Christina Bedgood

When I was waiting to be hired for a private ambulance service, I worked at Lowe's as seasonal ( Christmas) help. I was doing some heavy lifting and cherry picker work. Lowe's told us the reason for the back braces, was that they strictly serve as a reminder to have good posture and use proper lifting techniques. My orthopedic doc confirmed this, years later. He said that they actually don't help your back any..just a reminder to keep your back straight to avoid injury or stretcher drops, etc..

Thank you. I have thought of respiratory tech, and the other allied occupations. I just have to decide..not getting any younger, and yes I must be a restless spirit. I still want to stay in the medical field. I have been a medic for 13 years, just wanted to use my skills in other arenas. Thank you for your input. I know that paramedics make a little more money. Yet, not enough for the litigation responsibility that I see in my area. It is ridiculous and adds a whole other level of stress. I have 13 years of experience and want to stay in the medical field. I am sure that I will go with one of the other allied professions. Thank you for sharing. I have worked in those three arenas in a time span of 13 years. Thanks, I am keeping an open mind. Luckily, I have a very patient husband. My experience as a medic is 13 years..5 in the street. I enjoy health care and can't imagine another career. I just need to decide which of the allied occupations, I would like to go into. Thank you for your input. Thank you for sharing. I positively know the reason that I was burned out in the streets, was because of me. I agree with you on the education front. I just have to decide what area of the allied health careers to go back to school for. Thanks again. Haha Actually, my father was an air traffic controller. He said it was the most stressful job that he ever had. Thanks though!

I totally agree about the pay. You cannot get another job that pays this amount, with the same education level. I have been an E.M.T. for 13 years..worked private, hospital and industrial. The private sector paid the least, but had much more O.T. I realized that I needed a little chaos in my life. If I didn't get it at work, I created it in my relationships, which wasn't healthy. I learned to direct that energy into being a medic. It HAS got to be a calling to help others, or you will become bitter and resentful. There are a FEW calls that make it all worth it..the rare "save", delivering a baby, the occasional sincere "thank you" from a patient or family member. These moments can carry you from 6 months to a year. Then the trauma's and bad pediatric calls will mount up and you will question why you ever got into this. I lasted on the street for 4 years, then I went into industrial work. It is hard to raise a family on this income. Most medics have to work a lot of O.T. or another job. However, I have never found a more rewarding job. I worked in a high crime and welfare community, so I burned out quicker than my coworkers, who did mostly transfers. It certainly takes a special kind of person. If you remain focused on the good outcomes (few and far between) and the fact that you ARE helping others, if even just to comfort and console, then you will do well. There are things we all settle for in life. Some people settle for a job that they hate, for good money. Then others, like medics, settle for a lower paying job that comforts the soul, if you allow it. It is a truly personal choice. I don't regret any of my time in the street, yet I wouldn't go back. It is a job for the young at heart and soul and most importantly, a healthy back

I left the street side of E.M.S. after 5 years in a high crime area. I have worked in hospital, industrial, and psych institutions. I still have enormous compassion and hopefully gained skills and knowledge in all those arenas. I feel like I am in a rut. Anybody else have ideas, other than Nursing? Nursing is not appealing to me at all. Going back to the street isn't either. Thank you for any feedback.

When I did work for a private service, the largest in the nation, Acadian Ambulance, the mandatory down time policy was clear. Granted, this was in 1997 and this company is now employee-owned. But, back in the day, on a 24, if you got slammed and requested to dispatch that you needed down time, they had to give you 4 hours of uninterrupted time. The dispatcher could not question you at all. However, the dispatch supervisor would investigate every call you had that shift, your time on a call, your time at the hospital, and the time at the station ( that according to them, you should have been sleeping and not doing chores). If for any reason, that supervisor felt that you you didn't utilize any time that you could have been sleeping, he would then put you on shift report. If it was very obvious that you could have slept and you inconvenienced another or several crews, not to mention the whole delay in the chain of E.M.S., you were suspended for at least a 24. In 5 years, I only called down time twice. I put me and my partner first. We all have to get home in one piece.

Hello fellow survivors of E.M.S. I am looking for info, friends , and sharing solutions to the same issues that we all deal with.

I would not say that the paramedic was unprofessional in any way. I, myself have only been defended and protected on scene by law enforcement. However, in this exact same situation, I would hope that I could maintain a professional manner. However, being pulled away from my patient, family members understandably upset, and to top it off, a "fellow civil servant" screaming in my partner, then my face and then inexcusably, 2 troopers putting their hands on me, much less around my neck. I would have put the patient first, of course and repeatedly apologized to her and her family. He and his partner's report seemed to be accurate and void of emotion. I always try to put myself in the other person's situation. At my best, I don't think that I could have held it together as these two medics did.