Don't you just love when you have technical difficulties with your computer and then you completely forget to send your chapter to be edited. Huge hugs to R for getting this back to me in a crazy short amount of time ~ new record, it was under 50 minutes. Different time zones can be a pain.
Big shout out to Jewel – thank you the awesome long review letting me know what your favourite scene was, and yes I think Matt does need to get a hurry up on that furniture. And to both you and AshleyDawsey51 for saying that Antonia was a good choice for a name, I'll admit that I went back and forth on that a bit. And also to Rebecca who has been so good going over names with me – she has been doing that since July, especially since I kept changing my mind. I found it quite hard to find names that didn't remind me of any students but would still be names that were right for Matt and Gabby.
Week Twenty Seven
~ Candidate is now the size of a cauliflower ~
"Babe?" Gabby hollered from the study door where she had been shuffling through her papers looking for the notes that she had been making on the lecture that she had to give today. Whilst she had generally been enjoying her time at the academy, the topic of today's lecture was something new and something that she knew she was going to have a few complaints with… Or maybe the candidates would be receptive and give that feedback to the senior lecturers. The Chicago Fire Department was a fairly good company to work for, and whilst they had their problems Gabby had seen them attempt to address some of the bigger problems head on over the years.
And today was one of those attempts. Gabby had spent a good part of the last two weeks at 51 working with her old company on some of her presentation for the day. But there was a fair amount of worry clouding her mind if she was honest. She had become very comfortable with teaching her own candidates, however teaching the entire class was another matter. She knew that some of the other instructors were still old school in their ideas of wanting to segregate the paramedics and firefighters. And it wouldn't have surprised her if these ideas had been passed onto their students. Not to mention Gabby had noticed the ways that some of the younger candidates were strutting around the academy. Not to broad brush all the young recruits, but there was definitely an air of superiority surrounding some people. And it was an air that had surprised her - it wasn't one that she had ever noticed during her previous time at the academy, however it had been brought up during a instructor's meeting that they had found that the average age of the recruits had taken a nosedive. Not that she was old… And she didn't want to be stereotyping, but something wasn't sitting quite right with her today.
When she had mentioned this little fact to the house she had received varying reactions. It was a fact that she needed to remember, that not every house was as welcoming as Firehouse 51. Yes, the boys club on Truck 81 had been a little reserved about having females on their rig, but three female members later it wasn't an issue anymore.
Matt leaned up against the doorframe peering into to the office silently watching as Gabby moved around the desk with ease. If he was being honest, he was concerned about what she was going to have to do today. There were a few things that were niggling in the back of his mind in regard to both the content that she was presenting today and how Gabby was travelling with her pregnancy.
After the night at the house last week Matt had become increasingly concerned about how well she was sleeping at night. He had had a conversation with Antonio just two days ago about the fact that Gabby had experienced a slight dizzy spell when the siblings had been at dinner without him. She had chalked it up to lack of sleep and stress about today's class, yet she hadn't bothered telling him about it. Antonio had convinced him to let it be, that she would come to him when she was ready - and that it was actually quite normal. Matt had taken upon himself to flick through his own baby book to find that yes it was quite normal, but just in case he was going to be keeping an extra close eye on her.
Hearing Gabby gasp, Matt was pulled from his own thoughts. Gabby let another small whimper escaped her lips as she felt a painful cramp in her calves. The pain had shocked her out of her working state, this had never happened to her during the day. She had been woken up a few times during the night by them. Taking a seat she started gently flexing her right foot in an attempt ease the cramps. Gabby closed her eyes as the muscles continued to spasm painfully.
"Babe," Matt approached her kneeling down to place his hands on her calf. Carefully, gently he started to massage the muscles beneath his hands paying more attention to the areas that felt tighter to him. Cautiously he started to question her, "Baby… Are you sure about today? Couldn't someone be there with you?"
"And do what? Make it seem like I can't handle a class on my own?" came her sarcastic reply. "Matt, you can't protect me from everything. This is my job. I don't ask for another lieutenant to shadow you in the big fires."
