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What About the Good Paramedics?
Everyone asks "What about the good cops?" I was never a police officer, so I have trouble answering that one. But I was a First Responder, EMT, paramedic, and Paramedic Crew Chief for over 12 years. I think I was one of the "Good Paramedics."
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Everyone asks "What about the good cops?" I was never a police officer, so I have trouble answering that one. But I was a First Responder, EMT, paramedic, and Paramedic Crew Chief for over 12 years. I think I was one of the "Good Paramedics."
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Medicine has structural racism. Patients of color do not receive the level of care white patients receive. And the organization has similarities to the police department. There are so many things I'm thinking of. They may be useful. I'll pop up a few as time permits.
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I started running on an ambulance in 1984. When calling into a hospital with a patient report, they would expect us to give age, sex, chief complaint, vitals, and ETA. Several ERs (none still in existence) would ask "What color is the patient?" I refused to answer.
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Instead, I'd ask "Are you having a game of chess?" or "What difference does it make?" or "They look sorta green right now." The harshest was "Are you going to treat them differently?" They stopped. I don't know if I helped that or not.
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When I took the verbal test to become a Crew Chief, I was asked three questions. Very quickly, I realized the answer they wanted was "Bump it up the chain of command." The message was clear.
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My first assignment was a crew where the previous Crew Chief had problems with a rookie Black paramedic. They knew I'd had two Black Studies classes in college. They mentioned it.
I wondered if my superiors were out to get me.
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I wondered if my superiors were out to get me.
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We got along fine. I mean, if Ferno Orange fingernails are the worst thing about a paramedic, it's a breeze, and it was.
Until someone said something racist.
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Until someone said something racist.
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Before I got a chance to ask her what she wanted to do, she pulled me aside and said "Don't report it. You'll just make it worse."
In the following years, I would hear that phrase repeatedly. Racism, homophobia, misogyny:
Don't report it. You'll just make it worse."
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In the following years, I would hear that phrase repeatedly. Racism, homophobia, misogyny:
Don't report it. You'll just make it worse."
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For anything less than the most egregious things, I was told "Don't report it. You'll just make it worse." But it was my duty as a paramedic to document everything. As a Crew Chief, my responsibility to my crew demanded I report it.
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9/n
If something went wrong, there would not be any official documentation to back up that I even asked to do something and was asked to not report it.
I spoke with other crew chiefs and supervisors. Again, the response was "Don't report it. You'll just make it worse."
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I spoke with other crew chiefs and supervisors. Again, the response was "Don't report it. You'll just make it worse."
10/n
There was a system to deal with problems, and it was, in practice, unusable. Was that design or happy coincidence? I don't know.
Something happened. I had to report it. I had no choice. Even my coworker said I had to, for the sake of the crew.
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Something happened. I had to report it. I had no choice. Even my coworker said I had to, for the sake of the crew.
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It involved the Fire Bureau. I reported it. The person I reported to admitted (at the hearing years later), they called up the station and told the firefighter I had reported them. No attempt was made to address the problem.
My reporting it made things worse for my crew.
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My reporting it made things worse for my crew.
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