An Update

I know I said I would do a series of posts on observations, and I still intend to, but at the moment real life is just getting in the way. This is just a quick update of what’s happening, and the next post will be about something I really need to get off of my chest.

So, I am rapidly approaching the end of my degree. My final report is due next Tuesday, and after the Thursday after that, I am done. Finished. Leaving my university and likely not coming back (except for graduation based stuff).

I’m not going to lie, it’s a scary prospect. Not accounting for my work placement, I’ve been in full-time education for 19 years. It is literally the only thing I can remember doing. As of September, I start on the beginning of what (at the moment, at least) will be a career in Engineering. Real engineering (it doesn’t get any more real than jet engines…), where the work I do actually has a real purpose.

I will be leaving behind what I know and am comfortable with, a huge number of my friends, and all the other benefits of student life. This is scary beyond belief…

In other news, I am currently bike-less again, as some idiot drove over the front wheel of my bike (fortunately while I wasn’t on it). Needless to say, this is very annoying, not least because I am currently sat on a bus that takes the most roundabout route home possible.

This year I am not going to the graduation ball. In fact, this is the first time since starting university that I’ve not been there in some kind of first aid capacity, and I have zero interest in going as a punter. I had intended to go as first aid, but I haven’t been asked yet, and the unit has upset one of my good friends, so we’ve decided to go on duty the next morning instead. The person who did the upsetting is now also not going, but I have managed to persuade my friend that it isn’t her problem any more (and so she doesn’t need to pick up the pieces after the very likely meltdown).

Speaking of meltdowns, the local adult division is currently having a very slow one. Three of the more progressive members have been made to feel very unwelcome, and so have walked away. As a result, their training program is steadily going down the pan, morale is going to drop (as people realise what they’ve lost), and its all going to go to hell. Of the units six-ish active ambulance qualified volunteers, they now have two actively refusing to do events, two prioritising county level events (me and CycleGuy), leaving two to (fail to) meet the units commitments (meaning other units have to help out).

On the bright side, my unit of young people is going strong.  We have just had a very successful sponsored walk (where I got to legitimately play tag for the first time since I left junior school), and have half a dozen things planned for the near future.

Work is still being its normal irritating self (but that’s retail for you), and I’m doing far too many hours for the Organisation (no change there, then), and for the most part I’m enjoying myself.

When things start settling down, I will try to post more frequency.  For now, I will get on when I can, and I’m still on Twitter (my lifeline when drowning in my project).

Now, to finish, another musical interlude.  Enjoy

Opportunities

I’m about (but not straight away) to say something that probably makes me appear very selfish…

As a rule, I have in the past tended to be quite self-effacing (check definition) when it comes to being given opportunities.  To be more specific, if there are not enough places to get to an event,  I tend to be the sort of person who will offer up his place to another.  I like to do things that help other people out, even if it inconveniences or harms me.  On a number of occasions, this attitude has least that I have missed out on things that I particularly wanted to do, but there weren’t enough places.

We have a major duty coming up, the first of the season. As always, I said that I would prefer to cycle, but would do anything. Others have been less open-minded ( almost demanding that they be allowed to do whatever…)

As is probably to be expected from an organisation like this, we’re short-staffed. This means that people ( myself included) have been given roles that are less than ideal. Admittedly, I’m on a vehicle, which isn’t terrible, but I probably wont get anything, as is normal when I crew an ambulance… Nevertheless, I’m pretty nonplussed. I’ll do whatever is needed. I figure that at some point this might earn me brownie points, and besides, in my opinion it is the right thing to do…

Now it is possible that, at the last-minute, I’ll get reassigned to a bike. Its happened before, and rumor has it that it has been considered. Naturally, this hasn’t gone down well with some of the others. One person has even gone so far as to encourage me not to take my cycle uniform, so someone else can do it instead ( read: him).

Now I’m sorry. I appreciate that people are disappointed with their roles on the day. However, if I am given the opportunity to cycle, I’m jumping at it…  I don’t often get to ride a bike, and I am usually very willing to go wherever I am needed.  I see no reason to go against this, just because I’ve been offered a better position and someone else hasn’t.

Of cause, I’m far too tactful (read: timid) to actually challenge that other member on this.  I just let it lie, and of cause this probably means he’s assumed I’ve agreed with him.  It could be interesting if the situation actually comes up (though I doubt it).

