CPhT

Since this is a private forum, I can respond to your message and hopefully you'll take a bit of insight from my response. I happen to work for the "monopolizing" company. It sucks that people lost their job, and that the government of Taylor wasn't able to work out the differences with the firefighters. I hate to see anyone lose there job. That's the last spot I'll agree with you on. Lack of IVs? What are you talking about here? Our ALS trucks have every bit of equipment as the municipal trucks, and probably more. Every truck that hits the road has to have the MINIMUM of gear set forth by the Michigan EMS department, and our trucks definitely meet that criteria. We're also CAAS (Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services) accredited which has tighter requirements for our trucks and our personnel. Sub-par care? Excuse me? I was trained in the same room by the same teachers on the same gear as firefighters from every city in the area. I took the same test and sent my license application to the same address in Lansing. To work for my company, I had to pass a criminal background check, license check, TB test, had to get Hep B immunized, and had to take a defensive driving course. Not to mention all of the in-service training and continuing education we have to attend. I'll have you know that at any given point, there are no less than 2 trucks covering the city of Taylor. Not "meat in the seat, pulled from other city" trucks, but dedicated, stationed in Taylor for ONLY the use of Taylor. When those trucks are dispatched, they send other trucks in for coverage. More often than not, the "coverage" trucks are pulled from either Heritage hospital (in Taylor) or Oakwood Main (which is about 6-7 miles away), then posted in Taylor to provide extra coverage. Quality people? Please don't mistake our lack of pay as a lack of quality. I love my job and have worked with dozens of people who also love their job. We're all in it to provide the best patient care available. We know that if we screw up, we don't have a union who will come in and protect our jobs, so we actually have to work hard keeping people happy. I would really suggest that you do a little research on the company before you spew off with a bunch of rhetoric and propaganda by angry firefighters and ignorant media personnel. PS. Before it becomes the next argument that gets tossed out (because it always does); YES, your fire chiefs son works for our company. NO, he did not have any influence on who was picked for the contract. We were picked because 1. We're located in Taylor, 2. We have the manpower to support a large contract, 3. We have a reputation of being one of the best private companies in the area, due to our accreditation and our size. Control over the area? Do you believe that whenever we see a Rapid Response, Concord, or Superior truck, we get out and have a knife fight in the streets? We happen to have a great relationship with several other private companies who transport in and out of "our" area on a daily basis. Yes, we happen to have 911 contracts with several other cities in the area, but that stems from my earlier comment that "we have the manpower to handle such a contract, as well as the reputation for being good at what we do". Again, you're falling back on the "quality people" argument. Did you know that you probably just insulted about 20-30 volunteer firefighters? That's right... we're not JUST private company EMT/Medics, we also volunteer in our communities. Good working relationship with the hospital; Did you see what name is right by Healthlink on the side of our trucks? It says "Oakwood Hospital". The very same Oakwood hospital that has 3 major facilities in our operating area, as well as several urgent care and clinic facilities. It's just my personal experience talking now, but every single person I've ever worked with at a hospital has treated me and my partner with respect and courtesy, and that has been returned in kind. Same goes for our patients; respect and courtesy. Anything else you'd like to address, or shall we get back to work and actually try and improve EMS?

It's hard to say why you reacted the way you did. Maybe you were reminded of something subconsciously... maybe the family reminded you of a friend's family, or maybe it was just the atmosphere of it all. Who knows why we react the way we do, except maybe your shrink or your significant other. The good thing I would take from the experience is that you're still a caring person and that EMS hasn't robbed you of your humanity like the horror stories we sometimes here from burnt out medics. Take some time and reflect... relax... be proud that you're still human.

You could start small with someone like Galls. Other than that, you might want to try your "local" medical supply shop like Binsons or Wright-Filipis. Not sure who the guys are in your town, but they can hopefully point you in the right direction.

You might start by contacting the different medical directors in your area. Ultimately, they will be the ones who say that the item can or can't be used in the ambulances and will be approving the protocols for using the device. Speaking of which, what is the device? I looked on your website and the only thing I found quickly was a device to measure a patients level of consciousness in "less than 5 minutes". What is different about your tool than the methods we've used for the last ~50 years? What makes your tool worth the (supposed) thousands of dollars it costs versus our normal methods? These are the things you'll likely have to explain to a medical director, and after that, to each individual service who will have to justify the cost of the product. Who is your target with your product? Do you want a product in each ambulance? What provider level are you aiming at? BLS? ALS? CCT? Air transport? I don't want to come off as an ass, but we need to know more about your product, as well as more about your company. Have you done studies which show improved patient care or increased survival rate while utilizing your product?

