Something like that

So, this week is EMS Week. Everyday of my life for the last twenty years, has been EMS week. Simply because, my husband is a paramedic. It’s in his blood. He eats, sleeps, and breathes it. Actually, the sleeping part is optional and ever dependent on taking calls to help out employees in the middle of the night or on an ambulance helping people who’s lives are at risk. I have to laugh when people call them merely “Ambulance Drivers.” If they knew all of what they did behind the scenes and all the training and schooling that they have done, they would see that, that’s not all they are. They aren’t simply drivers who turn on lights to a box truck and blare a siren every chance they get. It’s not about that. If you asked every spouse to someone in EMS, you would hear the same thing. For me, I see first-hand the sacrifices that are made and the trouble that is faced everyday. The in’s and out’s of medicine, insurance woes,danger to their personal safety, and the lack of appreciation they deal with. But that doesn’t bother them. They don’t do what they do for a pat on the back or to be recognized. They do what they do because they took an oath to be there, to run in when everyone else is running out. Simply because they love their job.

If they’re married or in a relationship, they take that on as well.
Some have asked me personally, “Is it hard being married to someone in this field?” Long ago when I was young, I claimed I would never marry someone who is a first-responder. I didn’t want to kiss them before they left never knowing if they would return home. I then met my husband and all that changed. Short answer of that question though is no, it’s not hard being married to someone in that field. You make sacrifices everyday along with them. You carry the load of things going on at home and me personally, I try to take as much off his shoulders as I can. You try to be there for them as much as possible if they’ve had a bad day or ran bad calls. Mostly all they need though, is a shoulder to lean on and an ear to listen to them. When they come home, they do still carry the weight of all they did that day and everything they dealt with. Be patient with them, sometimes it’s a load. They deal with anxiety, depression, PTSD, a whole array of things, but more times than not, that part of them gets tucked neatly away into their pocket because when they’re in the field, their focus isn’t on themselves but yet, about the person who called needing assistance.

In the end however, they are still humans. The have feelings and emotions and needs. Some of them jaded but all of them still human. So when you see someone in EMS, remember the words that have been written here today. They are not just “Ambulance Driver’s.” They’re human beings who have chosen this field, whom hold it honorably, to do for society that which has been laid before them, to care for the sick, no matter the color of their skin, where they come from, the money in their pocket, or the title in which they hold.