For anyone who’s been in EMS for more than a few months, you’ll eventually get a customer service, patient care, ethics, or compassion lecture. Most likely, that lecture will be either maudlin, bordering on religious, patronizing, or condescending. In fact, there are several people who seem to have quite the cottage industry to delivering such “lessons” to EMS providers. One of them I call the Jiminy Cricket of EMS. These lectures and presentations usually don’t work for EMS types. Quite simply, most of us are too cynical, jaded, or sarcastic to sit through or read a version of a Sunday School lesson that talks down to us.
But instead of a rant about this, I’ll continue in my happy Friday spirit of calling out some people who deliver that message well. My friends Joe Kiff, Amanda Scott, Jennifer Price, Karen (and her husband Matthew) Bailey, Samuel Kordik, and Christine Springfield work for Cypress Creek EMS on the northern side of Harris County, Texas. When I volunteered as a medic there, all of them delivered (and lived) a very simple message relating to customer service — “Be nice. Be accountable.” In fact, Joe delivered that exact message in their department’s volunteer orientation.
Plain, simple, short, and sweet. That’s a great way to provide customer service and compassion as an EMS provider. No maudlin messages. No patronizing tone. Cypress Creek EMS may not be perfect in many aspects, but their “customer service” message is damned near perfect.
So, I’ll leave you with this, especially if you’re on the ambulance this weekend. Be nice. Be accountable.