Breathe in, breathe out, repeat. Sometimes life sucks. You just need to remember that EMS is full of people who thought we'd make more money and wouldn't have to work as hard. Just keep dropping apps whenever you can. Start going to the offices in a suit and tie with a fancy copy of your resume and/or portfolio, and introduce yourself to the receptionist, the HR person, and anyone else you can find who works there. Now that having been said, are you applying for full time only? You might have to resign to working basically around the clock in order to start somewhere. You might need to work part time to bid into full time positions. It sucks, but it's because every yahoo out there that has a EMT cert and a pair of trauma scissors is trying to get into the business. Just keep at it, don't give up on yourself, and don't beat yourself up. Some other things to look at; have someone look at your resume and make sure it looks different than everyone else's. You WANT to be noticed. You WANT to stand out from the crowd. Look at how you're filling out your applications. Make sure you're using good grammar and spelling. For a job that pays less than McDonalds, they sure love to critique every little detail about us.

If you even want to get a laugh out of your wife/mistress/girlfriend(boyfriend?)... walk into the room naked and yell "THIS IS MY BOOMSTICK!". Not so good on a first date, but if your significant other is cool, you might get lucky.

Round these parts, if we want to talk to a paramedic, you dial 911. If you want to get them to come REAL fast, tell them your chest hurts. At least that's what they do in Detroit. Seriously, look up your local volunteer service and/or private company. Call them and ask if you can interview someone. If you're not comfortable talking to strangers, I can tell you right now that EMS is not your brand of career.

I just had that on a call this past weekend. ____ radio this is ______ with priority one traffic for _________ hospital... ____ radio this is ______ with priority one traffic for _________ hospital... ____Hospital ED: Why didn't you guys call this in? Me: We tried, but couldn't get _____ to respond to the call. We would have called on our cell phones, but we were in the driveway by the time we made the second attempt.

Just my humble opinion here... if it's not something that he has physically attached to him during his shift, in regards to gear, I'd stay away from it. That includes any form of "kit", or a fancy stetho, or "big shears". Stuff like that tends to walk away, even if you think you know your partner, and it stings even more when it was a gift from someone. This is coming from a guy who's parents bought me a Littman Master Cariology 3 for Christmas/ graduation, and I'm scared to death to take it on the rig with me. I'd get him "Life and Death: Tales of a Paramedic" by Kelly Grayson. It's an entertaining book that shows some of the good/bad/ugly/fun of EMT work. I'd probably also get him a decent watch that has either a second hand or digital seconds. Something waterproof with a synthetic band, like a G-shock or a Timex Ironman. I can't remember who makes it, but there's a watch that automatically turns on the backlight when you move it into "viewing position", which would be really handy for taking pulse and resps. You might want to consider getting him a softsided lunch cooler (a decent one) to help encourage him to pack a lunch rather than hitting fast food for his road meals. Along those lines, a good water bottle or even a thermos for coffee. You can also get him a membership/sponsorship for this site. Maybe a gift cert for Galls. Last but not least, you can get him something that has nothing at all to do with EMT. Trust me, he'll have EMT on his mind enough as-is once he gets into the job field. You can always get him a gift cert for a dinner and movie, or a netflix gift account. Anything that will take his mind off the job for a bit so he can hold on to that precious bit of sanity.

Quite frankly, it wouldn't surprise me. I have no family history of DM, but I'm not exactly the smallest thing walking the earth. I suppose I should consider that as a possibility too.

I've pretty much taken to the idea that if we're doing an IFT or a dialysis patient, I just use the bathroom before making patient contact, or after we've returned them to whichever SNF we're taking them to. I explained it to my FTO that "I'm going to take every opportunity to go that I can, because the last thing I need is to be sitting standby on a FD extrication for an hour and doing the pee-pee dance the whole time". I'm not sure if I'm ready to go the medication route. As for right now, I'm able to manage it with a bit of planning. If it ever becomes too much of an issue though, I'll keep that in mind.

I'm married... my memory isn't that good.

My apologies, but I really am curious about this. I've just started taking on shifts at my new company, and I'm running into something that I hope doesn't become an issue. I pee a lot. Not volume, but frequency. It seems like I'm going (on average) about once every two hours, more if I drink or eat. My partners that I've been paired up with haven't made a big deal out of it, but my FTO mentioned it, kind of as a side-note. I've taken up new habits to try and cut back, such as limiting my caffeine intake (diuretic), reducing the amount of liquids I drink before my shift starts, not having alcohol for 24 hours before any shifts... things of that nature that I can easily control. So with that being said, is having the iron bladder just something that will come with time? How do you road dogs manage your potty breaks? Seriously... stop laughing and post.

I agree with this statement with a certain caveat. Corpsmen are trained well above and beyond even Paramedic level. Think critical care paramedic, trauma nurse, and ER surgeon all rolled into one. Independent Corpsmen, like surface fleet and submarine fleet, are actually able to perform minor surgery now, but also do things like routine checkups and treatments aboard the ships. You can also get ground combat MOS and be assigned to a Marine unit. Sounds cool, right? Well, I don't know of any states right now that accept Corpsman training as any direct correlation to a civilian certification. Meaning, I don't think you can challenge the NREMT or the NCLEX without taking the courses to do so. For example, I have a colleague of mine who just got home from Afghanistan. He spent 10 years in the Army as a Ranger medic. He came out and did a tour with one of the private security companies. Coming home to civilian life, he tried to get a job as a paramedic, and couldn't because he didn't have any of the proper certs, and they wouldn't let him test without taking the proper paramedic training course. As an alternative, I believe the Navy has RN-enlisted programs. They train you to be an RN, then you can move forward to BSN. They pay you as an O1 while in training, then you get a commission once you're graduated. While typing this, I was reading an article that says that in many states, you can challenge the LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) exam, and possibly the MA (Medical Assistant) exam. I know with LVN, a few places have transitional courses where you can go LVP ->LPN -> RN, but it would still take a bit of time and extra effort. Why do we, as a country, feel the need to treat our veterans like crap? I'd trust a Corpsman as my paramedic any day over someone coming out of one of the fly-by-night internet mills.

