Dear Editor,
People need to stop trashing those of us in EMS/Fire. Many of us are exhausted and leaving fire and rescue in droves because of the increasing physical and emotional abuse thrown at us on scene and in social media. Many more are no longer wanting to consider serving in these professions for these reasons compounded by the high stress, poor pay, horrendous hours, and exposure to every disease known to man on a daily basis while being treated as expendable by hospitals and management alike. In 2018 over 3200 Paramedics graduated in this country. In 2021 barely 300 came through the paramedic program, Nation Wide!
Very soon you will call 911 and no one is going to answer that call. This is already happening in many areas of the country. In Richmond, they have reduced the RAA crews to two per shift for the entire metro area to save money. Gunshot victims are waiting on scene, bleeding out for an average of 20 minutes for an ambulance to respond.
You reap what you sow and those of you who are sowing hate, false accusations, and rhetoric for your personal egos or to collect a paycheck or other personal gain need to know that you are creating an environment that is going to end in disaster for all of us.
I’m not going to suggest you volunteer or join us to make us better. I’m just going to ask you to tell us the truth when we arrive and understand that what we do and how we do it are because of training and experience and medical or firefighting protocols and not because we’re slow, stupid, incompetent, or not sympathetic to the patient’s issues.
Please don’t scream obscenities, touch/push us or the patient, or shove your phone camera in our face. You only slow our ability to transport/care for the patient, extricate the patient, or fight the fire.
We are not required by law to endanger ourselves in performing our duties and I, for one, will no longer put up with this kind if ignorant and dangerous behavior against myself or my partner.
Ken Smith
Cullen, Va.
