EMS World Expo Opens in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- The thousands of providers and responders attending EMS World's 2011 Expo in Las Vegas got a few words of advice from the keynote speaker today: don't ever become emotionally bankrupt.

"If your emotional bank account runs out, you're out of the EMS business," said Mike Smith, a paramedic and EMS provider for more than 39 years. "You've got to recharge your emotional batteries or you're done.

Smith is the program chairman for the Emergency Medical Services program at Tacoma (Wash.) Community College and a member of the EMS World editorial advisory board. He was tapped as the keynote speaker at the last minute to replace Federal Emergency Management Agency Deputy Administrator Rich Serino who was busy back on the East Coast dealing with the effects Irene left behind as it blew through the region.

Also welcoming the responders to the Expo, which is co-located with Firehouse Central and Enforcement Expo, was Mike Myers, chief of Las Vegas Fire and Rescue. In his welcoming comments, Myers said "doing more with less" is no longer a cliché, but a way of doing business for first responders everywhere. The expo and conference runs through Friday, Sept. 2.

In the past decade, he said Las Vegas has seen its land mass increase 13 percent, its call volume increase 31 percent, and its population increase by 36 percent, yet the department has added only 31 additional firefighters since 2000 and only two engine companies and six rescue units. Clerical and training staffs have been reduced as well, he said.

"We are clearly doing more with less and it's not uncommon everywhere," Myers said, noting that's why it is important for people to get all they can out of conventions like EMS World Expo.

"We are here to listen, to learn and to seek our benchmark... so we can be the best," Myers said.

In his remarks, Smith touched upon ways providers can continue to be their best for the long term.

Smith's speech, titled "Longevity in EMS: Will You Stay or Go Away," was punctuated with humor and honesty and filled with personal observations over his nearly four decades in the business.

"I have been blessed to get paid for doing something I love for 39 years," Smith said as he asked those with more than 15 to 30 years in the profession to rise. Those in the audience with 30 or more years received sustained applause from their peers gathered in one of the huge Las Vegas Convention Center conference rooms.

He said that being an EMS provider is a "seductive profession" because there's always one more shift to work, one more class to take or to teach.

"You are an emotional care giver and your patients are emotional takers," Smith explained, adding that it's important to replenish the emotional bank account from time to time with time away from the job.

He recommends taking care of oneself physically as it is one of the most important elements of longevity for providers. One of the greatest inventions for the EMS community was the power lift gurney, he said.

"When they came out with those, I nearly wet myself," Smith said. That invention, however, does not excuse one from being physically fit. Providers still must lift gear up flights of stairs, crawl in mud at car accidents and generally exert themselves to do the job.

Being aware of why you, or anyone else, is in the profession is a good reality check, Smith said. There are those who like to be in EMS for the "red lights and sirens" and the adrenaline rush, but those won't last long he said.

"Vomit makes up for the red lights and sirens doesn't it folks," Smith said, commenting that the "pasta surprise" and the "chili explosion" that often occur during medical calls takes the glamour away from the red lights and sirens.

And then there are the "wounded helpers" who witnessed the death of a loved one and were helpless to do anything or came upon a horrific accident, but were powerless to provide assistance. Those kinds of people often make it in the EMS profession, but may need help sustaining their enthusiasm for the profession, he said.