"I'm just concerned that it's going to be a long day. A day that you're going to be on your feet for a long time. Babe I know that's not good for you…" he gently tried.
"I'm okay Matt," she placated. "I promise that I've got my stool and being by myself means I can dictate the breaks that I want to take…. Plus," she motioned towards her feet, "I've got my new shoes to help me out."
"I'm just concerned about how this is all going to go…" Matt trailed off slightly, running a hand over his face worried about what could go down today.
"And what are we supposed to do? Just not even bother? I'm commending the department for doing this… We need to start somewhere with the gap between paramedics and firefighters and I'm the right instructor to start the dialogue Babe."
Matt stared at her for another beat before moving up to cup her face with his hand. "You're amazing…" he spoke before crushing his lips to hers.
"You're pretty good yourself Mr Casey. Now off you go," Gabby mock ordered as she stood to gather the last of her bits. "Otherwise you're going to be late for work!"
Dawson watched as the last few of her students filed into the lecture theatre that she was using today. She was trying to stay off her feet for as long as possible today. Many of her lectures that she gave with the EMT candidates was done whilst sitting down or at least leaning up against her desk. Whilst it wasn't the best look for a CFD instructor, it was what Dawson was having to do since she had entered her third trimester.
Scanning over the faces that sat before her, she noticed a few familiar faces. All of her EMT students had shown up as she had requested, today's seminar being just as much for them at the fire candidates. She had made it sound like a request whereas in reality it was mandatory that all the candidates arrived. Taking a deep breath, she looked over her notes one final time before pushing herself back and up from the chair. Clapping her hands together she waited for the noise level to lower before she started.
"Good morning candidates, welcome to bridging the culture. I'm Instructor Dawson," she smiled meeting the returning smiles of her EMT candidates. Looking around she also found herself faced with some more confused faces. "This is a new seminar that the CFD has decided to run with new candidates this class. Today we have decided to integrate both the fire and EMT candidates together, giving you all a chance to get to know each other and learn about the others job. With that in mind, I want you to mingle, right now. Get up, introduce yourself to some that you don't know and actually sit next to someone else that you don't know."
Gabby smiled as she watched the younger candidates were some of the fastest to move, evidently happy just to get up and socialise. Others, however, were still sitting down, not willing to move. "Hustle candidates, participation is not optional," she ordered. "I am not above sending you all out on a run."
"Would you be joining us Instructor?" a young blonde male to Dawson's left hand side commented disparagingly. "Could you even?" he mumbled, Dawson missing the second part of his comment.
Dawson gave him a withering look, "Candidate Richmond unless you wish to be cleaning the showers for the rest of the semester, I suggest that you keep all comments to yourself." Richmond's smile disappeared, surprised that she even knew his name. Pity that she could see his name on the paperwork in front of him.
A mere ten minutes later, all of the candidates seemed to have made connections with more people and Dawson happily noted that none of the paramedics were sitting together. Slowly the students had managed to sit themselves back down and the noise level was quieting all by itself, much to Dawson's surprise.
"As I was saying this is a brand new seminar to the CFD Academy - one that is looking at the two cultures that exists with the department -"
Dawson was cut off by the loud arrival of a late fire candidate, she looked up along with the rest of the class at the young red-haired female who came strutting down the stairs. Staring hard at her for a moment, Dawson suddenly realised that this was the same girl that Severide had pointed out at the seminar all those months ago, the hair finger twirling one. She settled herself down next the mouthy blonde guy from earlier. There and then Dawson knew this wasn't a good mix, as she raised her eyebrows questioningly at her.
"Sorry," she said, not sounding sorry at all. "Continue…"
"Excuse me?" Dawson was taken back. This was not the attitude that she expected from any candidate, especially a young one.
"Sorry Dawson…" she drawled. Dawson felt her angry begin to bubble. "Soz PIC Dawson…"
"Candidate?" Dawson waited to be supplied with a name
"Kerri-Anne Moore," she supplied picking at her long fingernails.
