STRESS!

“Emergency!” What kind of response do you have when you hear someone yell it out? I bet it adds some stress to your life. That is a normal and expected response.

Hearing the word emergency stimulates many responses in people. Some people flip out, others go into shock, and yet others are not affected until after the whole emergency has passed.

Now this is just the response from everyday people. Now imagine being a firefighter, EMT, or other EMS personnel and the stress present in their lives. Not only do they have regular everyday stress but they have stress from the calls that they respond to. Every call elicits stress for EMS personnel; however, they are trained on how to deal with stress on the job. Also, EMS personnel are told that if they cannot handle the situation to take a step back and let someone else step up and help. For most EMS personnel the stress of the call does not sink in until after the call is over. During the call adrenaline is running and the thoughts of making sure the patients are alright delay the onset of stress. Afterwards EMS personnel will think about the call. Many thoughts may go running through their heads, two common thoughts are: ‘What could I have done differently?’ and ‘Why did this happen could it have been prevented?’.

When the head of an EMS department realizes that a person is getting stressed they will ask the employee if they to take time off, would like a counselor, or may even put them on probation for a few days to where they are not allowed at the department.

Stress seems to be a big reason that EMS personnel take up different careers. A few EMS personnel will say that after a while the stress just does not get to you as much for the basic calls, but it hits you hard when there are calls that go horribly wrong or children are involved. There are consequences to being stressed so stress management is important. It is possible that excessive stress can shorten a person’s life.

Let’s end with a positive note! Everyone gets stressed. Stress in manageable. Take time to yourself, talk about why you are stressed, seek help, and relax.