cprted

I think you guys need to lighten up.

The program you'll need to look into is called "Primary Care Paramedic." It can be as long as a two year program in Ontario, or as short as the accelerated 7-8 month program in BC.

Spam aside, there are info sessions on July 26-27 for anyone interested in the new ACP offering in Kelowna starting Sept 2013.

It probably won't change your immigration situation, but once you do get a work visa, consider working in the oil patch. I have a friend who works 24hr shifts as an EMR. After two weeks she walks away with $8K in her pocket. That is at the upper end of things, but there is money to be had up there. Beats sitting on a Kilo pager at $2/hr!

We're always hiring in BC, it is just you have to navigate the part-time rural/remote gauntlet before you have a crack at a good job. I was lucky, when I got on there was an unusual shortage of internal lateral transfer applications for stations in my area. I was able to snag a rural station with two cars and a 2100 call/yr call volume as my first station. Even as part-time, with 100% availability I do ok most pay periods. A lot of people aren't so lucky. A lot of my friends are now being hired into stations that do 300-400 calls/year. $2/hr really doesn't get you very far with that call volume.

Essentials of Paramedic Care (CDN Edition) seem to be the most common texts in use by Canadain schools.

A very moving ANZAC Day song.

Come on over. The class 4 is not hard to get at all.

We're a provincial service, so resources are able to flow where they are needed without worrying about municipal boundaries, mutual aid agreements, or coordinating with multiple dispatch centres. Also moving away from protocols in favour of guidelines.

The English subtitled release is called "Downfall."

The movie this is from is called "Downfall." If you're up for a fantastic historical drama, check it out. Great find Dwayne! This will definately make the rounds of the station.

In BC, most cities have policing services provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Our rule of thumb is: vertical yellow stripe=safe scene, horizontal yellow stripe=dangerous scene.

According the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium's "Completed Study" page, they ran a study in 2009 that was discontinued when there no improvement found when the hypertonic solution was used. https://roc.uwctc.org/tiki/completed-studies

William Shatner is actually the reason why I'm here. Back in the late 80s/early 90s I really enjoyed watching the show "Rescue 911." While seeing the police and firemen do their thing was fun (I come from a police family), I always thought first aid was neat-o and that Paramedics had the coolest jobs! There is lots of other stuff that happened between then and actually working on-car for the first time. But it all began with Capt Kirk.

Everyday is Straight Pride day.

That's hilarious!

My screenname is one that I've been using for quite some time. My name is Ted and my favourite railway is the Canadian Pacific (kind of a train nut), hence the handle CPR Ted. Of course in this circle, I would imagine it is interpreted a little differently. The steam locomotive in my avatar is Ex-Canadian Pacific #3716, the "Spirit of Summerland." I spend a good deal of my off time working on the 3716 as a member of the running crew at the Kettle Valley Steam Railway. It is truly a dream come true for my inner 5 year old.

I know of a guy in New Jersey that considers it his speciality ...

Until very recently (last 100-125 years or so), a marriage was a financial transaction: One man purchasing the property of another man.

I hear you! I'm 6'7" and 280lbs. I'm working on dropping down to about 265-70 which is still in the "obese" category for BMI (believe me when I tell you I am not obese nor anything close). What is funny though is I have to weigh 221 just to tip over into "normal" BMI. If I weighed 221, everyone would think I had just escaped from a concentration camp!

http://www.rn.com/ Haven't actually used it yet, but we can claim the courses for CME Credits in BC.

I try to hit the gym 3-4 times per week. Good mix of cardio, weights and core strength. Doing fitness classes has been good for me as the trainers usually push (and by push, I mean yell at) you harder than you would ordinarily push yourself. The class that I've been enjoying the most is a Spin/TRX combo class. 30 mins on the spin bike and 30 mins working TRX. The 'TRX Suspension Trainer' is a very versatile strength training system that lets you work just about any muscle group in your body and you can set it up just about anywhere. I've been thinking of getting one with the door anchor for the station.

Fire is doing fine. Even in places with Volley FDs, training is usually administered by the JI so standards are often kept pretty high even in the tiny remote locations. Municipal PDs (Vancouver, Victoria, Abbotsford, etc) have lots of resources to go around as well. Doesn't mean they don't get run off their feet busy from time to time, but they're in pretty good shape. The wonders of municipalities bargaining in good faith with the police union ... RCMP policed jurisdictions can be a whole different story. Stretched thin is the status quo for BC RCMP. Add to that no union to enforce minimum staffing levels, command officers who's promotions are unofficially based on how well they stayed on/under budget and you get a lot of shenanigans.

Foxtrot Shift: Required to be at the station and in uniform. Paid $10/hr while not called out. Minimum 3 hrs regular pay for every call. Kilo Shift: Must be able to respond to the station ready to go within 10 minutes or so of being paged out. Paid $2/hr to carry pager. Minimum 4 hrs regular pay for every call.

While I would rather be on F than K, I agree. I am very (very very) new to this game, but I honestly can't understand how the union has allowed the F shift to exist. If you're required to be at the station and in uniform, shouldn't you be paid your full rate?