"Well then Candidate Moore, do you think that was an appropriate way to enter a class, especially when you are late?" she questioned. The young girl looked bored, rolled her eyes at the guy to her left and slightly shrugged her shoulder. "Well then… You think about it and you can see me after the seminar is over." Dawson felt like a high school teacher, never had she reprimanded a student at her time at the Academy, nor had she ever expected to. She had worked for CFD for quite a few years before she had herself joined the academy and still she would have never have spoken to any of her instructors like that. Hell, she wouldn't have spoken to Severide like that in class and they were close friends. They were taught to respect the white shirt.
"Moving on," Dawson continued her voice becoming louder as she addressed the entire class. "Over the past few years the Chicago Fire Department has completed a number of comprehensive reviews into it's own department. One of the issues that has been uncovered is this idea that two cultures exist within the department. It's also something that we feel can be address at an Academy level. It's been found that the paramedics are not always integrated with the firefighters in one department. EMS continually plays 'second fiddle' to Fire Suppression and Rescue. This is occurring even though three-quarters of calls to the CFD are EMS related. This then leads to what we see as unnecessary friction and station house problems. We have also found that too few firefighters are cross-trained as EMTs; even though cross-training is the norm in the modern US fire departments today…"
Dawson paused to take in those around her. She could pick out her students, those who were nodding along with her. Only earlier in the week they had engaged in an open discussion about this very topic. "So my background - Most of you would have met me, along with my colleagues from Firehouse 51, at your orientation day. I was the paramedic-in-charge of Ambo 61 for many years, until this semester when I was offered an instructor's position here. And with that experience it was decided that I would be the one to hold this seminar…"
"Why? Cause she's a female and a medic?" Moore mumbled under her breath. "She knows nothing about firefighting…"
"Moore - anything you want to share with the class? No I thought not," Gabby questioned not even allowing her to respond, simply cutting her off. Dawson knew that this was going to be a long day, most of it quite cut and dry. "There's never been a point where anyone has been able to pinpoint down why there is a cultural gap. However, when there is a culture gap that exists in a house, it is characterised by the dominance of traditional firefighting over EMS, despite the fact that the EMS workload in these departments far outpaces that of firefighting. Many paramedics are made to feel like second-class employees. The dominance is perceived to affect decision-making processes, budgets, incident command authority, firehouse life, and pay levels… Do you think that is right?" Gabby questioned. "Discuss," she prompted.
A low rumbling of conversation started as Dawson walked around the room, listening to the conversations that were happening around her. If she had walked into this class she knew that she would have been able to pick the EMT students over the Fire students. There still was a stigma that even existed within the academy. One that wasn't going to change if the next generation of Chicago Fire Departmental personnel didn't themselves understand and accept all of its members.
"Some EMS personnel have an excellent day-to-day rapport with the Fire Suppression and Rescue personnel with whom they work. However, it is almost always the EMS provider who must seek the approval of the Fire Suppression and Rescue member, rarely the reverse. The firehouse pecking order affords the firefighters' views greater weight. For example, standard practice in the CFD is to recognize the arrival of field officers in a station by sounding the station bell and having all personnel get into roll call formation in the engine room to greet the officer. Such courtesies are rarely extended to ambulance field officers," Dawson grumbled as the words came tumbling out of her mouth.
As first and foremost a paramedic and this situation had always annoyed her. In her eyes it didn't matter if they were from the firefighting arm or the EMS arm each of the field officers still put on their pants one leg at a time. It was frustrating.
"But why is that Instructor?" a voice from the back questioned. Dawson simply shrugged.
"No one has ever been able to explain that to us. Why do you think it might about be occurring?"
A murmur went around the hall. Dawson paused for a short while letting small conversations break out around her. Straining her ears, she listened to snippets of the conversations, many of which supported how firefighters deserved more. Yet no one was able to really support that view.
"Discuss," Dawson called out for the classes' attention. "Discuss what we could do to change this? And why should we be doing something different - five minutes."
"Instructor," a candidate called out after the time had expired. "If this is how firehouses already operate, why is it up to us to change how things are run?" he questioned. Gabby looked around to see a few candidates nodding along with this sentiment.
