They’re having a meeting, and I’m invited. Well, actually. it’s mandatory, but I like to pretend I don’t have to be there. They have already had three such meetings, and I’ve heard little bits of what went on. Mine is the last group to go. It has been canceled twice now, the remaining few  may never get the opportunity to hear what wisdom  everybody else had to endure.

Here is the gist of things: A few months ago, one of “us” was called to an assisted living facility to transport a resident who was suffering from pink eye, or something similar. Upon arrival at said assisted living facility, and upon completion of a thorough evaluation and subsequent mutually agreed upon refusal from the patient, the nursing director demanded the patient’s wishes be ignored. The EMT, who incidentally is a good friend of mine, and who graduated from the same academy as me nearly twenty years ago, and has responded to more emergencies than she should, and also happens to be a Captain on the Providence Fire Department with numerous citations, recommendations, graduations and accolades, acted as an advocate for the patient and respected her wishes and refused transport.

The Nursing Director at the facility, hereto referred to as “them” proceeded to inform “us” how her education, and degree and all around worshipablity put her directly in charge of the patient’s care, and therefore, by the powers that be, also made her superior to “us” and therefore legally, morally and hardy har harly obligated to do as she demanded. Some yelling, finger pointing blahbadee blah blah ensued, and “us” decided that due to the patients increased anxiety, we would transport.

End of story?

Heck no!

“Them” decided to file a complaint against “us” with the powers that be. Piles of paperwork was submitted, stories told, egos bruised, and beaten and brushed off. A satisfactory compromise was made, a “meeting” called  to clarify a few things.

Would this mean that “us” would finally have our day? Could it be that “us” could explain that we are professionals, trained, experienced and educated? Would we finally get our day in court?

Hell no!

The nursing manager, “them” arrogantly addressed her perceived inferiors, “us”  and explained that she had the power to decide who would be transported, and when. The bean counters, aka FD Administration agreed (I had suspected they might not be on our side after all.)  The troops did not.  Chaos ensued, the meetings were declared a disaster by anybody with half a brain, morale sunk lower that we ever thought possible and the six rescues currently in service in Providence, providing quality emergency medical care to the 200,000 residents and half a million daily visitors went back on the streets to whore for the city coffers.

It’s all about the Benjamins, folks. There is no doubt.

As for the meeting this week, I have no idea if I’ll do a silent protest, or open my big mouth, and keep it open until I’m asked to leave.

Susie Hemingway Moursi For
everyone wiith a partner:
Let me be aware of the treasure you are.
Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.
…Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.

One day I shall dig my nails into the earth
or bury my face in the pillow,
or raise my hands to the sky and want,
more than all the world your return.

One night, as I sat at my desk in a little office in a little fire station in a small city in the US, I opened my window to the world known as the Internet, and moved the little mouse over something called Verve Earth, and randomly zig zagged across the map of the world, wondering where I might stop. When I was a kid I used to go to the  globe, which for those who never saw one is a three dimensional orb which replicates Planet Earth, mounted on a holder of sorts that allows the earth to spin. I’d give it a good push, and lightly place my finger on the surface as it spun, and wherever it stopped, that is where I decided I would go.

This night, I stopped in England, “in a beautiful village nestling by the river Bain in the heart of the Lincolnshire Woods.”  There, I was introduced to Susie and Hamada, a happily married couple, living gracefully through the curse of Multiple Myeloma.  Through Susies poems I was allowed entry into the most astonishing love story ever written. The simple complexity of her words, full of pain but able to articulate enduring hope travelled an ocean, and opened a part of my heart that had been closed since 1990, when my father battled cancer and lost.

Hamada died this week. The profound sadness I felt when I heard the news, through Facebook of all places, literally crippled me. I never spoke to Hamada, nor heard him speak. I only knew him through the words his wife used to describe their life together, and his courage and dignity during his last few years. Yet I knew him. And I’m a better person because of it. I imagine Hamada will be laid to rest sometime today, “in a beautiful village nestling by the river Bain in the heart of the Lincolnshire Woods.”  I imagine his friends and family will join the solemn occasion, and pay their respects, and mourn his loss.

But here in my little place, back in my little office, watching the world through my little window the sadness I felt has been replaced, and in its place something greater and timeless resides, and I have Susie and Hamada to thank, for without them, I would not have experienced The Power Within.

Thank you, Susie, and Rest in Peace, Hamada.

http://www.susiehemingway.com/