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All valid replies, thank you. To clarify, there are several opportunities for me to work in ALS here. As a medic I would simply have to work in a surrounding county, not King County. I apologize if I made it sound like all the doors in that area were closed. To the poster who mentioned South King Medic One: Yes, they are a non fire agency, but fall under the same hiring constraints as the rest of the Medic One system. It takes a long time to get in. In terms of education, I'd give my eye teeth to become a Medic One paramedic, but perhaps that will come in time. I have considered moving to a less constricted EMS community, and that is a possibility. My wife would love to move back home to the Midwest and I've heard great things about MAST in KC. If we can sell the house that will be an option. And Dust, I have considered Nursing and then a paramedic program. I think I'll need to dig deeper into nursing schools here in the area and consider all of my options. In any case, I'm aware that any reputable program will require at least a BS. The idea of critical care nursing prior to the Medic program sounds like a good one. Thanks again...

I’ve read a lot of the posts on the forum (I’m a regular lurker) and I haven’t seen any other posts relating to a situation like mine, so I’m throwing this out for some advice from the more experienced members of the community. I’m a former EMT, currently living in Washington State and just about finished with EMT-B classes to become re-certified after many years of not being involved with EMS. Along with the EMT class, I’m attending the local Community College to obtain a transfer degree and move to a Paramedic Program. This quarter I’m carrying 25 credits. I’ve completed almost all of the degree requirements and almost all of the prerequisites for the Paramedic Program that I will be applying to. (And yes Dust, those prereqs include A&P I and II.) After becoming certified as a Paramedic and working in the field, I hope to transition to becoming an instructor and working in the field of EMS education. I’m curious if any of the current medics here have moved to the world of education and what a suggested course of study would be to help me reach my goals. Also, if you still ride a truck or work in a clinical setting, how much of your professional time is split between the two areas. To head off some of the questions I anticipate, I’m 38 years old. I live in Seattle. I don’t plan on applying to Medic One as I don’t want to be a firefighter. I don’t want to strictly teach without having several years of patient contact as a medic. And I am very interested in “working” as a paramedic, not simply taking the class for the certification or degree. I look forward to your replies.

I was on the search for this one. "A woman who had been missing for eight days was found alive Thursday in her car at the bottom of a steep ravine after searchers traced a signal from her cell phone." http://cms.firehouse.com/web/online/News/W...ghters/46$56557

I'm in the same boat. I'll be 38 next month and I recently decided, after almost 20 years of working in broadcasting, that I wanted to be involved in EMS again. Right now I'm back in school full time working on my AA and taking the prerequisites for the paramedic program in Tacoma, and I'll take EMT-B in October. I plan to work for an ambulance service here doing whatever I can, transfers, 911 calls...whatever, to get patient contact experience before I apply to the medic program My eventual plan is to work in the field for a while as a medic then hopefully become an instructor. I've always loved the education part of EMS. I became a basic back in '88 and didn't take the education as seriously as I should have. Now that I've got some perspective and life experience under my belt, I feel I'm mature and focused enough to become a paramedic.

I don't mind some travel, or relocating for a year or so for training. Can you (or anyone else) suggest a reputable program that allows Basic>Paramedic? I've searched without much luck. Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for your reply FireDoc. I'm not adverse to working as a Basic for a year, and if that's the requirement for all of the Community College programs, so be it. I've checked with a couple of the college based Medic programs here in Washington... still if waiting for an answer on if there is any possibility of waiving the "year as a basic" requirement. As far as ticking anyone off, I've seen how some clueless (read: not using the search feature) newbies have been chewed up and spit out by some of the more senior forum members.

Here's a link to the Maryland State Police Trooper/Paramedic qualifications. http://www.mspaviation.org/recruit_medic.asp I know it's not Police/EMS first respone, but still interesting.

As far as it goes for medic school where I live, well... I'm SOL. I live in Seattle, smack dab in the middle of Medic One country. And while I'd LOVE to be part of that program, I have no interest in becoming a Seattle firefighter... so... there goes that idea. There is a medic program in Tacoma, at Tacoma Community College that I'm looking into, but my medic school choices here in the PNW (at least as far as I can see) look rather bleak.

Hello All: I’ve been a lurker here for the past few weeks, reading as much as I can, trying to find answers without posting a question that’s been asked a zillion times before and incurring the wrath of the more senior forum members. I’m 37 and plan on enrolling in EMT-B in the fall. I have prior EMS experience, as an EMT-I, but that was over a decade ago. My goal is to enter paramedic school, work in the field and eventually teach. I’ve read with great interest the arguments over whether one should wait a year between initial EMT-B certification and medic school or should just jump right in. As I have past EMS experience and I know what I’m getting into, I’d like to jump right from EMT-B to medic school. The problem is, I can’t find a medic program that will allow admittance without a year of current certification as an EMT-B. Is anyone familiar with a program that waives the waiting period? If so, please let me know. And again, if this has been discussed ad nauseum, please accept my apologies. I did search. Honest. Rob