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Remembering fallen EMS workers
By adamg on Sat, 05/23/2015 - 4:08pm
First responders from across the country slowly filed into Faneuil Hall today to remember emergency medical workers who died in the line of duty over the past year.
Two Boston EMS bagpipers stood at attention at the entrance to the hall as EMTs, paramedics, firefighters and police officers filed in, after a march up State Street from Long Wharf, for a remembrance organized by the National EMS Memorial Foundation.
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Thank you all
We all depend upon you.
Bagpipes? Really?
Are we pushing the marching, saluting, and military style memorials just a bit here? When did every job suddenly turn into the moral equivalency of holding off the Turks at Lepanto?
I am probably going to get skewered here, but are we cheapening the brand with all this post 9/11 style military remembrances for what is really a job? EMTs do great work, fantastic work, but it is a job, not a vocation.
Do we give teachers and social workers who put themselves in harm's way many times a year mandate full marching and saluting too? When does this end?
Hey, Richie Serino, back off a little on the marching and saluting a bit, would you please? Respond to the call, treat the sick, and go home at the end of the day. You have done a great job turning around Boston EMS and got kicked upstairs to Washington, but get your check, pay your bills and be happy, ok?
Yes, Bagpipes
Part of the local culture, and the police/fire/EMS culture, too.
Who is we? These people organized it for their own folk.
Also consider that this is about people who died while working.
Yes, but this is part of a larger push
The motive behind this is a national memorial to EMS workers. That's great, but the question I asked was Are we cheapening the memorialization of everything?
We have the Department of Defense paying sports teams for "tributes to soldiers" during sporting events when it is really a stealth marketing campaign paid for by the military;
http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-nfl-teams-money-militar... That does not sit well with me.
We have police dogs receiving medals for their bravery. Just give them a steak and say "Good Girl".
Let's not lessen the true sacrifice of others by spreading the hagiography of everyone a bit much.
Comparing EMS workers who have died in the line of duty to dogs?
You seem like a great guy.
Just a hunch: that police dog
Just a hunch: that police dog did more for the protection of its city in one day than you ever have in a lifetime of Internet crusading.
Really?
You'd begrudge some public honor for people who save lives daily and lost their own in the line of duty? And to that end, why NOT honor others who lost their lives for the greater good? As a former public school teacher who actually likes bagpipes, yeah, I *would* have appreciated a similar acknowledgement if the various lockdowns, weapons confiscation, and violent student episodes I had to deal with had gone sideways.
And I'd argue any kind of public service that takes such a strong toll on the psyche for the good of others DOES deserve this kind of honor in my opinion. You talk to some EMTs and ask them how easy it is to leave their day behind them when they clock out.
My Wife Is A Teacher
She doesn't want bagpipes. She wants her students to learn and a waiver from the 180 day a year rule when we have had 7 snow days. That's all.
Tell you what...
Volunteer as an EMS for a year, and then come back and tell us how it's not a real vocation.
As for myself, I seriously considered doing so, and realized that I don't have the where-with-all to do that job; the belligerent drug addicts, the sick children, the families in crisis as a loved one deals with possibly life-ending illness or injury... So I greatly appreciate those that do. And being of Scottish ancestry, I love not both the tradition but the actual sound of bagpipes.
Do something half as worthwhile with your life, and then maybe you can snarp from the sidelines. Until such happens, I suggest you shut the hell up.
Fair question
Well, how many EMS professionals died in the line of duty this year?
Past years?
EMS deaths by year - looks like it's complete through 2013.
lmfao
that most of the people that died 'in the line of duty' last year just had heart attacks while on the job
Do you know what cause a
Do you know what cause a cardiac event?
•Intense physical activity. The hormone adrenaline is released during intense physical activity. Like running up several flights of stairs or carrying a patient down those flights of stairs.
•Very low blood levels of potassium or magnesium. These minerals play an important role in your heart's electrical signaling. This can be caused by heat exhaustion. Like working in a fire.
•Major blood loss. From an injury.
•Severe lack of oxygen. Like from smoke.
cool story
im sure it has nothing to do w the fact they were old and based on anecdotal evidence probably fat
Whatever, "im sure it has
Whatever, "im sure it has nothing to do w the fact" that you probably have no medical knowledge. AKA a cardiac episode is not the same as a heart attack. Most heart attacks do not lead to sudden cardiac arrest. The are not one in the same.
The rude dude you have been replying to his comments
You are wasting your time trying to make that dude see your side of things.
I am a former Firefighter/EMS/First Responder. I was drawn to this site because this week I will be putting a fellow Firefighter/Paramedic in the ground. It not only angers me but also hurts me when someone questions our integrity. Do yourself a favor. Don't respond to this unfeeling jerk. Don't give him the opportunity to slander us any more. Last, but not least, I hope if he ever needs a Paramedic or Firefighter, that they haven't read his posts before responding to his need for emergency aid.
