I AM an ambulance driver

There is a hilarious EMS blog called "I am not the ambulance driver" it is one of the funniest,saddest,educational blogs about EMS. The title I would assume comes from patients always calling medics and EMT s  ambulance drivers. I have allways tried to avoid the term but today I  told A patient "I am your driver".Then I realized what I had said and begin to think about it. I am the ambulance driver and I am proud of it .I am responsible for helping my medic,and getting you safely to the hospital. This isn't always as simple as it seems today with the patient I drove for miles behind a person at 45 mph, then had to get through an accident,since we had a patient we couldn't stop and I knew another ambulance was 45 seconds behind me.Then I had to avoid the person who pulled  out in front of me and drove 20 mph for 100 yards before turning into a restaurant. Add to that the people who were stopped at the green light,the truck that pulled into the middle turn lane and drove there for a mile or more. I helped unload you made the cot and shook your hand and wished you the best.

I am an ambulance driver but you didn't realize I am also the person who works in Emergency Management,helping you when ever you are in trouble.I am the same person who spoke to you at work about building a 72 hour preparedness kit. I am the same person who trains medical first responders to try and keep you alive until an Advanced Life Support Ambulance can get to you. I am the same person who works out how a search should be conducted for a missing person in your community or devolpes where you should evacuate to in the event of a flood or hazardous materials accident. I am the same person who has to go and beg money to keep your local fire department operating .

I have been the person that fire crews looked to for directions when a wildfire threatened your home. I was the person who had to step up and say this is what we are going to do to recover a body from an industrial collapse, and the man who took the criticism and responsibility for searching the bad terrain for victims of a flood. I am the person who has looked on 70 deaths and cried for those who had died and those who had lived. I am the same person who has taken a baby and done cpr because I wanted the baby to live even though my mine said it was too late. I am the ambulance driver who went in and prayed with the grieving mother whose child had just died.

Even though the medics, nurses, and patients may laugh I am pretty damn proud to be just the ambulance driver.