The etymology of stretcher monkey?

As I’m sitting at the local ER I was enlightened to the fact of my love of power stretchers. As I watch a member of an organization attempt to put his non power assist stretcher away in his rig I smiled about how I do not miss those days. Making sure the catch is hooked, them grabbing the release and lowering the foot of the stretcher to the ground inorder to collapse the legs. No doubt there has been times where the back step if the rig catches and you are forced to jiggle and bang the stretcher top get out unstuck. Lifting the stretcher back to horizontal you realize the legs are not fully closed. Back to the ground banging and clanking your way top finaly load the stretcher by yourself into the rig.

It never dawned on me until today why there was the term stretcher monkey. The aboved mention site only was missing some fecal tossing and cheeky voice overs to have a spot on BBC’s “walk on the wild side”. I’ve been there, I understand, your partner is still in the ER making small talk and you want to get your truck put back together. Sometimes you have no other option than to put it away yourself. Add to that dealing with a manual stretcher getting tangled in the tail board or the uncomfortable pilate’s position you just got stuck in you can get frustrated.

Now lets talk about professionalism, more specifically the appearance of being a professional. You are in no way instilling a positive image of your self, your company, or the profession by choke slamming the stretcher into submission. Take an added moment to realize what you are doing and how you must look to the mass public. If your answer is anything but professional, collect yourself and figure out a way to have your answer be professional.