Any Paramedic/EMTs?

[mybabygarrett]

Just wondering if there was anyone else out there sharing my passion? :pant: (ok that doesn't look good!)

Stacey

[Dawnie]

EMT here but I'm a volunteer. I've been in the emergency services field since 1996, first as a vol. fire fighter then MRT then EMT. I don't do the fire fighting anymore but I still belong the ambulance corps.

I love what I do and would love to be paid to do it but, unfortunately, I get paid more at my boring office job than I would to go out and help sick or injured people. Pretty sad, really! If I didn't have three children to support I would go for it.

Dawn

[catalina]

Certified EMT over here! http://www.super-babies.com/smiliepages/hiya.gif
(México City)

I was certified in 1990 by the EMS in Austin, Texas. In the institution where I volunteered it is mandatory to take the examinations in Texas. We are all volunteers and the institution has survived since 1975 by donations.

I stopped going in 1998 because I started a new job that didn't left me much time to continue so I started teaching but only for 2 years before leaving it.

In Mexico EMS are only held by volunteers. No pay is involved unless you belong to a private ambulance service or an insurance company and those do not work on the streets.

[Dawnie]

Here in CT, the rural areas are covered by volunteer ambulance corps and the cities have paid services. When paramedic services are needed, the paramedic from the closest paid service comes to the volunteer town to provide ALS care.

Dawn

[mybabygarrett]

Glad to see that I am not alone! I, too, started out as a volunteer in a rural area in 1996. Most of the services in my area were BLS/volunteer, but are now going Intermediate. I live very close to St. Paul, MN, so there are a lot of Paramedic services there, but very few jobs!

Stacey

[Dawnie]

My corps is currently BLS, we use to be intermediate but due to membership problems we had to drop the Intermediate level because we couldn't always guarantee than an EMT-I would be available. The president at the time resigned and left and with in a one month of her leaving the membership practically doubled. Gee, I wonder what the problem was? :rolleyes:

Since we now have the active membership back up we wanted to go back to intermediate but the state of CT is thinking of doing away with the EMT-I cert and going to an EMT-E (Enhanced) certification. The only thing the EMT-E would not be able to do that the EMT-I did was start IV's. We have to wait to submit our application for Intermediate level service until they decide on whether to go that route or not.

Dawn

[catalina]

My father used to mock me (he's a funny felow) and he called us "voltures" because we were the first ones to show up in an accident :rolleyes:

In Mexico there are many volunteer groups. Only one depends on the police, the rest are independent... mine was called "S.O.S. Squad" so everytime there's an accident on the street you can see many ambulances from different organizations.

[CICI]

I was an EMT from 1992-1998. I worked in Myrtle Beach, actually North Myrtle, and absolutely loved my job. In addition, I volunteered at the Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad and for the fire dept. Can you tell I loved what I did?? The pay was horrible but the satisfaction of knowing you were there to help people in need was very rewarding. I left to move back home to marry my now ex-husband. He didn't want me to be on the street so I went inside to Police/Fire dispatch. He didn't like that either and problems arose. Needless to say I ended up kicking him to the curb. I'm now married to a wonderful guy who works in law enforcement and who is trying to talk me into going back to school to become a Paramedic. He says I talk about my EMS days constantly and just wishes I would get back into it. We will see, we just moved and I'm waiting so I don't have to pay out of state tuition.

[catalina]

Isn't it great to know what to do in an emergency and knowing that you're useful? I remember feeling helpless many times before I joined the EMS :(

[mybabygarrett]

I was an EMT from 1992-1998. I worked in Myrtle Beach, actually North Myrtle, and absolutely loved my job. In addition, I volunteered at the Myrtle Beach Rescue Squad and for the fire dept. Can you tell I loved what I did?? The pay was horrible but the satisfaction of knowing you were there to help people in need was very rewarding. I left to move back home to marry my now ex-husband. He didn't want me to be on the street so I went inside to Police/Fire dispatch. He didn't like that either and problems arose. Needless to say I ended up kicking him to the curb. I'm now married to a wonderful guy who works in law enforcement and who is trying to talk me into going back to school to become a Paramedic. He says I talk about my EMS days constantly and just wishes I would get back into it. We will see, we just moved and I'm waiting so I don't have to pay out of state tuition.
My last job was working for a Critical Care tansport service as a dispatcher. We did everything from wheelchair transports to BLS/ALS/CC ground transports to helicopter and airplane transports. It was a fun job, but too far away and with crappy management.

Some days I wish I had not become a Paramedic. I LOVE being in EMS (even have a tatoo), but there are no jobs here and the ones there are pay horrible!