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I don't see the reason to get so upset with the way the waitress was dressed. It's not like she was topless. Most people show more skin when at the swimming pool or beach. As for he handeling the rifle, well, that was dumb. The weapon should have been cleared and safed at the least but with the magazine in place there's no way to tell if the rifle is armed or not.

Nope, no stickers at all.

You may not agree but when the OP is called in to a meeting where the subject is the membership voting to expell him or appoint someone else to his position for trying to change a good ole boys social club to a professional organization you will see that these things happen.

I post in the Security Officer forums at SecurityInfoWatch and we have the same discussions/arguments over low pay vs training/professionalism. Everybody wants higher standards and higher pay but the reality is the owners of the companies who do the hiring aren't going to do more than is necessary to make a profit.

Each scene is different but I personally don't feel the need to do more than call 911 as I drive past. Yes, I have a jump bag in the trunk of my car. That doesn't mean I look for reasons to use it. Depending on the situation there is a remote chance that I may stop, IF there are no other responders on scene. If a responder (fire dept, EMS, Police) is pulling up or already on scene I keep driving. I drive about 100 miles aday in my POV and have yet to pull over and use my EMT training.

Be careful how you handle that. Pushing for tests, training, etc could make you very unpopular in a volunteer organization where the members are used to playing things loose and free. You could find yourself accused of causing conflict and disrupting the morale of the department. You may be think you are bettering the organization but others will see you as rocking the boat. I've been there before.

Kristina, Congrats on sticking to your plans despite your bosses feelings. Get your education and yoru paramedic certification and forget about the idiot who tried to hold you back.

I'm not sure that I have any responsibility to market someone elses website. I for one am not getting paid any of the advertizing dollars generated everytime someone opens a screen and an ad appears on the top of the page. I'm a member of forums for gun owners, atheists, security officers, firefighters, ham radio operators, scanner users and star trek. I don't activly market any of them. This isn't the only EMS forum I lurk around in. I'm also at EMSResponder which links from the Firehouse forums. Internet blogs, chatrooms and forums are still not regularly used by the majority of society. There's really a small percentage of people who will log onto a forum like this one, register, read the many posts found here and participate in discussions. Ask around at work sometime. Just how many of your coworkers will say that they actually log in at least once a day to this or another EMS related website and participate in the forums. I'm betting it's a very small number.

I'm not nor have I ever driven an ambulance. I became a EMT-B whle working at a state prison. As a Corrections Officer/EMT-B I handled medical emergencies among inmates and staff. We had a medical department on the prison grounds. Transport to area hospitals was handeled via a private ambulance service. I served as a volunteer with a non transport VFD. I drove the department rescue truck or my POV to medical calls. I never drove an ambulance. I worked as a paid city firefighter/EMT. Transport was done via a private ambulance service. I rode in the back of ambulances to assist the paramedic a hand full of times. I worked a short time for a city EMS service in the Communications division as a 911 operator. Never set foot on any of their ambulances. I currently work in an industrial setting. I give out immodium and bandage booboos and have employees pee in cups so I can send off samples to the lab. I treat burns, crushes, cuts and even the occasional car or motorcycle crash. I use a company vehicle to respond to medical emergencies on our site and though it's loaded down with BLS gear it's certainly not an ambulance. We use it to transport non emergenct patients to the local ER. For serious stuff we call the local private ambulance service. I am certainly not an ambulance driver.

*holds up hand* I'm one of those who has a hour long commute to work. It sucks driving that far but you have to go where the work is.

Wow. Can't say I've ever heard of a problem like that. Here the FDs run First Responder level non transport response. The Transport agency is a private service, Acadian Ambulance Service Inc., Which staffs a Medic and a Basic on each rig.

I have a small MDI CPR Microshield® on my key chain. That's about it for EMS gear.

I rarely listen to music but when I do it's usually some sort of soft rock mellow stuff. Back when I was with the VFD I'd get paged out late at night from home for minor medicals and respond POV to calls that were 10, 15 or 20 minutes away. Those are the nights I'd listen to music as I followed the deputies along a back road into the woods or swamp, the whoo whoo lights flashing and none of use bothering to go over the speed limit. Just singing along with the radio as I drove... I want to stand with you on a mountain. I want to bathe with you in the sea. I want to stay like this forever, until the sky falls down on me. .... or At the Copa, Copa Cabana, the hottest spot north of Havana. ...... Of course this brings up the issue with drive cams. If you have a dash cam running like I did most of the time in my POV it can be very interesting to review that late night run the next day. You think you have a good singing voice? Play the tape back the next day at the station for your friends on shift. Wow. Fifteen minutes of you driving 30 MHP behind the Fire truck and a Police car while singing along to a copy of Barry Manilows Greatest Hits? It takes a really secure person to play that tape without hitting the MUTE button. I have hours of tapes from my dashcam just in case I ever get the idea that I could be a contestant on American Idol. And you thought Saved was bad TV?

Ditto.

I had to think about that one for a moment. When I worked at the State Pirson down the road as a Corrections Officer/EMT I often told my inmates I had 4 rules, 4 Fs, that they could not violate. 1-No Fighing 2-No F...ummm...let me think...Fornicating, yeah No Fornicating 3-No starting Fires and 4-No Fleeing over the fence. Follow the 4 Fs and I don't have to cuff or shoot anybody and we all have a quiet 12 hours.

Stay in Nursing school. Graduate and get a decent job then look into getting EMT later when you have the time. God luck.

I don't have health insurance. My primary care doctor is one at the VA clinic. If I can't wait for an appointment at the VA due to sudden illness or minor injury I go to one of the many hospital run After Hour Clinics in the area and pay to see the doctor there. Until being transported after a Motor Vehicle Wreck about 3 weeks ago I had not been to a ER (as a patient) in many years.

We have no provision for a lunch break during our 12 hour shift. We grab someting to eat when we find time while working.

"Medical Van" which is what it is, a Plymoth Voyager van with all but the front seats removed and BLS gear loaded in the back. I'm industrial not road. The van is used for medical response within the plant as well as transport of BLS patients to a local hospital ED. ALS calls get a response from the local private ambulance service which will transport by ground or air as needed. Photo of the van is in my User Pix. Click to view.

Black pants & Shirt. Security company patch on right sleeve, NREMT patch on left sleeve, Security Officer badge over left breast pocket.

No preference. Whatever is handy.

Actually I disagree. Just like I don't support LEOs who enforce laws which violate a persons civil rights simply because their Chief tells them to do so (ie NOPD officers illegally confiscating firearms from homeowners after Katrina even after being told by the AG that they were not to do so). Bush put them in a position where they should not be. It's not their fault. Maybe it's our fault as a nation when citizens allow our elected representitives to get away with such things. If I support them at all it is by supporting movements intent on impeaching the current administration, pursuing charges of treason and assuring that in the future our military will not be used in such a haphazard way.

Emailed you.

I applied to EBR EMS back in April. They have been running news stories in the paper and TV about being desperately short of medics and such but I'm still waiting to hear from them. I got my score from them based on my application and have a 89% and am ranked #4 so I guess after 3 other people get run off I have a shot.

Security/EMT-B at a Steel Mill. Sit around the guard shack all night answering phones, signing in vehicles and keeping the paperwork moving until someone gets hurt or needs me to issue asprin or imodium in the clinic. Don't forget, there's an entire section for EMS off the road. http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=47