If you came here from here – I have no idea about the news about chemical masks, but I do know that we are all going to be given radiation detectors.  I mentioned it here along with a suggested new name of ‘London Ambulance and Canary Service’.

Also the news story says ‘Paramedics’, as an EMT am I therefore expendable?

(Yes, yes, I know that ‘Paramedic’ is media shorthand for anyone who works on an ambulance).

Mentalnurse tells us about the big headline in community psychiatric services.  I’d say that this post sums up the whole of the NHS…

First off Care coordinators have to look for services that say they will do the work that’s shown on a care plan, then you have to beg for the money to pay for the services, and then you have to monitor the services so that they do what they say they are doing. This last bit is really frustrating, because often they are not, but there are no other services available, so its a bit like being a toothless tiger - and if you want to know what that’s like, just imagine trying to suck an antelope to death.

 

The final Thing That Interests Me, and it's the big one that I've been saving until last.

Her name is Laura, she's a LAS relief and she's my girlfriend.

She is, at the risk of sounding soppy, *lovely*. She's also worried that by revealing this I will be reducing my marketability, I'm not so sure, I think that folk will be happy for me.

We've been going out for a while now, and she is the first woman that I've been able to *sleep* with. Previously I've never had a good night's sleep when I've shared a bed with a woman, with Laura this isn't a problem.

(It may just be that she wears me out before I go to sleep, what with me being an old man...)

My previous relationships haven't lasted very long, but I think that this one will last for quite a while. The biggest problem is that we both work shifts and that can mean that we don't see each other for over a week.

As I write this she is watching over my shoulder, and it's a really nice feeling.

Strange...

But nice.

Computer games – the thing that prevents me from going mad.  Is there any better way than to unwind than hopping online and shooting some poor fool in the face?  Unfortunately, in the last month I’ve hardly had time to touch any of them.  Perhaps this explains the tension in my shoulders…

World of Warcraft – I think I’ve mentioned my love for this a reasonable amount since it’s been released.  I’m sure most of you know about it already.  I belong to a really friendly guild who, I’m ashamed to say, I’ve been neglecting of late. 

Chromehounds – A ‘Mech combat’ game for the Xbox 360.  I love the stalking around firing rockets at giant robots.  I completed the single player campaign in a couple of days and was looking forward to the online section.  Unfortunately it’s proving near impossible to find a squad and pick-up games are often tricky to get into with hosts disbanding games should they start to turn against them.

Oblivion – A beautiful game spolit somewhat by the way creatures level up at the same rate as yourself.  A bad design decision in my opinion.  Still I believe that it is correctable by modifying the game, something that the games creators encourage.

City of Heroes/City of Villains – I still get a kick out of flying around a city in a cape.  So sue me.  I also like playing healers in this, not that I come home from work only to do it all over again.  With City of Villains I can be evil(ish).

But…

Second Life – I love the potential of this, hampered as it is by crappy graphics, a machine specification that is ridiculously high and a preponderance of ‘sex clubs’ and ‘Lesbian clubs’ and ‘animated penis wearables’ and ‘S&M clubs’ and other things that will make my google referral logs interested once this post goes live.  If only I could run a local server rather than have to connect to the main ‘Grid’, then I could have more control of my environment and wouldn’t have to worry about someone erecting a ‘Lesbian Sex Animation’ shop next to my reflective shrine.  I *do* love the building aspect though, and the scripting.  But the social tools need taking out back and shooting.  Still good enough for me to play around with, but not the ‘future’ that many bloggers believe it to be.

Finally there is Warhammer Online which I am waiting for with bated breath. Actually I'm looking for someone with a Beta key who has been injured so that I can refuse to treat them until they hand it over...

Once upon a time, in the far depths of internet time, back when the Lynx browser was pretty much the standard, I signed up to be a ‘Humanist Priest of the Universal Church’ or some such.  Don’t ask me why, I think it was set up so that Americans could get tax-breaks.  Not much use for myself who (a) wasn’t American, nor (b) as a student wasn’t paying taxes at the time.  I printed off the certificate. laughed about it and forgot about it.

If only I’d known that I’d end up working on an ambulance I may well have paid extra (that is paid anything) to get the Advanced certificate.  Let me tell you why…

Every so often we get sent to ‘person behaving strangely’, sometimes this is an adult and sometimes it is a child.  When we reach the patient we are told, with a straight face nonetheless, that the patient is possessed by ancestors/spirits/demons*

*Delete as applicable.

Despite being (currently) an evangelical atheist, I have to take this sort of thing seriously, there is however a problem – our training guidelines pull us in two directions.