"Stand up if you are a female and move to the side of the room…" Dawson ordered. "Now look around - is it okay that I've made the class smaller just because of gender?" Most of the class shook their heads. "It's the same for this two culture issue that exists."
"So Instructor Dawson, is there a place that it does work? And can firefighters and EMTs work together?" came the question from one of the EMT candidates.
"While I'm not saying that 51 was or even is a perfect house, what makes them work is that they are a family. Chief Boden runs it like a family. You'll find during your career that many chiefs tout that they run their house like a family, but let me tell you that 51 is like a family and will look out for each other and support them… We've had our ups and downs and I'm sure they will continue to do so. But it doesn't make a difference whether you're a member of squad, truck, engine or ambulance, you are treated like an equal member of Firehouse 51. And I can assure you that it makes for a much nicer work environment when people can get on harmoniously. As a PIC I was able to discuss my needs at an incident with the other officers from the house without being worried that I wasn't been taken seriously."
"What else makes the situation worse?" Dawson was proud of her candidates, they were asking the hard questions and hopefully making the future firefighters think about how they would act in when they were on the job.
"EMS officers are not granted operational control of EMS units, even at purely EMS-related incidents. A veteran Ambulance Field Officer who could have many years experience must defer to an acting Fire lieutenant who might have only had a few years experience. When implementing the EMS plan for multiple-casualty incidents, an EMS officer on the scene must request additional or specialised resources of the department through the Fire person on the scene. An argument can be made that an incident commander needs to authorise all such requests, but many other EMS systems have made it standard practice to incorporate mechanisms to empower EMS officers or make them incident commanders on EMS-related incidents."
"But ma'am even if the argument is that an incident commander needs to be in charge of everything, what happens if he or she isn't aware of the intricacies of the medical situation at the scene? Wouldn't it be better to be liaising with an officer who knows better?" a EMS candidate questioned.
"But wouldn't that mean the things could be overlooked or double handled?" another fire candidate argued back. "Wouldn't it be better that there is only one person handling everything?"
"There isn't one easy answer," Dawson responded. "That is one of the purpose of this seminar - we want you to be aware of this situation, one that you may very will be stepping into as a candidate. You need to understand how this culture may affect you, and whether you become a firefighter or EMT you will likely be stepping into this. We also wanted to see what fresh ideas you might come up with."
An older firefighter candidate raised his hand from the back of the room, "If there is such a divide… Why have them in the same department sharing such close quarters?"
This caused a slight stir within the room, "But keeping them together makes sense," another person called out. Dawson smiled, she finally felt like there was actually a dialogue happening in the room. One that was proving to be fruitful, as she had mentioned to the rest of the house she wasn't sure that there was ever going to be an easy answer.
"If there was an answer, don't you think they would have figured it out already?" pondered another. "But what separates the two branches? Day to day in fire house - can you pick a firefighter?"
"It's a purely physical thing," explained Dawson. "EMT paramedics wear a CFD shoulder patch on the bottom of which is a rocker with the word "paramedic." Fire Suppression and Rescue paramedics do not wear such a rocker. Paramedics who take firefighting training to switch to the Fire Suppression and Rescue must remove their old patches and substitute them with patches that lack the "paramedic" rocker panel… This obviously makes the divide even bigger."
"Instructor... I read that in other cities, an effort is made to do just the opposite – modify the uniform of specially trained personnel, so that they can be easily identified at the scene of an emergency. This is done for the same reason that officers wear identifying insignia and color-coded helmets and uniforms. Why can't we do something like that?"
"Why should we?" came a shrill voice. "I've seen what those EMT candidates go through in training, it's nothing compared to what we do," Moore's voice rang out loud and clear.
"Up candidate," ordered Dawson her blood beginning to boil. This candidate had already gotten onto her fraying nerves, but her to be calling out paramedics when she had never been out on the job. She watched on intently as the young girl flicked her hair and stood up haughtily "What makes you so confident about EMTs' jobs?"