So if I change my username to "FlamingCrotchPeepees", I'm pretty much hosed, then? I'm not sure I understand all of the ratings things on this site, but it's much easier to tell someone's credibility when they have (for example) '265' in the green box under their name, as opposed to '-46' in red. I'm still a newbie, but even I understand that green is good, red is bad.

Greetings from MI! Welcome to the city. In all honesty, this is one of the best sites I've stumbled across, as long as you have thick skin and can take criticism. Judging by your choice in career, I would hope you can take a bit of tough love. In any case, the best course of action depends on you. If you can teach yourself a lot, and can grasp concepts quickly, you might be well suited for a shortened, fast-paced EMS course. Typically those courses can have you ready for your EMT-B in as little as a month. Community college courses are typically one-two semesters for Basic, then another semester or two for Intermediate/ "Specialist". Finally, you can go for the gusto and go through Paramedic courses, which are typically 1.5-2 years long, on top of your Basic school.

From what I've just read, Iowa is pretty messed up and cluttered up beyond belief with their different EMS provider levels. Up until August 1,2011, it looks like Paramedic Specialist was their highest cert level, equivalent to everyone else's EMT-P. What Iowa called a Paramedic was actually an EMT-I/99. It looks like they are slowly transitioning to the NSOP though, so it will all begin to make sense in the next 5-6 years. Source, from Iowa's state EMS office: http://www.idph.state.ia.us/ems/common/pdf/scope_of_practice_effective_080111.pdf

Congrats! Now comes the fun.

Roger that... Yeah, the UP isn't known for it's rich economy. I sure do love it up there though. Florida seems like it would be the complete opposite, both in terms of weather and in demographic. I bet it pays a bit nicer though. Good luck on the job search!

LOL, thanks. I taught my basic class one of my favorite quotes. "Never underestimate the power of an idiot with a loud voice and confidence." The municipal departments are definitely taking a huge hit down here. I know private companies have a vast majority of the transport agreements in the area. Southgate, River Rouge, Ecorse, Taylor, Lincoln Park, Allen Park, Romulus... they're all using private companies for transport, and even some of those use private companies for all EMS services. It's a sign of the times, I suppose. I'm almost wondering when we'll see our first private fire department. Are you still in the business?

Wow, and I thought Cockney rhyming slang made no sense... Silly blokes.

I still have no idea what you said in any of your posts, and I even read them out loud in my best Aussie accent. Yeah, I know that NZ and Australia are different countries, but I don't know what a New Zealand accent sounds like, so I estimated. On topic, is it Kosher to say you porked a Jewish woman after a date? Really, we've always known that bacon causes your blood vessels to clog up. Who knew it had a faster mechanism of action when applied topically?

I'm probably a little bit simpler when it comes to +/- 1 ratings. I basically use it like Facebook, with the addition of a 'dislike' button. I wouldn't say that I down-rank a post that I necessarily dislike, but if I think a person is deliberately trolling (thankfully not that common here) or being needlessly dramatic, I'll down-rank it. Up-ranking is simple; make me laugh or make me think.

All through basic school, and even now, I've been reading Ambulance Driver Files, Captains Chair Confessions, and listening to Confessions of an EMS Newbie podcast. I definitely have a good reading list for when I'm supposed to be working. Second day down. I got my assignments for my third rides. 10 hours BLS this Saturday, 12 Sunday, then 12 next Saturday as on an ALS rig. I found out a lot more about the company today, and it makes me really excited to start actual work. Also get to do my CEVO training next Wednesday. My FTO is good friends with my partner from basic class, so I had already met him a few times. My other FTO, as it turns out, is my former coworker from Ford. Small world indeed. Thanks for the advice Dwayne. Kind of like the swimming duck analogy? Calm on the surface but paddling his ass off underwater? I'll see what I can do. And I'll definitely take you up on the offer to practice if I make it out that way!

Day one down! I have one more orientation day, followed by 3x nine hour third-rides with FTO and mentor, then 90 hours with FTO or mentor. Then, I get to take a emergency vehicle operations class, and a defensive driving class. Then, provided I pass a peer review, I should be able to start picking up shifts. 89 more days as a probational employee! The company I work for is Healthlink EMS, based out of Taylor/ Dearborn, MI and is "sponsored" by Oakwood Hospital. They are a partnership company, with 7-8 other companies under the same owner. The company is a not-for-profit, so I'm not sure how that affects how they do business. I'm excited to keep going in the process, as well as to continue my education.