I have a confession to make. I was at a sporting event recently and a friend of mine introduced me to someone. I shook the man’s hand – but when I reached out to shake his hand, that there is where the confession comes in.
I noticed the veins on his arms. They were huge. They were running all up and down his arms like six-lane highways that crisscross the country. Some came together and bifurcated as they snaked their way up to the Holy Grail of them all – the antecubital. The veins in his antecubital looked like the Holland Tunnel. I admired someone with veins like these.
On the job and off
Why was I was admiring his veins? Sometimes, the firefighter/paramedic in me comes out even when I am off the job. We’ve all been there. We all live for those great veins if you have to start an IV. Who wants to prod and poke for a vein in someone’s arm when you cannot see it? You put on the tourniquet – nothing! You slapped the arm and look for maybe a small vein to show itself – nothing!
With the determination of someone going for Olympic Gold, you search the arm, flipping it from left to right in hopes a vein will pop up. You take your index finger and start pushing where you think you might find a vein. Nothing! You push down on the antecubital space because you know there are veins there. You push and push in different areas of the crease between the lower and upper arms where the elbow bends. You’re looking for that small little bump that tells you may have a vein. You don’t feel anything! Next, you start looking at the back of the hand.
Unfortunately, it always seems that the real sick patients are the ones who have these types of veins. It is never the healthy ones with veins that look like pipes that belong to the largest keyboard organ in the world.
All this got me to thinking. Am I so indoctrinated in my job that even during my off time I revert to my firefighter/paramedic status? It sure seems that way.
I noticed that when I am driving my personal vehicle I always drive in the farthest left lane of any street. If a three has four lanes – two going one way and two going the other way – I will always drive in the left lane, closest to the center. Why? I was taught early on my career that when you are driving an emergency vehicle, you should always drive in this lane in case you are dispatched to a call. That way, you would not have to maneuver to the left lane to pass cars on the right. I’ve driven my personal car that way for over 35 years.
What other ways have I caught myself wearing my firefighter/paramedic hat when I am off-duty? How about driving down the street at night in your personal car and you look over and see the moon is full. The first thing you think about is how busy it must be on the streets tonight.
Invariably, I will sometimes answer someone when I am off duty by saying, “Roger that! I was talking to someone at a law firm a couple of weeks ago and I said, “Roger that.” The lady on the other end of the phone replied, “10-4.”
Another hint that my job spills over into my personal life is how I park my car. Of course, I cannot park my car without backing into a spot so that I can pull straight out. Have you ever seen an emergency vehicle parked facing into a station?
What I am really bad at is critiquing TV shows and movies. Who has watched some of our more popular shows like “Chicago Fire” and “Rescue Me” or seen movies like “Backdraft” and “Ladder 49,” and not criticized things they did wrong or took exception to something they failed to do? I know the fire and EMS consultants on the set may tell the director the right way to do it, but the director still has the final say to achieve that dramatic effect.
Bottom line – you just can’t switch it off. You’ve been trained as a firefighter/paramedic and it does not stop when you walk out of the station at the end of your shift. All the training, knowledge and experience you have gained cannot be turned off. Your mind has been trained to think like a firefighter/paramedic. When you’re at home, driving your personal car, shopping or socializing, your profession is never far away.
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GARY LUDWIG, MS, EMT-P, a Firehouse® contributing editor, is the fire chief of the Champaign, IL, Fire Department. He has a total of 37 years of fire, rescue and EMS experience, including St. Louis, MO, and Memphis, TN. Ludwig is a licensed paramedic and has a master’s degree in business and management.
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Website: garyludwig.com
