With the New Year comes a personal change. After 18 years with the Henderson (Nev.) Fire Department, I have moved to the City of North Las Vegas to assume the role of EMS chief. As anyone who has left a station assignment will tell, leaving the crew that has become family isn't an easy choice. Add to the move a change to a 40-hour week, a loss of overtime and move out of the union, and it's a wonder why people accept promotions at all.

Many people settle into a role and eventually find they just aren't making a difference anymore. Some stay for the money, stability and comfort, ending their careers with nice parties and a watch from the union. Others, like me, find key events influence their decisions to leave — everyone has a personal tipping point, a seminal career event when change is inevitable despite money, security or comfort.

You may recall my personal belief that we as fire-based EMS personnel should conduct ourselves so that the customer or the public is first and foremost. This way of doing business is often lost among the choices a fire officer can make about the crew or the workday. It seems more common for crews to isolate themselves in stations designed for critical infrastructure requirements rather than access to the community.

On more than one occasion my crew could have squandered the time required to go the extra mile because food was on the table back at the station or they were tired after being on the downside of a long overtime cycle. Nevertheless, they followed my lead on customer service issues without question. Sometimes it wasn't easy and often there were little or no thanks from the people or from me. I was always awed by the hard work and service they provided to the public, and it was an honor to serve with them. They made me a better officer and a better person. Education and hard work take you down the road, but it's the people in the engine or rescue with you who make the ride memorable.

While I was away on family medical leave for three months, the crew performed some acts of compassion that were simply extraordinary. They cleaned an elderly couple's home and took incredible steps to preserve a patient's dignity prior to transport. On another occasion after transporting a homeless Vietnam veteran with congestive heart failure, the crew attempted to get him out of his cardboard house and into the veterans retirement home. I will spend the rest of my life talking about what great people I worked with, and it was in my absence that I realized there wasn't much more for me to do. My crew members had begun with their own personal philosophies and added my thoughts, bringing the crew and the service to the next level.

When I left the organization I took time to thank the people who made me successful there. I feel compelled to do the same for those who helped me on a national level. From the encouragement and sound advice I received from James O. Page, I've always kept what's best for the patient first. More importantly, I made the effort to show up and be part of the process. As Jim was famous for saying, “Decisions are made by those who show up.” The mentorship and guidance I received from the core group of the IAFC's EMS Section — Ken Riddle, John Sinclair, Rob Brown, Gary Ludwig, Jack Krakeel and Dave Becker — kept me involved with EMS despite a primary assignment in fire suppression.

The National Fire Academy has provided me some great role models, and the beliefs and philosophies passed on to me by Jeff Dyar, Chuck Burkell, Ed Kaplan and Dr. Denis Onieal will serve me well. The opportunity to teach at the National Fire Academy and the fellowship of co-instructors like Jack McCart, Brent Meadows, Mack Greenland, Bruce Roemmelt and Doug Wolfe, just to name few, reinforced new ideas and pushed the envelope. Lori Moore of the IAFF kept me focused on taking care of the troops, championing fire-based EMS and appreciating the incredible value of the union. I am grateful to Janet Wilmoth and the staff of Fire Chief for giving me the opportunity to write for this magazine.

Lastly I thank the chiefs at North Las Vegas Fire — Terry Davis, Kevin Brame and Al Gillespie — who had the faith in me to give me the opportunity and a gold badge.

My point is that our success is really based on the people around us. This profession provides every opportunity to excel as a team. While it may seem an indulgence to take this space to use as a personal thank you, it is more about the validation of tradition. These fine people shared with me their commitment to public service and doing the right thing. The initiative to do this, unfortunately is a dwindling resource when this country often spends more time being divided. Time itself is in increasingly short supply, and the requirements of everyday life rarely afford the opportunity to put much toward the needs of other people.

Weird things will come along in this profession, and being witness to the human condition is the real reward of this job. Last month, there was a knock on the station door around 1:30 a.m., during a full moon. When I answered the door, a woman asked if I was sleeping, then stated that I was going to think she was crazy. She requested help in getting some balloons out of a tree. I told her that we really don't rescue cats from trees anymore, and I wasn't sure balloons were going to qualify, either. But I could see her eyes well up and I asked for the rest of the story.

She proceeded to tell me she had just lost someone very special to cancer and explained she had tied a picture of him to these balloons. She had intended to release these balloons at midnight, in observance of a full-moon ritual they once shared, but misjudged the distance and tangled them in the trees a few blocks up from the station. I summoned the rescue with a rookie paramedic and senior firefighter who, sleepy-eyed and tired, went down to retrieve this lady's balloons.

After 45 minutes I started to become worried. Had something happened? I began thinking how I had made it through my career with no real injuries to myself and never to my crew. A short time later, the paramedic and firefighter returned with the lady's balloons; it had taken a lot of effort to get the balloons out of a very tall pine tree. The woman had accompanied them back to the station; she wanted to let the balloons go while at the station with us. So we stood there together while she launched the balloons, and we then gave her firefighter-sized hugs and she went on her way.

I am sure that 10 years from now when these firefighters are captains they will tell a new rookie at the dinner table of the balloon rescue. Caring about and for human beings is the first and foremost fundamental management principle. Page once told me, take care of the guys and they will take care of the public. Achieving that level of performance in an organization is a gift from employees who want to give. Today I can say I was part of a group of employees who gave me that gift.

Bruce Evans is the EMS chief for the North Las Vegas (Nev.) Fire Department. He previously served as captain of the Henderson (Nev.) Fire Department. Evans also is the fire science program coordinator at the Community College of Southern Nevada as well as an adjunct faculty member for the National Fire Academy's EMS and injury prevention courses. He has an associate's degree in fire management and a master's degree in public administration.