Ambulance Driver Files A Day in the Life | Kelly Grayson
Seems every time I leave town for a few days, I lose a partner.
While I was at the Texas EMS Conference in November, The Borg moved back the start date of Kelso’s new shift, and I came back to work to discover that I had a new partner before Kelso could even tell me he was moving to another shift that would allow him more time with his girlfriend and daughter.
I precepted Peter Griffin through his paramedic clearance shifts, and we stayed a double-medic truck for four months until a spot opened up on one of our other rigs. While I was at EMS Today, that slot opened up, and I came back to work to discover yet another new partner.
[Memo to The Borg: Partners build relationships, fellas. Work with someone long enough, they become family. If you’re going to swap us around like interchangeable parts, at least give us a shift or two for closure, so we can plan a goodbye party or burn a dispatcher in effigy or something.]Having developed a reputation over the years as somewhat of a “bomb-proof” medic who can work with anyone, I’ve relished the opportunity to mentor a green EMT or polish up a newly-minted medic before they get their own truck. I kind of like doing that, but the lack of continuity does suck.
Still, I’ve been lucky. In nearly 18 years, I’ve only had two partners I couldn’t stand: Bitchy Partner, and Moses.
On our last shift together, Peter and I had a pretty rough call, something no one should ever have to experience. I won’t talk about it here because the matter is still under investigation (not us, just the incident in which we played an unfortunate part), but some of my closer friends know the story. It was the kind of thing that takes you a few days of talking it out to be able to wrap your head around it, and we never got that.
And now, Peter’s got his own assignment where he’s the medic, large and in charge. I’m sure he’ll do well. There are no easy ways to say goodbye to a friend, so I’ll just crib some lines from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:
O! that a man might know
The end of this day’s business, ere it come;
But it sufficeth that the day will end,
And then the end is known.If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
If not, why then this parting was well made.
Peter, if I may, I have a little advice I didn’t get to impart before they split us up:
- Time and experience is the only thing that will teach you discretion. Until then, over treat many and under treat none.
- Learn to sleep with your boots on, dude.
- The hoo ha is our friend. Do not fear the hoo ha. Even when it smells bad or sprouts a baby.
- If you drop the newborn, fake a seizure.
Everything else, you’ll probably pick up on your own.