It's been awhile since I had to fire up the typewriter and find carbon paper for these letters, but something very close to home has happened and we need to nip this all in the bud.
First letter in the file-
Jason Brown, Colleton County Firefighter Paramedic, was released from duty last week after posting a cartoon video to his facebook page which featured harsh language and an exchange between a firefighter character and a doctor character. We all remember Fireman Mike's suggestions about when to call 911, and the language in that video wasn't PG, but it lacked the confrontation shown in Jason's video. In a perfect world we would all watch this cartoon and laugh because I have had a similar conversation 100s of times in clinics and medical offices wondering just where these folks went to medical school.
But the end of the video is the only part I have an issue with - "We're going to pretend this conversation never happened..." this implies that the fireman cartoon in the video is going to ignore the complaint and leave. THAT is the reason this letter is going in your file, for a questionable ending to a cartoon video on the internet.
Second letter should not need to be written, but your knee jerked so hard so fast it went right up and kicked you in the face.
Colleton County Fire-Rescue Director Barry McRoy. In your termination letter to FF/PM Brown you mention "This video has created an embarrassing situation for this department, our public image and the cooperative relationship we enjoy with Colleton Medical Center. It reflects poorly on you and Colleton County."
No, Sir, you and your Department made this an embarrassing situation for the department. Ask Brown to remove the video and make a training film if so inclined to make movies keeps this in house and solves all the problems.
I can only assume your fear of the rest of the country finding out the working relationships your service might really have has scared you into firing anyone who tries to express themselves.
Was it the video, the characters or the fact the world saw it on his facebook page? I can only assume he is like me on facebook, friends, family and coworkers following along. When he posts the video maybe 100-200 people see it, maybe half that amount watch it. That is how social media works. It isn't put up on every single fire and EMS website for all to see...
...until you fired him for it. You took an easily fixable in house "choice of words" situation and exploded it into a National example of a public safety agency afraid of social media. Because of the way you handled this situation I and now my readers are reading about Colleton, whereas last week I did not even know the agency existed.
In my book, you Sir, are the one who should be fired for creating "...an embarrassing situation for this department, our public image and the cooperative relationship we enjoy with Colleton Medical Center. It reflects poorly on ... Colleton County." Sound familiar?
Both of you need to sit down and TALK about this, face to face. If the offended Doctor who likely asked you to fire Brown wants to join in, all the better. Have a talk about the proper way to use social media to move the agency, EMS and medicine forward.
This is a sticky spot to be in for sure. I'm sure if you look hard enough into my musings there is a reason Colleton would fire me too, and every other EMS and Fire blogger.
But think of it this way:
What if Brown had drawn his video cartoon and had it published in a national EMS magazine instead? Perhaps a single panel cartoon showing a Paramedic and an MD disagreeing in an entertaining manner for all to enjoy?
Would that be OK?
Should Brown be fired? I say no. Reprimanded...perhaps, spoken to for sure, but firing him first thing shows fear.
That is not all.
Editor's note: No the link to the video is not broken, it is not here. Best part of all this is that you can find it all over the internet now, I don't need to link to it here.
First letter in the file-
Jason Brown, Colleton County Firefighter Paramedic, was released from duty last week after posting a cartoon video to his facebook page which featured harsh language and an exchange between a firefighter character and a doctor character. We all remember Fireman Mike's suggestions about when to call 911, and the language in that video wasn't PG, but it lacked the confrontation shown in Jason's video. In a perfect world we would all watch this cartoon and laugh because I have had a similar conversation 100s of times in clinics and medical offices wondering just where these folks went to medical school.But the end of the video is the only part I have an issue with - "We're going to pretend this conversation never happened..." this implies that the fireman cartoon in the video is going to ignore the complaint and leave. THAT is the reason this letter is going in your file, for a questionable ending to a cartoon video on the internet.
Second letter should not need to be written, but your knee jerked so hard so fast it went right up and kicked you in the face.
Colleton County Fire-Rescue Director Barry McRoy. In your termination letter to FF/PM Brown you mention "This video has created an embarrassing situation for this department, our public image and the cooperative relationship we enjoy with Colleton Medical Center. It reflects poorly on you and Colleton County."No, Sir, you and your Department made this an embarrassing situation for the department. Ask Brown to remove the video and make a training film if so inclined to make movies keeps this in house and solves all the problems.
I can only assume your fear of the rest of the country finding out the working relationships your service might really have has scared you into firing anyone who tries to express themselves.
Was it the video, the characters or the fact the world saw it on his facebook page? I can only assume he is like me on facebook, friends, family and coworkers following along. When he posts the video maybe 100-200 people see it, maybe half that amount watch it. That is how social media works. It isn't put up on every single fire and EMS website for all to see...
...until you fired him for it. You took an easily fixable in house "choice of words" situation and exploded it into a National example of a public safety agency afraid of social media. Because of the way you handled this situation I and now my readers are reading about Colleton, whereas last week I did not even know the agency existed.