"What?" she lazily questioned, "We are real candidates… we train our asses off. Go running for miles and run drills!" The young male candidates around her laughed softly and nodded along.
"What…" Flynn, one of the older EMS candidates piped up, "So that makes you better than us? You're not doing anything to help this two culture that Instructor Dawson is talking about. We're all working for the same department and we should be working together to make this a better work environment."
"But we're not the same…" Moore continued to complain. "And what would she know about it," she went on pointing at Dawson. "She's a PIC, a paramedic… And she's the one that thinks she can tell us about how to work as a department. That we should be working together. Paramedics - what do they know about putting their lives on the line…"
"So you don't think we as paramedics will put our lives on the line?" Flynn fired back.
"No… Not in the same way," Richmond joined it. Of course, he would be siding with this young lady.
"I mean, what type of PIC would have gone crawling through smoke, fire all around them to save a person?" Moore stated. "Bet you Dawson never has…"
"ENOUGH!" bellowed Dawson, shocking both the class and Smudge. Smudge who evidently had been lulled to sleep as Dawson had been walking around the room had been startled awake and started kicking. Dawson fought hard not to put her hands on her belly, rather wanting to stay focused on her class and showing no signs of weakness. "So here's the thing Candidate, you've heard everything that has been said today and you've made your feelings on situation quite clear. I can guarantee to you that many paramedics have had to enter buildings to save lives. Now you can wait for me outside my office until this seminar is done… You will no longer take part in my class for this session… Leave," ordered Dawson as she pointed at the door. Casting one final look at Dawson, Moore stormed out of the classroom. Dawson raised her voice, "Don't slam my door!" Taking a deep breath, she turned back to the class, "Let's take our break now and during that time, have a think about what we could do about this cultural gap. You as candidates are the future of the CFD. I want to hear what you think we could do…"
A few of the EMS candidates shot Dawson a look as they made their way out of the lecturer theatre. Dawson drew in a deep breath and decided that she needed get off of her feet. Leaving a hand resting on her belly, Dawson pondered what it was she was going to do. She was sure that Moore wasn't standing outside her office sweating it out, she was probably just standing there looking bored. So Dawson wasn't in any rush to get there. Reaching down into her bag that she used for work she found that her drink bottle was empty. Huffing to herself she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to trudge back to the office and get her larger drink bottle.
Passing Moore, who as predicted was standing by her door picking at her nails, Dawson said nothing. And only closed the door in the candidate's face. Standing by her desk, Dawson was surprised that her office was empty, she reached for her bottle and found she needed to sit as her ankles had started to hurt. Taking a few calming breaths she noticed that Smudge had started to kick up a storm again.
"Smudge," she whispered as she ran a soothing hand over her belly. She had been so active during the seminar that she hadn't even noticed if Smudge had been moving around, well all except for that shouting incident. Dawson sighed heavily, never would she had thought that she would need to raise her voice like that. "It's okay sweetheart, Mamá hasn't forgotten you." Tapping her fingers, she suddenly had a thought. Fishing around her desk for her cell, she scrolled through her contacts until she came upon the name she was looking for. Hoping quickly that he wasn't out on a call, she pressed dial.
"Kelly?" she spoke after just a few rings. Hearing him start to panic slightly and the chair scraping against the floor, Dawson deducted that he was sitting in his office. "Kelly… I'm fine. No need to go chasing after Matt. I just wanted to know if you had a few moments to pop into the academy for me?"
Explaining her idea to the squad lieutenant and asking for some other items that she knew she had left at the firehouse when she left, she hung up to a promise that he would be there soon.
Dawson had decided to leave Moore outside whilst waiting for Severide to turn up. She just couldn't be bothered, knowing that she was ready to lose her temper with the young candidate and that would have been completely inappropriate.
Before long Severide was knocking at her door and sticking his head in the door. "Delivery for Instructor Dawson!"
"Kelly," Dawson exclaimed and hauled herself up to give him a quick hug. Whilst she was still seeing most of the members of the house on a fairly regular basis, it was slightly weird not to be seeing Matt's best friend every other day.
