It's a Miracle!!

Definitely not something I thought I would be seeing again anytime soon - especially here in Connecticut where gas taxes are HUGE!

Let us all rejoice!

Happy 35th Anniversary to the Company I Work For!

********************

As I mentioned in yesterday's Photo Hunt post, American Ambulance Services, Inc. celebrated its 35th anniversary on Friday evening with a party under the tent at the American Wharf Marina. Today, however, marks the official date of that anniversary.

On June 24th, 1972 Ron Aliano, CEO of The American Group, started his ambulance service in Norwich with just two ambulances that operated out of the back of a service station. If you want to know what it was like, it has been suggested that one watch the 1978 movie "Mother, Juggs, and Speed" as that will give you a pretty good idea of what early ambulance service was like. Personally, having seen it, I find that to be a little bit scary and I'm glad I never needed an ambulance back in the 70's!

In 1986, American moved into its new headquarters at One American Way and those original two ambulances have definitely multiplied over the years. Now their are over 50 vehicles in the fleet including both ambulance and chair car vans as well as over 200 employees consisting of Emergency Medical Technicians, Paramedics, Chair Car Van Drivers, Schedulers, Dispatchers, and Office staff.

I joined American on June 3rd, 2003 after breaking my vow to never dispatch again - yeah, that worked out real well, didn't it? - and though there are times when I want to do nothing more than beat my head against the counter on which my keyboard rests in sheer frustration, I have never regretted taking the job. I have met some of the nicest people at AASI that can be found anywhere on the face of the earth and they have made a sometimes over-the-top stressful job more than tolerable.

They're so good, in fact, that I was awarded Employee of the Year in 2004 and I have never once forgotten that it was only through them that I was able to achieve that honor. I've always believed that a dispatcher is only as good as those people he or she dispatches and I can honestly say that the road crews I work with are some of the best anywhere. I appreciate every single one of them even though I probably neglect to tell them that as often as I should.

In a post awhile back I mentioned that as a police dispatcher I worried about the men and women who were "under my care" and Bulldog, a favortite EMT and regular reader of this blog, asked me the following question:

"... how do you feel now that you dispatch EMT's & Paramedics as opposed to cops? Is your "worry level" higher or lower because of the difference in actual job specifics? Not trying to put you on the spot ... just curious!"

Up until now I hadn't had a chance to address that question but I have been giving it a lot of thought ever since it was asked. My level of worry now depends on the type of call that I'm sending a crew out on. If it's just a routine transfer or even a lights-and-siren transfer from one facility to another, my worry is mainly one of road safety. Just because there's a large white and orange ambulance possibly with lights flashing and siren wailing doesn't mean that people will always notice said vehicle and I worry that a crew is going to get t-boned, hit head-on, or even have a tree jump out at them (ah yes, Titan and the tree - I remember it well ...). Accidents are a constant source of concern.

As for other worries, I don't fret quite as much as I did when dispatching police officers as EMS is normally looked on as "the good guys" but that doesn't mean that something can't go wrong on what may appear to be a routine call, especially when it comes to psych transports. I learned to worry about "my guys" as a police dispatcher and even though I haven't done that particular job in years, I carried that over with me and I still worry about "my guys" - just now on a slightly different level. Hope that answers that for you, Bulldog, without being too vague!

Unless something in my life changes drastically (like finding that elusive winning lottery ticket or having Prince Charming sweep me off my feet and cart me off to his castle) I'm pretty sure I'll still be at American when its 40th anniversary rolls around five years down the road. I'm sure that's going to be quite the party, too! In the meantime, Happy 35th and - as always - "safe trip and 110 upon turnover"!

250 + 21,000 = Celebration!!

********************

It's celebration time here at Are We There Yet?? as today I hit a milestone with - this - my 250th post. It didn't dawn on me until I went back and looked at my start date here that I realized that I chose to start this blog on what was my beloved grandfather's birthday - July the 25th. I've got to think that was a good sign as this blog has become more than I ever thought it would be.

