New ambulance service member for a day - Fate Fairies - book version
This entry was posted on 1/2/2012 2:00 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies:Fate Fairies - book version.
The fall of 1996 saw a log-jam of events so to speak. I was working at the rural ambulance service during nights, lifeguarding at the "Y" in the mornings, lifeguarding at Sports Medicine in evenings, and I was ensconced in the Practical Nurse program in tech school. Heavy on my mind, and heart, was my evolving heart condition which had just reared its ugly head. It was not so subtly affecting my directions in life.
One event took place due to the heart deal I never mention much. At the time, my rural ambulance service had limitations to the patient care levels and the training we could attain. Through connections from classes and ambulance experience, I knew the ambulance service on the south side of Madison offered more opportunities - in training, higher certification, ambulance calls, and closer connections to the Madison hospitals.
I went through the hoops of joining that Southside ambulance service. It was a collaboration of two cities on the south side of Madison. I did not give notice to my small ambulance service as I knew from experience, one might be better off making sure new ventures pan out before burning the bridge back to the old one. I planned to somehow work for both services since that type of work offerers shifts throughout a 24-hour per day rubric. I told the bigger service I would start around Christmas because tech school had a rather long mid-school-year break.
I took the tour of the new place, got to met some of the organizers, took all the physical exams, turned in all my vaccination records, and filled out the many layers of paper work. In the mean time, it was near the end of the semester my heart did not cooperate. It took me a good semester after the fact to get my full strength back after that episode in the hospital. I left the nursing program and decided to err on the side of regular college in the spring of 1997.
A guy that I had a class or two with and was a member of the bigger ambulance service would quietly ask me once in a while if I felt good enough to officially come on board. But, in my heart - no pun intended - I knew I would not be able at the time to make the transition to the more complex and active service.
I often ponder if my life might have taken quite a different direction if I had finished the nursing program and became involved with that busier urban, and higher designated patient care ambulance service.
Another fork in the road.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" - book version Category is a work in progress. The original vignettes are being edited for book form. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology of the book vignettes (chapters).
