EMTErica

After nearly losing a Nextel last night, I finally gave in and bought a duty belt - another circus! I finally found an XS Bianchi for a 24-28" waist at Amazon of all places.

Wow, thank you all so much. I am starting with the uniform jackets Erica found with Galls. I am glad to know that I am not the only person who has this problem. I will keep you posted with what I find.

How did it go? The Gerber I got was gorgeous, but HUGE. It's as big or maybe bigger as the mediums that one of my units lends us.

Anyone need a nice EMS coat?

Maybe one of the brothers or sisters North of the border could get it for you and then ship it to you. Hopefully we can trust each other with some money and merchandise, since we often have trust each other with our lives!

Actually, he recommended Gerber products, which I somehow overlooked in my previous sweep. They look okay (they go a little overboard on the reflective striping, but at least I won't get runover in my totally hot navy-on-navy outfit) come in XS AND are even designed for EMS use.

I'm going to try ordering one (since it's getting pretty dire up here), and I'll report back.

Seriously - I called the local store. The jacket I looked at is the 25" drytex duty jacket. Model I1010

The one I looked at has highvis sleeves as previously described. The web seems to show the regular colour.

http://www.rnicholls.com/catalog.php?lang=...uct&id=1845

These jackets come in XS size in both short and regular lengths. The lady I spoke to checked their inventory and the main office in Longueuil (pronounced "long gay") has 10 short and 4 regular in stock so could ship asap. The Longueuil # is 450-442-9215. It's in Quebec in case you haven't figured that out from the name but English should be no problem. (If it is, just call the Ottawa store)

They won't ship it to the US because it's not made in Canada. Back to the drawing board

Do you know what brand they were?

Found their website: http://www.rnicholls.com/

For winter look North! Try calling Nicholls in Ottawa. I was in there the other day and saw 2 kinds of winter EMS jackets in XS. One was a very nice high-vis hybrid (Sleeves, lower abd high-vis, rest dark blue), the other was more traditional all dark blue. Both have reflective stripes as they are made specifically for EMS. We get -30C up here, so I'm betting these would do the trick for NC.

Nicholls Tel: 613.747.3456

Do you know what brand they were?

Of course, the real root of the problem here is that your organizations insist on dressing you like cops and firemen, which seriously limits the available size options. I've never heard of a female nurse or doctor complaining about not being able to find a uniform that fits.

I can't argue with that.

Here's something else I found, Boys' old Navy "dark sea blue" snowboarder jacket: http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?c...;scid=425030002

Removable hood, lots of pockets, no zip access to your belt or microphone clips, but at $40 it's hard to beat.

I know people probably think I'm a "wanker" for carrying my stethoscope around my neck, but that beats having to replace it for a THIRD time. So I take it with me....

I thought you were only a "wanker" if you carried it around your neck off duty - at least that's what I read on the wanker thread.

Personally, I can't stand it around my neck - it smacks me in the face, it smacks my patients in the face and it falls off. I leave it in a cargo pocket with the ear pieces sticking out (otherwise they fall off when I pull it out). I'm always impressed with everyone else's mastery of the technique, however.

Required:

BP Cuff (L. cargo - this thing drives me crazy, it rubs my leg raw, but they tell me to have it with me, so there it is), stethoscope (R. cargo), O2 Key (R. shears pocket), black pen (shirt), penlight/flashlight (LED, works as both), trauma shears (R. shears pocket), at least 2 pairs of gloves (R. front pocket), ambulance keys (hooked to D-clip on my belt, otherwise they fall out everywhere), portable radio (anywhere it fits, which is usually nowhere, maybe someday I'll get a belt clip)

Not required:

Area map (R. rear pocket), quick reference guide (R. rear pocket) which I've never used), wallet (L. front cargo) and house keys (clipped with the ambulance keys). Once in a while I actually remember to grab my cell phone.

I always use my left front pocket as my portable garbage bin. I just clear it out whenever I'm near a non-portable.

Not very exciting...

How do people live in places like that? :?

I live right around the corner from this photo, so I'll tell you:

Like sardines.

I can't wait to get out of NYC.

Here is the problem: I am five feet tall and weigh about 115 lbs. (and no, I am not a kid or cadet) Everywhere I have looked all the jackets are too big. Most of the jackets I found are for men, and the smallest womens conversion size is an 8-10. I need a womens size 4. This is an ongoing problem for me, I guess there are not many EMTs/medics my size out there. If anybody knows where I can buy one please post.

I feel your pain. I weight 108 lbs (and I'm full grown and in my 30s), and I live in NYC (*&$*&@&$# cold in the winter). My unit only sells men's mediums and larges, and supplies men's mediums to borrow - I can't really figure this out as there are at least 10 women around my size in it. I frigging hate being small sometimes - even the big running organization up here supplies XXL race shirts, but not XS. Explain that to me.

Enough ranting. Here's the results of my research:

1. There are three coats that come in XS on galls:

5.11 Fleece Patrol jacket: http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=gen...06&cat=3158

5.11 Big Horn Jacket: http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=gen...07&cat=3158

Feichheimer Ultra Duty Jacket: http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=gen...39&cat=3158

2. Duty Gear also carries a few:

Horace Small: Unisex Sentry Windbreaker with Liner: http://www.dutygearuniforms.com/acatalog/h...indbreaker.html

Horace Small: Unisex New Generation® 2 Jacket with Liner: http://www.dutygearuniforms.com/acatalog/h...eneration2.html

Horace Small: Unisex Weather4® Jacket with Primaloft Liner: http://www.dutygearuniforms.com/acatalog/h...ather4coat.html

3. Lifeline EMS Jacket: http://www.globefiresuits.com/lifeline/pro.../ems-jacket.asp (this one is a little flashy for me)

4. From the fire store: 5.11 3-in-1 Jacket, Dark Navy http://www.thefirestore.com/store/product....cket_dark_navy/ (My favorite so far AND it includes measurements)

5. Spiewak sells short smalls, which might be pretty close: http://www.siegelsuniforms.com/pages/detai...12&prevcat=

6. Blauer also claims to carry some of their jackets in XS short. Unfortunately "unisex" (men's) XS correlates to a women's 6-8 according to their sizing.

I'm still looking for a women's XS, which I can pretty pretty sure will fit.

There's a huge niche in this industry for a company willing to specialize in smaller and women's uniforms.

bbrooks -

I have a slightly smaller build than yours and even though I'm strong for my size, the lifting can be pretty challenging. While it's generally doable, it's usually been my experience that there are enough hands to help.

Mostly I just try to be really consistent with upper body work at the gym. I had a herniated disc coming into this, so I do pilates (yuck) once a week. A little core work makes a huge difference in helping to support the lower back.

Erica