'Twenty-Seven', More Than A Favorite Number...

SHIFT 27...Rick's ReFlections of his 32 years career in the Fire Service...

As mentioned back on SHIFT 42, I can be eccentric when it comes to numbers. Today’s shift, number 27 is certainly one of those. For years it has been my ‘favorite’ number…a number that I wore on my back during my years of playing ball…it is the age of the man in John Denver’s ‘Rocky Mountain High’…the age when I began my career at PAF&R…and the total years that I’ve worked here at PDX.

 So breaking down 27 (Twenty-Seven) into a lifespan might look something like this…the first 27 begin with childhood, carry’s on through school, early married life and children…the second 27 runs through my entire career here at the Portland Airport Fire and Rescue…and the third 27…begins shortly… What’s in store? That is yet to be known or seen.

We, the Red Sox were 1993 Champions

Recently I was making one last attempt to evaluate the ‘Pros’ and ‘Cons’ regarding whether to ReFire now or wait. In keeping with my mantra of ‘Simplicity, Flexibility and Availability’ I wanted to break it down in the smallest of terms. Being silly about acronyms I came up with ‘HDF’. And you ask, “What might ‘HDF’ be?” Well…please allow me to explain. ‘H’ is for Health, ‘D’ for Desire and ‘F’ is for Financial or Faith. On the ‘Pro’ side…my Health is probably better than average for an old dude like me. Desire…I still love my job. And Financial…the pay and benefits are pretty darn good. Then on the ‘Con’ side…I’m an old dude… (did I say that already?) in a field for the young. The potential of injury increases with age, placing my Health in jeopardy over time. Desire…as I said, I do love my job, but...the endless CE (oh another acronym), that is Continuing Education, is draining. With CE in Fire, Haz-Mat, Aircraft Familiarization, Building Familiarization, on literally six different vehicles and bucket loads of medical…yeah, lacking desire with these is an understatement. Then the ‘Gen-E’ (generation entitlement) folks chip at my desire as well. Lastly…Faith…I want…I hope to trust the Creator for the next Twenty-Seven.

Christmas...27 years ago. There is a story...

The song, ‘Open The Eyes Of My Heart’ plays on Pandora. Lord, do open my eyes. Lord, give to me, I pray, eyes to trust You in what lies ahead. I’m a planner, and I don’t know what the plan is. I will wait…perhaps only knowing what the ‘next’ day holds, when the ‘next’ day arrives. For now, there are ‘only’ 27 shifts remaining. Wow, so surreal!

Trains, Planes and Cubby Holes…

SHIFT 28...Rick's ReFlections of his 32 years career in the Fire Service...

PDX...from the MAX Train station.

The ‘airport’, a place that I’ve called my second home for 31 of my 32 years…Looking back it seems like quite the providential place to work. I remember as a kid, after my parents had divorced, mom would load us four kids into our beat up car and drive off to LAX to watch the planes take off and land. Later, mom would remarry and my step-dad (aka…Poppa Jopp) had his own plane in which we enjoyed numerous flights. Then as a young teenager (with seniority over my little brothers) I had the benefit of the middle bunk, the one with the window with a view to watch those same planes fly in and out of LAX, all the while listening to aircraft and tower communication on my radio that had a built in scanner. OK, maybe a little nerd-like…but it was fun. Then over the past decade I’ve been privilege on several occasions to take a seat in these beautiful flying machines, traveling about the world. Fittingly, joining the Air Force and landing a job at PDX seems like just the ideal setting.

SWA 737 with Mt. Hood and Tower

SST...Supersonic Transport

Somehow I have never lost the fascination of watching planes. Of course when the F15’s are performing their ‘vertical take-off’s’, there aren’t many sitting in the station. And not just to watch them, but to be in and through and around them has been quite intriguing. From the F4 Phantom to the C5 Galaxy, from the SST (Supersonic Transport) to the Boeing 747, from the Cessna 172 to the Leer Jet, from the ‘Guppy’ to the DC3, from the fixed wing to the helicopter, from Travolta’s 727 to the galley of a L1011, from Air Force One to a B1, from vintage to modern and from airport to airshow, all have been part of my past. But most definitely their fascination will remain as part of my future.

Rick aboard SST in 1990

Beyond the planes, the access in, around and through this airport has an appeal all its own. ‘To go where no man’s gone before’. OK…that’s a bit over the top. You get my point though. With my little yellow badge and a couple keys, I’ve been able to see the side of the airport and airplanes that most never even think of. And I still think it’s quite cool to drive anywhere across the flight line…especially at night. They have such pretty lights:) And they call this a ‘job’.

F15 with 'afterburners' on

F4 Phantom's in formation

Gotta love a plane called a...Guppy

John Travolta's 727...been there!

Kansas City...Paramedic Internship

SHIFT 29...Rick's ReFlections of his 32 years career in the Fire Service...

I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come
I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come
They got some crazy little women there
And I'm gonna…

Ok, so…I’m ‘not gonna get me one’…but I did live with one…well actually two. The first was little Miss Julia, then 95 years young. She provided me with her spare bedroom and use of the entire house in a quiet neighborhood, making a much better situation than the thought living in a hotel for three months.

System Status with MAST

 My first rotation was a six week stint with MAST Ambulance in KC, Missouri.  Upon arriving for my first shift I was told that my preceptor would be a guy named Randy. It was this same Randy that most feared because of his apparent toughness on interns. I’ve always been a person that tries to give the individual the benefit of the doubt and figured to give Randy the same. I’m not sure if they were just wrong or if I was able to create some confidence that very first shift.

