Bother, said Pooh

[patgund]

Well, the SCA Chirurgeon's list is abuzz today......

And I can't rightly blame them.

Midnight Saturday night at Pennsic, the War Mayor for Pennsic came into Chirurgeon's point and told them their services were no longer needed or desired.

An EMS company that had been working for a week with the Chirurgeons, as it turns out, was told to ramp up and take over all first aid and EMS operations for the event. This is the EMS's company's first year there, and the War Mayor signed the contract with them six months ago.

Chirurgeons at Pennsic have been told that wearing their baldrics or treating patients is grounds for being expelled from the event.

At this time, nobody knows *why* this action was taken. The War Mayor has only said, though her PR person, that "no particular SCA policy or procedure was violated to precipitate the action, and that all proper policies and procedures were followed." Which suggests to me that this action wasn't taken due to problems with the Chirurgeons at the event or the Chirurgeonate in general.

Something that *does* worry me is what the Society Chirurgeon said on the matter. In a post to the SCA Chirurgeon's list, she said:

"Yes, the Mayor at Pennsic decided to have an EMS company take over all first aid care at Pennsic and Chirurgeon's point was closed. It's now called a first aid point. I questioned the wisdom of this course of action since it's the EMS company's first year there and about 800 people visit the Point for first aid care, however, that was the Mayor's decision apparently with the blessing of the Society Seneschal.
Eleanor
SC"

Which means in a matter relation to the safety and welfare of the people at Pennsic, the Society Chirurgeon was *overruled* by the Society Senechal and the War Mayor.

Maybe I'm playing armchair quarterback here. But something really doesn't seem right here.

It's not helping that the rumour mill has been going fast and furious. First the BoD mandated *changes* to the title and rank structure of the chirurgeonate, then this. Plus the persistant rumour that the BoD has been trying to get rid of the chirurgeonate for a while now due to percieved "liability issues".

Remind me again why I continue to play in the SCA? Oh, right, because honor and chivalry still mean something to me. Unlike, it seems, a growing number of people who also play in the SCA..............

Also:

http://community.livejournal.com/sca/476550.html

(on edit - Story #3 is that the new EMS group may have decided they couldn't work with the Chirurgeons and told the War Mayor and the Society Senechal that either the Chirurgeons go, or they go. If that's the case, then I can see *why* it was done - but could argue it may have been handled a lot better than it was. There's a LOT of very hurt very angry people right now, and they can be one of the more volunteer-happy groups the SCA has. And when volunteerism is down in the SCA as a whole, this is NOT a good thing.)

Comments

[electorprince.livejournal.com]

This does smell a little fishy. If it weren't for the fact that the Chirurgeons already don't play an active political role (more of a social one, really), I would be inclined to think that the Body Politik of the BoD are deliberately and systematically cutting the Chirurgeons loose from any sort of political or even social status in SCA, and relegating them into the land of role-play only.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Well, in my home kingdom, Caid, the Chirurgeons are as far from politically active as you can get. And anymore, more and more of them are socially apathetic as well. Of course, as the old saying goes, YMMV.

[jj-maccrimmon.livejournal.com]

Given the description of the what and the how this was done, it has to be the poorest treatment of a major support group I've ever heard of. All the reasons possible aside, I can't fathom how much more of a low blow this could have been.

Yes the EMS service may have said these unlicensed medical volunteers in funny clothing can't be here, but damn, you don't tell them they to just get out. These are folks I've had to rely on more than a few times myself. I believe the Society sensschal and BoD have some serious explaining to do.

[firedrake-mor.livejournal.com]

I don't want to the rumors, but if we don't hear something soon, that's all people will have, and you cannot reasonably expect them to not wonder or talk about it.

I have from an onsite source that this is something that apparently was the result of much discussion in the first week, between the Society Chirurgeon, the War Chirurgeon, and the Pennsic Mayor. I also understand that there have been issues due to the Mayor's management style, and several department heads changed in the lead-up to the war. There is an open BoD meeting scheduled for Thursday where questions are going to be asked, and I'm sure the first one is going to be something like "WTF is going on with the Chirurgeonate?"

As for the new EMS group not being able to work with the Chirurgeonate, they are apparently accepting volunteers, but insisting that they change into mundane, er, modern clothes to volunteer. ?????

My on=site source tells me I'll get updates as soon as they're available.

[ismarc.livejournal.com]

Remind me again why I continue to play in the SCA? Oh, right, because honor and chivalry still mean something to me. Unlike, it seems, a growing number of people who also play in the SCA..............

Honor and chivalry mean something to me as well, which is, sadly, perhaps why I no longer participate much in the SCA (amongst other less idealistic reasons). Over the recent years I've noticed habits and trends in the Society that have turned me off in a big way.

It seems that the original purpose of the organization has been lost in favor of more and more political agendas. To many, the society has become nothing more than a medium for certain individuals to realize their own petty political agendas and ambitions. If I have to play political games in that kind of environment then I prefer to invest my efforts in environments more personally profitable and frankly, more rewarding and meaningful, such as career and mundane social and political matters instead of a pretend world that ought to serve as a pleasant alternative to mundane encumbrances.

The number of individuals holding 'positions' in the society who seem to think that the 'populace' serves to reinforce their own sense of importance seems to have grown; at one time it might have been 1 in every 50, now it's 1 in every 10. When I participate it is to experience something personally enriching (or at least as a pleasant diversion), not to reinforce the sense of significance of some social outcast who happens to hold a pretend position of influence.

I apologize if this seems harsh but... I guess what I'm trying to say is this: If I want constant competition for significance I can stay in the mundane world and actually be rewarded (even if it is disproportionate to my efforts) or take my ass out to the lists. I don't need it from every wannabeocrat with a self esteem problem and the lack of ability to cut it in the mundane world.

In true feudal form, the SCA has perfected the dagger-in-the-back' twist.

[spcteppy.livejournal.com]

While I know that this is following a post griping about SCA doings, you may be interested to know that Sgt Schoenbaum, my driver, is a big SCA fan. He's in a Celtic household, though looking at a family-friendly English one, and lamenting that Army duties are keeping him from Potrero.