablecloths and even centre pieces. My mom often went to these weddings personally to make sure the supper went off without a hitch. In 2001, when Edmonton hosted the World Championships my mom was chosen to manage the catering and design all centre pieces and decorations at the VIP Banquet at Fort Edmonton Park. She hired me to be her assistant that night and I got to see her work her magic as she did set up and quality control throughout. At one point she noticed that a dish hadn’t made it out onto the Royals buffet line and when she went to put it out on the table she unknowingly bumped into HRH Prince Edward as he and Sophie were spooning up supper. This will forever be a family story.

When the RCMP informed us that we would be leaving our home to move to Forestburg my mom had to leave her career in the catering industry behind. She had her hands full looking after her two kids. We were teenagers when we were given the decree to pack up and move to the rural town of just over 800 people and we were devastated. At 17, my parents supported my decision to stay in Spruce Grove and live on my own while I finished high school with my friends. However, my mom endured many a teary phone call from me as I related my loneliness at not being with my family. My brother had it harder as he was too young to stay behind, but old enough to know it wouldn’t be easy fitting in to a rural school where he would be the outsider that didn’t grow up there. He was also a star soccer player at a very high tier in Stony Plain. My mom committed to making the two hour drive twice a week with him so that he could continue to practice and play with his team. On top of that she got a job at the popular local deli making and serving meals. Her job became helping her family settle in to its new surroundings and circumstances. It couldn’t have been easy. The years that we spent in Forestburg changed Cam and I forever though. Cam found the love of his life and I made a financial footprint with two careers and an investment in real estate. I also learned that I much prefer rural living to being in the city. I owe all of that to my Mom.

My parents were transferred to Red Deer. Another “hub” as the RCMP calls it. My mom didn’t waste time in getting her resume out. She got a job at the local Winners/Homesense store. The job was the basic cashier/shelf stocking job. Some people may scoff at this because she was too highly qualified. I think that’s the problem with some people these days though. There’s such an attitude of entitlement. People don’t see far enough into the future to realize that what seems like a job “below” your talents or capabilities now may lead to a challenging and rewarding career path. My mom is excellent at seeing farther down the road. She also has such a positive attitude that she makes the best of everything, including the workplace. This attitude and dedication to her job has led her to be promoted three times (at least). Over a year ago the Winners corporation asked my Mom to manage one of their newest stores at Cross Iron Mills just outside of Calgary. She’s achieved the second highest sales in Western Canada after just one year and she’s aiming to be the number 1 store. The big chiefs at Winners have future plans for her as well and are moulding her for her next promotion. Watch for her name, she’ll probably be running all the stores in the country in a few years.

My mom chose to stay home with her kids. She’s moved around the province for her husband’s career. When she decided to re-enter the workforce she started small and worked her way up with determination, dedication and a positive attitude. She doesn’t have fancy degrees or letters after her name but she’s a successful business woman as well as a wife and mother. Not bad for a stay-at-home mom eh?


(Mom and her girls wearing matching "Shelter From the Storm" t-shirts, a charity for abused women that Winners supports. See www.shelterfromthestorm.ca)

There are only two more installments left in this series. Stay tuned!