What do YOU do when no one is looking?

It’s been said that the difference between morals and ethics is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking (moral). Ethics are a code of conduct, even one that can  be mandated and printed by an employer. These days, there are more opportunities than ever to be caught doing something that you wouldn’t want others to see. Cell phones, web cams, and even Facebook are tools to be used to record, reprint, and spy on your every move. 

What do you do when no one is looking? In EMS, this question is especially powerful. We often find ourselves in situations that require important-even life saving- decisions be made in an instant. Some people require hours, days, even weeks to decide what color to paint their spare bedroom. Paramedics have to make critical judgements in a millisecond. What you’re doing when no one is looking may affect more than just yourself. Morals and ethics guide our decisions, both consciously and subconsciously. 

It’s ethical to initiate and execute good, hard core CPR while family and friends look on, feeling lost and hopeful. Do you continue that commitment in the privacy of your ambulance, even when you know efforts are futile? You could argue that initiating CPR is a professional and legal obligation to the profession, but I’m asking you to think beyond obligations or standards of care. Do you elevate your standards, even when no one is looking?

What you do when no one is looking goes beyond medical practice. What you do when no one’s looking takes a peek into all aspects of your life. Can you advise a patient religiously, socially, or medically without consulting your moral or ethical foundation? Should you be advising a patient religiously or socially? And if you are, is it moral and/or ethical to do so? 

Let us ParamedicCooks know how you feel...leave a comment below this post! I want to know how my peers feel about this subject! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

The history of Thanksgiving is usually associated with the harvest celebration of the Pilgrims and Native Americans in the autumn of 1621. The pilgrims, who had settled the previous year at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts, were thankful for the bountiful harvest. This gathering was a 3 day feast, and included the Native Americans who had helped the Pilgrims through their first winter, during which they lost 46 of the original 102 Mayflower voyagers. The feast included venison, boiled pumpkin, fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, and plums. This feast is often thought of as the “First Thanksgiving.” 

Many years later, on June 29, 1676 another Day of Thanksgiving was celebrated in Charlestown, Massachusetts to express thanks for the prosperity and security of the established community. 

A century later in October 1777, all 13 East coast colonies joined in a Thanksgiving celebration. 

In 1789 George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving although many were opposed to it, including President Thomas Jefferson. 

It wasn’t until 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a National day of Thanksgiving. It was then proclaimed by every president  hence. In 1941, Thanksgiving was sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, set as the fourth Thursday in November.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from ParamedicCooks.com!!

Thanksgiving Quotes:

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare.  They are consumed in twelve minutes.  Half-times take twelve minutes.  This is not coincidence.  ~Erma Bombeck

Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast,
And toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased.
~Alice W. Brotherton

Coexistence:  what the farmer does with the turkey - until Thanksgiving.  ~Mike Connolly

I love Thanksgiving turkey.  It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts.  ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.  ~W.T. Purkiser

What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets.  I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?  ~Erma Bombeck

Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday.  People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year.  And then discover once a year is way too often.  ~Johnny Carson

Nipples, and making your own Baby Food...

I had my first and only child when I was 22 years old. At the time, I had been living in Tennessee for about 3 years. In Tennessee, it takes at least 20 minutes to get to any kind of a store, and that’s only if you illegally pass a tractor, in the right lane. Therefore, it’s no surprise that I lived hours away from my closest family members. My then Baby Daddy, now my Husband, worked 24-48 hour shifts so I could stay home with our daughter. It sounds like a backdrop for a Lonely Existence with splash of Suicidal Ideation, and a sprinkle of Manic Depression. But it wasn’t! It never occurred to me to be lonely, much. I had my hands full with a newborn infant, my traumatized nipples, and making Super Baby Food. 

Back then I was stubborn, determined, and adventurous. What do you mean not much has changed?! I decided during my pregnancy that I would breastfeed, because I read it was the most optimal nutrition for an infant. I didn’t know anyone personally who had nursed their children, nor did I know anyone who was doing it currently. I was unfamiliar with the internet as a resource, so I read about it in books, and attended new parent classes. I saw the pictures, and read the chapters about how the infant latches on with innate expertise, nurses only until her belly is full, and easily adapts to the mother’s schedule and milk production. What a beautiful, natural way to bond with your baby while still maintaining that hectic hair and nail schedule! 

