EMS: Answering the call every day

Spectrum

EMS Week 2001 will be celebrated nationwide this May 20-26. This year's theme will be "EMS: Answering the Call." It will emphasize the responsiveness of emergency medical services around the country.

As an active responder for the Mat-Su Borough for the past six years I have seen many changes within the volunteer system and have grown to respect each and every responder for fire, rescue and EMS.

Most of the population of the borough is unaware of the fact that all the emergency responders are paid on-call personnel. That means that they are not paid a regular salary or wage. They are people with normal lives, jobs, family obligations and desires of having that elusive "day off." Yet, they have all made a commitment in their lives to making a difference during emergencies in yours.

Therefore, when our tones activate we leave whatever we were doing to come to your aid — the dinner table, the kids' baseball game, our warm comfortable beds in the middle of the night, the night out with our loved one — all forgotten because we hear "the call."

The EMTs and paramedics also spend many of their evenings training to maintain not only department requirements for continuing education, but to maintain the requirements set forth by the state of Alaska. There are many changes in medicine every year and the MSB-DPS has the responsibility of making sure that information is passed to all department personnel. With approximately 150 responders, that is a daunting task. Classes must be arranged to suit as many schedules as possible to provide opportunities for the medics to set aside one more evening for class.

Many of the ambulance departments are also active in other community services, such as presenting CPR/first aid classes, bicycle safety rodeos and other injury prevention and safety awareness programs. Fire and rescue departments implement many other safety classes in the elementary schools.

Even with this amount of dedication shown, the EMS budget that the Mat-Su Borough Assembly approves each year is always short. How can one justify such a small budget for such a tremendous service?

Fire department budgets are 10 times as large as those of EMS, yet the ambulances in Wasilla and Palmer alone cover at least 2,000 calls per year — more than twice those for fire response.

That is not to say that the budget for firefighting needs to be cut. However, with the nationwide trend of diminishing numbers of volunteers, there is no incentive when we hear that the small amount of pay we earn may not be feasible due to monetary constraints and a depleted budget.

That, of course, will not stop the dedicated responders from arriving at your home or business during a medical emergency. It does, however, take away from our education fund and the possibility of providing additional classes for EMTs, basic and advanced, throughout the year.

It also leaves it up to the responders to fund any recruitment or retention incentives we may have planned. The continued education opportunities are a tremendous benefit for the responders, but I believe the assembly could support an increased budget for such a vital service. How will the communities react when there are no responders left to answer the emergencies?

We face many difficult situations in our careers in EMS. The infant who dies in our arms; the teen-agers who thought they were immortal in their fast cars; the intoxicated driver who decides we will be his punching bag when he loses control.

Then there are the family members who look to us in hopes of turning the worst possible situation into just a bad dream, and we can't do it. Yet we come back day after day, because we love what we do and every once in a while, things go the way we pray for and we do make that difference.

We need the support of our community and its medical professionals today. We need the voices of the community to speak loudly and say that the Mat-Su Borough needs the services of these responders and something should be done to guarantee the future of the EMS system.

The excerpts of thoughts of an anonymous emergency responder will tell you of some of the thoughts and emotions we face for our community:

"I want to tell you lies: I want to tell that little boy his mom will be just fine, I want to tell that dad we got his daughter out in time, I want to tell that wife her husband will be home tonight, I don't want to tell it like it is . . . I want to tell them lies. You pound your fists into my chest; you're hurting so inside, I want to say you'll be OK . . . I want to tell you lies."

This is dedicated to all police officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, emergency flight crews, and all civil servants who deal with the tragedies of life and death; the saddest situations of all those that could have been prevented. So:

• Wear your seat belts.

• Keep poisons, flammables, fireworks, etc., out of the reach of children.

• Keep your smoke alarms in operating order; if you don't have one, get one.

• Never, ever, drive if you've been drinking.

• Never leave your toddler unattended.

• Teens, be responsible drivers; obey all traffic lights, traffic signs, posted limits, warning signs, and signals at railroad crossings.

• Keep your guns locked and out of reach; buy and use trigger guards.

Am I preaching? Am I nagging? I guess I am just telling it like it is . . . Or should I tell lies?

And the next time you hear a siren in the distance, don't just say a prayer for the victims and their families. Say a prayer for the people who face these tragedies every day and do the best they can to save someone who is loved. You never see the tears of these people. A simple word of thanks in passing can mean so much to those who give.

Ulla R. Stice has been an active member of Palmer Ambulance for six years and is currently serving as chief of service.