"There seems to be a young candidate standing outside your door," commented Severide taking a seat opposite Dawson. Dawson shook her head as she explained what had been happening.
"Dawson, speak to the Chief of the Academy about that. You are well within your rights to have her bounced," advised Severide upon hearing what she had to say. "Under no circumstances should she be speaking to any superior like that."
"Honestly, I'll speak to the fire instructors and see how she's shaping up over there. And I'll voice my concerns. But I'm not having her kicked out for that. It's just petty."
"Your call Dawson… Just think about it."
Dawson nodded as she eased herself back to her feet, heading towards the door. Yanking the door open she overheard Moore whispering with Richmond, she was sure she caught the words; 'Some firefighter is in there with her and they were hugging. Wonder what that's about?' before Richmond had discreetly pointed in her direction making Moore spin around.
"Dismissed Moore. I expect you back in my class after the break. We will have a serious discussion about your behaviour another day… Another day when I'm not ready to suspend you from the Academy." Dawson shut the door without letting her reply.
"So Severide…" Dawson started as she picked up her jackets that had been given to her. "You got time for some lecturing?" A wide smile starting to spread across her face.
"Listen up!" announced Dawson as the low rumble of chatter died down. "For the last part of our session today I've managed to get in Lieutenant Severide from Firehouse 51. He is assigned to Rescue Squad 3…. Explain to me - what is Squad?"
"A special operations apparatus that carries tools and equipment for heavy rescue - firefighters who are on squad are specially trained for these type of rescues," came the reply. Severide nodded from the side of the room.
"Right, so before we had a break we were talking about the two cultures that seems to exist within the CFD. And I do believe that it was brought into question about paramedics and them going crawling into buildings… And I'm also assuming that that statement was directed at me." Gabby was being very forthright with the class, she noticed a few of the younger students duck their heads in embarrassment.
"Here…" she stated. She held up both of her turnout coats. One stating 'EMS-PIC Dawson' and the other simply 'Dawson'. Dawson herself hadn't checked out which coats that Severide had come with, so she was overjoyed that the Casey ones hadn't made their way here; she couldn't even imagine that conversation right now.
"What are we looking at?" she questioned.
"Turnout coats…" a young EMT replied. "Both yours Instructor."
Dawson nodded as she took in the changing faces in front of her. She watched on intently as understanding and clarity came upon the faces of most of the fire candidates who had not idea surrounding her background and where she had served with the CFD.
"This is similar to the rocker idea Instructor," took over one of Dawson's other students. "There's nothing different about a firefighter's turnout coat. But on ours is EMS before our surnames. Therefore yours should say EMS Dawson, I expect that you would have one like that. I know what we need to be identified as the medics… But it's always coming back to being different and in a way not accepted."
"Wait," called out Richmond unable to stop his words. "That Dawson jacket isn't from before you were a PIC? Like when you were a regular EMT?"
"No. Actually Lieutenant Severide was one of my instructors. So when you tell me that I don't know what it's like to be crawling into a burning building, smoke blinding me. I can guarantee you that do know. I've been a firefighter. I've worked both on Ambulance as a paramedic and PIC as well as on Truck. I've done a shift on Truck as recently as twenty weeks ago - I went into a burning building to do a search in very low visibility. Here's something for you," Dawson started staring the young man straight on. "I'm a Firefighter/Paramedic, I'm not a Firefighter/EMT…"
"So?" came the cocky reply, his mouth obviously moving faster than his brain. Dawson watched as Severide clenched his hands into fists at the edge of the classroom. She also noticed the gaping mouths of many of the other candidates - however it had come there was a newfound respect that she could see on their faces.
But Dawson simply continued as if she hadn't been interrupted "Now can someone tell me what the difference is?"
"The duration of EMT-basic training in Illinois is around 120 hours. It will take about 950 hours, including theory and practical, to complete a paramedic level of training," retold a candidate from the side of the room. "Emergency Medical Technicians - B are the most common type of providers in all of EMS. They are the entry-level patient care provider followed by paramedics. For a firefighter to be paramedic trained they will have more training and be able to make the bigger calls. It means that Instructor Dawson is very well qualified to be teaching all of us. She has experience across the board."
