For one paramedic, the thrill of emergency care is knowing you have the potential to change someone's life for the better.
David Morriss said being a paramedic is more than just treating a patient physically — it's taking care of their emotional and mental health to lessen the impact of whatever trauma they've suffered. In an interview with EMS World, Mr. Morriss acknowledges that emergency care is a tough field; a paramedic's typical schedule requires 24 hours of continuous work followed by 48 hours away from the job. However, Mr. Morriss said you can't let the negative aspects of the job affect you — to be effective, you have to distance yourself from the events you witness and focus on why you took the job in the first place.
"You see all kinds of people in trouble and in need, and you see them at their worst point, and it takes a special person to do all that because you've got to be a counselor and have several hats on when you're dealing with people mentally and psychologically … [But] you have to have a way to escape. You can't let all that stuff get real personal because it can really mess with you, as far as traumatic events. You see a lot of kids in accidents and some are pretty detrimental. If you let that work on you, then it can really affect you as far as PTSD and what not. I know there's a lot of paramedic burnout and stuff[,] but you have to keep on focus that you're doing the greater good [for people]."
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