In my book, you Sir, are the one who should be fired for creating "...an embarrassing situation for this department, our public image and the cooperative relationship we enjoy with Colleton Medical Center. It reflects poorly on ... Colleton County." Sound familiar?
Both of you need to sit down and TALK about this, face to face. If the offended Doctor who likely asked you to fire Brown wants to join in, all the better. Have a talk about the proper way to use social media to move the agency, EMS and medicine forward.
This is a sticky spot to be in for sure. I'm sure if you look hard enough into my musings there is a reason Colleton would fire me too, and every other EMS and Fire blogger.
But think of it this way:
What if Brown had drawn his video cartoon and had it published in a national EMS magazine instead? Perhaps a single panel cartoon showing a Paramedic and an MD disagreeing in an entertaining manner for all to enjoy?
Would that be OK?
Should Brown be fired? I say no. Reprimanded...perhaps, spoken to for sure, but firing him first thing shows fear.
That is not all.
Editor's note: No the link to the video is not broken, it is not here. Best part of all this is that you can find it all over the internet now, I don't need to link to it here.
Comments
I think this is likely one of the biggest barriers to EMS2.0. Until professionals feel they can post their opinion without fear of over the top reactions from their managers then they will likely not participate at all. If it comes to a choice between earning a salary or having a blog then most professionals with families to support will pick the salary!
That is not to say that people shouldn't be accountable for what they write. However as TheHappyMedic states above it's all about sensible and measured reactions instead of taking advice from the Stalinist book of management... (Deny that you every have any problems, sack anyone who speaks against you)
I think this is likely one of the biggest barriers to EMS2.0. Until professionals feel they can post their opinion without fear of over the top reactions from their managers then they will likely not participate at all. If it comes to a choice between earning a salary or having a blog then most professionals with families to support will pick the salary!
That is not to say that people shouldn't be accountable for what they write. However as TheHappyMedic states above it's all about sensible and measured reactions instead of taking advice from the Stalinist book of management... (Deny that you every have any problems, sack anyone who speaks against you)
Brown's video was harsh, but has no reflection on his paramedical skill level, his working professionalism or the Colleton EMS service. So why fire him indeed?
Colleton County EMS - and yes I'm using that so Google will pick up these keywords - has created a storm of negative PR for themselves. Just as Happy said, they did it to themselves quite independently of anything that their medic did. So he made a video to blow off some steam. So he had some colorful language in it and maybe it was in poor taste as well... that's probably all true. I don't know the guy, so I can't say that I'll hang my hat on his record... but what Colleton County EMS did in their reaction to the video is way beyond a reasonable reaction to it. It's just plain wrong.
My guess is that this guy had some steam to blow off, and maybe he isn't the most professional medic out there. The language in the video tipped me off to that. Perhaps he and I wouldn't see eye-to-eye on every issue and perhaps I'd have to school him on a few things. However, he has the right to express his First Amendment rights. We all do and while employers have the right to censor things that will damage their own reputation, this wasn't that. The message brought forth in the video didn't reference the employer, the medical center, or really anyone in particular. The doctor he mentioned, "Dr. Ward" wasn't defamed in any way, nor was any "Dr. Ward" personally identified. I personally know a handful of "Dr. Wards" and I didn't imagine that it was any one of them.
This case makes a horrible precedent and the ruling should not be allowed to stand. Paramedics and EMTs need to be able to express opinions that their employers may not agree with. It's our obligation to bring up issues that affect our profession and our service to the public. It's not just our First Amendment right, it's our professional obligation. Remember folks, corruption can only exist in the dark. Once light is shown upon it, it tends to dry up and go away. I'm not accusing Colleton County EMS of any corruption... nor am I saying that the Administrators of Colleton County are corrupt... I'm just saying that I believe they acted irresponsibly at best.
To take this a step forward, if the medic truly was trying to bring a problem to the attention of the public independent of his management chain, that is his RIGHT and his OBLIGATION as a public servant. Administrators hate whistleblowers for a reason and usually that reason is because it exposes something they don't want exposed. To squash that whistleblower through heavy-handed termination is to try and rule their employees through fear. I gotta tell you, that's not a long-lasting management style.
Colleton County: If you want to come through this without your entire operation being scrutinized, you better come out somewhere and respond to this. You may be in the right for reasons we don't know, but you better come out and tell us what those are. I'm not letting this go.
Remember this quote, always. "All it takes for Evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".
I think this is likely one of the biggest barriers to EMS2.0. Until professionals feel they can post their opinion without fear of over the top reactions from their managers then they will likely not participate at all. If it comes to a choice between earning a salary or having a blog then most professionals with families to support will pick the salary!
That is not to say that people shouldn't be accountable for what they write. However as TheHappyMedic states above it's all about sensible and measured reactions instead of taking advice from the Stalinist book of management... (Deny that you every have any problems, sack anyone who speaks against you)
This post was mentioned on Twitter by theHappyMedic: Latest from HMHQ: Letters in the files are flying today http://happymedic.com/2010/03/01/letters-in-the-files-are-flying-today/...
