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EMS Expo Keynote Examines Truths of EMS
"As a red-blooded paramedic we're here to change something," said keynote speaker Scotty Bolleter this week at EMS Expo 2009. "What we do affects not just the next patient, but who we are on this planet."
Bolleter, a flight paramedic and the Director of Education for San Antonio AirLife, presented a talk titled "In Search of The Hunter Caregiver," comparing those who "survive and concur" with those who "seek and assist," and examining the conflict and the reality of the EMS industry's collective solutions.
He touched and energized the room with his views into how EMS providers got where they are, why they do what they do, and what it takes to stay in EMS. "Your bliss may be somewhere else," he said, "but if this makes any sense to you, you belong in EMS."
Bolleter began with a look at changes that have occurred since the '50s in EMS and more generally in international cooperation. He shared a photo of himself working with EMS officials in China, which would not have been possible in his father's generation. "All around the world they're trying to do the same things," he said.
He also spoke of remembering those who came before us in EMS and who paved the way for today's current responders.
"We all started the same way, but we forget," he said. He called out the internal competition in the industry as hurting EMS on multiple levels. "We learn it's not the individual, it's the team. Why can't we all just get along?" he asked.
In asking the question, "How did we all get here and why," Bolleter proposed the reasons he believes most people end up in EMS: ease; coincidence; need; boredom; calling; accolades; and money. Despite chuckles at the mention of money, he noted, "It's ok to do it for money, we have to get over it. We are in fact a profession."
He discussed the need to prove the value of EMS and to take care with public interaction. "If we berate people for calling 911, what is the message?" he asked. "We need to start proving what we're doing and thinking our way through this business."
Bolleter also shared the advice that, "The rules, maybe they're more like guidelines, and every once in a while I've got to think outside the box." He additionally ran through a list of truths that he has learned in EMS and believes all responders should have discovered. Some of these included:
- Some people die. It's not ok, but it will be.
- Some people live, and they are lucky...
- No matter how bad it is, it can get worse, so don't take anything or anyone for granted
- The last touch is always worth getting, so give it
- Some don't have family, so we should give some of ours
- Some will tell you it's difficult, and that it's painful, but everyone agrees it is worth doing, so do it
Bolleter also stressed the point that in EMS and in life, it is our friends who support us and put us where we are.
"You'll have the future to sit down and relax because you'll have made a difference on this planet," he said. When he thinks of friends in other industries who make more money but say they feel empty, "I think oh my god, I've been so privileged."
"What word defines this bond we hold?" he asked of those in EMS. "I'm not going to tell you that you have to believe in God, but believe in your service.... and believe in this world."
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