Don't Get On My Nerves...In Class?

  It is officially down to the last few weeks in the first year of college!  It's been a bittersweet--mostly sweet journey full of God's blessings and provision for my life. 

          One interesting thing is that the last few weeks have exposed one thing that gets on my nerves MAJORLY.  That would be people not taking things seriously.  I can understand it when my friends joke about things and give me a hard time for being "too serious".  (;   However...when you are in an EMS class learning how to save someone's life?  That is a different matter altogether.  I actually *sternly* said something to two of my classmates earlier. (If you know me... *sternly* and Corey...well, they really don't go together very well usually).  They just don't usually *happen*.  Anyway, I went so far as to actually raise my voice and tell them "Don't stand over your patient!  Roll him the right way!  You know how to do it, so do it.  In the real world, things won't be so easy for you!!" 
       
          It may sound like I am overreacting, but think about this.  You are backboarding a patient.  Immobilizing them on a long spine board.  Manually stabilize the head to protect the vital nerves of the spinal chord.  Apply a C-collar to help immobilize the cervical spine.  Inspect and palpate (feel) their spine for any deformities, trauma, open wounds, things of that nature.  Roll them onto a backboard using the count of the responder who is stabilizing the patients head.  "1, 2, 3, (roll)." 

      
There are a few more steps after that, but without going into them, just know that they are simple, straightforward steps to keeping a patient safe for moving. 
          The consequences of not properly applying an LSB are far-reaching and severe for the patient and even the responder. 
          If the patient is not fully "packaged" in the correct manner, they could be paralyzed for life.  That in itself is a reason--a perfecly good reason-- to backboard someone *correctly* every practice time around. 
For me as an EMT, if I do it wrong, I could be sued for negligence-- a breach of duty.  Something any other good EMT would never do under any circumstances. 
          I know my medical terms can get extraneous and boring at times, but when you apply it to real life, that could be the life of your loved one, or even you that I will be working to save someday. 
                                  

I want my care to be the absolute BEST I can provide, and if I see anything less in myself or another, I cannot and will not tolerate it.
          Now, with that in mind, it is also more the attitude of the person.  If they are struggling with a skill, I am totally OK with that, and ready to help them so that they understand and can complete it. 

Sooo....if you don't want me yelling at you...try not to kill people through thoughtlessness.  Can't stand it...though I'm fairly certain that no one reading this blog would do such a thing. 

         Recently that has been teaching me to stand up for something.  I used to be such a pushover, letting things like carelessness and neglect thrive...even in my spiritual life--not just in other poeple--but in myself as well.  I would not take chances that God put right in front of me, just because of my sheepishness.  I am coming to realize just how much we as Christians have been entrusted with spreading the word to unbelievers-- that the world is not right, they are sinners just as we are, and they deserve eternal punishment--just as we did before Jesus rescued us and brought us back from absolute death.