Morale

Morale seems to have hit an all-time low in the adult branch of the Organisation recently (or more specifically in this county, I can’t really comment on anywhere else).  Attendance at duties is poor, attendance at training isn’t much better, my local Adult unit is about ready to tear itself apart and nobody can be bothered to change anything.  For someone like me, who is really passionate about my work with the Organisation, this sucks.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not worried that everything is going to collapse around my ears.  At present, we have far too much momentum to do that.  It’s just seeing all the wonderful things we could be doing, and all the effort that people at all levels are putting in, and it just getting bogged down in a marsh of apathy, really gets me down.

Take the bikes.  They are in dire need of some TLC, and the entire unit needs some strong leadership to get it back on its feet.  It’s holding on in there, but only because there’s a few of us who won’t let it lie down and die.  I know for a fact that there are people in positions of responsibility who would quite happily allow it to just fade away.  They are doing a wonderful job of not letting us change anything.

Part of the problem is that the Organisation is going to be going through a restructuring at some point in the next year.  Almost every position above unit leader level (like mine) will essentially be up for redefinition and reappointment, meaning that, when it’s all done, everything could change.  In principle this is fine.  It’ll mean a few fewer Chiefs, but most of us Indians won’t notice.  In fact, given some of the members of senior staff in county office (lead cyclist included…), this could be a very good thing.

Unfortunately, everyone is using this as a reason not to make any changes to anything, as it might get changed back again later.

In my mind, this is a crap response.  We shouldn’t be leaving things in a bad way, just in case our changes prove pointless.  These things need changing now, not in however many months time, and I really think that this is contributing to our problems.  County management don’t seem to care, so why should we lowly people on the ground (or on wheels, if your that way inclined…)  There are a few of us trying to sort things out, but we keep getting fobbed off with this excuse, and it’s starting to get old…

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And now, after that little rant, a musical interlude inspired by Zemanta‘s suggested links and tags:

Or if you have Spotify: All Time Low – Forget About It

Watch out, the video isn’t strictly safe for work (assuming your work even allows YouTube).

Perhaps I could make this a new feature…

Organ Donation and the Church

If you have been following the news in the UK (specifically, Wales) recently, you’ll know that they are currently considering a bill that will mean that everyone will be assumed to be an organ donor, unless they opt out.  I am in favour of this (and wish the English government would do the same).

I am a registered Organ Donor (and carry a Donor Card), registered with the Anthony Nolan Trust as a potential bone marrow donor and, now that the law has changed, I have been single (and all that entails) for a sufficiently long time and I now have enough weight, I intend to become a blood donor.  I strongly believe that those of us who are lucky enough to be healthy should be doing as much as possible to help those who are not (which in part explains how passionate I am about my volunteering).

Now, I’m not saying that everyone should be forced to donate blood, or bone marrow.  While I’d love it if you did, I know that this can cause (a small amount of) disruption to your life and could make you unwell for a while, and I don’t want people to go into that without being willing.  However, to be blunt, once you are dead, the location of the organs in your body are the least of your worries.  (http://xkcd.com/659/)  If you are unfortunate enough to die at a stage when your organs are useful to others, then using them to allow one or more people to live on seems perfectly logical.

I know that it is scary, considering your own mortality, and that of the people you know.  But this legislation isn’t going to change your chances of dying of something (no matter how many scare stories are bandied around about doctors killing some to save others).  And it will decrease the 1000 people a year (cite) who die while waiting for a transplant.

Many people are thought to be willing to be an organ donor, but just haven’t got around to registering, and I’d wager most of these never will.  This will help those people follow this through without any trouble, and those who are against it will still be able to say no.

This post was prompted by a news article I spotted earlier, about the church speaking out against an opt-out system. This made me grumpy… While I am not religious, I don’t have a real problem with religion. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, as long as they don’t harm others.

This will harm people. The church has no problem with organ donation (cite). Why are they arguing against something that will save lives?

If you want to find out about blood donation, go here.

More information about bone marrow donation is available from the Anthony Nolan Trust. They are particularly looking for young male donors.

Organ donor registration can be done here.

(All links for England and probably good for the UK in general. Google is your friend if you need the details for elsewhere.)

If you want to sign up, do, and I encourage it. If you don’t, don’t. If that means that you need to opt-out, do so. At least you will have thought about it.

It’s your choice, and always will be. I may not like your decision, but I’ll still fight to ensure you can make it.

Ambulance Frustration

You’ve broken your arm, and you have my sympathy.  You were in quite a bit of pain, but the paramedic gave you a lot of nice drugs and you’re not feeling too shabby now.  You now need a trip to the local children’s hospital, not a short journey.

Because the paramedic has given you some drugs, the paramedic needs to come along.  Fair enough, one of the side effects of morphine is respiratory arrest, and so we need to have something like naloxone available just in case.  This isn’t a drug I can give, so the paramedic is needed.  Not a problem, we can take two in the back along with a patient.

