Passing the Four-Way Test

The members of Rotary Clubs around the world have a very simple test that guides the decisions they make as a club as well as individually in life and business:

• Is it the TRUTH?
• Is it FAIR to all concerned?
• Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
• Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

This year, the State College Sunrise Rotary Club decided to establish an award to recognize those in the community that adhere to these guidelines. For the inaugural award, they decided to award outstanding volunteer members of fire companies and ambulance services in the State College area. Awardees were selected from the Alpha Fire Company, Boalsburg Fire, Centre LifeLink, and the Penn State University Ambulance Service. I’m sure you can already see where this is going. Yes, I was the awardee from the Penn State University Ambulance Service. The following photo is borrowed from the Rotary’s Facebook page and shows you each of the winners and the local Rotary leaders.

With the chapter president and the other Four Way Test awardees

It is an incredible feeling to be nominated or win an award for anything that you are doing because, above all, you just love to do it. I felt the same way when I was selected as 2012 EMT of the Year within the ambulance service because of multiple very nice, well-written nominations. Recognition has this way of erasing the residual frustration from calls that just were disasters or strife with coworkers (yes, believe it or not, you don’t always get along with people you spend long hours, holidays, nights, and etc. with!). Recognition envelopes all of the less-than-wonderful feelings in a warm, fuzzy, and enduring blanket of gratitude.

It is really nice that I’ve been recognized in a way that I have really hardware to hang on my wall and remember fondly each time I take a look. But the truth is that most of my colleagues are deserving of the same recognition. EMS (and fire!) is challenging. I think it would be a better business to work in if we could shift our culture to having more gratitude for each other. And if, where gratitude is hard to come by, we make greater efforts to help fellow providers improve their skills to make them worthy of gratitude. Indeed, to me, winning an award is just as much of a responsibility as an honor.

When receiving the award I was also reminded of how much the community does value the work done every day by community EMS providers and firefighters. From the inside, it is so easy to forget that we really do have a responsibility to the communities we serve and it is one we should strive to make good on every single shift.