Corona is coming back. Now with the Delta variant. And what will it be after this? The Echo variant? It will be something we will have to live with. Masks will be an accessory like a hat, gloves or necklace. Working in healthcare and EMS is an honor and a challenge. A lot of people have had enough. They are leaving for a job outside healthcare or just for another position at another company or hospital, just to get a change. That leads to a lot of open positions. Right now EMS is struggling big time with open positions in the same time the call volume is spiking. That puts a lot of pressure of us working. As you can see, it is a wheel going counter clockwise that needs to be turned around. In the same time, who wants to come into this profession? Who is that crazy? We are certainly not doing this for the money because our pay does not make it worth it. It is a financial struggle on a daily basis. If anyone would have told me when I was in EMT school that within two years I would be working in the middle of a pandemic, I would probably think twice about doing it, yet I would accept the challenge.

The state has come up with some kind of grants for hospitals and EMS. I don’t know the details about it, it is way over my paygrade. But what that has lead to is a 2 months program that has been offered to us in the field. We can sign a contract that asks us to sign up for one extra shift per paycheck (2 weeks) and then get an extra stipend added on our hourly rate. For me, this is an offer I can’t turn down financially. Even though we are only asked to do one extra shift per payperiod, it makes it well worth to sign up for one extra shift per week. It is for 2 months, the program will end October 2nd. I can do that! I have a car that needs a new tire, I have another year of insurance of the car to pay, etc etc. There are plenty of holes to put the money in.

Will it be rough? Yes. But as I’ve planned it now I will still have days off every week, and sometimes two consecutive days. And in the middle of September I will actually be off four days! It will be a good weekend for recovery to do the last half of the program.
I am off today and then I have my standby day (SOC) tomorrow. Work my regular shift Wednesday, Thursday and then I do my first pick up shift on Friday. It will all work out, it’s all about to plan ahead a little. Therefore I had to prepare the podcast already today. In that way it’s already done and taken care of, ready to be published on Thursday morning.

Yes, it will be exhausting but I also think it will be kind of fun. I know I will work with a bunch of new people, and on different trucks that I haven’t worked on before. It will be a challenge and I may learn a lot of things! I try to see it from a positive point of view instead of being overwhelmed by the days I will work. And for once… I will be paid what we’re supposed to be paid considering what job we are actually doing…