Ridiculous Consumerism

In November a lady rang up a Sydney talkback radio station proclaiming the “ridiculous consumerism” due to the Christmas shopping push by retailers on Remembrance Day.

Fast-forward a month and the ridiculousness of that day seems miniscule in comparison.

We had stores open for 36 hours non-stop. Traffic jams in surrounding areas till about 3am. Cars crashing all over the place due to their impetuous nature.

All this because Christmas has become the time to shop, and people are stressing out about it. They feel pressured into finding the right gift.

Giving need not be stressful. It ought to be a joyous experience. If it is a stressful time for you then perhaps you need an evaluation of your life’s priorities. Then turn the car around and go home and sleep.

Civility is Easy

It really is amazing how one can achieve much more when one’s behaviour is civil in nature. I’ll recount a story where a matter went from very civil to violent in the blink of an eye, and for no apparent reason.

From what I gathered the story goes like this. A lady was brought in by ambulance, she was relatively uninjured but was in some pain after what I believe was a car accident. Family was waiting in the waiting room but her adult son was keen to see her.

While the door was being opened for him he barged the door fully open and hurried in. The experienced paramedic looking after his mother asked him to stop for a moment. After all we can’t have any form of antisocial behaviour in the corridors of a hospital.

Seemed like this man wasn’t used to being told “no”, so my colleagues imperatives meant nothing to him so he kept advancing and took the ensuing body contact as a threatening gesture. Despite contact being made by his advances, not a deliberate action from the paramedic. Due to the mans action so far he was asked politely to leave the triage area and go back to the waiting room

What he unleashed then was a tirade of foul language, threats of violence and intimidating behaviour. Security dragged him and other family members away. Police were called as the situation escalated. Capsicum spray was used and handcuffs used as restraints. The ambulance bay was turned into a decontamination area to wash the perpetrators eyes.

Meanwhile mum is getting agitated as she could easily hear all the shouting and kerfuffle that her son was causing. She almost jumped off the stretcher to go and see them, inadvertently proving her lack of serious injury.

End result: two men taken away in handcuffs to the police station, likely to be charged with a misdemeanour offense and forever to have a criminal record (if they hadn’t already).

Just ask them though and you will be told that they have never done anything wrong. Today, to them, they were prohibited to do something they deemed their right and their reaction justified. Wrong! Also that police indiscriminately assaulted them with capsicum spray. Wrong again! Another case of the individuals not taking responsibility for their own actions.

Such an easily avoidable situation. Yet people want to act on emotion and their impetuous nature instead of discernment, common sense and civility.

Firstly, patience was required in the hospital system. Not everything can be done right now. There is a process, have patience. Things go faster if you don’t cause scenes. The triaging of his mother was put on hold and all of triage virtually shut down while the matter was being dealt with. If he had waited a mere second for the door to be opened then perhaps things would have different.

Secondly, even if the barging were allowed to pass then a simple apology and acknowledgement of his behaviour when held up by the paramedic would have diffused the situation.

I have a feeling that he would have found a way to escalate the situation regardless. Better to have an altercation in the parking lot than in the triage area.

Such an innocuous spark for such trouble to result. At the end of the day no one wins.

Interpreter Required

I have often wanted to ask non-English speaking patients how it is that they cant speak our language yet know all about our emergency services and are able to access them quite frequently. They all manage to understand the word pension card and medicare.

I wonder how long I would last in their country if I never learnt the language. I would deem that as plain rudeness on my behalf. So why do we accept it in the country? Is this political correctness gone mad?

No Time To Wait

Emergency departments are very busy places. Emphasis must be made on the word emergency, for if you present with a non-emergency you should expect to wait. Possibly wait for a very long time.

Not even coming by ambulance will save you from waiting. This is a myth we have to debunk every now and then.

Some people full of their own self-importance don’t have time to wait. Their health took a priority to a certain point. They might wait for a period of time while continually making their presence known to triage staff.

Most triage nurses are too polite to suggest that perhaps the frequent enquiries proves the relative wellness of the patient.

Before leaving they of course let whoever they can know how disgusted they are with the system. A system that is struggling from the strain of having to deal with patients like them that aren’t an emergency case. Of course they manage to miss the irony of such a situation.

The State of Cricket

Eventually cricket fans in this country will get over themselves and stop assuming that we have a birthright as Australians to be the best cricketing nation in the world at all times.

We have had a magnificent run for many years. We are still a good team but not the world beaters of years one by. Lets not forget that there was a time when even Australia was in the shadow of the great West Indies teams of the 80’s and 90’s.

All the comments bagging Australian cricket don’t acknowledge that England is a good team (hard to admit I know). Not a great team yet, otherwise they would lift against nations other than Australia.

This current public attitude craving constant succuss I fear will result in short term team changes in a hope of finding a magic mix that might not even exist. A win will keep a rabid public at bay, a loss and they go in for they kill with even more harsh criticism.

Realistically it was always going to take time to restructure after the loss of Langer, Hayden, Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist. There’s the core of a team, two of the finest ever bowlers, a solid opening pair, and another who revolutionised the keeper/ batsmen positon. All gone in a short period of time. It seems there is no room for realism for those worshipping cricket.

Relax!! We will be the number one cricketing nation again. For now enjoy watching the development of the next generation of Aussie cricket stars

Panicky Parents

Perhaps I need children of my own to gain some perspective. I’m hoping I won’t be as worrisome as a lot of parents whose young children I attend.

Most of the infants we get called to seem to be suffering from normal baby ailments such as vomiting, blocked nose, coughing, fevers. But just because they are unable to verbalise their discomfort the parents go straight for worst case scenario and call an ambulance.

Most times we transport just because it is easier to give peace of mind to these parents than convincing them there is nothing wrong, from what we can see.

I'm hoping that my knowledge from this job will be an asset rather than a burden. I've seen how fragile life can be, but then I’ve also seen how resilient the human body can be.

Babies are precious but as with most of our cases a little bit of common sense goes a long way.

A Banning Misses The Point

Have a think about personal responsibility the next time there is a call for widespread banning of a product or activity. Usually the banning glosses over the underlying issues. Instead it’s an acknowledgement that society has gone too far in a certain direction. But instead of us individually acknowledging our misgivings and changing our behaviours we call for the government to rescue us with a ban. This is no more than a bandaid solution. Or merely revenue raising plan in the case of the Alco pops tax and others like it.

The govt wants to be seen to be doing something, and seen doing something now. Changing general public attitudes is too hard, especially when they have accepted or promoted a level of antisocial behaviour for so long. Instead, to keep up appearances a ban on things like violent video games and special taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and gambling are put into legislation.

It’s just a band aid that will have little or no long term effect.