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Curmudgeon's Corner
Coxon Farewell: Closing one door and opening a new one
by
John McMaster, MBA
curmudgeon n : a crusty irascible cantankerous
old person full of stubborn ideas.
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McMaster, age 21, Orange
County,
California and today. |
I just read John McMaster's column and wanted to drop a note and tell you about my long friendship with John. My first job in EMS was working on an ambulance with John. That was in 1972 in Loveland Colorado. It was a one-car operation in a small community. I had an advanced first aid card and experience on ski patrol, that was it, but in those days that was enough. John was willing to take a chance on a young, long-haired kid. Thanks to John, I found my home in EMS and working with him fueled a passion to be the best and always strive to learn and try new things.
I can count on one hand the people that made a difference in my life and career. John is at the top of that list. I fondly remember responding to calls with him, lights flashing, siren screaming and John calmly driving through traffic whistling a tune to himself. He was in his element when kneeling next to patients who were frightened and in pain. John taught me about compassion and how treating the patient was more that bandaging, starting IV's, reading their EKG, it was also about caring for their emotional needs.
I have so many fond memories of working with John - taking the ambulance five miles up a four-wheel drive road in the pouring rain (frequently getting out to push from behind as John gunned the ambulance up the muddy, rut-filled road) to get to a patient that had fallen from a horse and then finding out that there was a new housing edition just over the hill and that we could have driven on paved roads to within a few hundred yards of where the patient was located; spending all night on a back country rescue (crossing a lake by boat and then hiking to the patient) for a Boy Scout that had hurt him leg only to have the patient walk out of the ED with his parents even before we had the ambulance cleaned and back in service (seems he was "home sick" and used us as the means to leave the camp out); or trying to treat a patient in the back of a 1954 Packard ambulance which had standard headroom and not extended to provide room long enough for the traction splint on the patient with a fractured femur.
To put it simply, John Mcmaster is one of the true silent heros in EMS. I know he commented in his latest article that he can only remember four patients that had a profound impact on him, but I can assure you that there are countless peoples lives that John had a significant impact on. I am one of those people! It has been a privilege to know and work with John and I look forward to continuing my friendship for many years to come.
Kent Coxon
EMS Coordinator, Coastal Valleys EMS Agency
Santa Rosa, CA
Mar 17, 2006,
11:48
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