PTO donations

I have had several ask me about the procedure for donating PTO to Ron and Chris. As you are aware they both will be away from work for several weeks and their PTO will not carry them that far. If you are interested in donating, there are forms in the paper work cabinet at station one in the supply room or see Foxtrot in Conway. The current policy is 1 for 1 meaning your one hour donated equals one hour to the donee. This is especially helpful this time, since Ron has so much seniority.

An update on Ron

Jay, Stewart, Louis and myself had the privilege of eating lunch with Ron today. He got permission to put on street clothes remove his telemetry unit and go to the cafeteria for a bit. Honestly it was a strange feeling to be with him at first. I told him that he needed to get use to people staring at him, he laughed. We talked about a lot of things, as well as went over the events of "the day". Seems he doesn't remember anything about the day, only the day before. After the initial awkwardness of the moment we learn very quickly that his sense of humor is in tack and more wicked that ever.

Ron spoke about his eventual return to work:
Stewart said “No hurry. You’ve made it quite clear you don’t want to work radio.”
Ron replied “Oh no, I’m dying to!”

It went down hill from there, he started cracking one liners about his "near" death. When I asked him what I could Blog he gave permission to share some of our laughter, for example:

When a nurse saw Ron in the BMC cafeteria and went on and on with surprise to see him and how good he looked:
Stewart: “Ma’am, who are you talking to??” And Ron then gave his best ghost impression.
Added Louis: “Ma’am, you’re the only one who can actually see him.”

When nurses, seeing the rest of us in EMS uniform, asked Ron what he does:
“I’m a paramedic too,” he said.
Greg: “He’s been a medic a lo-o-ong time.”
Stewart: “Yeah! He was even a medic in his former life!”

After questions of whether he remembered anything from the experience (lights, long lost relatives, hovering above us watching us work, etc.,
Stewart: “To the dismay of so many who have hoped against hope, can you confirm that Elvis truly did die in 1977 ?”
Ron: “That I can! He did die in ’77 and he looks the same as he did then!”

Ron, on the suggestion of sharing his experience:
Ron: “What do I say? Hello-o-o-o! I couldn't’t remember anything for days, and they say I was dead, but hey! Here I am! Hi! I’m back!”

There were tons more that I have forgotten, he mentioned maybe a "Ron was dead" contest to see who could come up with the best one liner, and offer a dinner for the winner that he would chose. I don't know about that one, maybe that is a bit far...

As you can see it was very dark and sick humor, (that he initiated) but we laughed and enjoyed each others company and forgot the utter fear, panic, loss and sorrow that we had felt just a short week earlier. Frankly I wonder what all this means. Everything fell into place perfectly that day, and the more we look at it the stranger it gets, consider for example..

When we got back to the nurses desk, Ron asked the nurse for his chart to show us the code summary from the MEMS LP 12. We looked at the fib, shock etc... when one of us noticed. The time recorded on the strip of V-Fib was "9:54" Of course that is the old number for the supervisor, of which Ron was 'forever'. The time recorded that showed his rhythm after the shock and asystole was "9:59" for many of you, you know that this was Ron's call sign. It caused a chill to run down our spines.

Again what does all this mean, I don't know. I do know that we as a group are one dysfunctional family, but we are family. The scripture says of family, "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." It doesn't say we should, it says we do, we are connected, that is just the way it is. Time will come and go, the freshness of this past week will fade, but may we never forget, we are family.
And on a personal note, as crazy as it gets, I am sincerely honored be a part.

Annual Awards Nomination Time!

It is that time of year to make nominations for Paramedic, EMT, Rookie, Employee and, PRN of the Year. This year the rules are:

• Any employee may be nominated for the appropriate category
• Attention should be paid to employees that have gone “above and beyond” during the year
• Nominee must be in good standing
• Medic is defined as Paramedic
• EMT is defined as EMT
• Employee is defined as any full time employee who does not work as an EMT or
• Paramedic. (Salary/management staff are not eligible)
• Rookie is defined as a Paramedic or EMT hired between October 1 2006 and October 01 2007. (See list)
• Dispatcher is defined as any PRN or fulltime dispatcher.
• PRN is defined as any EMT or Paramedic that has met the minimum number of hours (260 per year) to be compliant with our PRN policy. (See list)

Nominations will be taken from all staff with final selection from the top three made by management.

Update on Ron

We have been sending out pages concerning Ron's status. Chris said I could fill in those of you who have not received the pages, so here goes…!

Yesterday (November 5^th) Ron was still on the ventilator and balloon pump, but alert and talking by writing on a marker board. Around 6PM last night, he was taken off of the balloon pump, and this AM @03:00 he was extubated.

Ron continued to ask lots of questions about why he was in the hospital. He had assumed after waking yesterday that he was in the hospital for tests and had just not gone home yet. After being told that he had “coded”, he was certainly taken aback. So far, he has no memory of the day he coded, and only partial memory of the day before. We expect that, as time goes, he likely will remember more and more.

Ron did get out of bed today and walk and, if all goes well, he may even be in a regular room by this afternoon!

This surely has been quite the miracle!

MEMS Rookie School continues to set the bar high!

The current rookie class had 15 students which included 4 from the North Little Rock Fire Department. They took their practical test a little over a week ago and 100% passed that day.

As of today 13 of the 15 passed their written the first time. This gives us a score of 87% first time pass rate. This compares to 46% national average.

