AngryAngel

I had originally planned a career as a Aerospace Engineer, but I found that to be utterly boring. I transferred to Nursing hoping to become a Nurse Midwife. After two wonderful experiences as the first husband in delivery in two different hospitals. Both these hospitals went on to foster this service at their facilities. After my graduation as a BSN from UF here in Gainesville, Florida, I went looking for employment and found I was eons ahead of myself in Labor and Delivery no one would hire a male. I was working in Med-Surg until I entered Air Force Nursing, where surprisingly they scheduled me for duty in L&D. It was a great two year experience, but I was told in confidence by the impending Chief of all Air Force nurses that I was crazy to think that they would accept a male into their fledgling Nurse-Midwifery program. I had committed two years of my life to a lie as it was never revealed to me that it was an impossible assignment, and all military recruiters will tell you anything you want to hear. During this time I did eventually got certified as an A.S.P.O. Lamaze instructor, and began teaching Lamaze courses on the base. I also instituted husbands in the delivery room after answering the pressing question of, "How would you preform vaginal exams during labor?" The answer was to bring the husbands into the labor room. Simple logic, not usually seen in administrative circles. Even with all this experience I could not get accepted to the Midwifery Program in Charleston S.C. where I moved after my North Carolina Air Force experience. However, I did teach Lamaze classes during the five years I was there. My full time employment was at the VA Hospital in Charleston, in medical and surgical nursing for three years. I saw much of what the VA is still contending with these days, although it was the Viet Nam era vets who were getting the shaft back then. I left the VA and went into the first company to try Home Health Nursing in South Carolina. That was a lesson in what not to do in Nursing for me. I dropped out of Nursing and was employed as a Professional Paramedic for the Charleston County EMS. That was the two greatest years in my working life. I had been a volunteer in the local volunteer fire department which included a rural volunteer EMS contingent. I was born to ride ambulances, and deal with emergency scenarios. We were on food stamps as Paramedics there were not paid well. Our last child was born there, and unfortunately my high school sweetheart, who was now my wife, was stricken with Melanoma and given only a 15% chance of five year survival. We went back to our family in Miami where we had grown up, preparing for her eventual demise while we still had 4 children under 12 to contend with. I was employed teaching Paramedics at what is now Miami-Dade College, one of the best community colleges in the nation. I was there for two years during which the 5 local fire/rescue departments were just coming into their own as the third public service to match fire and Police services to the the people of this burgeoning county. These departments needed a large influx of paramedics, and they needed them now. I developed a total immersion Paramedic program that would give them 400 hours of intense training in ten weeks. The standard back then for Paramedic training was two semesters of 144 hours each, so we weren't short changing them. Our state Paramedic exam rate for the two semester program was 89% while our program boasted a 96% pass rate. We produced 135 paramedics in less then a year. I left there to work in a local Emergency Department where I stayed full time, and part time for 20 years. During that time I had become one of the first nurses to be allowed to be an ACLS Instructor. I remained teaching ACLS for 20 years. As an ACLS instructor I was hired to become the first full time ACLS instructor/coordinator at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Originally I was at the Medical Training and Simulation Laboratory. This has now become the Gordon Center for Research in Medical Education. We also taught all the medical students their BCLS training for them to be able to enter the hospital in a professional capacity. During my five years there as a full time position. I changed the program from a standard 16 hour program taught rather randomly during their senior year while in their ten week cardiology rotation. Eventually during their last 40 hour week they were taught this same program in a very detailed manner. All together we presented about ten ACLS programs a year to students, as well as 30 public programs for nurses and doctors in the community. Finally I was able to bring the local fire/rescue departments in the two large south Florida counties for Miami and Ft. Lauderdale to the University for their ACLS re-certification training. This was a big factor in financial considerations, as well as academic involvement in the community for the University. While there I designed and stocked a permanent ACLS teaching laboratory that was widely used, and even copied nationally, when featured in Firehouse Magazine back about 1985. This 4 million dollar facility was followed by other permanent facilities that were used to teach Basic Trauma Life Support and Advanced Trauma Life support as well as eventually the national EDNA Trauma Nurse Certification course. Realizing that the Emergency Department was becoming a dangerous environment to work in, I went on to begin my Masters program as a Nurse Practitioner. Graduating in 1999 I finally left the Miami area to retire in Gainesville, Florida where I had done my original Nursing degree. I eventually went on to work as a Medical Officer at the local county jail doing primary care as well as running several specialty clinics for HTN and DM as well as seizures, HIV and Women's health. My previous OB experience was a great help there. While there I was able to participate in some research to enable the use of a PDA by Paramedical personnel for triaging more effectively in serious mass casualty incidents (MCI). This was published in the November, 2006 issue of The Journal of Emergency Medicine, and I was listed as the co-author. After retiring there I was volunteering at four local indigent care clinics in two local counties here in North Central Florida. Now I am holding a paid position as a healthcare provider in one of these clinics that went from a small trailer to a full facility with dental and medical capabilities. Serving the uninsured, and sponsored by the County Health Department, through their Medical Reserve Corps, and supported by a local community advocacy group called SWAG.