Last Shift

Kevin Stubbings drives back

to quarters following the last

call of his career..."for now."

I've been waiting to write this until the shift was over because I honestly haven't been able to find the right words to say. Those who know me well know that usually isn't a problem for me.

I lost a good partner today. For nearly three years, we've been a team, working together on the everyday calls EMSers encounter, interspersed with some really challenging calls that define who we are as caregivers. We've seen some really sick patients, backboarded more people than I can count, and gotten more "thank yous" from people than I can remember.

We worked really well as a team, and I truly believe our patients benefited from our ability to seamlessly provide care with little verbal communication between us. We always seemed to know what the other was going to do. Good teams do that, and anyone who's had a partner like this understands exactly what I mean.

We were certainly at very different ends of the personality spectrum, but my partner had a way of bringing out the best in me. When I was feeling out of sorts, his wit would help put me back in better spirits; heaven knows how often he was able to do that. He's helped me through some difficult situations that I'm sure he didn't even know about, and I can't thank him enough for just being him. That stability was what I needed to continue to persevere. Our differences were just enough to balance each other out. You don't find that very often.

Being in EMS full time for more than 5 years is typically a badge of honor; after 10 years my partner's hanging up his stethoscope today. I hope it's only for a little while, for the sake of the patients who need him.

Kevin Stubbings: thank you for your service to EMS, and for putting up with me. Enjoy your time away, but don't stay away too long.

Follow-up on today's post...

Just thought I'd share this as a follow up to today's blog post!

Thank You, Thom Dick

 I've been fortunate to meet many people who have inspired my career over the years. Some have been partners on difficult calls, others have been educators, supervisors, and members of brother services. But one person who I've found has inspired me most often I've only met once for the briefest moment in time: Thom Dick. Many of you may know him as the author of regular columns in industry periodicals; he's also authored a book entitled "People Care." If you get a chance, pick it up; it's a fantastic read. I had the opportunity to meet Thom at the EMS Today Conference in Baltimore, Maryland back in 2009. He had been honored with the James O. Page award and was signing autographs and meeting EMSers in the exhibit hall that afternoon.

The 45 seconds or so I spent were like standing next to a legend for me. Why? His attitude toward taking care of patients. As he outlines in "People Care" and his regular articles, this job is all about people taking care of people. His manner of describing how to put a personal touch on this job has been a teaching tool that I've used with new EMTs for years. He takes situations that are often the butt of jokes in our daily work and makes you realize that regardless of the types of patients you encounter, they're still asking for help; they're still human. His articles provide an "attitude adjustment," if you will, for providers who have forgotten that the patients we encounter have names, emotions, and lives that are usually bigger than the reason you were called.

I keep my copy of People Care close by and sometimes, when I'm feeling off, will take a few minutes to re-read a chapter or two. It will put me back into the proper frame of mind so I can head off to take care of the next patient and give them the best care I can give. I look forward to opening my mailbox and finding a magazine that has an article, anxious to read the next words of wisdom from Thom.

I hope that you will be fortunate enough to find someone to inspire your care the way Thom has inspired mine. He's a rare gem among us, and we're lucky to have this guiding light providing words of wisdom to make us all better. Thank you, Thom Dick!