Who am I to judge?

Today one of my friends asked me about some of the work I do with St John, to which I gave the usual spiel about first aid. Then they asked me for some 'War stories', which, as I do in this blog I was only happy to share. This got me thinking about two things; firstly how EMS/Paramedics/EmergMed love to tell their stories, secondly about a comment my friend made.

One of the events I covered recently gave us some drug OD's, one of which was particularly worth telling and I'll be sure to throw it in here eventually. After telling how the patient treated us, my friend commented that it was perhaps best had we just left them alone - a form of Darwinian thinking that, truth be told I've heard before. My reply was simple; "I treat them as they come, be it a cut finger, a heart attack, their first OD or their tenth OD.", which my friend didn't seem to understand... After all, surely treating OD's all the time would wear you down - and that is what got me thinking.

I think in this job you have to understand something very important - no matter how much you educate and advertise, people are still going to get drunk, smoke and OD on pretty much anything. And for most of those cases you'll hear the same mantra- "I never thought it would happen to me."

We live in a society that speaks of 'added safety features', 'extended life' and those wonderful 'special enzymes to make your skin visibly younger'. Don't even get me started on those 'therapeutic biospheres'. Most people don't realise just how frail we are, how mortal our flesh truly is. Often it is later in life, when the body has felt the toll of youthful acts that people stop to think about what they have done - and often they try to warn the next generation of (alas) invincibles who naturally don't listen.

My job isn't about reprimanding them for their actions, it's about keeping them alive long enough so that they can reprimand themselves. Will I get sick of that? Hopefully not too soon.