Tips to be a “green” medic

Being the hippy that I am, I had an idea to post Do’s and Don’ts on how to be a more eco friendly medic! I try to do my part at home to practise the 3 R’s; reduce, re-use, recycle, and I have gathered ideas on how to bring that to work with you! If you do choose to use an idea (or ideas!) please let me know so I can personally thank you!

Do’s

Reduce

-Try to not let your ambulance idle while at the hospital. If you live in a cold climate like myself, you know the benefits of keeping your engine running, but referencing Natural Resources Canada (www.nrcan.gc.ca), “…If Canadian motorists avoided idling for just three minutes every day of the year, CO₂ emissions could be reduced by 1.4 million tonnes annually.”  Now I don’t recommend turning off your unit while on scene because of security reasons, but the hospital is a safe place to park your ambulance, lock the doors, and turn the engine off.    And, just to make sure you fully understand, i’ll throw in another direct reference. “Idling for over 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more CO₂ compared to restarting your engine.” -nrcan.

-If you use 2 blankets (or flannels as we call them) when you make up your cot/stretcher, try only using 1. It reduces the laundry that needs to be done, which saves energy and water!  When we make up our cot, we use 1 sheet that gets tucked over the mat, 1 pillow case, and 1 flannel. We used to put a towel over the pillow and pillowcase, and 2 flannels, but found it to be unnecessary because we stock a linen shelf in the unit.We found it saves laundry for the hospital, and doesn’t affect our patient care. If our patient complains that they’re cold, or we’re outside, then we grab an extra flannel, but it saves the mandatory washing of 2 flannels.

Re-use

-When you transfer care to the hospital, let the patient keep the flannel on them instead of putting your flannel in the dirty laundry bin and giving them a new hospital flannel. In Canada, the hospital and the EMS services all use the same linens, but it seems to be that whenever a patient is put in a hospital bed, the medics always seem to toss the flannels and get new ones.

- Instead of using disposable cups for coffee (Styrofoam, paper), invest in mugs! You could personally save 1-5 cups from going into your local landfill a day, and after a while, that sure adds up! Not only do you save the environment, but in the long run, you will save on money. This can also be applied to coffee shops. When you and your partner stop for coffee, bring your own mug! The barista and the environment will thank you!

-Take a plastic food container with you if you and your partner go out for brekkie/lunch/supper!  If your tone goes off, you can scoop the food into the container for later, or if you can’t finish your meal, you save the environment from using a disposable take out container! The bonus for yourself is that the food will keep longer in the sealed plastic container rather than the disposable container!

Recycle

-Have a paper recycling bag at your office. Almost all paper products used in an office setting can be recycled! All the shredded paper from your paper shredder can be used as stuffing in cushions, (my famous Christmas presents to family!) , can be used to make a dog bed (also something I’ve made), and there are even companies who can come collect it and recycle it for you, usually at no cost!

-Keep a recycling container at your ambulance garage.  Pop cans, glass bottles, plastic bottles, cans, etc all can be recycled, and if there isn’t a container to put it in, then it’s guaranteed to be thrown in the garbage!

Don’t

(now these are for sh*ts & giggles)

-Please refrain from re-using IV cathelons and foley cathetars.

-Please refrain from re-using any trauma dressings!

-Please shower, I know that saving water is important, but no one likes a stinky medic. Especially your partner!

If you have any more green ideas, please post them as a comment. I’m always excited to hear how other people save the environment!

this is where i come from

In order for you to know where I come from in the EMS industry, I will go through a regular day of mine for you. I’m always on call when I work, I work 4×24 hour days, followed by 4×24 hour days off.  That means our radio can go off at anytime. Which it tends to do 2-3 times a day (give or take). Enjoy!

0700- I wake up in the morning feelin’ like P-Diddy, I do my morning rituals, and then I walk the 4 blocks to the ambulance garage with my dog Memphis.  The walk is a quiet calming one, I get to collect my thoughts for the day.

0745- My partner and I do unit checks. We only staff 1 unit, so it makes for a nice bonding moment in the morning. We check O2 levels, do our LP12 check, talk about the amount of sleep we had/didn’t have, and then do radio checks. It’s a basic  routine that is done every morning, rain or shine, and heaven’s forbid you’re late!

0800- We then take the unit to the local gas station/restaurant for coffee with the local seniors. This is where we have positive PR with the seniors during “coffee row.”  I can tell you what Joe Smith’s normal vitals should be, who his NOK is, what medications he’s on, and that he recently bought a new truck. I enjoy my time spent with the community in this setting because I get to learn more about my patients, or possible future patients.  I’ve come on scene many times where my patient is one of the senior citizens I’m familiar with at coffee row, and it makes them feel comfortable with me, allowing me to provide better patient care.  A great example of how important this ritual is to us was when we came in for coffee one morning, and we noticed the Mr. Smith hadn’t shown up yet. My partner and I brought it up with the other members at the table, and they too agreed that it was strange for him not to show up without telling anyone.  We then were toned to his residence by dispatch telling us he had had a stroke in the night.

0900- We then drive the ambulance to the office. There, we fax invoices to the government,  finish incomplete PCR’s, and do office work with the owner of our privately owned service.  We bond over coffee and cookies, and our boss is like our own Dr.Phil. We go over past calls, we talk about what we would have like to change, what different path we could have taken, and what we learned from that call.  We get the mail next door at the post office, hold open the door to whoever we meet, make small talk with whoever is in line with us, and talk about the weather.  Just another time and place where we can have positive interactions with the public!

1200- We then break for lunch. Sometimes we go out as a crew for lunch, or we just go home for lunch. I tend to do any grocery shopping that needs to be done at this time. The grocery store is usually packed with highschool kids on their lunch break, and I like to keep in touch with some of the kids I know through previous calls, volunteering, and working at the daycare.

1300-We return to the office, usually play a bit of table hockey (office champ right here!), shoot the breeze with eachother, tease eachother about our love lives (or lack thereof in my case), and talk about some serious topics.  Me and my partner have become super close ever since we started working together, it forms a great amount of trust on scene when we go to calls.

1300- We return to our houses where we are still on call, I usually play some music for background noise, hang out with my puppy, call my family, and tidy around the house.  I work out some days, go for a walk, teach my boss’ 5 year old girl to skate, volunteer at the highschool in sr. boys volleyball, track & field, work at the daycare, etc.

1900-  I tend to wind down at this time, I usually go back to the office, go on the internet, Skype and twitter with my fellow EMS friends, catch up on national news, and watch some television on my computer because I don’t have TV at home. After I feel like I’ve had my fill of the outside world, I then go back home, snuggle up with my puppy, and go to bed hoping that I don’t get a 2am call!

So thats a regular day for me if I don’t get called out. I get paid a minimum 10 hours a day regular pay to hang out with friends, and hang out at my house/office. I’ve got nothing to complain about eh?

to blog or not to blog

So I’ve been wanting to write a blog for a while now, but I always thought to myself, “Alicia, why would you write a blog, and what would you write about?”

Well, the answer finally came to me, I’d write because I’m a bored medic in a rural service, and I’d write about the issues I deal with in my professional life. I know for certain that I’m not the only rural medic out there, so someone has to understand where I’m coming from.

I’m constantly reading blogs from EMS members in cool and interesting places, (ie Los Angelos, New York, San Fransisco, Toronto, Louisiana, Texas, etc) and I figured that a female medic writing about her experiences working in the middle of nowhere might be a different twist. So here it goes. Blog #1 of the “dirt road medic.”