 

It was late in the evening when we were called to a shooting close to downtown. Upon arrival we found a teenage boy down with what appeared to be a couple shots to his torso. We immediately got the young man unto the gurney and began to expedite to the closest hospital. In the back of the ambulance Randy quickly began the first IV and I was given the intubation tube. A very difficult one at that as we had to suction quite a bit before searching for our typical landmarks of the vocal cords. Totally unable to view the cords I went for the ‘air bubbles’. This is a technique that we’re taught in school, but not often experienced in the field, especially someone’s very first intubation. The result…the tube goes in and we ventilate the patient effectively. Randy takes the BVM, allowing me to start the second IV. Mom and family arrived ahead of us at the ER with much predictable crying and wailing as we pass them moving her son into room three. The doctors continued where we left off, giving the young man the best opportunity to survive the shooting. Towards the end of our shift we had been told by another unit that they had later pronounced him dead. What was a very emotional and difficult scene became my ‘baptism by fire’ into my internship and relationship with my ‘tough’ preceptor. Don’t get me wrong, he was tough, but that night I had won a great deal of his confidence, unfortunately due to a very senseless act of violence.

A major part of our internship is acquiring a set number of ALS (Advanced Life Support) calls. I was kept quite busy working six 12 hours shifts per week, obtaining most of my required calls within the first six weeks. In hind sight I would have stayed solely with MAST, but the agreement was for me to do the second six week stint with Johnson County in Kansas City, Kansas. Everything changed…the good part I moved to South KC, having a basement all to myself with a cool running partner, Charley, a chocolate Labrador. The not so good part was that the call volume and critical nature of the calls was greatly reduced. Though we had ‘good’ calls still, I was glad that I had spent those beginning weeks with MAST. 

Lightening over Kaufman Stadium in KC

Aside from the internship and the living arrangements, that summer in KC provided good times eating  exceptional BBQ, viewing their beautiful fountains throughout the city and taking in a couple Royals games, including one with my cousin Scott, ten years my junior whom I had not seen since 1970. He’d grown just a tad at 6’7”. I also attended a game on the Fourth of July that provided fireworks, both man-made and by the Creator as the game was delayed due to an incredible lightening display. 

All in all, the conclusion of my internship brought the close of perhaps one of the most trying, but most amazing years of my life. And I nearly gave it up…to be a Lieutenant. 

KC...city of fountains

Paramedic School...A Life Highlight

SHIFT 30...Rick's ReFlections of his 32 years career in the Fire Service...

Paramedic School...Class of 95'

Childhood, a happy enduring marriage…both have been some of life’s greatest pleasures. Included with these is the ability to say, “I love my job”. In a culture where many have a difficult time just pulling themselves out from under the sheets in the morning…I can truly say that this is not my experience. But that which was good became even better, if you can imagine that. In my first seven years I had already had many great opportunities being a member of the Water Rescue Program and also getting to play some with medicine as an EMT 2. Then in 1993 the Port decided after a 13 year hiatus of sending folks to the OHSU Paramedic Program, that if I’d like, they wanted me to attend. “If I’d like?” “Are you kidding me”. “Well, let me think about this”. “Yes!” And that one decision has been life changing in so many ways.

Rick & Karen at 95' Graduation with John Sito

I say “yes”, but in all honesty, as I look back it was a bit more difficult of a decision for a couple reasons. For one we had lived though a number of rough years including the death of both my mother and mother-in-law. But two, I had tested for a position as a Lieutenant and had been selected as number one on the list. In our department until just this past week in fact, Lieutenants could not take on both the role of a Paramedic and Lieutenant. As I considered these two options, what influenced my decision more than any was the thought that if I take the Lieutenant position I will likely never have an opportunity to become a Paramedic again. But…become a Paramedic and Lieutenant…it could follow later. So…Paramedic is what I choose…a decision I have not once regretted.

The department kicked me loose for the entire year allowing me to focus completely on my studies. Our classroom on ‘the hill’ at OHSU was in the greatest of locations, though some might not think so…as next door was the autopsy room. A lecture would be going on and we could hear a bit of grinding taking place. How cool is that? The year was divided into four sections: didactic, labs, multiple rotations and a three month internship (which I’ll talk about in further detail in the next post).

National Paramedic...the 1st time!

Some of my favorite memories include our instructor who took us through a grueling, but very memorable two weeks of Pharmacology and EKG’s. The day before our exams in these two sections he brought in three bags, two with snacks and soda, and a third with several VHS tapes (remember those things) of the 1970’s show ‘Emergency’. Another memory near the top was my OR (Operating Room) rotation. I had an incredible anesthesiologist who taught and mentored some amazing procedures. Then just being part of the OR experience, the surgeries, the skill observed was simply amazing in itself. And a concluding memory (though definitely not the last) was our final week of school, our own ’hell week’ as we would call it. Typically you would take the school, the State and the National exams within a two or three month period. Since there happen to be a State and National exam the same week as our OHSU final, five of us submitted a request to take all three exams the same week, which the school cautiously agreed to. All of us gathered together at one of our homes in the Portland area and spent a very long day continuing into the middle of the night testing each other with questions and the practicing the skills of the exams. Our goal was one fold…all of us was going to pass each exam and do it the first time. It was awesome to discover that this is exactly what we did.

Having had the privilege to be a Paramedic for a majority of my firefighter career, I’m at a crossroads of where to go from here. It was a long road to get this license, now what role, if any, does it play in ReFirement?