Except, because you’re under 16, your mother also really needs to come along.  Again, this wouldn’t be a particular issue, if it was just you, and about a year ago it wouldn’t have been an issue even with the paramedic along (at least, not officially).

Unfortunately, someone cocked up the weighing of the vehicle, and we’re not really sure if the weight limit can take three people plus a patient in the back.  Counting a crew of two (driver and attendant), a patient, a parent and a paramedic, we’re over our limit, and only one person on the crew is expendable: the attendant.  Me.

Off my truck goes, and I’m left stood in the primary treatment centre, and I’m in a bit of a fix.  I can’t commit myself to a patient in the treatment centre, because I don’t know when my truck will be back and I’ll need to be available for that straight away.  I can’t transfer to another vehicle, this will leave someone else without a ride.  This leaves me unable to treat, unable to transport, and unable to really do anything.

My crew-mate eventually gets back, but it’s someone else’s turn to get a patient, and nothing else needs transporting.  We get a 999 call, which I could respond to, but it gets given to another crew (who’ve already dealt with and transported a patient) and they ignore us when my crew-mate and I ask them to swap.

Now I know this was just bad luck.  There wasn’t anything done that was unreasonable (though that last crew did annoy me), but that didn’t leave me any less frustrated.  I hadn’t seen a patient all weekend, and still haven’t seen any patient on an ambulance that has needed me to use my advanced skills, and given my continuing track record it’s going to be a long time before I do.  Combined with not being able to do NHS shifts any more, this leaves me wondering whether qualifying was actually worth the stress.

Of cause, this was then compounded by everyone else asking if I enjoyed my transport, and then overly lamenting when I tell them that I didn’t actually get to go on it.  Oh, and a Control officer going ‘had we known (which they did), we could have sorted something for you’, which irritated me, a lot.  Not to mention my friend going on and on and on about the people he’d treated that day, and not getting the hint that I had had a shit day and didn’t want to talk about it.

Still, I’ll probably be crewing during major duty season next year, so I might get something.

Or I might just get sat somewhere, bored out of my skull with an irritating crew mate.  Listening to everyone else being kept busy, and wishing I was out on a bike, getting to do something…

Hitting the Speed Bumps

Image via Wikipedia

As an organisation (or, at least, in my part of the organisation), we are very keen at helping out the local ambulance service. By this I mean we will send out crews on ambulances (and occasionally on bikes) to help the service respond to 999 calls. Understandably, this could only be done by experienced members, and one of the criteria for the ambulance work was a certain number of hours third crewing on those shifts. This means working with two experienced members to build up some experience dealing with patients potentially more serious than anything I’ve ever dealt with before, which I’m strongly in favour of.  I don’t think I’d be happy going out on a shift without doing this first.

Unfortunately, since I qualified, it is no longer possible to third crew on any of our vehicles. Something to do with weight limits on the vehicles (which, given many of them are  transit vans modified into ambulances, not necessarily their original design role). This is very frustrating for me, as it means I can’t gain the experience needed to do NHS support.

To make matters worse, there are very few of us in this position (probably about 3 or 4), and so nobody at county level cares enough to do something about it. As far as they’re concerned, there are enough people to cover the shifts, and so there isn’t a problem.  This leaves me, and those few others, in a catch-22 situation: without having the needed experience, we aren’t able to gain the experience.

Needless to say, this is very frustrating.

A little while back, there was a possible solution. Our CRU lead sent us an email looking for interest in doing NHS cover on the bikes over Christmas. The roads get very busy in BigCity when everyone is doing their Christmas shopping, and the bikes can get around a lot easier than road ambulances. A load of us (apparently) applied, and it looked like it would go ahead. I even delayed heading home for Christmas around this.  A couple of us entertained the thought that this might count towards us getting some experience towards the ambulance work.

Of cause, it never happened. And we only found that out for certain a couple of days before the period was due to end. The reasons given was lack of  interest (yeah right), other duty commitments (*looks at depressingly empty duties book*) and lack of funding (*sigh*). Some of the more cynical amongst us suspect our useless County CRU lead is also to blame, but ho-hum.

All I’ve got to hope, in the nicest possible way to my patients, is that I get something interesting to do on the normal shift. Which, given my track record on a vehicle (nine or ten shifts, one patient transported for a minor injury) seems rather unlikely.  The only time I might have had an interesting job, someone kicked me off my truck (story to follow).

