A Story Told Through a Movie

By: Dave Edgar

This weekend I watched a movie called "CODE 3" that chronicles a 24-hour shift of a burnt-out paramedic. The movie stars Rainn Wilson, who played the character of Dwight on The Office sitcom. You will see a few other familiar actors if you watch it. The movie had a limited release in theaters and is now available via online rental or purchase.

While it probably won't win any Academy Awards, I was amazed at how well it captured what it is like to work in EMS as an EMT or paramedic. It was funny and poignant in the story being told. I would describe it like the TV show M.A.S.H., where it was funny and entertaining, but there was an underlying message being told. Working in EMS and public safety in general is difficult to explain when asked about what it is like. This movie provides an accurate, although somewhat pessimistic, view of what we do.

While I am still involved with EMS projects and issues, I retired 2 years ago after a 37-year career in EMS. I worked for a city and elected officials that made EMS a priority and provided pay, benefits, and opportunities in line with our firefighters and police officers. While we were busy, we certainly were not at the call volume level that some larger departments have to deal with. While the end of my career was mostly administrative, I retired at 55 as soon as I met the requirements to do so through the public retirement system. I loved my job and the people, but I have never had a second thought about leaving when I did.

Whether you are a big or small department, the picture portrayed through this movie is very accurate. Every single incident/interaction portrayed in the movie was something I not only encountered but did so many times throughout my career. It amazed me how each portion of the movie brought up memories of similar incidents, both funny and serious. Take, for example, the time I was treating a homeless person one winter in a parking lot. I took off his coat to perform an assessment, and his pet ferret came out of his coat sleeve! Then there was the time at a local mall where I was treating a diabetic, and they became combative after starting an IV. We struggled and rolled around on the staircase as blood was everywhere! The 911 center lit up with people saying to get the police there, thinking we were assaulting this person! Then there was the time I got out of the ambulance and forgot to put it in park!

I chose to remember the adventures, and I still have a list of incidents to write a memoir on someday. For every funny, unique, and positive incident, there were 10 bad ones, and the movie does portray this accurately. Even in the setting that I was in, I experienced each thing shown in the movie on multiple occasions. What it doesn't show are the work injuries, responding to suicides of people you know, consoling family members after a death, mandated overtime due to the need for minimum staffing, intoxicated people that threaten to sue you, trying to have normal conversations about what to have for dinner after just finishing your shift with a cardiac arrest, and the list goes on.

Code 3 will resonate with those who do the job, but I would encourage everyone to watch the movie. While all areas of healthcare could probably tell similar stories, this movie is funny, realistic, entertaining, and will give you a front seat look at EMS.

https://youtu.be/pKLAUFT2f3Q