Teenage EMTs - YouTube Video

[Dustdevil]

LMAO! Beauty!

Is that kid wearing body armour in that last pic, or just a dork vest? I never understood the point of those sleeveless vests. I mean, make up your mind! Are you cold, or aren't you?

ok, I've waited a while to chime in but I have to.

for each person saying that they were 16 when they started and it hasn't phased them, I beg to differ. You have seen what most if not every 16 year old should never have to see.

You may not think you have been affected but you have. Saying that you have not been affected is just a smokescreen and just masks the symptoms and problems. Later on in life it will come back to affect you.

I've seen things I would not want my 16 year old neighbor seeing and I have been affected by it. You think that you can handle it but eventually it will catch up with you.

Absolutely. And those who facilitate this should be charged with felony child endangerment.

There is no doubt in my mind that being in EMS since I was 16 has been a major contributing factor to me being as big an arsehole as I am today. All you people here who whine every day about me being mean, and overbearing, and judgmental, and just basically a negative person, well... there ya go! Those are traits you will see in most of us who have been at this for three decades, and never had a chance to grow up before starting. I notice Rid has a little negative streak in him too.

Of course, VS has the most relevant point of all here. You guys are arguing about a symptom here while the patient dies of the underlying disease. Age is not the issue. Education is the issue. So long as these "kids" have at least two years of full time, focused medical education under their belts, they are welcome on my ambulance any day. Until then, I have no more use for them than I do any other 110 hour wonder, regardless of age.

[Doug]

It's funny to read in this thread that these kids are "being exposed to things no 16 yo should see." and yet in another thread we read "I had to do another bullshit call for somebody who's had the flu for 2 weeks" or "I haven't had a decent call in weeks."

If they are exposed to anything that a "16 yo shouldn't see" at what age do you suggest? Wasn't anyone else here an explorer scout? anyone? I know i'm not the only guy who didn't get lai...i mean was a member of the explorers.

[ninjaemtff]

I personally feel that we are just beating a dead horse. None of us are ever going to completely agree. I know that even after all of this points have been brought up (and I will admit a lot of them are good points) I still stand behind my original opinion, I think its outstanding what they are doing. I will openly admit that I have been affected by the stuff "16 year olds shouldn't be exposed to." Of course I've been in this field since I was 14. I grew up really quick after seeing some of the stuff that I have seen. Do I regret it? No not really, do I think that everyone should do it? No I don't. I know that there are a lot of teenagers out there who aren't mature enough to handle what we see on a daily basis. However there are those out there who can handle it. Will it affect them? Definitely. Will it necessarily be a negative affect on them? No not necessarily. The bad part about starting out so early (in my opinion) we're more likely to "burn out" before we even reach the peak of our profession. Also we grow up to fast and miss out on our teen years. But the thing is, is in my life, I couldn't even imagine what my life would be like right now if I wouldn't have started out as early as I did. Its honestly had a positive affect on me, and I believe that it will have positive affects on others too. But thats all I will say for now, so I will step off my soap box and you all can pick it apart and tell me why I am wrong. But hey, have an outstanding day.

[Doug]

Ok, last comment i'll make on this, did you know that at one time Doctors were trained under the apprentice program as well as university? In fact the last practicing internist to be trained WHOLELY by apprenticship retired in the 1950's...he began when he was 13 sent to live and work with a medical doctor...even today many young morticians can enter into an apprentice program beginning at the age of 16. so somewhere between the living and the dead there must be a place for these kids.

The information about the Doctor apprenticship was from the book "Kill as Few Patients As Possible" i have it around here somewhere, excellent book.

[Dustdevil]

...so somewhere between the living and the dead there must be a place for these kids.

The information about the Doctor apprenticship was from the book "Kill as Few Patients As Possible" i have it around here somewhere, excellent book.

Yes, it is a great book! (and the price was right too :wink: )

And yes, there is a place for these kids. The problem is, the place they should be is the very place they are ditching everytime the tones drop. School. I see that as a fatal flaw in the system.

Which brings me to the point that dtricks chooses to ignore, and hopes to slide by everybody by using that worn out old "dead horse" cop-out (come on girl, some of us have high hopes for you. Don't ruin it so early.). That is, you can sit here and talk about maturity and psychological effects all day long, and you can even prove it to all be BS. But that still does not negate the one most significant point in this whole argument. That is, regardless of their age, these people simply are not adequately educated for the hobby they are playing at. It's all fun and games until somebody dies because they had nothing but a teenaged kid with a first aid card responding to their MI.

I gotta give belated props to Asys for his child labour analogy too. Beauty! In fact, you could probably get a city attorney, state labour agency, or attorney general to issue an opinion that this does violate labour laws and get it shut down.

[fiznat]

I work in CT (not Darien though, that's in the southwest "rich" area of our state), and I have to say I am ashamed that something like this happens this close to me. I agree with all who have said that this is a horrible idea, and a disgrace to our profession. It makes me sick to know that people believe this job can be handled properly by people barely old enough to get a driver's license. It is a reflection on how EMS is generally viewed by the public, and I think a very poignant example of how low the EMT curriculum standards truly are. Let's raise the freaking bar, already.

[Dustdevil]

I work in CT (not Darien though, that's in the southwest "rich" area of our state)...

Yeah, I can't see the vid here, but from the pics posted, I kinda gathered that this was not exactly hicksville (Is anyplace in CT hicksville?). I'm afraid these ignorant people are looking at it exactly like somebody stated earlier; a nice harmless way to keep the kids off the streets. Meanwhile, the community probably can't find anybody to drive invalids around or deliver homebound meals for free, and these kids sure aren't volunteering for that.

I had the pleasure of having Thanksgiving dinner with Joe Lieberman the other night. If I had known about this faggotry before then, I'd have given him a piece of my mind about it!

[fiznat]

(Is anyplace in CT hicksville?)

Ohhhh yes. We've got quite a mix actually-- from the extremely super rich towns, to country bumpkin villages, to major(ish) urban cities with some of the highest crime rates in the country. Naturally, I chose to work in the latter...

I had the pleasure of having Thanksgiving dinner with Joe Lieberman the other night. If I had known about this faggotry before then, I'd have given him a piece of my mind about it!

Hopefully you put in a few good words for EMS anyways! ...Not that JL is too interested in upsetting the status quo anyways but hey.

[Doug]

"Meanwhile, the community probably can't find anybody to drive invalids around or deliver homebound meals for free, and these kids sure aren't volunteering for that. "

Um...would you? Do you?

[medic001918]

I work in CT (not Darien though, that's in the southwest "rich" area of our state), and I have to say I am ashamed that something like this happens this close to me. I agree with all who have said that this is a horrible idea, and a disgrace to our profession. It makes me sick to know that people believe this job can be handled properly by people barely old enough to get a driver's license. It is a reflection on how EMS is generally viewed by the public, and I think a very poignant example of how low the EMT curriculum standards truly are. Let's raise the freaking bar, already.

Actually, we have two towns that do this. Ellington is primarily staffed by their high school explorer program as well, at least during the day. That's even closer to us.

Shane

NREMT-P