On the last day of November in 2011, I worked my last day with Alameda County AMR.  That night I arrived at Paramedics Plus and was the first paramedic unit in the streets for them.  Johnny Gonzalez and I hold that honor.  I spent last night, approximately 5 months after the transition, at ANOTHER going away party, mine.  It is tiresome to say goodbye to good people on a weekly basis.  The AMR crew was, and is my family.

     So here I am 2 weeks away from a new job with a familiar company in the center of the State that is the center of the country.  Topeka here I come.  I think what I want this to be is a open book for my ALCO family as well as a fresh eye for my new AMR family.

     My fears of leaving everything that I have here runs deep.  I feel that I have a comfort zone here, with people I know and trust to bounce crazy ideas, go over calls, etc.  I know Oakland like the back of my hand.  I have not gone through a day in over a month where I didn't know at least one of my patients.  I don't know any other world.  I have been shot at, sort of.  I have rolled in a side-show with my ambulance, whoops. I have been attacked by dogs and people. Nobody has tried to eat my face, yet.  I have never flown a patient out with a helicopter, that sounds fun.  I will miss this place like you miss an abusive step-father.  I will miss the way 586 handed me my ass on a nightly basis. I will miss getting flipped off, while driving code 3 to a call and enroute to a hospital.  I will miss John George Pavilion and the way they treat the ambulance like a burden on themselves. Actually, I'm not going to miss that, all that much.  The FNG's, I am sure will rest a little easier knowing that I won't be in a desperate panic to get to 10th and Clay to show them a new restaurant that just opened.  Cochesa has some LEGIT pozole.  I will miss the late night bull sessions at Highland hospital, handling 5 different posts from that parking lot.  I will miss the confidence I had in bringing truly emergent patients to Summit and Highland and knowing I am placing my patients in great and capable hands, even if I might disagree with what they are doing.   I will miss the history I have with the staffs to speak my mind and be heard.  Suffice it to say, I will miss this place.
   
     Expectations.  Wow.  I've spent more than a few sleepless nights with theses thoughts in my head.  I am pretty sure it will not be as busy as Oakland, probably a little more like South or East county.  I have been told that they do not 'fly' a lot of people.  OK.  I imagine that people are people and they will get sick and I will arrive to assist them to a hospital.  I worry that I will have a difficult time communicating to a rancher/farmer from Kansas that has never met a California kid like me.  I have assessed people in my limited Cantonese, Spanish and Hyphy.  Will I be able to communicate the same way to the people of my new home?  We'll see.