Because I had no one to ask, and my requests for a La Leche consultation at the hospital failed, I went home with 2 nipples and a prayer. Within the first couple of weeks, my human nipples looked like an entire boulevard filled with Ladies of the Night had stomped them with 6 inch spike heels! Then threaded them through a Pasta Grinder set on Spaghetti. Then torched them with cans of hairspray and propane tanks. I’m not kidding!  I begged the doctor for moisturizers, salves, even a Nipple Transplant. Nothing helped, until my own skin toughened up, and my daughter learned how to latch on properly. It would have been handy to have had that little demo from the beginning. Lesson in Perseverance: learned!

During my endless hours a day nursing (there are more than 24 of them in a day when you’re a new mom, and you’re awake for most of them), sitting stationary on an uncomfortable couch, starving because my daughter was using me as a human pacifier and I was too inexperienced to realize it, I came across another bright idea. An additional activity I could perform to nurture and encourage supreme nourishment for my growing infant. I decided to make my own baby food! To compound matters, Baby Daddy and a few others insisted I could not do it. They felt that my inability to use the lever of a toaster, or recognize that oil in a pan over high heat would eventually burst into flames, would inhibit my success. What a bunch of Debbie Downers! 

An advertisement in one of those value packs introduced me to the idea of making my own baby food. It was for a book by Ruth Yaron, called Super Baby Food.

I learned alot from that book, not just how to feed your baby ultra healthy food, but also how to make your Mom baby puke! The basic message of the book is using organic, all natural, and 100% whole grain ingredients to feed your child, and not precessed and preserved baby food in a jar.  My daughter devoured bowls of kale, avocado, brewers yeast, and homemade soy milk yogurt mixed into hand-ground whole grain oats, while my mother gagged and smiled. After a bit of trial and error, it was inconceivably simple and surprisingly rewarding to make all of my own baby food. I highly recommend this book, and will be glad to help anyone who tries it! Send me an email at Nichole@ParamedicCooks.com, or talk to me in person. May the Wheat Germ be with you!

Millipedes are People Too...

I work out of a fire station that is almost 200 years old. It is in need of repair in some sections, but regardless, it is the place I call home at least 4 days a week. My second home is inundated with arthropods, that is Scutigera Coleoptrata, or “House Centipedes.” These wretched creatures skitter unbound throughout the building, and plague my every working moment.

House Centipedes are attracted to moist places. If they don’t have enough moisture they will dry up and die. For this reason, many believe they climb up through bathtub and sink drains, but more than likely that is just the location they choose to lay eggs. In Japan they are revered as a useful species, because of their insectivore appetite for other arthropods, such as insects and arachnids. They have 15+ pairs of ridiculously long extremities attached to a rigid body and can reach several inches of length. Try coming in from another 3AM call, to find one hanging out on the wall in quarters. Or watch the enlarged shadows of their hideous legs scurry across the wall when you’re backing into the bay. They make me scream louder than a sudden appearance of Freddy’s burned and disfigured face in my basement. 

Last week, around midnight when I was getting off shift after my relief had just arrived, I went to use the bathroom before I left. As I was closing the door, an especially large and ghastly multi-legged beast lunged from the door frame right at my BRAIN. I am not kidding! It landed by my feet, and scuttled out of sight. I howled like a newborn werewolf and hurtled myself into the protection of...2 other Paramedics who were startled and looking at me like I had 8 heads. They gallantly swarmed the bathroom in my defense, and pronounced it safe for bladder duty. By now, I was too freaked out to even think about subjecting myself to another vicious attack. I did the pee dance all the way home. 

The next shift, I arrived a few minutes early and inevitably my bladder called again. As an added coincidence the same 2 Paramedics that rescued me previously were getting off shift. Ignoring my pride, I implored them to check the bathroom before I used it. After an extended audience of disgusted exclamations, snideful remarks, and mocking laughter they earnestly checked the bathroom and proclaimed it safe for my occupancy. I shuffled along, embarrassed at my weakness, and resentful of my fear.

That evening, I had an epiphany! If I used reverse psychology and self induced mind control, maybe I could condition myself to tolerate my hyper-legged nemesis! I announced to my partner my new mantra, “Millipedes are people too!” I repeat this mantra both silently and audibly on my forays into the different rooms of station 6. I chant it, sing it, and really try to believe it. I haven’t seen a House Centipede since, so I think it may be working! Millipedes are people too! They deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, equal rights...and the bottom of my boot if one ever comes near me again!