Through this blog I have met some truly wonderful people; people I would have never met otherwise. I now have friends in England, Canada, Afghanistan, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, California, and Florida to name a few places as well as some new ones right here in my own backyard of Connecticut, too. These people are a wonderfully diverse group of personalities, beliefs, and lifestyles and they have become almost like family to me. My day is not complete without a visit to their own little part of the Blogosphere and it seems that almost every day, that list over on my sidebar grows longer with blogs that I love to visit.

In addition to this being a day of celebration for this being my 250th post, I also am proud to announce that as of today I have over ~ a drum roll please! ~ 21,000 page hits. Granted some of those are my own visits here but I certainly am not narcissistic enough to have generated all those hits on my own! To all of those people who have stopped by my blog for a visit I say "thank you" and to celebrate, here's a piece of cake for you to enjoy while you continue reading! And not to worry - it's carb, fat, and calorie free!


I couldn't exactly decide what I should do my 250th post on. What could possibly be interesting enough or witty enough or deep enough to write about for #250? Naturally, I drew a blank! Then, after spending some time over on my Stat Counter page, I decided that I could perhaps humor you with some of the searches that have brought people to my blog. Some of them make sense while some of them are pretty darned mystifying but - hey - it's still pretty interesting to see what people type into a search engine and what gets them to land on my blog! So far there doesn't seem to be anything pornographic or illegal that brings them here and I believe I shall chalk that up as a good thing. So, while you enjoy that big ole' piece of cyber-cake, I present to you for your reading pleasure ...

The Best of My Stat Counter Searches!

• The most common and popular search to my blog is: Rachel Lutkzer, Rachel Lutzker, Rachel Lutzker (perhaps it's time I did a new post on the oft-searched Traffic Reporter for WFSB Channel 3 Eyewitness News & fed her hungry fans!)
• Penny Wise the dancing clowns AMVs (this had to be my brother doing this search!)
• When did Are We There Yet come out (obviously referring to the lesser known movie!)
• Single mom's broken hearts (ut-oh!)
  
• Who was the star who mistakenly stood up to accept academy award? (good question, who was that?)
  
• Synonym "I'm not at liberty to say" (huh?)
• My Chemical Romance known B sides ("B sides"? They still have B sides??)
• Kimball hospital birth rates 2006 (well, I was born at Day Kimball Hospital!)
• Worcester MA police dispatch job (gee, are they hiring??)
• Statistics of couples who met through a friend (this could be interesting to know ...)
• What was Abe Lincoln's mom's name? (I don't recall ever mentioning it before but if you're curious it was Nancy Hanks from West Virginia)
• Emergency medical dispatch questions taking too long (now this search makes sense!)
• Gerard Way voice generator (you're kidding me, right??)
• How many WW points for pulled pork (someone was hungry!)
• When feelings aren't reciprocated (Feelings ... nothing more than feelings ...woowoowoo)
• Stress relieving jabberwocky dolls (you can probably find these with the Gerard Way voice generator if you look hard enough!)
• "Vista compatible wireless cards" (oh yes, I know exactly what post this one goes to and boy, was it ever frustrating!)
• Even when a man is listening, he is going to get it wrong (well, yes, probably!)
• Shameless moms (maybe I was wrong about the whole porn thing??)
• Faith and begora definition (I strive to be internationally correct!)
  
• Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love (sorry, not cured yet!)
• Single line teasing quotations (your guess is as good as mine here!)
• Fire incident rehab unit (yep, mentioned that a time or two)
• Charles Lindbergh scavenger hunt (this could be fun but how it relates to here is beyond me!)
• There's a club, a dead dad's club (and, sadly, I am a member of it)
• Pay close attention (yes, please do!)

And there you have it folks, the best of the searches that have caused people to ask "Are We There Yet??". Mostly what it makes me ask is "why were you looking for that??" Ah well, it takes all kinds which is what makes life so interesting!

So - with that - onward and upward to post #500 and 30,000 page hits. I hope you'll stick around and join me on the continued journey!

Now ... is there any of that cake left??