Yes, it's true that most LOD
Yes, it's true that most LOD deaths for public safety employees are for stuff you might not consider a LOD death. Person gets a heart attack driving somewhere. Person catches pneunomia a few weeks after servicing a callbox in drizzling rain. Lifelong smoker and firefighter dies of cancer. Those really shouldn't be associated with dodging bullets or running into a burning building.
The most obscene attributable death was the news photographer who died "as a result" of the 1996 Olympic bombing. After hearing the blast, he ran towards the bomb site to take a photo, and collapsed and died from a heart attack. That shouldn't count.
On the other hand, EMS people do often have a lousy workday dealing with uncooperative patients and ugly domestic violence situations. They should get respect for that.
At first glance of the photo
At first glance of the photo and headline I thought the curiously shaped rod under the guy's arm was an EMS contraption for god-knows-what kind of emergency.
Took a minute to figure out is was just part of a bagpipe.
When your need to be a contrarian troll exceeds your logic
...you say things like this:
A) This is clearly untrue, since there's a lot of work that needs to be done before an EMT can become a full-blown paramedic, and it's a quite viable career path that many people stay in most of their lives.
B) It also undermines your point, since most soldiers are there for a job, not a vocation, and really don't want to be career military. But presumably you're fine with giving them military-style funerals - unless that should be reserved for officers, who deserve it more.
You might also say things like this if you use your troll brain before your real brain:
Well lookie what I found: http://www.massteacher.org/news/archive/2014/memorial_to_fallen_educator...
I'm not sure about social workers, but I think it's rarer for a social worker to die at work than a teacher (and there are less to begin with).
John you obviously have no
John you obviously have no idea what EMS does. They arrive at the same scenes as firefighters and police officers ....but instead of taking reports or protecting your home. They care for you or your family. Things far more valuable. So when an EMT or Paramedic dies in the line of duty. They deserve to have a place to be remembered and the public reminded of their sacrifice.
Question...
What do you do for a living?
Thank you for all you do!
Thank you for all you do!
13 EMTs die in the line of duty annually in the United States
I am a little sicken by the comments critical of Boston EMS in honoring their own.
EMS is a uniformed force. They attend EMS school for 12 weeks and then a academy, They are sworn to protect and render assistance to Boston citizens and visitors alike
They respond to 108,000 calls annually for assistance in 5.7 minutes,
http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/2011_Boston_EMS_Annual_Repo...
Daily EMS staff rush to scenes. Many times arriving at before the police and fire They are burned, bit, stabbed, spat, hit, and sometimes shot at, They render assistance in a professional and nonjudgemental way
The untold story is how they keep it all together dealing with the most horrific and traumatic scenes daily
I know many Boston EMS staff personally and professionally. Don't degrade an organization for having pride and espirit de corps. Honoring those that have died and have been injured on the job is just and right.
OK Then
You have all convinced me that EMS is worthy of a memorial and I already knew that their work is great, as a I said, though those statements seem to have missed everyone in the comments above.
I still would prefer a less militaristic bent to our public workers however. I'm sure once these posts get around the Boston EMS crew tonight I will be considered a meanie, but please, please understand I do not disrespect your job, I just wish you would leave the saluting and the hooah to the our armed forces.
Now you're complaining about
Now you're complaining about the militarization of EMS.
My God, man. Just stop talking all together.
Militarism
Bagpipes are not militarism.
Using equipment usually reserved for armed conflict is militarism. Showing up to serve a warrant and shooting unarmed civilians, including children, is militarism. Tazing a man having a stroke is militarism.
When EMS starts showing up to 911 medical emergency calls in tanks, armed with automatic weaponry and clad in riot gear, we'll worry about the militarism of EMS.
Not a meanie...
Just ignorant.
Don't know where to start.
This is fascinating. The only ones "Worthy" of honoring their dead co-workers with respect and decorum are military? Where do you see militarism in these photos? A couple of guys in uniforms with flags equals military in your mind?? Boston EMS is a service that wears uniforms. Brown ones so as NOT to be confused with police; a deliberate attempt not to appear intimidating. Would you like them to show up in jeans and a sweatshirt? A couple of pipers playing amazing grace for EMTs and Medics killed in the line of duty "cheapens the brand?" From now on, when an EMT on a call is killed, just toss a steak on his grave, and say "good boy?"
Don't try to make sense of it...
Nowadays, it's fashionable in this country to sneer at those who choose to serve and don a uniform. I guarantee all who criticize those who serve have never put themselves in harms way.