Back to Base

Yesterday, for the first time since I quit working last October, I went to visit the (new) PHI Dove Flight 3 base (St. John's Hospital, Anderson, IN). It was good to go back. Some things have changed (they've moved the base from the Anderson Airport to the hospital) and some are still the same (Golden Hour, personalities on base). It was good to go back.

For months after I quit working I couldn't even consider going to visit. It just hurt too much. To say that being an air-medical flight crewmember is an intense and competitive career is an understatement. I would be lying if I told you that "flight paramedic/RN" wasn't part of WHO I WAS. What I realized yesterday is that it was only PART. I am still "me". I always had a life outside of work.

Some of my former co-workers are always mentally at "work" and they ARE (in sum total) "flight nurses/paramedics/pilots". I realized yesterday that while I love what I did (and still do), I was able to go on after a period of mourning my loss. I'm not sure some of my co-workers would be able to do that and it saddens me immensely. Ask yourself "Who ARE you?"...not "what do you do" or "what role do you play in society" but WHO ARE YOU? Are you a person who has a great sense of humor, integrity, steadfastness, industriousness, etc.??? That's what I mean and if you can't answer that question quickly with at least a few personality traits, maybe it is time for YOU to take a quick "inventory".

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has never been known to foster a great balance between personal and professional life. It is more common than not to have EMS personnel so immersed in their work that they forget (or never even know) that there is life beyond the "lights and sirens". It is no wonder that the divorce rate (not to mention the rate of infidelity among those who remain married) in emergency services (and I include the ER staff in this group) is astronomical.

I am happy to say that, while I may not always have had a good "balance" between work and "life" outside work, I was reassured by yesterday's visit that I am still "me" and that I truly do value other people more than any "thing" or "career".

I miss flying more than I can put into words, but life is still FULL. I am blessed! Love, Claudia