WADING INTO CHAOS IS WHAT WE DO … It’s NOT How We Have to Live
On a New Year’s Eve shift in 1986, my partner Jeff and I ended up doing 22 calls with a total of five fatalities in just 13 hours. It was, by anyone’s standard, a shift from hell. New Year’s Eve has always been what I call “rookie night,” when unpracticed drinkers head out on the town and try to get home again. The night always ends up being really quiet or totally insane, and in 1986, it was certainly the latter. While shifts like these occur far more frequently than we’d hope for, no one really talks about how they can wear on you over time or how to develop the resilience to get back on track after they occur. You might notice your memories of shifts from hell are like my New Year’s one, stemming from the sheer number of calls. Or you might notice they stem from a single call, one that emphatically worked its way under your skin before you could stop it. In EMS, we have to be equipped to see, hear, and feel things that people in most other vocations can’t even imagine. We run straight into the danger that everyone else is trying to avoid, but we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that some experiences haunt us more than others. As a result of my own involvement with the direct care for over 20,000 patients, I’ve come to believe those ugly calls take a chip out of you every time. Eventually,
The questions in this quiz will help you address several important aspects of your personal and professional life in order to help you determine exactly where your mindset is. Consider, for example, the following questions. • When friends or family tell you that you look stressed, do you usually blow them off? • Do you find that all of your social time revolves around work people and drinking? • Do you feel that asking for help is a sign of weakness? • Have you ever felt the need to talk but couldn’t find someone with the right fit? As a person in EMS, maintaining a healthy mindset should always be a priority. How can you expect to persevere through ugly calls and sustain the resilience to rush into dangerous situations if you aren’t taking care of yourself first? I’ll give you the answer: It’s impossible. In this line of work, the chips add up, and they add up quickly. Let someone who has been in your shoes help you reduce the burden by taking the Level of Chaos Self-Assessment Quiz and discussing which steps to take next. Contact me directly by heading to Holdsworth.com/ contact or calling (860) 200-0059.
those chips can add up, causing you to crack. Having empathy for victims and their families is expected — that’s where the initial chip happens — but you have to take steps to ensure you’re taking care of yourself and that you’re resilient enough to avoid mentally cracking. Wading into chaos is what we do;
it’s NOT how we have to live. The stress from those hellacious shifts doesn’t have to affect all other aspects of your life. Are you dealing with those ugly calls in a mentally and emotionally healthy way? If you’re unsure, I would encourage you to take my Level of Chaos Self-Assessment Quiz.
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