I think, as far as possible, I’ll try to stick with the bikes. At least on them I get something to do (and some useful exercise), giving me some experience treating, even if it’s not transporting someone…

My friend and I are already planning what out of county events we want to do.  Hopefully we’ll have a good yeah helping out our colleagues in the big city. At least there they know how well a bike unit can work…

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Micro-Youth Work-Rant

It’s now confirmed.  I am now an Assistant Leader down, and there is probably nothing I can do about it.

Of cause, he hasn’t actually had the courtesy to phone me, or email me, or otherwise get in touch, electronically or otherwise.  Nope, I have found this out by him not turning up to the meeting today.  Oh, and he’s updated his current location on Facebook to somewhere suitably distant from here.

Needless to say, I am furious.  Not only did he put me in a position where, if I hadn’t heard rumours, I would have been an adult down on an already hard day, as well as nearly landing me without any session next week, I think it’s just downright rude.  How difficult is it for him to send me some form of message, explaining that he couldn’t come down any more.

As an aside, this has probably ruined any chance of me getting a decent night’s sleep, which is just what I need when I have work tomorrow…

Micro-Housemate-Rant

Housemate, here’s an interesting thought for you:

When you want to use my stuff, instead of spending ages asking me to wash it up, why don’t you just bloody do it yourself.  It’s not exactly difficult!

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Though, you could just spend some money and buy your own…  You could replace the pint glass of mine you broke while you’re at it…

Housemates!

He’s done it again…  My housemate has invited a couple of people to stay at our house for a couple of nights.  Not once has he asked me if that’s a problem, or if I mind, or even just given me warning that I’d have two strangers (to me) sleeping in the house.

It’s not even as if I’d say no.  I wouldn’t mind if he just warned me, so when these random people turn up my first instinct isn’t ‘who the hell is that in my house’.

I know this is a shared house, and he has as much right to have guests around if he wants.  That I don’t have a problem with.  They’ll probably be using my eating stuff tomorrow (though I’ll be damned if I’m washing it up specially for them…)  I don’t even really mind that they’ve just spent the entire evening on my Xbox (again, not even as much as a ‘do you mind’).  What bugs me is the fact that he doesn’t even seem to have considered the fact that I might mind.

It is tempting to get up nice and early, make myself a nice cooked breakfast, and generally clatter around tomorrow morning and see if he says anything.  I may even ‘forget’ to close the kitchen door, and accidentally set of the smoke detectors like I regularly do when frying things.

It sounds a little mean, as I look at it, but hey, we can both be inconsiderate from time to time if we want…

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Miscellaneous Rants

I’m feeling a little frazzled at the moment, so am struggling to compile any one thing in to a post.  Just a bit of a stream of consciousness.  Sorry…

Work is being stupid again.  After trying to lay me off once (and nobody has admitted they were responsible for that monumental cock-up), they now have us working over the bank holiday weekend and through a University holiday (not just a student one, the entire uni, in theory, is shut) while they go off and have a holiday.  They’ve left one poor unfortunate soul to try to sort everything out.  I’ve tried to help, spotting a couple of things that appeared to be wrong, and in thanks I got ignored, then shouted down (irritating) and finally patronised (infuriating).  In the end they listened, but only after someone else joined in with me, and we finally got on.

Next, I’m trying to organise Organisation stuff against a close and inflexible deadline, and I need two people to get in touch with me.  I’ve emailed, I’ve called them half a dozen times each and I still haven’t had a reply.  If I don’t hear back, it’s very likely that they’ll not be able to go on duty next year.  This will not make me popular.  Well, it’s that or I try to guess clothing sizes, which probably won’t end well…

Next is my house-mate again.  This time he’s brought someone over (without mentioning it to me…) and is continuing to attempt to impose his taste in everything on me.  So far he’s tried to change how I cook my food (and what I eat), the sort of TV I watch, the sort of films I want to watch (for the thousandth time, I am NOT interested in that comedy) and he doesn’t seem to get that I’m just not interested.  He also complains when I go and hide away in my room to get some peace and quiet, whines when I don’t drop everything and answer my phone when he’s calling and doesn’t seem to get that we don’t have a huge amount in common.  Not to mention that continuous complaints when my cooking/eating stuff is dirty and he wants to eat (and can’t be bothered to dig out his own) or to wash it up himself.  Sufficed to say, this is going to be an interesting year…

Oh yeah, and all this stuff is starting to get me down again, and I’m getting stressed and losing faith in my ability to cope, and then call myself stupid because I know I can cope, and it all breaks down in to an argument of the level of ‘I know you are, so what am I’ running through my head.

Yeah… I seemed to have developed a comma splice…  Never mind…

Time to go buy some ice cream, hide in my room, and hope everything goes away.

And then get very busy tomorrow when it doesn’t…