By Jeff Craig
Abilene Reporter-News
ABILENE, Texas — For Kendal Rutland, emergency room trauma coordinator at Abilene Regional Medical Center, Emergency Services personnel are underappreciated and often unrecognized - but they often serve as the first step in saving a person’s life.
Last week, groups across the nation, including ARMC, gathered to demonstrate gratitude for paramedics and EMTs as a part of EMS Appreciation Week.
“I think people don’t realize the responsibility EMS personnel actually have,” Rutland said. “A lot of it is a lack of knowledge of what they do. That’s our goal in recognizing them, so they do get some recognition for the hours they give to our community.”
On Wednesday, more than 30 area EMS personnel from across the Big Country were honored with a cookout at ARMC. Rutland said an annual celebration of EMS has become a tradition at the hospital.
“We really appreciate what the EMS crews do for us. They work really long hours and often don’t get a break, even to sit down and eat,” she said. “We really depend on our EMS in the community - and they are very good.”
Rutland said an effective and efficient EMS crew can mean the difference between life and death, especially in a place like Abilene, where people living in rural areas can be a long way from the hospital.
Whether arriving on the scene of an accident or responding to a heart attack, Rutland said EMS personnel serve a vital role in cramped quarters and under high stress.
“They do pretty much what we do in hospital, but they are in the back of a truck,” she said. “There are only two of them as well. In the hospital we have tons of help. A lot of times, their job is more difficult than what we do.”
MetroCare, a privately owned EMS provider,serves the city of Abilene. Neil White, director of operations, attended the appreciation cookout at ARMC and said the gratitude shown was tremendous.
“It’s great, it lets us know that the hospital and ER recognize EMS week and that’s a special thing for us,” White said. “It’s great that they wanted to do something for us.”
White said the efforts of EMS personnel often go unrecognized because the public is unaware of what they do.
“They don’t think of us as another public safety provider,” he said. “Whenever you think of public safety you think of police and fire.” White said MetroCare is comprised of a team of 55 individuals, equipped with seven ambulances, one supervisor vehicle and a disaster response trailer. While MetroCare is privately owned, he said many EMS units are civically supported or run by volunteers. Southern Taylor County is served by an all-volunteer EMS service.
White said the concept of EMS as a whole is a relatively new concept. He said as recently as the 1960s many ambulances were actually owned by funeral homes.
“If you were alive they took you to the hospital. If youweredeadtheytookyou to the funeral home. If you died on the way to the hospital they took a hard left to the funeral home,” White said.
As an EMS worker himself, White believes serving the community as a paramedic or EMT is noble work that requires tough, lifelong learners.
“It takes quality training and after that, it takes a desire to better yourself,” he said. “I see people come out of paramedic school that say they don’t have anything else to learn. Really, it’s just the beginning of the learning.”
Copyright 2012 The E.W. Scripps Company
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