When I was in my first training school to become a Paramedic, one of my fellow students brought an American "Wildest Trauma" style video in to watch. After watching the video he asked one of our Paramedic educators (with around 15 years service), "How long does it take to become desensitized and have no feelings in the job when we see all that stuff"? The class was politely told in no uncertain terms that, "if we all thought that was what it was all about we should leave right now!". I often think back to that day when I am feeling tired and cross and am well and truly over the 3rd fallen over drunk for the night, or the 3am call because the lady can't remove her contact lens etc etc. I cried after my fourth day on the road I went to a 1 year old sudden infant death, I cried after my first fatal car crash in which a 16 year old boy was killed and several of his mates were critically injured, I (and my 3 colleagues on the case) cried after a particularly nasty suicide of a teenage girl. But it isn't all about the bad, how much joy do I remember from my first child birth or defibrillating a patient in cardiac arrest and enjoying a joke with him four weeks later. Or the man (alive to this day) who I happened to come across in my supervisor car 2-3 minutes after a bus ran over him who had a traumatic amputation of 1 leg and a multiple fractures of his other leg along with major pelvic/abdominal trauma. He would have bled to death by the time that first ambulance arrived 10 minutes later as a bystander had popped a blanket over him so they didn't have to look at the mess and all the blood spurting fom his artery. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than simply putting my hand on the shoulder of someone injured, ill or distressed, and this simple gesture of compassion can make such a difference to reduce the level of stress and anxiety. Anyway, enough rambling from me, keep up the good work Tom. PS: that fine Paramedic Educator who gave us those words of wisdom sadly succumbed to cancer a couple of years later, the world was a better place for his time here.