This One's For You, Waniewski!
ER nurses have a habit of building strong bonds with members of other first responder and law enforcement agencies. We see each other day after day, year after year - often in stressful, tense, and life-threatening situations. Oft times the battle that these firefighters, officers, medics fight to win on the streets are continued on into the ER. We become protective of each other too, as evidenced by the speed at which Ruston Police Department responds to calls for help from the ER and the diligence with which the ER staff tends to even the slightest injuries sustained by one of “our own”. And that’s what we consider them - some of our own; our own brothers in arms, comrades in conflict, kindred spirits. It’s been rewarding to know that many of these aforementioned colleagues subscribe to my blog; several have asked me when my next one was coming out and one even asked if he was going to be mentioned. Mentioned, hell! This blog is dedicated to him and all of the other teammates, associates, co-workers, and allies who haul, heal, protect and defend those we seek to serve. So this blog is for you, Waniewski; you and all the rest of the men and women who link arms and hearts to get a sometimes less than rewarding job done!
Relationships are important in every aspect of our lives; in our homes, our neighborhoods, our places of worship, our communities and especially our workplace. We’ve all heard the phrase, “no man is an island”, that we all rely on others. This is especially true in the work world I see - police call for backup, firefighters use multiple alarm systems to summon additional help, EMS dispatches additional trucks when need arises, and in the ER this is absolutely the case; we’re all in, we do not stand alone. When a bad patient rolls in, without a summons faces appear around the one in need - a veritable swarm of caregivers is there to assist. When the crisis has passed, one of us turns to the patient’s assigned nurse and says “you all good?” and then return to our previous duties. Let me restate that - this happens not only when a bad patient comes in, but when any patient requiring multiple tasks arrives, this process happens. We do this - one for all, and all for one. It speaks without words to our friend, our associate, our co-worker, “you are not alone; we’re with you”.
Our relationships sustain us. We hold each other up, we watch out for one another. I recall a day in triage when I was attempting to obtain routine medical information, a male patient became belligerent using less than gentlemanly language. From nowhere, a booming voice came over my shoulder admonishing the reluctant patient, assuring him that it would be a much wiser decision for him to cooperate and provide the information required. I turned to the welcome sight of a paramedic standing beside me; he’d been standing in the hallway outside waiting to offload and heard the man’s comments and stepped up to assist. We help each other out.
While I was Director of ER at Touro in New Orleans, I had the opportunity to do ride-alongs with New Orleans EMS. I would ride in the sprint car with the shift supervisor and speed to calls ahead of the ambulance. We’d arrive about the same time as the responders of New Orleans Fire Department, who also rolled on every EMS call, and initiated care until the ambulance arrived. Often times NOPD was first on the scene and gave the go ahead for EMS to enter the area. To see all of these teams in action, with cohesive fluidity - each with their own objective for accomplishing their part of the emergency response, each respectful of the members of the other collaborative service, and watchful, always watchful, considering the safety of all. Those were amazing times and I count myself so fortunate to have watched those men and women working together. Now’s a good time to mention that one of the NOLA Paramedics wrote a book about his experiences as one of those first to respond in New Orleans. Check it out - Hard Roll:A Paramedic’s Perspective of Life and Death in New Orleans.
It’s a great read and you also get some insight also into the bonds that develop between co-workers.
The curious side of me likes to watch relationships in the workplace - how they develop and evolve, how they become cohesive, or sometimes oppositional, and how we all do our own steps to the music of work. One thing is certain though, a happy, cooperative, colleaguial, environment at work makes it a much more effective, efficient and safe place to deliver care. I enjoy working with a very eclectic group of physicians, nurses, secretaries and techs. The diverse personalities, extents of experience, cultural backgrounds, and degrees of irreverent humor make for an interesting work day. In this relationship we share - heartbreaks, hopes, dreams, disappointments, rage. We rally around each other, fight each other’s battles, share each others’ joys. What happens to one of us, happens to all of us.
This work relationship of ours isn’t unique to the ER crew I work with (we refer to ourselves as The Bomb Squad); I see it in the Fire guys as they talk about their families and happenings during their shift. I see it in the Law Enforcement agents as they stand together whatever the cause, and when EMS lost one of their own to complications from flu, all of our hearts broke. In life, relationships help to ease our stress and lighten our burden. Relationships give us a feeling of value and belonging and provide us with the comfort of knowing that we’re not alone. Someone besides the Heavenly Father is in this fight with us, holding our hand, telling us, “don’t worry, we’re with you.”
