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Emergency Service Workers
Ahh...spring time in Oklahoma. Trees are greening up, birds are chirping, the wind is blowing (oh wait, it never stops). The air is sticky with humidity, the clouds come rolling in. The Tornado Sirens start going off and everybody heads toward their storm shelter.
Last night we had our first large tornado of the season come through the Oklahoma City Metro Area. As I was on my way home, I had several law enforcement personell and ambulances pass me heading toward areas affected by the storm.
As I got closer to home, traffic started backing up more and more since the tornados path was about 1/4 - 1/2 mile from my house (no damage, yeah). While sitting in what had become a parcking lot on a major street, again I saw law enforcement officers heading this way and that, ambulances coming and going between their staging areas and the hospitals, firetrucks from Oklahoma City leaving a suberb to go to an area of Oklahoma City that had just been hit.
I almost get home, but am diverted away. I park and walk home. As I near my street, there are several Ambulances in a school parking lot so I go see if there is anyone I know there (Ambulance crew that is). To my surprise, none of the ambulances are from the local ambulance service. One ambulance was from a city about 10 miles away, the other 4 were from places more than 30 miles.
Later, I go back to get my truck, police officers are still directing traffic, some roads are still closed. I am able to get my truck to the house this time. This morning, the traffic lights are working again, but the fire departments are still doing search and rescue, the ambulances are still transporting people to hospitals. Clean up begins.
I began to think about the Emergency Service Workers on my way to work this morning. The police officers directing traffic and putting up with people bitching about not being able to get to where they want to go. The fire fighters, who in this instance have switched gears to search and rescue. The paramedics and ambulance crews, waiting for people to be found so they can treat and deliver them safely to the hospitals. These are the people who protect us and help keep us safe, yet we hardly give them a second positive thought. Usually it things like "I was only speeding a little, why aren't the arresting real criminals", "Firemen just sit around all day", "All the people in the ambulance do is drive people to the hospital", "There goes another EMS vehicle passing me. If I drove like that I'd get a ticket".
To anyone in EMS, I would like to say "Thank you for the service you provide" These people truly love what they do cause they sure aren't doin it for the money.
I would encourage each of you to think about what it would be like in your community if one or all of the branches of EMS were removed. The next time you see an EMS worker, walk over and tell them thank you. Wheather it's the police officer eating lunch at the same restaurant as you, the paramedic sitting in the ambulance at the gas station waiting to get a call, or the firemen at the store buying food for their shift. A smiple thank you can go a long way for many of these people.
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