JUST ANOTHER DAY IN EMS
I delivered a baby on the ambulance stretcher
I baptized a newborn who’s life ended before it began.
I hugged a frightened child.
I was kissed by an intoxicated old man.
I held the hand of a teenage girl while she delivered a 3 pound baby.
I listened to the mournful squeak of a stretcher being wheeled to the morgue.
I gently stroked the fragile hand of a 102 year old woman.
I hesitated at the outreached hand of a 300 pound prisoner in handcuffs.
I trudged for ten hours in my boots.
I had a teenager vomit on those same boots.
I rubbed the feverish body of a 14-year-old cancer patient.
I cradled the ice-cold hand of a child hit by a car.
I was referred to as "an angel of mercy".
I was called every four-letter word in the book.
I always see fear in people’s eyes.
I never see joy or relief.
I listened to a tormented voice pleading for the preservation of life.
I heard the threatening words of one bent on self destruction.
I spoke with a girl who was hoping she had the flu, not a pregnancy.
I see innocent people hurt by a drunk driver, and the drunk driver is never hurt.
I marveled at the genius of a cardiologist.
I saw a 12-year-old boy who shot himself in the head, and the gun was still loaded at his feet.
I talked in circles with a schizophrenic person.
I was horrified at the battered body of a child whose parents were incapable of love.
I gazed at a horribly burned body.
I shuddered at a cold water drowning.
I see women beaten up by their spouses, but they
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