Editors Note: To celebrate EMS Week last week, my good friend Eric Garton wrote a poem in the style of Paul Harvey and recorded his narration. It has touched many people so I asked him to share the words here along with a link to the YouTube version. Feel free to share them further, but please give the credit to Eric for his hard work and creativity.
“So God Made an EMT”
by Eric Garton (c) 2018, All rights reserved.
And on the ninth day, God looked down on the world he worked hard to create and said,
“I have doctors and nurses in hospitals and clinics. Now I need a caregiver in the field.”
So God made an EMT.
God said, “It must be someone who gets up early in the morning, checks their truck off, scarfs
down breakfast, run a cardiac arrest, run two hospital transfers, skips lunch, finish paperwork,
run another transfer, command a horrible car wreck, restock, clean truck, run three sick calls
and hopes for at least four hours sleep before the end of their shift.”
So God made an EMT.
God said, “It must be someone who can work continuous CPR on an infant knowing they have
died, and while holding back tears console the family and tell responders on scene, ‘Good
teamwork everyone. Maybe next time.’ “
So God made an EMT.
God said, “It must be someone who can manage a patient’s airway while upside down in a
wrecked vehicle. Someone who can calm a ten year old girl and her parents, while splinting her
fractured arm. It must be someone who can aggressively recognize and treat medical
emergencies, yet has the compassion to hold an elderly lady’s hand who fell at nursing home
telling her, ‘I am here for you. Everything will be OK.’ “
So God made an EMT.
God said, “It must be someone who is selfless. Someone who will respond to an emergency
without a second thought. Someone who can handle the blood, the guts, the vomit, the broken
bones and give one hundred percent to all their patients. It must be someone who believes in
teamwork and respects all services involved. It must be someone who performs acts of
heroism, yet never calls themself a hero. It must be someone who praises victory, yet not
ashamed to admit defeat. It must be someone who can look the Grim Reaper right in the eye
and say, ‘Not this time.’ “
So God made an EMT.
God said, “It must be someone who is loyal to their community. Someone who will put their life
on the line with the hope of saving a complete stranger. Someone who cares more about the
lives they save than the money they make in a year. Someone who will educate themselves,
and willing to share their knowledge with others. Someone who will remain professional and
caring, no matter how minor or major the emergency may be. Someone who can bring their
coworkers together as a family and see them as fellow brothers and sisters.”
“Someone who will reply with a smile on their face and a tear in their eye when their child says
they want to spend their life ‘doing what you do.’ ”
So God made an EMT.
From Eric: I want to thank all for the support and kindness from everyone who has listened and shared my poem. Many of you have requested a written version of it for yourselves or to share. I hope all of you enjoy reading this to others as much as I have enjoyed reading it to you. Thank you for all that you do.
Download a PDF version here: SoGodMadeanEMT
High Performance EMS 