 

Direction one – We should respect the culture and traditions of our patients.

Direction two – We should never collude, or reinforce the delusions, of someone who is psychotic.

(Psychosis is defined as ‘irrational beliefs not shared by the patient’s traditions or culture)

 

You can see the problem that we have.

I have been to a thirteen year old boy who has been possessed by spirits and, when the police arrived, ran off like Linford Christie.  Of course they reckoned without the police van coming around the far end of the street.

I’ve been to a teenage girl who has been ‘protected’ from demons by some wall hangings, but that they may have found a way through and this is what is making her sick.

I’ve been to mothers who are channelling spirits in order to drive out the evil ancestors plaguing her daughter (who, unsurprisingly perhaps, has mental health issues).

I’ve been to evangelical Christian cults who have been trying to drive evil spirits out of their elderly relative by throwing salt at them.

I’ve been to countless people who have believed that they were possessed, and have had near superhuman strength to prove it.  I’ve seen them ‘levitate’ off beds despite their father sitting on top of them.  I’ve seen them running down the street naked, covered in their own excrement all in order to fulfil some direction from God.

 

So where do I stand?  Do I respect the culture and agree that ‘yes, it might be demons’, or do I not reinforce their delusions by reminding them that a urine infection can cause similar symptoms?  More importantly, where does madness end and religion begin?

For the first time in over a month I don't have a work shift to do, paperwork to complete, radio shows to record (or pimp), meetings with 'booky' people, secret project to look after, bills to pay, shopping to do, laundry to wash, huge swathes of emails to answer or bookshelves to build.

So I'm relaxing.

Bliss.

See you tomorrow.

(or maybe later today if I get bored and *need* to write).

Things That Interest Me #2

It was perfect timing to go to the Neil Gaiman reading/Q&A/Signing last night as today the thing that interests me is authors and creators using the internet to build communities.

(Incidentally, last night was superb. I had wonderful company and Mr. Gaimans reading of one of his short stores was superb. I was impressed by his improvisational skills when answering the audience questions. Then he worked for hours signing books. While signing a copy of his new book he said something so incredibly nice to me that I kind of went 'eeek!' in pure fannish joy).

But on to online communities.

I understand the whole Cluetrain/Hughtrain manifesto that 'marketplaces are conversations' although the whole marketing speak of it makes my skin itch. Instead, what I have found is that authors are building connections with their readers using online means.

Neil Gaiman is one such person. Go to his website and look around. You get the feeling that he is a really nice person partly from his blog and partly from the way he is happy to answer his reader's emails. He uses the internet to keep his fans updated on all the things that he is doing. This builds interest in his work and so a sense of community.

Another writer, Warren Ellis, embraces the technology of the internet. From Mailing lists, to his website and into The Engine forum, he not only keeps fans updated, but allows his personality to shine through. He is passionate about showcasing new talent (and pictures of penii carved into topiary) and has managed to carve out a cult of which I am a proud and happy member.

By building these communities it goes beyond the idea of 'selling stuff'. They provide a focus for people to meet around, they let you get to know the person behind the words and they allow you to ignore the boundaries of geography in meeting other people who share your interests. You can feel that the writer is your friend, that they are speaking on a level with you - and ultimately that converts into a loyal following who will buy the books and evangelise the work not just because it is good (because you need to be good to start that seed), but because you are their friend.

To look at it from another way, I *told* you that my book was old posts from this site, that you could just dig into the archives and you would find pretty much the entire text. So why did so many of you buy it? Was it for the physical artefact of the book, or was it because you think I'm a nice bloke who writes in an acceptable manner and you wanted to repay that a little? Would it have been bought in such mind boggling numbers if it wasn't released on the back of what has become, in it's own small way, a community?

It's not a one way process, I get a huge amount of pleasure every time someone comments on a post, immediate feedback is a huge motivator for blog writing. I love it that people are interested in what I am writing. I love meeting people who read this blog and I love taking part in the various communities that have sprung up around the blog format websites.

So writers, build that community - it creates loyalty, it builds friendships and it allows you to talk with people who should mean a lot to you.

Also it's a huge amount of fun.

If you know of any others, let me know of other similar sites, as I'm hugely interested in them.

(Written under a deadline, so it may wander a little as I scribble madly in bed before heading off to work)

For this week I shall, besides posting about ambulance stuff, post one thing each day that is interesting me right now.

Today is the podcasts that I really like.

Tying in to my new-found love for my Apple Macbook I've become a big fan of British Mac, a podcast by Will Green. It's like being invited into Will's home where you sit down, have a nice little chat and an hour later you come away all chilled out and a bit wiser about Mac stuff.

