Quote:
Originally Posted by moon
People have talked a lot about Paramedics saving lives and now risking their lives as though they do this on a daily basis. I am obviously not the biggest supporter but I wonder how often it is that either of these situations are the case.
How often is it that Paramedics save peoples lives? I am not trying to diminsih their jobs and what they do but it seems as though some are acting as though its all that they do is save lives.
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I don't have the exact numbers, but I guess it comes down to how you define "saving lives." Is it as black and white as life and death? I don't think so. I could argue that agressively treating breathing problems, somebody having a heart attack, or someone who's been shot/stabbed is "saving a life." It's not a common occurance in the grand scheme of things (though still does happen a lot) for them to have to do CPR on a patient but I think saving a life goes a lot further than that.
In regards to risking their lives, it may not be as high risk as say firefighting or policing, but medics still drive lights and sirens to calls in the middle of rush hour and run the risk of getting in accidents. Just look what happened earlier this year on Memorial/Deerfoot...ambulance gets tboned and left both medics injured. They often go into to rather unsafe situations with drunks, mentally unstable patients, etc. Along with that, you have to consider any sort of disease that can be transmitted through blood, etc. I am confident that all these medics were well aware of these risks before they started the job but it's still a scary thought to think of what they deal with on a daily basis.