"Simply," joined in another candidate, a fire one this time, "EMTs are not allowed to provide treatments that requiring breaking the skin."
Gabby nodded along with this locking eyes with Severide. "Lieutenant Severide, as I mentioned before you were an instructor here for a time…" she trailed off hoping that Severide would catch her drift and take over for a moment and hopefully ram her point home.
"Think about this…" Severide started pushing himself off the wall and walking slowly over to where Dawson was teaching from all the while speaking. "The Bureau of Operations is the CFD's largest bureau, with a personnel strength of more than 4,500 uniformed firefighters and paramedics, many of whom are "cross-trained" in the use of nearly 250 pieces of equipment and apparatus, including fire engines, fire trucks, ambulances, squads, helicopters and marine equipment. The Bureau receives more than 500,000 calls per year for emergency assistance, and responds to fires, medical emergencies, hazardous material incidents and other emergency situations, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of Chicago residents and the 28 million visitors who pass through Chicago's airports - across over 1000 firehouses…"
He paused to let all that sink in as he cemented himself next to Dawson, crossing his legs at his ankles letting his weigh settle on the desk as he surveyed the room. "It's the one thing that the CFD lags behind in the country," he started "Many fire departments today have virtually all of their firefighters certified as EMTs. The majority of calls for service to the Chicago Fire Department - Fire suppression units can frequently arrive at the scene of emergencies before an ambulance as there are 167 engine and ladder companies distributed throughout the city, versus 75 ambulances…" Severide paused to let that sink in. He very carefully deliberately removed his radio from around his body to place it onto Dawson's desk.
"All CFD Engines and Ladder Trucks are Basic Life Support, that is they are EMT-staffed units at a minimum," interrupted Dawson after a beat. "Of the 740 or so paramedics serving with the CFD around 150 are crossed trained with Fire Suppression and Rescue. Additionally, there is approximately 180 firefighters who are certified as EMTs at the Basic level…"
"And this is important," took over Severide. Dawson gave a small smile to herself all the while thinking that she could never have scripted this, she and Severide were somehow making this work so smoothly. She didn't even think that she could have made it work this well with her own husband. "Even though fire engines aren't able to transport patients to the hospital at least there is some basic medical care started rapidly."
"And to go back to a question from earlier - this is why we have a two pronged approach in Chicago. Whoever is on the scene first can start the care, and then though a fire rig may not have a paramedic on board, this care is then continued by the paramedics from the scene to the hospital. Is it now clearer why the CFD is keen to close the ever widening gap between its two branches?" Dawson questioned. There was a general murmur of agreement in the room.
"But we still have 167 frontline fire companies," repeated Severide, "which is made up of 96 engines, 61 trucks, 10 ladder rigs and 4 squads, versus 75 EMS units. That should indicate to you all that there are more fire and rescue members than paramedics, many houses with a large gap between their members. How do you as the next generation of firefighters and paramedics close the gap?" Severide questioned.
"Question lieutenant? Whose job is it to close that gap?" Severide regarded the older man who asked the question. Many years ago he would have had a very different answer, he had been a cocky young firefighter who thought that he was above any EMT, even a candidate firefighter should be seen as above a paramedic. Only time on the job and working closely with all arms of the department had given him a different point of view.
"Why should it be any one person's job to do it?" Severide questioned.
"But isn't it going to affect certain people more?" a voice questioned. "If they've got the problem, then shouldn't they be the ones to change it?"
"It's everyone's job to make the change. Both the EMS branch and Fire Suppression," Severide advised.
"The culture gap most affects the lives of the EMS personnel. To labor constantly under such conditions ultimately has deleterious effects on the quality of care rendered. The general quality of EMS care that the EMS personnel provides is good but could be better, and the effect of the culture gap is one reason it is not better," announced Gabby as she regained the attention of her students. "So why should that be important to all of you in the room?"
