Working With Children

One of the hardest things in an emergency situation is dealing with children. How would you feel if someone came running to you with their baby and it was severely burned or it was blue? Even worse what would you do if someone’s house was on fire and they told you that their child was still inside…
I am not saying that emergency personnel have no emotional attachment to older people. I am just stating that children are harder to work with because the emergency personnel’s emotions get more involved. It also depends on how well the emergency personnel have been trained with coping skills. Some personnel will not let the emotions get to them while on a call, but afterwards the emotional impact hits them.
Can you imagine….you are a first responder riding along with the ambulance. While you are out helping to clean the ambulance you hear tires squeal. Then a man jumps out of the driver’s seat holding a baby. He tosses the baby to you and says help I think he is choking….
This is a scenario that has actually happened to me, and yes, the man really did toss the baby into our arms. This is how a lot of calls go with young children, the parents or other care givers get so worked up and expect EMS (emergency medical services) to work miracles. We do the best we can in the circumstances.
As emergency personnel we try and get out into communities and inform the public about safety hazards for children. Some departments do car seat inspections to make sure that car seats are properly installed. Others will give out stickers to locate where the children’s rooms are located. Yet, some departments will have days where they fill up rooms with smoke and teach children to stay low to the ground. Still other departments give out information on choking hazards, plug in fillers, and chemical hazards. These are just a few ways that fire departments try to prevent childhood injuries and accidents.
As EMS we want to try preventing everything possible. However, if we must go to a call for a child we make sure we are well prepared. All EMS personnel should know who they can talk to for support on how to deal with their stressful incidents.