No Immunity

I have been in public while wearing a paramedic t-shirt several times over the last few weeks due to the fact that I was doing something EMS or work related at the time. I could not count the occurrences on my fingers and toes (because I would run out of appendages)that people have stated quizzically "a paramedic in a neck collar?" They ask as if it were a well known fact that plumbers never have water or sewer problems, electricians have permanently perfect wiring in their homes, secretaries never have to use the back space key, mechanics' cars are always trouble free, lawyers never find themselves at the receiving end of a lawsuit, cooks do not feel hunger, janitors banish the possibility of dirtiness, and people in the medical profession never get ill or injured. My response is typically, "Being a paramedic does not make you immune." Just because we know some of the potential causes of traumatic incidents does not always give us the ability to predict or avoid them. Life is not intimidated by a job title. It is not a board game where certain playing pieces have certain powers and abilities. Although our education and training gives us the ability to occasionally help others in need in varying degrees, ironically, unfortunately, and depressingly it does not give us the guaranteed ability to aid those we love.