Pagers/Responding from school?

[spenac]

However, there is also a very good chance that I would have turned the devices off for him.

I believe you would my friend, I really believe you. And I would be right there with you. Guess thats why when we disagree we really disagree cause we're both hard heads like that.

[NREMT-Basic]

Not at all. Should never be allowed. I had a duty night on Thursday night, and Friday morning, I had a 9am class. Considering I get a 7.30 train, which is the latest I can get, to get in on time, I had to change my night from Thursday to Monday, just because if there was a late call at 5:58, I was obligated to respond, and calls in my neighborhood take about an hour and a half. (I'm talking about college here) (With an obvious Wawa stop, if it's that early in the morning). My squad also has a policy that you can't go on calls after 10.30, unless your parent lets you (In HS). While I was in HS, I'd ride to midnight (with my parents permission), and whenever we had off, I'd ride all night. I wasn't allowed to respond during school hours, and look at me, I have a diploma (which won't get you anywhere, by the way, except to college, or a burger flipping job).

This also didn't bother me all that much, because I care more about getting crews out then me being on them. At the time in HS, I was 17, and I wouldn't be fulfilling a crucial role on a crew. I do understand firefighting is different, but once again, if you're not 18, you're not putting on that Scotts Pack. As much of a learning experience firefighting might be (as I am not a firefighter), I'd first like to be able to read and write properly. Anyway, I wish all the best to you.

By the way, if you are 18 and can fulfill a role on a crew, then you're free to do as you like, as you are now part of the majority, however, I would never suggest doing so, for your educational benefit. (Also if I were to do such a thing, I wouldn't be living in a house anymore, as my parents would surely kick me out)

1. Even if you are 18, if you are in HS, you follow their rules which usually say no leaving campus without permission. Just because you have reached the age of majority, doesnt mean you dont abide by the rules that govern educational institutions in your state.

2. No person under the age of 18 (and for me thats stretching. Im a fan of 21 myself) has any business on any emergency crew of any kind, be it fire, EMS, CERT, etc. Im gonna get hosed here, but teenagers just should not be trusted to manage emergency situations. And no, I dont believe they should be in the military either. Flame away. Im starting as a fire fighter the first of next year and I dont want a teenager anywhere near any scene I am working either as an EMT or FF or combination thereof. My reasons are my own and yes, its a blanket generalization about my feelings about teenagers and yes I will get hate mail. The only time a teenager should be on an emergency scene is after its over cleaning up glass after an MVC or shoveling the remnants of what used to be a house into a dumpster.

Yes, I am probably contradicting some posts I wrote in my early days here at the City. Big Deal. Im now on a team that is responding to emergencies at the federal and soon possibly an international level. Im not gonna work along side any teenager so long as part of my gear is a CBRNE exposure badge. So for me, the pager thing is really moot. In Illinois, students must be allowed to carry their cell phones to be able to make outgoing calls only in the event of some type of disaster. They must be worn stowed and not on your belt or in your hand and they must be turned off.

I shudder when I hear about 16 year old EMTs and 18 year old medics or FFs. It wouldnt happen on any service or team I commanded. Im also a firm believer in curfews, signed homework, parental accountability and feeding children through a hole in a barrel until they are 16 and then plugging the hole. So shoot me.

[CBEMT]

I believe you would my friend, I really believe you. And I would be right there with you. Guess thats why when we disagree we really disagree cause we're both hard heads like that.

LOL

[Richard B the EMT]

Gee, NREMT-Basic, why not tell us how you really feel?

On your point #2, no one under 21? Some tasks, like driving an emergency vehicle, will be regulated by the insurance carrier. With my VAS, that was why I couldn't drive my first 2 years, as I joined when I was 19.

However, what about "Youth Squads" and/or "Junior Corps"? Some of them, in drills and competition, do better than "Adult" teams. If a committee of the senior squad personnel feel, on a case by case basis, to allow juniors to ride, most I am aware of have policies that no juniors are even to be in the squad building, either during school hours, overnight, or without a senior member in the "House", preferably a supervisory level officer (this can also be for juniors in general, not just those allowed to ride).

You mentioned curfews. As I already mentioned, no overnighters for juniors, but, just as a mention, my own New York City, a town of 8 million residents, and perhaps 2 million transients each 24 hours, there is still a law on the books, never rescinded, that NYC has a 10 PM curfew for everyone! Somehow I don't think it will, or even can, be enforced.

[CC64]

I am aware of 2 Volunteer Ambulance Services based On-Campus, at Columbia University, and at the Brooklyn College (City University of New York). The Brooklyn College EMS (Emergency Medical Squad), of which I know a few members past and present, responds on the campus, and a few blocks off campus.

What I don't know, and hope someone from the squad will answer, is, do they have assigned tours, scheduled to not interfere with classes, or do they get alerted, via radio or pager, to leave class and respond to the scene of an incident?

I would ask anyone in a college/university based ambulance service to answer for their service, too.

The way that my school's squad was set up was that there was 1 EMT-B for each 12-hour shift, and there may or may not have been an assistant (with training ranging from nothing to first responder). At the beginning of each semester, there was a list sent out with everybody's names on it, and it was also your responsibility to tell each of your professors that you may occasionally need to respond during class - your pager would be kept on vibrate and you'd leave as quietly as you could. You could not be on duty the night before/day of tests or during labs. If your teacher said that the did not want you leaving class, then you weren't allowed to be on duty during class. Only once during three years did I have to leave class.

We picked up our shifts by signing up on a calendar passed around at each monthly meeting, and then any empty slots were filled by begging/bribing/simply not showing up at the assigned time for shift change. (got quite a few extra weekend shifts because of that. Bad form.)