By the late 1990s our small ambulance service strove to upgrade its medical status from EMT-Basic to EMT-Intermediate. That would open a compendium of....worms. But, it was a status situation. Non-profit organizations are not immune from image competition - "Look what we can do that the service down the road can't." One of the cap-stone tasks afforded the Intermediate level, was the administering of fluids via intravenous means. In other words, we got to stick a patient with a needle.
Not too long before the end of the 1990s, the service voted to upgrade to the Intermediate level of patient care. Now would enter some contracts with the devil. Someone, at least one person with that level of training would need to be on all 911 calls. For the willing participants, there would need to be an initial attendance to a five-credit college class, a State medical exam, and periodic refresher classes. When all was said and done, a small group of EMT-I certified members emerged. I and my partner were two such persons. In retrospect, in my opinion we should have just stayed a Basic level service. The dynamics of having three levels (driver; Basic; Intermediate) of personnel on any ambulance call was to me....tiring.
It was a good experience and a good mind exercise to learn all the medical and rescue protocols involved, but life has taught me that sometimes marking time, in this case remaining Basic, makes for an easier battle, one you can come back to day after day and fight again with some comfort level. To me it was unneeded stress to upgrade our protocols.
To add insult to injury, I did not follow my own tenets on the aforementioned philosophy.
While in graduate school the academic intensity was bumped up exponentially. No more five to ten page essay papers with five references cited. It was now a world of 40 page research papers with five pages of works cited. In the sprit of spending so much time studying, a paramedic class in Racine came to my attention. I applied and low and behold, there was an extra space in the student roaster - it was however a bureaucratic exercise to maneuver all the red tape. I was now entering a new level of red-tape hell. Like nursing training, this would be a big departure from my little ambulance and its EMT duties.
But, I eventually found myself sitting in a class room looking over the panorama of Lake Michigan on one fine summer day hearing all the 50 dollar words and doting over the expensive machines associated with Paramedic training. The program would last a year and a half. It was 60 miles to Racine from Janesville and about the same from UW- Whitewater. I came to enjoy the three day a week trip over to the class. Although I did not drink alcohol at the time, I loved stopping in a few quirky Wisconsin-esque taverns on the way home.
As it turned out, I finished the book part of the class. But, it required a ton of in-hospital and field ambulance training. To make a long story short. I dropped out of the class in the throws of the hospital training. I should have known I would reach my maximum level of inefficiency (The Peter Principle) at 50 years old. But, sometimes the mind must actually be shown the hard way. Instead of just a handful of new protocols like the Intermediate level of care, the Paramedic level upped requirements exponentially. Now there would be 100 new medical and rescue issues to become proficient at. There would also be 100 new medications to master. Intermediate level had us tinkering with the administration of 10 medications at best. And, my little ambulance service had nothing to do with Paramedic care. I would have to pay for the training myself and later seek employment at a Paramedic service if I were to use my new skills - if I was lucky.
I had already given up on nursing assistant work. And I had long given up on becoming a licensed nurse. There was also no way I would ever venture again into home health services after my experiences with the Alzheimer's center, and also my care taking of Mom at the end of her life. The poorly paid lifeguard work in Madison had faded away due to travel time and my need to work and study in Whitewater. I was tinkering with graduate school and journalism in Whitewater. My grad work inspired me to travel to Vietnam three times and eventually to Iraq twice. In the bitter end of my 10 year diversion into all things medical, my ambulance affiliation was finished off by a simple move. We moved 40 miles east to the bigger town of Janesville. Janesville had no volunteer program as their ambulances were manned by all paid employees. And, the drive back to New Glarus to take shifts was just too time prohibitive.
In the end, coincidentally the leaving of the Paramedic program coincided with our leaving New Glarus. It also coincided with me ending my graduate studies and work at UW-Whitewater. I was on my way to Janesville to live and work. I would also embark on a three year journey into independent journalism taking me on junkets to Los Angles, Vietnam, Turkey, and Iraq.
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It all ended one day without fanfare with me riding over to New Glarus and dropping off my pager and radio at the ambulance office. The whole 10 year era had been an informative and incredible learning experience. I saw people at there best....and worst. I have taken the lessons with me - from taking care of my mom in her last year of life; to gently nudging advice to Heide in regards to her asthma; to managing my own blood and heart condition; and, to me surviving twice in Iraq.
From Iraq, ambulance work was a distant memory clip. But I never forgot the lessons learned on that small ambulance service about what was and was not "a real emergency in life."
In places like Iraq, that knowledge is invaluable.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Marine Lance Corporal Jacob Alexander Meinert, 20, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, died on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Meinert was killed from injuries received the day before, when a roadside bomb was detonated near his position during combat operations. Lance Corporal Meinert was a radio telephone operator assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. He served in Iraq from August 2008 to March 2009 and had been in Afghanistan since late 2009.
The Wisconsin State Journal notes that Meinert was born in Racine. He moved to Fort Atkinson around 2004. Jacob was remembered as being quiet, having a sense of humor, being a leader, and being well liked. He was a music enthusiast. He also liked to fish. Jacob graduated from Fort Atkinson High School in January 2007; he played lead trombone in the jazz band, was in the marching band, the pep band, and show choir accompanying combo. He started the enlistment process into the Marine Corps after finishing high school a semester early.
Meinert's military awards include the Purple Heart; National Defense Service medal; Global War on Terrorism Service medal; the Afghanistan Campaign medal; and, Iraq Campaign medal.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that Jacob was also a member of the school chess club. Another Marine and British journalist Rupert Hamer of the Sunday Mirror were also killed in the incident that killed Lance Corporal Meinert. They were near the town of Nawa. The Journal Sentinel in a follow up article noted Jacob's fellow Marines had given him the nickname "Slim." He also played guitar, and earned a Black Belt in tae kwon do. Meinert was said to have had a plan to go to college and return to the Marines as an officer.
The Journal Times maintain Meinert had stepped on a landmine. In the Lake Michigan city of Racine, Jacob was remembered for his love of sailing. One of his grandfathers had also been a Marine.
The Daily Jefferson County Union notes Meinert was known as "Jake." The Union also noted the incident that killed Lance Corporal Meinert was due to a landmine and that it happened in Bastion, Afghanistan. He was said to have had a long interest in the military. His grandfather Richard Meinert had also served in the Marines.
The Website legacy.com posted an obituary via information from the Racine Journal Times noting Jacob was born June 24, 1989, in Racine. He attended Red Apple Elementary School and Jerstad-Agerholm Middle School in Racine. He later moved to Fort Atkinson where he graduated from high school. At the time of his death Jacob Meinert was survived by his father Brian Warzala; his mother Krista (Michael) Edquist; sister Randi Meinert; step-brother Mitchell Edquist; brother Larson Edquist; maternal grandparents Richard (Donna) Meinert; paternal grandfather Robert Warzala; paternal grandmother Darlene Warzala; three aunts, Michele (David) Breheim, Sheryl (Bob) Petersen, and Pam (Nathan Schulz) Warzala; his uncle Ben Warzala; and, family dog Bosco. Lance Corporal Jacob Meinert was the 17th Wisconsin Military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
101,060 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,950 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,457 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1582 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
892 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011
32,102 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
11,541 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
31 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
148 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