He has a real friendly style and the slightly rough edges only improve the character of this podcast.

Ewan is a mate of mine and is one of the people who has made the leap from Podcasting to radio. He is also possibly the hardest working man in the podcasting world. My favourite podcast of his is the Friday Rock Show. It's a very professional podcast and he plays some superb music. It's also a great advertisement for his personality.

These aren't the only podcasts that I listen to, but they are the ones that make me grin when they drop into my iPod.

I had my first famous person in the back of my ambulance the other day.

Jesus Christ.

We were called to a 'Male, 51, Schizophrenic, acting violently'.

So we waited for the police to turn up, for we are not stupid.

The door was opened by a woman, she said something to the police and they pulled out their asp truncheons and loosened the straps on their CS sprays. They made their way upstairs and left the woman downstairs with us. I started to have a little chat with the woman and thought to myself, "She's a bit strange...".

The police came down the stairs, one of them took me aside and, indicating the woman, told me that *she* was the patient and was on leave from the local mental health unit. We took her outside where she explain that, yes, she was on leave from the unit but her father had suddenly developed schizophrenia.

I asked her if it might be her mania flaring up, and if she would like to return to the unit. She agreed that this would be a good idea, so the police asked her for her name.

"Jesus", the policewoman and I looked at each other, "Christ", she continued.

"OK", said the police officer, "but do you have another name, perhaps one your parents gave you?".

The patient gave us her 'birth name' and, fetching her *huge* bag of anti-psychotic medication from under the sink she hopped into the ambulance.

We drove her straight to the mental health unit that she was on leave from. We went into a side room to talk to the mental health nurse.

"What's the story now then?", she asked.

I told her.

The nurse tutted, "She's not really mad, she's just playing up".

I looked at the huge bag of medicines the patient took, "But", I said, "why is she taking all these anti-psychotics?"

"Well", the nurse replied, "she is a bit mad, but she doesn't need to be in the unit".

I wasn't in the mood to argue, after all it's not my place to question the long term care of the mentally ill.

We started to leave the unit.

"Have fun with Jesus Christ", I fired over my shoulder.

Joy of joys! A friend of mine has secured tickets for the Neil Gaiman reading and Q&A in London tomorrow. So after work I shall be in excellent company listening to him talk. Mr Gaiman is one of those writers I really respect and it will be the first time I'll have seen him in the flesh.

I may ask him about the 'Stunt Lime'.

I'm a big fan of police blogging, hardly a day goes past without me working with the police on one call or another. So I know that they are human beings with the same frustrations and concerns as the rest of us. Unfortunately they come in for a lot of criticism from the press and are unable to respond. Their PR department seems to prefer 'spin' and 'whitewash', playing the violins while the Titanic sinks rather than providing the truth of police work. The police blogs give us an insight into a secretive world where their hands are tied by the government and this has prevented them from making the real difference that many of them joined the service to do.

The police management have a habit of shutting down the blogs though, perhaps they can't see how well they humanise the police services. No longer is the harassed copper who comes to take your details a uniformed cog in the machine, but is instead someone who is so buried under paperwork and government targets that they can't help you no matter how much they would like to.

It looks like another police blog is in danger of disappearing, Inspector Gadget is to have an 'informal chat' with the Professional Standards Unit. His sources tell him that this will be about the blog, and that he may be in some serious trouble.

At no point has he brought the Police Service into disrepute, he has not interfered with any investigation (ongoing or in the past) and his blog has shown people the world over the struggles and strains of trying to serve the public while facing unreasonable pressures from government. He tells the truth without it being whitewashed with 'spin'. The should be no reason why his bosses should want it removed.

This leads onto the wider question as to why the Police hierarchy don't like the truth being told. Nor why members of the police seem to have their Human Right of freedom of speech and expression removed from them.

Please, go over to his site, read the archives to see what a great blog it is and leave a comment of support. He deserves it, and hopefully with a show of public support it may demonstrate to his seniors why we need police bloggers.

It would be a terrible loss to see him disappear like 'The Law is an Ass', or 'Brian's Brief Encounters'.

Why can't they be as blog friendly as the London Ambulance Service?

Top call of the day...

The call was given as "Collapsed, not breathing", so we rushed around there to discover that the location was a cab office.

A woman had come into the office to try and persuade the cab dispatcher to go to church, he had buried his head in his hands and tried to ignore her.

She then thought he had died, then panicked and called us.

The "patient" was apologetic, he didn't know that we had been called, while the caller was convinced he had died and come back to life.

Despite being told otherwise by ourselves and the patient.

You have got to laugh.