Most of the reasons Allison Rosson likes EMS are pretty common: Every day is different; every call is different; it’s not a dull job; it’s great to be outdoors.
Then there’s one that’s a little less mainstream:
“It’s kind of fun to drive in 3 feet of snow,” the 56-year-old says. “All that slipping and sliding keeps it interesting.”
Memo to job hunters considering Connecticut: New Haven, where Rosson works for American Medical Response (AMR), didn’t actually get 3 feet of snow all at once last winter; it took several blizzards. Besides, there are better reasons than diesel-driven “sleighs” to ride in southern New England.
Busy shifts on mean streets
“You get plenty of opportunities to practice,” says Rosson of her eight-town district. “We average 300 calls a day — 911 and inter-facility — with about 30 ambulances. I usually partner with a medic, but we also do BLS calls with two EMTs.”
You need above-average situational awareness to thrive in a fast-paced urban environment like New Haven, Rosson says.
“This isn’t the safest place to work. We usually get a few shootings and stabbings a week. I’ve never been hurt on the job, but that doesn’t mean people haven’t tried. You have to judge when someone is getting aggressive.”
Often AMR’s caregivers are safer than their patients.
“About 15 years ago,” Rosson says, “we had a call for a woman in her 80s who lived alone in an area that wasn’t the greatest. She’d been raped and robbed. It was really hard for me because she was so upset and embarrassed.
“At first I was angry. I wanted to find the people who did that to her. Then I thought, ‘How can I take this all away from her?’ but I couldn’t change what happened. I wrapped her in a towel and just tried to protect her.”
Better than TV
Like so many in EMS, Rosson relies on humor to balance the occasional heartache. Hollywood offers plenty of options.
“I like comedies. “Friends” is my favorite; also movies like “The Hangover” and “Miss Congeniality”.
“I don’t watch any of those 911 shows. Once I punch out, I leave work at the door.”
Rosson says some calls are funnier than anything on TV.
“We were doing a transfer of an old, mostly incoherent patient from a hospital to a nursing home. We got to the patient’s room and there’s a tray of food by his bed. I didn’t want to take it away without offering it to him, so I picked up a little dish of Jell-O with berries on top and tried to feed him. Well, he started to doze off, so I moved around the bed to get a better angle and spilled the berries and Jell-O all over him.
“I cleaned him up the best I could, but when we got to the nursing home and started moving him over, a few of those berries fell out of his sheet onto the bed. The nurse looked like she was trying to figure out what those things were and whether they’d come out of my patient.”
“Another time I was driving to a hospital in Bridgeport, about 20 miles away. I didn’t know my way around so I stopped to read a sign.
“My partner, Steve, thought we were at the emergency entrance and climbed out through the back doors. There was no buzzer in those days to warn the driver about situations like that, so I just started rolling again with those doors wide open. The patient was, like, ‘Uh, excuse me…' I looked in the mirror and thought, ‘Oh God, that’s Steve way back there!’”
Marley and she
Rosson’s pets have been another source of stress relief.
“I’m an animal lover. If I’m not at work, I’m probably hanging out with my dog, Marley. He’s a six-year-old golden retriever.
“I used to have another golden retriever named Lacey and a Rottweiler called Patches. They loved each other; you’d always find them together.
“Lacey was only six when she died of cancer. That just broke my heart. Patches passed six months later.
“I think I have a good eye for signs and symptoms with both pets and patients. There are definitely similarities. With experience, you learn to anticipate their problems.”
My patient, myself
Rosson’s first-hand experience in one area allows her to give some patients an enhanced level of support.
“I’ve had anxiety for 20 years,” she says. “It runs in the family and I’ve learned how to deal with it.
“Whenever we get an anxiety call, my partners know I’ll take care of it. I tell the patient, ‘I have what you have. I promise it’s not going to kill you.’ That’s important because when you’re having an attack, everything seems like gloom and doom and you think you’re going to die.
“In the very beginning EMS made my anxiety worse. I was overthinking situations I might have to deal with. I had to learn to take it easy and just breathe. Breathing right is such a big part of it.
“If you have anxiety, don’t be afraid to ask for help.”
A place in the sun
With her 60th birthday only a few years away, Rosson is already planning to relocate to Palm Beach, Florida, where AMR would be happy to continue her employment.
“I’ve told them I might work in the office, but I’m not going to be driving an ambulance down there. Why push my luck?”
Especially if there’s no snow to make it interesting.
