It seems
the Denver Post has hired two extraordinarily gifted emergency medical
advisors, or possibly two desperately stupid reporters that feel that from the
safety of their adorably decorated cubicles they can fairly judge the conduct
of the emergency personnel that responded to the Aurora shootings.
It seems
Karen E. Crummy (no irony in her name and her reporting is there) and Chucky
Murphy feel there is some story here, they imply cowardice on the part of some
responders. They imply that some medical crews were hiding out mere blocks away
from this tragedy because they were unwilling to risk themselves.
Read more: Aurora shooting: Ambulances available but many went unused - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/theatershooting/ci_21168806#ixzz21vJVtdtr
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Well I’m
sure with the staggering experience these two valiant reporters have in dealing
with chaotic, dangerous, and unpredictable scenes entitles them to sit in
judgment over the men and women who do this work on a daily basis. The sheer
volume of their collective reporting must afford them their clearly superior
position.
This is how
they choose to begin their piece.
“Even as Aurora police begged for
ambulances at the scene of last week's theater massacre, at least six nearby
medical responders weren't called to the scene for 20 to 35 minutes — or were
never called at all.”
Well there
you have it why write further? Definitive proof that these cowards were hiding
out in dark alleys with their lights turned off, ducking down in their seats
any time someone walked by. It is obvious at this point there must be a full
investigation and some heads should roll.
I’m sure
if Karen and Chuck had left their offices or homes that night they undoubtedly
would have scooped one of these poor souls up on to their back and carried them
to a hospital on foot.
After all
they have been reporting on tragedies of all kinds for years. They know this
business as well as any paramedic or EMT does, they know what it is like to be
in the shit. Heck I’m sure the newsroom gets pretty chaotic some days,
especially when someone brings in homemade cookies, you know those big fat chocolate
chewy chip ones. Now that is scary when you get the news of the arrival late
and have to fight your way in there for some of that sweet goodness. I’m sure
they have seen some bad injures when a hand got mistaken for a cookie.
Because
reporting on emergencies days later is just like being there. I’m sure they
have conducted numerous interviews with the innocent people traumatized by this
horror. I’m sure as they pressed the phone against their shoulder and ear,
cookie in hand, pen in the other; they really felt just like they were there.
They could have done a better job; they could have saved those people.
Let
try and throw just a little light on this subject. First off
I
am a retired firefighter/paramedic with over 30 years on the streets. I wasn’t in
Aurora that night and have never worked a mass shooting (thank you God) like
this.
What
I have done is to be part of a brotherhood and sisterhood of heroes that
willingly put their lives on the line for others on a daily basis. They don’t
do it from the safety of an office cubicle, they do it on the streets.
They
go home with the blood of others on their clothes, with the smell of sulfur and
death in their noses and minds. They hear the screams of the innocent for years
afterwards. It’s their feet that slip around on a blood covered floor, and it’s
in their nightmares when they get home.
So
judge your asses off Karen and Chuck, second guess the actions of people that
if called will still gladly risk their lives to save your miserable souls. I
understand the search for “News” under these conditions, hell you have resumes
to build, national by-lines to gather, awards to consider. Yeah I know you
secretly are searching for your Pulitzer, it just might be in this story
somewhere.
So
as you big through the garbage cans you like to visit searching for your award
know this. You have succeeded in rubbing salt in the wounds of some very good
people.
Do
either of you know the SOP’s of any of these organizations? Do you understand
that every single rescuer that was being held back that night is second
guessing themselves? I assure that it was killing them to be held back, out of
the action. Every fiber in them was screaming turn us loose there are people
that we can help.
But
we don’t have the luxury of freelancing, we have a structure a command
structure that is designed to make things like this better not worse. If all
the available resources were allowed to self dispatch on this emergency the
scene would have quickly devolved into pure chaos.
A
huge traffic jam was already in place, hundreds trying to flee, dozens trying
to get in and help and all under completely unknown conditions. One of first
rules is, don’t become part of the problem.
As
a paramedic I am sure that the first arriving medics had it handled, we use a
system of triage. Decisions have to be made quickly and without emotion as to
who gets what treatment and in what order. Ambulances and transport vehicles
are held at a distance until needed to reduce congestion and confusion, and
with a huge scene like this you call for every resource you can get.
As
the paramedics on scene triaged the wounded they would request transport as
needed and those units waiting at a distance would flow in, gather their
patients and then leave.
Also
all area hospitals are not created equal. Some can’t take certain types of
injuries. The triage medics have to keep this in mind and communicate with the
individual emergency rooms real time to see what destinations are able to take
what kinds of injures and in what quantity. If too many critical patients are
sent to one hospital then the treatment of those patients will suffer or they
will have to be moved again.
Did
either of these courageous reporters stop to think about the tremendous
responsibility of a job like that? Can you imagine having that many lives
hanging in the balance, doing your very best to help all those people, and then
days later be second guessed by the press?
How
rude!
Karen
and Chuck educate yourselves in our ways before you judge us on very little
information. Your jobs maybe important, after all getting information out to a
curious public is your job.
But
guess what our jobs are critical, we save lives while you seek to damage those
very lives. To quote Aaron Sorkin’s character Col. Nathan Jessep from A Few
Good Men,
“I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way.”
“I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way.”
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