Brown's video was harsh, but has no reflection on his paramedical skill level, his working professionalism or the Colleton EMS service. So why fire him indeed?
Colleton County EMS - and yes I'm using that so Google will pick up these keywords - has created a storm of negative PR for themselves. Just as Happy said, they did it to themselves quite independently of anything that their medic did. So he made a video to blow off some steam. So he had some colorful language in it and maybe it was in poor taste as well... that's probably all true. I don't know the guy, so I can't say that I'll hang my hat on his record... but what Colleton County EMS did in their reaction to the video is way beyond a reasonable reaction to it. It's just plain wrong.
My guess is that this guy had some steam to blow off, and maybe he isn't the most professional medic out there. The language in the video tipped me off to that. Perhaps he and I wouldn't see eye-to-eye on every issue and perhaps I'd have to school him on a few things. However, he has the right to express his First Amendment rights. We all do and while employers have the right to censor things that will damage their own reputation, this wasn't that. The message brought forth in the video didn't reference the employer, the medical center, or really anyone in particular. The doctor he mentioned, "Dr. Ward" wasn't defamed in any way, nor was any "Dr. Ward" personally identified. I personally know a handful of "Dr. Wards" and I didn't imagine that it was any one of them.
This case makes a horrible precedent and the ruling should not be allowed to stand. Paramedics and EMTs need to be able to express opinions that their employers may not agree with. It's our obligation to bring up issues that affect our profession and our service to the public. It's not just our First Amendment right, it's our professional obligation. Remember folks, corruption can only exist in the dark. Once light is shown upon it, it tends to dry up and go away. I'm not accusing Colleton County EMS of any corruption... nor am I saying that the Administrators of Colleton County are corrupt... I'm just saying that I believe they acted irresponsibly at best.
To take this a step forward, if the medic truly was trying to bring a problem to the attention of the public independent of his management chain, that is his RIGHT and his OBLIGATION as a public servant. Administrators hate whistleblowers for a reason and usually that reason is because it exposes something they don't want exposed. To squash that whistleblower through heavy-handed termination is to try and rule their employees through fear. I gotta tell you, that's not a long-lasting management style.
Colleton County: If you want to come through this without your entire operation being scrutinized, you better come out somewhere and respond to this. You may be in the right for reasons we don't know, but you better come out and tell us what those are. I'm not letting this go.
Remember this quote, always. "All it takes for Evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing".
I can't help but think that there is a touch of us versus them going on as well. After all, who are WE, the low level field providers, to determine what is right and what is wrong with the business practices of multi-million dollar corporations?
Who are we to criticise the business practices of those who feed us? Why that's just biting the hands that feed us isn't it? Surely if we were smart enough to run a corporation or manage a municiple agancy, then we'd be doing just that now wouldn't we...instead of just stiring up trouble and fighting status quo.
I have seen first hand how things can change when you start exposing the idiocies of a company or a system to the world. I know they read my blogs locally. I hear the snide remarks around town and I know a cold shoulder when I get one.
We may all have to become like FF/PM Brown one day...who knows? This could get nasty; but I ready for a legitimate fight.
Thanks for getting on this HM!
I can't help but think that there is a touch of us versus them going on as well. After all, who are WE, the low level field providers, to determine what is right and what is wrong with the business practices of multi-million dollar corporations?
Who are we to criticise the business practices of those who feed us? Why that's just biting the hands that feed us isn't it? Surely if we were smart enough to run a corporation or manage a municiple agancy, then we'd be doing just that now wouldn't we...instead of just stiring up trouble and fighting status quo.
I have seen first hand how things can change when you start exposing the idiocies of a company or a system to the world. I know they read my blogs locally. I hear the snide remarks around town and I know a cold shoulder when I get one.
We may all have to become like FF/PM Brown one day...who knows? This could get nasty; but I ready for a legitimate fight.
Thanks for getting on this HM!
As far as "fear of social media" goes, I think we're seeing a similar reaction to social media in EMS that we saw when the 1st rounds of MilBlogs came around. First they were in the shadows, then they were blocked (for a mix of legitimate and dumb reasons) and now they have embraced social media and are using it as a tool. I expect we shall see more and more of that in EMS/Fire in the near future. There will always be concerns about confidentiality, PR, public perception but overall I expect that the community will self-police and the "offenders" will be quickly, at a minimum, discredited and banished to the dustbin of the interwebs.
As far as "fear of social media" goes, I think we're seeing a similar reaction to social media in EMS that we saw when the 1st rounds of MilBlogs came around. First they were in the shadows, then they were blocked (for a mix of legitimate and dumb reasons) and now they have embraced social media and are using it as a tool. I expect we shall see more and more of that in EMS/Fire in the near future. There will always be concerns about confidentiality, PR, public perception but overall I expect that the community will self-police and the "offenders" will be quickly, at a minimum, discredited and banished to the dustbin of the interwebs.