The Writing and Photography Blog of Kevin J Sabo

I am happy to be home!

The last few weeks have been a rough ride, but I have weathered the storm and I’m still standing.

Today, I would like to send a shout to the men and women who work on the front lines of health care, our EMS providers. They work any time of day or night, and face some of the worst things humanity can throw at them, sometimes losing their own humanity in the process.

In my years as an EMT as well as the many trips I have taken as a patient on inter-facility transfers, I’ve met a vast array of personalities. Some have quite frankly been in the profession too long and are suffering compassion fatigue, and others who treat their patients with kindness.

When i was admitted to the hospital just over two weeks ago, I was transferred to the psychiatric center an hour and a half away by ambulance. The crew who picked me up from my local hospital were professional and kind.

The EMT in the back with me was familiar with our area, as she worked for the same service I did for awhile after I left. I had have to admit I was a little surprised when she had said she had heard my name mentioned, although she was quick to point out it was not in a negative light.

The awesome part is, she let me talk to her and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. She even asked me questions about dealing with the post-traumatic stress and was able to identify some aspects of her life where things were not quite right. She didn’t treat me like a patient. She treated me as a human, with compassion.

The simple act of kindness is bringing me to the point I want to make today. Kindness is a commodity that everyone in the world has in them, and can be given freely. You never know what kind of day someone is having. A simple act of kindness could be all that is needed to improve someone’s day, if not save their life.

I know in my case above, it helped make an already crappy situation that much more tolerable, and I will not soon forget the compassion that the individual had for me.

K