SSG G-man

I may be wrong (IT happens), but I think that the point was to quit busting the chops of the Volunteers on this website and go into the "world" an lobby the folks that can make a difference. You can argue with me until you are blue in the face that I am a job stealing, unprofessional, not worthy of being on an ambulance Volunteer EMT-B. That will not make the county I live create a paid work force. This needs to get to city councils, state legislatures etc if you want to make a difference. I think that was the point. Sarge, out.

I don't have a picture, but use the LG vx3300. Verizon is the carrier. NO camera or anything. I do not even think I can down load ring tones, which I really want to. I am just not very tech savvy. Sarge

I hope I can get this to post this time!! Volunteer=hobby according to Dust. So, Paramedic who works for paid department losses his profession when he comes and volunteers? So a doctor who Volunteers with a clinic or Dr's with out Borders is no longer a professional, he is a hobbyist? IT is how you do your job that determines if you are a professional. I am a volunteer. I went to EMS Today, how many of you "professionals" were there? I could make arguments, but I am too tired to defend them right now. See, I have two professions, I am a Soldier and I am a Volunteer EMT. And they keep me busy, along with my third and forth professions, Husband and Father. Oh, I volunteered to be a husband and Father, so those are not professions. I am just a hobbyist. I just get SO sick of this discussion that because I am volunteering until: A) I retire from the military and can do this full time and paid crews take over our county (they have some and they are slowly integrating throughout the county That I am worthless and just having a hobby. I would be willing to bet I study protocols, read related publications, etc more than a lot of the paid folks out there. Hell, it seems like a lot of Volunteers care enough to come to this site and read and interact in an effort to be better!! Sarge, out!

I definitely would. I am only a Volunteer (I hate the term Vollie) right now, but hope to do this as a profession after I retire from the military. I have enough of patch a doo-dad envy in the military, so I do need to worry about that on the outside! Sarge

I don't even have the patches I should on my jumpsuit!! I have not gotten the wife to so them on yet. When I passed NREMT (I think I am the only EMT-B in the station that is nationally registered) I asked where the patch goes and I was told "we do not wear that!" I think it is just because the person I asked was jealous I had done something she hasn't!!

Paramedic as a hobby. Running calls in a t-Shirt. I surprised no one has accused him of being a Volunteer!! Sarge!

I missed it before but found it today! Glad it was posted again. I have some similar sounds on s disk somewhere that I burned from my EMT-B Instructor.

That is an interesting read. Where I am we respond to the scene L&S unless otherwise directed. Response to hospital will depend on patient. Priority III- No L&S. Priority II L&S, but not always pushing it. Helps with traffic at intersections. Priority I L&S and time critical. This past weekend we were dispatched to a vehicle in a ditch. We had passed the vehicle earlier on our way back from the hospital. So we downgraded to priority III and continued in to verify it was the car we had seen earlier. We never use L&S going from hospital to station.

Well, this is not humorous, but I say friend. I have been an EMT at my station since DEC. I live less than a minute or two drive (If I could go through the woods, it is a few hundred yards) away. Been suggesting I get a pager. Sat afternoon, I was finally issued my bright red Minotaur II pager. Sat night, around 2200, getting ready to lay down. Pager went off and I responded. There was another EMT at the station, but there were 2 cars three patients, so I was glad I was able to be there!!

There is a volunteer EMS station near me who has as their motto on the website "When seconds count." Well, over half of my stations calls are mutual to their first due, so I proposed they change it to: "When seconds count, call (insert my department here)"

The military has an acronym that we used to say that things changed. METT-T. Mission Enemy Time Terrain Troops. (yes I know it has changed) I kind of use this thinking to decide. I use information given in the dispatch, the weather, what type of house/location, and amount of help to decide. A lot of times I will head in with the aid/observer/student while the driver gets the ambulance turned around and the cot unloaded. Sometime if we are a two man crew, and an engine crew was dispatched the Engine driver will reposition the ambulance. Like I said it depends. We have a Veterans home we run alot. Long way from unit to room, and almost always transport. Cot goes in!!. Sarge

Thank you! One volunteer bashing thread at a time!! Sarge

I went an interviewed at 6 Flags America out side Washington, DC. yesterday. I took a six page test, after about three pages of grading the guy said he had seen enough. We talked a little bit, and I was told if I wanted it, I have a job. The only real issue for me....$8.50 an hour!! It would take about 2 or three hours just to cover fuel cost from and back. I am also looking into some private ambulance companies. They only do transfers, etc. It is only going to be a weekend thing, but they offer a couple of bucks more an hour.

Well I would go to 91W (soon to be 68W) if they would let me. I am what is called AGR (Active Guard and Reserves). I am a National Guard Soldier who works full time at the Guards equivalent of the Pentagon. We have folks here and all over the country and the world. The problem is that there are only 8 slots for 91W's in the program. They do not like to send folks to schools if you are not going to use the skill. I do what I can to keep up my skill s and gain knowledge. I read all the EMS related magazines I can, I study the protocols, and I went to the EMS Today convention in Baltimore MD last week. I am about to join another volunteer station. They have several aid crews because they are the busiest station in the county. They have four ambulances, and sometimes have them all on the street at once and are getting mutual aid from neighboring stations. I can get as many calls there in a night as I can in a weekend or a week at my station. It is about 12-15 miles from home, so there will be not heading there when the pager goes off as I could at my home station. (I live a few hundred yards away.) No L&S on my POV. I wish I had realized earlier in life that this would be what I wanted to do so I could have worked it into my career. Sarge, out

