This month’s EMS Dashboard Confessional comes from a supervisor in a third-service EMS department.
I was the on-duty supervisor for our EMS agency with the headache of crew assignments and assuring the system was functioning. I was also given the “blessing” of sorts of having the dedicated supervisors vehicle at my disposal.
The shift was nothing special but what happened next will always stay with me – the Director came downstairs to the supervisors office and asked me for a ride to one of our local hospitals for a pre-planned meeting. As we pulled out of the building, he looked down, cursed and then said “ok, turn on the lights and sirens, I am running late.” I said no, knowing full well that this would anger him but also knowing that of anything occurred on the way to the meeting, he would rapidly disavow knowledge of asking me to turn on the emergency warning devices. He looked at me and said “fine, I will remember this”
This experience taught me a few things – not the least of which was that we, as leaders, need to assure our behavior is above reproach and always in line with our policies and procedures. How would if have looked to any of our crews had they seen this? Any time a leader takes a “do as I say, not as I do” attitude, it does not bode well for them.