This is about the part of this nation's infrastructure which keeps you protected and... well... breathing, every day. It is the infrastructure that exists inside our borders that responds every day, regardless of time, regardless of place, and that rarely knows who or what they are responding to on every call.
It is an infrastructure that tries extremely hard to be safe in a very unsafe, ever changing environment.
It is an infrastructure that starts with very altruistic people who by very definition of their makeup believe they can make a difference. And it would only be fair to state that they keep on trying even after many decide that a difference can seldom be made.
The thin lines. In recent history, our public safety components have come to be known by thin colored lines. Blue is the first one I ever remember seeing, then red and then finally white.
The blue represents the spectrum of our law enforcement officers. The red, our firefighters. Lastly, white represents EMS. It is not by chance that they are the colors representing our great nation.
They are called 'thin' lines for a reason.
It is only a thin line that stands between you and crime, you and fire, and you and medical need.
Each is a thin line made up of people that have chosen, or as some believe called, to give up "normal lives" to be there when you need them. Those who have made careers or volunteer in these areas can tell you the stories of what they have given up to be there for you, but many prefer not to tell it. Long hours, dangerous situations, emotional trauma, failed relationships and personal life disruption make up the content of those stories.
They can tell the good stories, and bad, of their efforts. Though many times the bad stories are too bad to tell. In many cases you would find them unbelievable anyway. Those things do not happen in our perfect little worlds. The only outside realization to the reality of a thin line dweller occurs when it happens to you.
So today I feel the need to declare to you what you may or may not already know: The thin lines are getting thinner...
When I first entered public safety it was 1983. It seemed to me that a great number of people wanted to be a "cop," a firefighter or a paramedic. I grew up watching Johnny and Roy on "Emergency" in the early 1970's and am a product of the show. Sure, my dad was a police detective and his brothers were fairly high up officers on the Evansville Fire Department, but I was 100% pushed into EMS and the fire service by that one television show.
Once again... altruistic. I started working in EMS in 1983 and as a volunteer firefighter in 1984. Later, I would even spend a seven year long portion of my life as a deputy coroner (the part of law enforcement that assures that in death, the rights of the individual are protected).
In 1983, there were a lot of people who wanted to show up on the scene of your emergency in a police car, a fire engine, a rescue squad or an ambulance.
Today... not so much. As I talk to administrators in all walks of public safety, the number of applicants for fire department and police positions are down. While there does not seem to be a shortage in these areas yet, it may be coming as the interest wanes. On the EMS side of the fence, there is a nation-wide paramedic shortage and an EMT shortage is looming.
Why? It is a myriad of things. There is some public apathy. There is decreased funding and stagnant reimbursement which directly relates to pay scale. Long hours that are punctuated with moments of sheer terror. A culture that expects us to withstand the aftermath of everything we see.
And it is dangerous and is getting worse. The threats are out there for all public safety. They range from direct violence against public safety, to unsafe scenes on roadways and the ever increasing number of Heroin, bath salt and K2 addicts wanting to fight at every turn.
The lines to sign up for this life are not as long as they used to be. You could say that the lines to make the thin lines thicker are getting shorter.
Hopefully, the things that are causing people to second guess a career in public safety will be quelled. Maybe they will. I am not as optimistic as I was when I was 20.
Hopefully when you interact with a thin white line dweller your encounter will be stellar. That is what we are there for... to make your day better in a moment of tragedy and effect your outcome from the event.
If your interaction is bad, it just might be that YOU are the bad guy. Remember, when you speed in your car, when you cause the fire, when you started the fight or took the drug that caused EMS to come... YOU are responsible. I am not saying that there are no bad people in public safety. There are... but they are small percentage of those that really are there to help you.
We respond because we want to respond. We chose to be your companion in your darkest hour of YOUR emergency. Some public safety personnel like to say all they want is a little respect. I do not care about that as mush as I do for a desire for those interacting with us to be civil, behave and let us do our jobs. If you happen to be the poor bloke responsible for the fact that we are there, simply take responsibility and be nice. Either way, we will still help you to the best of our ability.
Just remember that we want to go home after work too.
So tomorrow, there will be unsafe scenes, desires for body armor, staging till some lone officer assures the scene is safe and all three line dwellers watching the other's backs. It will happen while the media lays the blame, portions of the populace continue on in denial, and we make ready for the next call.
We are family and we will stick together. Hopefully the thin lines hold strong, because without them, calamity reigns supreme.
