Category: mental health
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The Chair
On Location My first real job out of college wasn’t in medicine, or anywhere near an ambulance. It was in lighting — the kind that makes concerts glow, trade shows sparkle, and corporate galas look like the Grammys. The company was called On Location Lighting Systems, or OLLS, based out of northern Kentucky just south…
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A Mental Health Odyssey – Still Here
A follow-up on A Mental Health Odyssey, revisiting mental health themes, and exploring where I am now, and where I’m headed from here.
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A Mental Health Odyssey
The author shares his journey through major depressive disorder, anxiety, and social phobia while working as an EMS provider. Despite having effective treatment for years, he experiences a decline in mental health in late 2023, prompting medication changes and the need for a temporary leave of absence. The narrative includes personal challenges, medication adjustments, struggles…
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EMS Week 2020!
It’s EMS WEEK 2020! It sure doesn’t feel like it, though. Usually as we are approaching this week, we’re talking about crew breakfasts, the EMS week banquet, service recognition events, team-building, and other fun events. Instead, our discussions are focused on things like PPE utilization, COVID alert rates, disease spread, and community fatality rates. Much…
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The Socially Awkward Medic
I’m awkward. I’m introverted. I struggle sometimes with depression and anxiety. I’ve been, at one time or another, diagnosed with clinical depression, major depression, social anxiety, social phobia, and an anger disorder. You might be reading this paragraph and wondering aloud, “how the hell does he function as a paramedic?” – and you’re not alone.…
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End of Shift
I may be hanging up my boots. I have, I believe, tended to my last patient, responded to my last call, and ended my last shift.
Ventricular Escape Beats 