If you are in EMS, you’ve been asked “What is the worst thing you’ve seen?”.  This question isn’t what it appears.

On one note, this person asking is looking to hear a story that blows their mind and fits into the image they have of what we do.  They aren’t expecting you to say the call when you performed CPR on a one year old that was murdered by their parent or any of the other million calls we’ve run that destroy us on a daily basis.  They are wanting a “feel good” image of the crazy, yet funny, things we can see from time to time.

This question has a bad habit of bringing up some of the worst things about our career, including death.  No matter how “solid” you are, running a certain type of call will bring any of us to our knees.  That call isn’t always the same for each of us.  For some it may be running a call involving a child, especially if you have a child of our own at home.  Or maybe it’s running a call to a nursing home for a patient who has been neglected by the only family members they have left. We each have our own “thing”, but we all have one.

So back to the question – how do you respond?  Personally, I have created a fake story for a call that I haven’t actually run.  If I get someone who knows nothing about what we do, I’ll tell them all about the CRAZY car accident we ran where everyone lived yet the cars were totaled beyond recognition.  This “call” never happened.  I spliced together a few accidents that I’ve worked, but removed the bad parts.  For me, it’s a “good lie”.

The calls that truly haunt me don’t need to be shared.  I don’t need to put myself through reliving the past and I don’t need to pass any of that onto some person who doesn’t fully understand what they are asking me.  Like I said, they don’t know what they are asking.  All they know is what they see on TV.  Here’s an example:  Every firefighter’s favorite movie is Backdraft, no questions asked.  But how many first time firefighters thought they would be able to see clearly in a fully involved structure fire, simply because Bull and his little brother Brian could?  This same thing happens in EMS.  How many shows/movies have you seen where they shock asystole, or use medical equipment incorrectly?  So, it’s no wonder what they think we do.  The average person thinks that with CPR and an AED most patients will get up and walk away.  They have no clue what we actually do, or what we see on a daily basis.

Ever hear the saying “ignorance is bliss”? 

Well, this is a case where that reins true.  They have an image of who we are, and what we do.  There is no need to shatter that image, only to be replaced with sadness and fear of what we actually see.  They aren’t ready for it.  Hell, most of the time we aren’t either.  That is one of the main reasons that alcohol/drug and suicide is so prevalent in our career.  So why give that to someone else?

Instead, come up with a “feel good story”.  If you have a call that had a good outcome during a horrific time, then use that one. If not, fabricate it.  Make it out of this world, yet slightly believable.  Then, make sure you have this story on immediate recall.  

I know it sounds stupid, but this will help you and them in the long run.  Don’t run through the calls that give you nightmares, and don’t give someone else them either.  Sometimes thinking something is better than it actually is, is the best policy