From the Desk of Dick Reiners, President

It’s 2:30 am and you’re finally into a wonderful slumber and wait… What’s that awful noise?  Oh great, it’s the pager… A 10-50, car verses semi on the interstate with multiple victims.  You get your bearings, your gear and out the door you fly.  Four inches of fresh wet sloppy snow greet you as you slip-slide toward the station.  Three minutes later, in full turn-out gear, you and your response team head out of the barn and to the scene.  Slop and slush be damned as you’re on the scene in four minutes.  From your rig you see an 18 wheeler buckled and off of the road with the hood and left front fender severely deformed.  There’s a mini-van shoved half way into the median and part way on it side, which seems to have gotten the worst of the impact.

As you and your crew begin your on-scene assessment the trucker says he’s alright and that he tried to ditch before impact, but “the van just kept sliding into his path”.  One of your crew members checks the van’s driver and front seat passenger… DRT…Dead Right There!  There are moaning and whimpering noises coming from the van’s back seat as you find an additional passenger pinned inside the twisted framework.  There is a strong odor of marijuana coming from the vans interior and you watch in abject amazement while you partners clear away empty beer cans and cars parts to begin their extrication efforts.  Your emotions swirl between anger, sympathy, sorrow, disgust; but your training and professional dedication override the moment and you render the best care possible. Sound familiar?  Possibly not, but probably so… 

So why is it that we do this?  Is it the pay, the emotional rush? Or is it that we are unique in our sense of dedication to our family, friends our neighbors and to our community.  Whether we serve as volunteers, paid on-call, career medics, or the nurses and doctors that receive the patient; or even the dispatcher who coordinates the field efforts, we are all part of a team for the betterment of ourselves and to that community that we serve.

Now think what we could accomplish is all of were united for the common good of EMS and the highest level of emergency care in Illinois. 

The good news is that we can unite by joining the Illinois EMT Association and becoming “One Voice for all Illinois EMS”.  We need you to help strengthen our numbers so that we can be that voice that “Strives for Excellence in Illinois EMS”, and is a voice that is heard in Springfield and all over the state.  If you join us and help spread the word, we can grow to become a strong organization that can voice our stance to Illinois Lawmakers on the fair and equitable administration of the Illinois EMS codes and standards.   With more than 50,000 EMS providers in Illinois, we should have a membership with a voice that roars like a lion!  So join us and become an important part of something important!

Dick Reiners

President, IEMTA

Membership is open to all Illinois EMS professionals.  Please fill out an application today!  The Board and I are here to serve you. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or the Board member in your region (the region map is available on the website).