These kinds of statistics come from not only a great group of students but a great training staff as well!

We are proud of you all!!

Jerry Clagett will celebrate his birthday this year in the "big sand box" oversees. Jerry when you read this, Happy Birthday man, keep your head down and hurry home!!

Neal Prince (top), Rachael Marchand and Chris Adkins all share November 7th as their Birthday. Happy Birthday!

Matt Johnson and Chaundra Townsend share November 4th as their Birthday. Happy Birthday!

Update on Ron

Being fully aware of all the HIPP laws, with permission from Ron’s wife, I write to bring you up to speed on Ron.

On Thursday Nov. 1, Ron was sitting at the dispatch position in Communications. It was known he had not been feeling well for the last few days, and in fact was up most of the night before with that he believed was heartburn. Because he had not been feeling well he almost did not come to work, but Chris suggested he might feel better getting up and around, so Ron decided to go ahead and come to work.

Ron dispatched a call in Vilonia at 09:44, and sometime after that transmission, Ron laid his head down on his console. Jay came in to bring Ron some Halloween candy when he noticed Ron had his head down. No one thought much about it at first because he had not been feeling well, but when Jay could get no response, they knew then that something was really wrong. Jay felt for a pulse and found none. At that point Jay, Joe and David Turner got Ron out of his chair and laid him in the floor where Jay started immediate CPR. Joe then called out in the hallways for help. At this same time Ralph (just by chance!) walked into dispatch carrying a monitor. Jay asked if it worked, and Ralph answered yes, just needs batteries.

There was a meeting going on in Swanson’s office involving Stewart, Greg, Tammy, and Jon. At Joe’s calls for help, the group rushed to dispatch. Upon entering, we saw Jay doing CPR and knew that we needed equipment. Simultaneously, Greg ran to retrieve an ALS pack and returned to begin ventilations, while Stewart connected the monitor for a quick-look and subsequent shock. Louis and a host of others (more on the team approach in another Blog) went to retrieving and setting up other necessary equipment. Then, as we all worked on Ron, Joe and Dana Burnett continued their duties at their dispatch positions and performed well with this all right there beside them!

Ron presented with V-Fib, and was shocked once, CPR was then continued, an IV was established etc., and within a short time, we saw occasional complexes on the monitor. These turned into a string of complexes with a pulse and respiratory effort. Ron’s efforts continued to increase as we traveled to BMC, where he was seen at the ER and diagnosed with an anterior MI. He was then sent to the cath lab where he received 3 stints. (From down time to cath. lab with vessels open @90 minutes or less)

He currently is in CCU at BCM in critical condition. This a.m. he did wake and follow some voice commands. His pressure is low but stable; his heart is a normal sinus currently. Long term looks good as long as he dose not develop any complications.

This is a brief overview of the events.

Please keep Ron and his family in your prayers during this time. I will be passing on updates as I get them.

Trees

Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal carried a story about Sally, an overly conscientious youngster who made herself miserable over the smallest failures and setbacks. Early one fall, while the leaves were still on the trees, there was an exceptionally heavy snowstorm. Sally’s grandfather took her for a drive and said, "Notice those elms, the branches are so badly broken that the trees may die. But just look at those pines and evergreens. They are completely undamaged by the storm. My child, there are two kinds of trees in the world, the foolish and the wise. An elm holds its branches rigid. As it becomes weighted down, eventually its limbs break. But when an evergreen is loaded, it simply relaxes, lowers its branches, and lets the burden slip away. And so it remains unharmed. Be a pine tree, granddaughter."

Trey Hurley (top) and Eddie Hill share November 3rd as their Birthday. Happy Birthday!

Lori Bawiec and Joseph Ross share November 2nd as their Birthday. Happy Birthday!

Pat Gifford celebrates her Birthday on November 1st. Happy Birthday!

Shelia Bowmancelebrates her Birthday on October 30th. Happy Birthday!

Stephanie Moix celebrates her Birthday on October 29th. Happy Birthday!

Employee Meetings

A reminder that we are holding another round of Employee Meetings for those who were not able to make them a couple of weeks ago. We are discussing the upcoming pay raises and the subsidy request If you have any questions, now is the time to get them answered.

Remember, they are not mandatory, but if you attend you will be paid.

Monday October 29th- 07:00
Tuesday October 30- 08:00 & 16:00
Wednesday October 31st- 16:30

Fall Festival

Thank you to everyone who helped make this years MEMS Family Fall Festival a success. From the hot dogs to the games and "Haunted Shop" everyone seemed to have a great time. Lets do it again next year!

New "work shirt" style jacket

We have now authorized a "work shirt" to be worn. It will have gold lettering as well as the MEMS patch just like the jacket. The cost will $50.00 and can be deducted from your uniform allowance. You can fill out a MEMS polo order form (updated version has the work shirt on it) and turn it in to Louis.
This means that MEMS now has three AUTHORIZED Jackets.
1. Black recruit style
2. MEMS issued navy blue Spiewak
3. MEMS issued "work Shirt"
The only exception to this policy is for communications and office personnel.

Race for the cure

For the 7th year in a row MEMS sponsored a team for Race For The Cure. Our team had @ 45. Thank you to everyone who made it a success!

Mud anyone

Working the mud run today the planners tried to get our crew to race is their 'costumes' they chose to stand on the side lines instead. These girls won for being the dirtiest of the race, can you believe it?