William C. Kinkle, FF, EMT-P, RN, CRS

Pain should be its own diagnosis. One central in medical education which carries the same emphasis as hypertension, diabetes, or cancer. The diagnosis of pain also needs a national campaign on the same level as anti-stigma campaigns for addiction.

Thank you Senator.

As a former ICU nurse I will never forget the feeling of sitting in an ICU and needing to be fed by my peers after my spinal cord injury. It was only for a few days till the swelling decreased, but the experience is etched into my memory forever.

First responders live in dangerous situations as a part of the job. Courage isn’t something spontaneous. It is a muscle that is built over time. Engaging in therapy to process all those previous events is the most terrifying animal I have ever needed to stare down. #ptsd

If America were to gain access to private nursing forums the field of nursing would lose the title of “America’s Most Trusted Profession” it has held for twenty three years.

The feeling of someone dying in your arms knowing in their last seconds they believed you were the person who would save them is something no one ever forgets. #ptsd #ptsi

I was a paramedic and an ER nurse. Therefore, many of the folks who needed my care ended up in that predicament by doing irresponsible acts. Any medic or nurse who says they have never engaged in risky behavior should retire.

I never believed it was my place to decide who was being truthful. Nor did I ever see it as my role to determine whether someone was deserving of care.

I am committed to being a voice in my beloved professions, nursing and paramedicine, to remind everyone why they do the job they do.

I am a part of several private nursing forums with millions of nurses commenting. They largely despise anyone in pain. Moreover, they boast in words and on t-shirts about how much satisfaction they receive from withholding medications and watching people suffer.

Over the last 8 years I have seen a dramatic shift in what I was raised to believe, trained to understand, and devoted myself in practice to treat. The outright hatred of anyone who appears to be in pain is deplorable.

For chronic pain there needs to be an identifying term which alerts clinicians that this class of patients are different.

The term “pain” might be better served for acute pain as it is an opioid-discriminatory word.

When assessing pain. Developing policy around pharmacological agents. And, treating pain we must devise a system to differentiate between acute vs chronic pain. In fact, “pain” at this point should be assigned to one group and disregarded for the other.

Public servants must be able to be malleable and go with the flow. Our communities depend on this when they show up with outside the box scenarios.

She was overwhelming grateful while in her deepest grief. The experience further rooted in my mind how important public service is.

We worked on the woman’s dog for 20 minutes before breaking the news that her dog would not survive.

We performed laryngoscopy and found an airway obstruction and removed it. We then placed a tracheal tube and ventilated the canine. We placed the dog on the cardiac monitor, did chest compresses, and defibrillated her.

I was on duty as a young paramedic one day when a woman showed up frantic with a limp dog in her arms begging for help. I was never trained in veterinary medicine, but I understood the role of. Public servant.

YouTube video by Bill Kinkle Wildwood Life Rolls On Event with the Kinkle's

Sharing this experience with my family and hundreds of volunteers made me completely forget about my own pain. The best way to be free is to give everything away, it is the irony of life. #recovery

youtu.be/xKhCuZUz6zw?...

Pain is a vital vital sign.

A massive problem with MMEs being the framework for pain mgmt is that everyone feels pain differently. Moreover, what one dose does for one person may be completely different for another. It is a discriminatory system. Disagree? Go to the private nursing forums and read how they view pain Patients.

Every single adaptive athlete I saw yesterday had the most infectious smile and positive attitude I have ever seen. Whenever you see a disabled person, see them as human. Talk with them. Listen to their story and passions. You’ll be a better person for it.

He reminded me through his stories how sometimes you just have to decide, “am I going to live or die today, and take action.” I always feel empowered and less apt to complain when I spend time with veterans.🇺🇸🫡

Yesterday I met a surviving Vietnam door gunner who was shot down. His father was a Pearl Harbor veteran, and his brother a Navy rescue swimmer.

“The dose makes the poison” mantra will always hold true. This is a concept everyone, on all sides of the opioid debate, would find useful in negotiating how to develop good policy and compassionate care.

“We live in a world bursting with opportunities to make a difference. We are all bound together in a partnership. By aiding another we not only enrich their lives, but add meaning to our own.”

Hopefully I can start reminding our caregivers the most important part of holding a hand isn’t only the diagnostic aspect. Rather, it is the peace, security, and trust another human seeing us as human can build. It most assuredly goes both ways. ❤️

As I’ve reflected on my time hospitalized during and after COVID, it is apparent there is a significant and understandable fear in the generation of medical students and residents who trained during that period.

The temperature of their skin, hydration status, nutritional information, heart rate (indicative of many potential issue), along with hundreds of life threatening issues immediately removed from the differential diagnosis.