2004-08-26 Sad Sack gets out more

Such is one of the "don'ts" of Emergency Medicine. Darn, and I did that only yesterday!

Best-selling author Jane Stern is a columnist for GOURMET mag, and, with her husband, is a regular guest on National Public Radio. By her own admission, she is, or was, also something of a Sad Sack: afraid of airplanes and buses and so depressed as to not even shed her bathrobe and fuzzy slippers and leave the house on a daily basis. So, she begins seeing a shrink and, as sort of a personal dare, decides to become an Emergency Medical Technician. AMBULANCE GIRL is the story of her determination to get out more.

Stern's life takes on a whole new dimension as she attends EMT "boot camp", takes the national certification exam (which she passes), gets hired by her hometown EMT force, learns to get along with firemen, begins to go out on emergency calls, and encounters her "firsts". Her first accident victim, her first dead patient, her first AIDS sufferer, her first "crazy person", her first suicide, her first dead dog, etc. (Dog?!)

The first three-quarters of the book is pretty much a hoot, then becomes more somber during the remainder as Jane describes the burn-out that puts a severe strain on her marriage and threatens to return her to a permanently depressed state. It's apparent by the book's conclusion that Stern's existence tottering on the edge of total dysfunction is a constant not easily ameliorated. (Perhaps that can be said of all of us.) Only her ability to share her life and experiences with a self-deprecating humor saves AMBULANCE GIRL from being a downer.

At 228 pages in relatively large type, this hardback is a very quick and entertaining read, allowing you to soon move on to something either more substantive or trashy depending on your taste.