Here's the response from Jason:
Hello all!
I know that it was only a matter of time before I would have to post in this blog. Despite my better judgment here it goes. Firstly, I am not the editor or co-editor of this blog nor have I ever commented within it (until now), which also means that I have not made ANY personal attacks on anyone or their family members. Yes, I am guilty of placing the link to this site in another blog next to my name, many people have this link posted on their site, this is not “solid proof” that they are responsible for the site. Actually, I have several links to other sites posted there as well and I do not author or co-author any of those either. Since this blog’s inception, I have told people that I did not want to be involved because of my legal case against the H.S.A. and I wanted the appropriate process to take prevalence over anger. I have recently received a very undeserving email from one of the people in the service that I respect highly that accused me of “stirring up the shit” and that they were being told that they were just as guilty for this blog as I was for their participation in my going away party. So as long as I was being blamed, I took the liberty of placing the link in an alternate blog. So what are these people guilty of ?? Saying goodbye to someone and having a couple of drinks? K.G. you were there having a good time and expressing your gratitude for me taking the time and reviewing with you, did I have anything bad to say about anyone?? It is attitudes and displays of blame such as this made me realize that it was inevitable that I would be dragged into being held responsible for this because of my up front, no-nonsense personality. Then again, I guess that if one person makes a blog, all expatriates are contributing authors. Does that mean that all Germans are responsible for the Holocaust? I HATE stereotyping and prejudice. I HAVE NO USE FOR IT!
Secondly, I would like to take the time to address a couple of the responses.
One of the responses that I feel refers to me is the one that refers to “being the one with the camera” I do carry my camera around when on duty, I take pictures of scenes and injuries to use in my lectures. During the time you speak of I was not taking pictures of these events but rather of the people that I have spent the past 18 months of my life working and living with. I have pictures of just about everybody; nurses, physicians, porters, and EMT’s to reflect on my life experience in the future. If I am truly the editor of this blog or have contributed in any other capacity than mentioned above, why have these pictures not surfaced in a derogatory way?? With the evolution of camera phones that just about everyone possesses, it could be anyone who took those pictures. This comment also states that it was career suicide to work with the likes of me?? Why me? What have I done to you? If I remember correctly, I accepted a management position in attempt to help the service grow in a positive direction with continuing medical education, CQI, protocols, equipment resources, and to help some members of staff reach their goal of becoming a paramedic by writing numerous letters to the education board on their behalf. If you did not like to take direction, be mandated to attend training sessions, or to be held accountable, I am sorry, I thought that was what I was hired to do (nothing personal there). I also played an instrumental role in the H.S.A. obtaining the American Heart Association training programs and instructorships. In fact, just prior to my departure, I provided the first aid instructor program on my own time and free of charge because I did not have any personal issues with individuals, but rather, the organization. I did not have to do that! I tried to enhance the service as much as I was allowed to.
Do I have good reason to be angry at the H.S.A? Put yourself in my position and ask the same question. I could be very detailed about the issues I encountered while working there but I will only mention a few of the many issues that resulted in my decision to resign. I was contracted to work 20 hours per week on the road and 20 hours per week to develop training programs, develop CME’s, teach these programs, and perform other management duties. If you look at the schedules from March 2006 to August of 2006 you will see that I was working 48 hours per week on the road and was performing the other 20 plus hours on my days off. I was never compensated for the additional 18 hours per week of paramedic time above and beyond my contracted 20 hours. So basically, the H.S.A. had me working a full time job as well as a part time job but only compensated me for a full time job. If I refused to work the additional hours, one of two things would have happened; either a station would have to have been closed or someone else would have to be paid OT to cover the shift. This is a substantial amount of money lost for spent hours of my life that I will never get back. Would you work for the H.S.A. for free? Did I “bitch” a lot? Yes, but what did I “bitch” about?? Contract breeches, lack of equipment, no continuing education, patient care issues, and no avenue to recertify or maintain my credentials, the same things that 99% of the staff “bitched” about. Perhaps during my interview when I asked about these elements human resources should have told me that they did not exist, then, I would not have expected them to exist. If everything were on the up and up, there would be no reason to “bitch”. I “bitched” about the things that pertained to my contract and ultimately patient care issues. When I accepted the management position, I endeavored to help remedy these issues so when you refer to people who do/ did not care about the service, please do not tell me that I did not try to correct those issues, because I did TRY. I bitched but stuck it out for many months, I resigned (through the proper channels) when they stopped paying me for the time I was putting in. Working for free is called volunteering, which I did for the first aid instructor class, I did not volunteer to accept to work extra paramedic shifts for free.
In closing, I could care less what anyone wishes to post about ME in this blog. If you think you may have dirty laundry on me because I left and you think I edit this blog….post it! It just shows how little you actually know about me. I have nothing to hide. Just keep things on topic and use your real name. When the time comes that you run out of things to write; leave family members out of it. I do not need to hide under the pen name “anonymous”. If I had something to say to you when I was on island I confronted you and now that I am off Island, things are not any different, this entry reflects MY words and MY story. Remember MY issue is not personal. I hope this clears some things up.
Respectfully submitted,
Jason Dardano
EMT-P