All Valid points, thanks! It just something that had been running through my head recently as I sat in traffic. (My normal commute home from work is 90-120 minutes.) I thought I would throw it out and see what happened. I was thinking that as we talk of raising the the standards, making it more of a profession, we should change with the increased knowledge, training, etc. In the past there were ambulance attendants, then training increased and the EMT was born. So I thought this might be another stepping stone. I was not trying to earn respect with a name change, and I do not think it should occur now. I was thinking of it as part of the evolutionary process so many people here (Dust, rid among others) wish to occur. Sarge, out

Does anyone have a thought about changing the title Emergency Medical Technician? IT has often be stated here we need to be a "profession" as opposed to a "trade." Does anyone have thoughts on changing the title to something that might sound more professional than "technician"? I know this is going to raise some red flags, but it is just a thought. At the local automobile garage I have seen certificates on the wall proving someone there is a certified transmission technician, or carburetor Technician. I am not sure what it should be, but "technician" just does not have the professional sound. I had thought "Emergency Medical Service Provider" or "Emergency Medical Care Provider"

Okay, my county is slowly integrating paid crews in with the Volunteers. What happens to someone like me when the Volunteers are gone. I have a great career I love as a Soldier, but have a recently acquired passion for EMS. I can not afford the pay cut to go into EMS full time right now, but planned on it being my second career when I retired. So I guess I sit back and let my skills go to waste until I can jump in full time down the road? So then instead of a guy with several years of Volunteer experience jumping on a bus, you have a guy who went to school in the day and now is behind the times.

I have experience with the Phillips and think it is pretty good. IT is what we carry on our ambulances and it is what we have in the building I work in. Our building bought about 10 or 12 of the Phillips. They are in alarmed cases on the walls. They have contacted a company yo come in and teacher CPR/AED classes and come back yearly to re-certify. I think it is great to put them in as many places as possible. Hell, I saw an add for them on TV the other night. Sarge, out

Since I am the new guy, job stealing volly in a fire based system... Can some one explain what the Public Utility Model is ans what the SSM (or was it SSN) is? Thanks for the info.

Hey Rid, You know I am new and ready to learn. If fact I am spending the next three days at EMSToday in Baltimore. PHTLS, that Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support, Correct? How does one find a place to take that? Here most course are run by the state of MD through MFRI. Thanks. Sarge, out.

What kind of cookie? Girl Scout Thin Mint? Duncan Hines Soft Batch? Sorry, people tell me I need to lighten up.

I am comeing to Dust's defense even though we disagree often! You have not been on this site very long judging by the number of posts you have. Dust has not just been around the block, he was doing laps while they were building the block. Might not want to throw disparaging remarks without something to back it up. Yeah, he is harsh, but what you said about not given proper care because they are "BS" call deserves it! IF you are going to base patient care on socioeconomic status. then move to beverly Hills or something so you can provide top nothch care to the rich folks out there!! Sarge, out

I run with a combined station and we work great together. At least once every month or two we do an extrication drill so we can get better at working together. We are also starting to bring one of the close by EMS only departments into these drills because an accident in their first due might have our squad responding, so they need to be comfortable working with us.

Do not need to wear ugly jumpsuit of local VFD to get ego stroked!! I get that by wearing the uniform of the military of the greatest country on earth. The quote that was pulled was in response to a statement that volunteers do this for themselves for ego stroking, not out of wanting to help. I do not understand why volunteer means you care less about the patient than if you collect a paycheck. I guess parents should quit volunteering to coach ;little league, the county could hire a coach. Holy cow, I am keep a paid coach from getting a job. This country has a long history of volunteerism, longer than the history of EMS as we know it. No one on this site knows me, so I resent the Hero complex thing. I do not even travel to a from work in uniform because there are times when I have not been able to pay for food, or gas, etc. So get off your high horse and just realize that because I realized late i life that I am drawn to EMS, but do not want to give up my current career yet does not me I am unskilled, ego maniacal, an have a hero syndrome. It means I found a calling and I am doing the best thing for my family (current career) and my local citizens. As I stated earlier, I plan on being paid to do this once I retire! Sarge

Okay, I think my comment about the Guard and reserves was taken out of context, or misunderstood. The point was that if volunteer EMS providers want to be an EMS provider they should choose it as a full time job, then the "part-time Soldiers" should all quit and become full time Soldiers because they can not possibly be effective in war since they only train one weekend a month. It was not a paid/ free context. As for the members that are professional, we are just lucky. We are a suburb of Washington, DC. We have members that are paid in Fairfax County, VA, Arlington County, VA, Washington, DC, Prince George's county, VA and one of the Local airports. We also have folks that work for transfer service and MEDStar. I just do not think that all Volunteers can be lumped together as nit having experience, etc. Also, I know paid EMT/Medics that work 24 on / 72 off. If they have a slow day at work, are they getting more experience that runs a couple of calls each night of the week or spends all weekend running calls. Also, EMT-Medics in a lot of paid fire based services have to do both, so they may go extended periods of time with out running a EMS call. I just do not like being put down because I chose to be a Soldier who found he has a side of him that is interested in EMS. I would have to take a hell of a pay cut to go into EMS as a career now, but do plan on doing it when I retire. Sarge