General Impressions / Behavior

September 22, 2014

 General Impressions / Behavior

General impression / behavior, can mean different things to different people.  For me, as an Emergency Medical Tech, I have been trained to recognize physical markers, which may give an indication that a person is feeling ill. Such as: a person’s skin color, lip color, speech, eyes, and even the position he or she is sitting.  Yesterday, my friend and I were shopping at Wal-Mart when we passed an elderly gentlemen sitting on a bench.  What brought my attention to him, was the general impression I received when I saw him. His skin and lips were pail, he had an uneasy expression on his face. I stopped, and asked him if he was feeling okay, he replied, “No, I feel like I am going to pass out”. After the ambulance left, my friend asked “What made you think something was wrong with him?”.  I replied it was my general impression of him and his behavior that caught my attention.

God's Plan

September, 21,2014

What an amazing message I received in church today, the preacher talked about “Gods Plan for our Life”, this message spoke to me. Let me explain, Saturday morning when I got off work, my plan was to mow and weed eat mine and my neighbor’s yard. Then go kayaking with my best friend, who has been struggling with life over the past few weeks.  As luck would have it, my weed eater wouldn’t start, the lawn mower kid you not, caught on fire, thank goodness I have some firefighting skills and was able to quickly extinguish the fire. After all that, I went to purchase a new mower, when I returned home the new mower wouldn’t start.  So, I took it back, exchanged it for another. By the time I got back home it was time it was time to  go to the lake. What a good time my friend and had, we spent several hours, floating, and relaxing. After hearing Sunday morning service I realized God had his own plan for me Saturday morning, and it had nothing to do with yard work. I believe he wanted me to focus on being there for my  friend.

Kayaking

September 20, 2014

What an amazing day, my best friend and I went kayaking on Springfield Lake. It was awesome! The weather was perfect. As we were floating down stream, I noticed how the trees we’re starting to turn colors. This reminded me that summer was coming to an end, and fall was quickly approaching. I noticed turkeys, squires’ and other wild life enjoying the warm late summer day.  As we effortlessly, floated along downstream for nearly 3 hours, we finally decide it was time to return. While rowing back up stream, I thought about the nursery rhyme “Row row, row your boat gently down the stream”. I realized that no where in that rhyme, does it say anything about rowing back up the stream. The trip back up stream was definitely an upper body work out that I’m sure to feel for the next few days.

First Aid

First Aid

September  19, 2014

 Today at the fire station, I had an opportunity to teach basic first aid to a group of girl scouts. These girls ranged in age from 6 to 9 years, most of them were excited and eager to learn. I started off talking about how and when to call 911, and the impotence of knowing your address. Next, we discussed bleeding control. I showed them how to apply gaze pads, use a roller bandage, and to hold pressure on a wound.  Then, we talked about how to care for a person who is choking, and how important it is to call 911 before starting patient care. I had them practice by simulating 5 back blows and 5 abdominal thrust on their partners.  

 

September 17, 2104

Remolding

After my youngest son moved out, two years ago, I decided it was time to remodel the inside of my home. Before, I started, I thought about the future and how  in the next few years my son will be confined to a wheelchair, and will need to move back home so I may care for him. That meant, having all of the doors in the house adapted for wheelchair accessibility and the bathtub modified for easy in easy out access. Eight months later, that part of the remodeling process was complete. 

Next, time to paint, I started with the kitchen, I picked out a pleasant shade of yellow. I thought it was a fine shade of yellow. Apparently I was wrong, a friend told me it wasn’t a warm color, a warm color what the heck is a warm color.  After she explained the difference, I decide to let her repaint the wall, I sure wasn’t. Painting the front room and down the hall was a breeze, I bribed my son and daughter in-law into helping me with that task.

The bedrooms, the carpeted bedrooms were three boys romped and played for 11 years. I couldn’t hardly wait to get those stained, worn carpet removed and hardwood installed. I ‘am 13 months into the remolding project and all is well. It’s taking more time than I thought, but that’s okay, I ‘am doing most all the work myself. All, I have left, is to paint my bedroom and bath, then the inside of my home will be complete.

 

On Duty

 

September 16,

Well, I can’t think of anything to write about, so I will just write about my day on duty. It started off with my alarm sounding at 5:40 a.m. ugh, that is way too early, and it’s still dark out I thought to myself.  I slowly rolled out of bed, got ready for work, fed and water the dogs. Then I was off for another exciting day at the fire station. Now, some days may be exciting, some not so much.  With this job, you never know when you may be toned out for a house fire, car accident or medical emergency.  Or, you may spend the whole 24 hours not turning a wheel.

Work starts at 7:00 a.m. first thing that has to be done, I check my gear making sure I have all my personal protective equipment. Then, it’s time to check my apparatus, a 45 ft. long, 10 ft. wide, and 12 ft. high with a 95 ft. platform truck.  All the medical bags, air packs, and equipment this usually takes a couple of hours.

Then we spent the next two hours training on pump operations, which is something I enjoy since my main job is that of a pump operator. Training is a big part of our job, whether we are training on medical, pump operation, extraction, or fire extinguishment. After lunch we ran two medical calls. I spent some time ordering fire prevention material and contacting the elementary schools in town, to schedule time for the fire department to come visit the 1^st and 2^nd grade classes during Fire Prevention Week.

Well, so far this shift has been slow and that’s okay, but, I still have 11 more hours to go before my shift is over.  A lot can still happen.

 

Jobs

September 15,

As I was reading through the responses to question “What are your goals in life after college?” I found it interesting how many different types of employment, some are seeking after college. This got me to thinking about the different jobs I have had over the years. My first job was nothing spectacular, but, for a 15 year old, washing dishes part time for a local home town dinner wasn’t a bad gig.  At age 17, I worked as a printing press operator at OTC during the summer, a nanny for two young girls during the school year.

After graduation, I accepted my first full time job designing and printing real estate brochures for Stout Realty.  Where I remained for 4 years until the company went out of business. Then I accepted employment with Bass Pro, where I worked 3rd shift until my second son was born. At that time I chose to open an in home daycare, so I may stay home with my children. I continued with the daycare until my youngest son entered kindergarten.

After returning to the work force, I held down several different jobs, including a donut maker at Casey’s General Store. That job, lasted until a morning when my fellow coworkers and I were held at gunpoint by a masked robber. After that unpleasant experience, I decide to seek other employment. I went to work for the school system as an AmeriCorps reading coach, until the 2 year term ended. At that time I continued with the school system as a health care provider for two years.

Then finally I landed what I think is the perfect job, a full time firefighter/EMT. A position I have proudly held for the last 13 years and hope to have for at least 7 more. Firefighting wasn’t what I originally planned to do when I applied for a volunteer position with the department. I just wanted to run medical calls, but, in this town you have to do both, fight fires and medical. So, after many hours of training on both medical and firefighting, I was hired as the first female firefighter in my town.