"At the end of the day, we're all working for the same department. We should be all working together to get the best outcome no matter who we are…" commented a young fire student. Gabby took her in, she seemed quite reserved and this was the first time that Gabby had even noticed her opening her mouth.
Dawson and Severide both nodded along with that sentiment.
"And with that, I think that is as good as any place to end today. I want to thank you all for coming and for the mostly positive thoughts. In a few weeks we will be meeting again for a debriefing. Keep thinking about ways you can make a difference to the Chicago Fire Department. A quick note to the EMT candidates - come ready to discuss this more next week. We'll be drilling down a bit more. My thanks to Lieutenant Severide for his insight." Dawson led the applause for him. "Right, thank you candidates - dismissed."
The two friends watched as the students filed out of the room. Dawson was packing the rest of her gear up knowing that Severide would be waiting to take her turnout gear back to the house for her. Straightening up she took in that Moore was still hanging around the back of the room. Looking in the same direction that the candidate was looking Gabby found herself looking directly at the Squad lieutenant who had taken a seat behind her desk, feet resting on the edge.
"Honestly!" mouthed Dawson to the smug looking Severide. Schooling her face Dawson turned around to directly address the young woman. "Moore - I will see you next week, without nail polish too. There is an appointment sheet with my available times for meetings hanging on my door. Use it. Thank you," she curtly spoke.
"Instructor…"
"That is all candidate!" Without another word Dawson turned her back on the girl and stalked towards Severide. Hearing the door shut loudly Severide couldn't help himself but laugh out loud.
"Geeze Dawson, what are you doing to these candidates? Even I didn't have this any problems…"
"What are you still doing here Severide? Just here to annoy me?" Dawson quickly questioned as she handed over her many folded up turnout coats.
Severide accepted the proffered items. "I was actually wondering if you could drop me back off at the firehouse? Squad dropped me off, so I'm without a car to get back…"
"Strapping lieutenant like you could walk back," Dawson teased.
"Whoa, Dawson. Remind me not to do you another favour. It 20 degrees out there with a chance of rain. You wouldn't want to get Uncle Kelly sick now would you?"
Dawson jokingly grumbled as she walked towards the door. "You pick up my bag and you've got yourself a deal," she threw over her shoulder buttoning up her thick CFD puffer jacket.
Severide groaned as he lifted the bag off of the ground, it was much heavier than he had expected. "What have you got in here Gabby? Bricks?"
"Dawson!" greeted Kidd as she trailed in after Severide into the common room. "What are you doing here?"
Casey scrambled out of his seat at the head of the table to greet Dawson with a hug, trying to at least keep some form of professionalism at the house, but he moved so fast that he nearly toppled backwards out of his favourite chair. Leaving a hand wrapped around her waist, Dawson leant her head onto Casey's shoulder.
"Oh, apparently this guy here couldn't make his own way back to the house. Something about the threat of rain… You should really get your boyfriend a coat or something Kidd," Dawson joked as she watched Severide pour himself a cup of coffee.
"Maybe he's scared of getting his hair wet," laughed Otis from the couch.
"Oi, watch it…" Severide hissed as he walked passed. "Casey, man… your wife is brutal! Otis should be thankful that he never had Dawson as an instructor! You wouldn't have lasted a day."
Dawson let out an air of exasperation, "She deserved every harsh word spoken to her…" Looking around at the questioning looks peering at her, "Firefighting candidate who needs to consider two things. One - pulling her tongue back into her mouth when meeting Severide and two - thinking before she speaks about her instructors. Don't take to kindly to being told I'm just an EMT and being questioned about crawling into a burning building…" Kidd let out a loud laugh as she saw the look of disgust on Dawson's face.
"Well I don't want to be in her boots for that meeting with Instructor Dawson next week," winked Severide as he made his way out to the squad table. "Remember Dawson - you can't harm the candidates! Just make them scrub things."
~ At this point, he may be able to distinguish between your voice and your husband's voice ~
Hope you all enjoy the chapter – press that review button with your thoughts ~Em