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Give them all bicycle helmets.

This year my emergency squad will be going to the school for classes K-1. We need ideas on what to talk about/do with them. In the past we have showed them the ambulance, and what most the equip. does.. any new, fun ideas???

Respectfully, not an apples to apples comparison. 1- Schools (and school districts) are mandated, though the quality is debatable. EMS is mandated too, but not the way schools are. 2- School districts in rural settings receive HEAVY subsidies from both the state and federal government EMS has not since the 1980s when Reagan shut that down. (Still love the man though!!!)There are no subsidies for EMS. This is not a local issue, but a state/Federal one, and cannot be pinned on the locals "not thinking EMS is important". Interestingly enough, most of these agencies subside ONLY on donations, so someone thinks their important. 3- By contrast, EMS is a mandated service for every county to provide , but unfunded by either the state or federal government, a fact we all are of aware of here, nor does the mandate say the county has to provide good EMS. Ironically, many of these rural EMS agencies would get more money if they simply bought an old fire engine, added the words "Fire and Rescue" to the end of their name, and applied for SAFER grants. I AGREE THAT AS A NATION THIS COUNTRY PUTS FAR TO LITTLE EMPHASIS ON EMS IN COMPARISON TO FIREFIGHTING AND LAW ENFORCEMENT...but thats a federal issue. And its not just funding, but minimum standards (when will degrees become mandatory for medics dammit!!!), legislation, and other forms of support too. But thats not the focus of THIS thread. The focus of THIS thread, as I read it, is some feel that the use of ECAs on the ambulance is an EPIC FAIL. Usually (making assumptions here) this is by people with little of no frame of reference to the challenges and start realities of some parts of thsi country. Everywhere is not California, Dallas, New York, or Saint Louis. You dont have a trauma center in every state (Ex. There is no LEVEL I TRAUMA Center in Idaho, ANYWHERE). You dont have taxing districts, or first responders, or even law enforcement when you need it. My point was to provide a frame of reference. RIGHT OR WRONG, these services are serving isolated pockets of humanity with populations less than some of our apartment complexes. There are seem fiscal realities that go with that situation. In these unique situations, staffing an ambulance is a challenge, and using ECA's so you can have an EMT in the back is a victory in some parts of the country. I was curiosu and did some basic research....Looking at the population base of the community mentioned in the OP, the population density, and the median income, this is likely one of those situations. Is it ideal, no. But stomping our foot and demanding that somehow things change wont help it. Demanding that we put more money in the situation and have "Paid" EMTs wont help either when there is no money to put in there. I work with these rural EMTs on many occasions (well nto the rural EMTs mentioned in the article, but here in ID). Sure there are some things that could be improved on. IMHO, the limited $$$ could be stretched way farther with regional cooperatives. But the independent spirit that has kept these communities alive in the face of significant adversity often gets in the way of cooperation. But this is true in many rural communities and even urban ones, not just in Idaho. So my point is that if my service chose to staff ECAs to scrape an extra $$, it would indeed be a fail. But for these communities its not a matter of scraping a dollar, its about getting bodies in the door, and hooked on EMS, so you can get them on to be EMTs later. Other than the use of the term "driver" (which we all universally hate) this is a community EMS trying to recruit and keep their ambulances staffed and on the road. SO, best of luck to them. Again, respectfully Submitted. - Steve

You know what I drives me crazy about these conversations is that people have a hard time understanding that we can not like a system, but not dislike ALL of the people in it. I'm not a fan of volly system, and very much not of fire fighters, yet my partner and friend is a basic, medical responder volunteer and chief of his volly fire dept. And I couldn't like or respect anyone more than I do him. He's smart, really smart, dedicated, is working, as he has been for several years, to turn his dept paid, and is willing to admit to all of his personal failings as well as those of the paid and volly systems he works within. Yet, some people are still sometimes shocked when I throw him the drug bag when we go on an arrest and simply acknowledge as he calls out the drugs he's about to push while I spend my time doing other things...(I rarely transport CORs unless we get ROSC.) Should I not allow him those responsibilities because he's a basic and a volly and, God forbid, a hosemonkey? People hate some medics because they're ignorant, lazy, and arrogant. I'm not, so I'm not offended by those comments for the most part. Many vollies are lazy, idiotic, hero seeking idgits...if you're not, then let that pass and continue the discussion of the systems without personal offense. There are many, many really, really good people inside of bad systems, but those people, no matter how good, don't make the SYSTEM good, See?? Take a breath folks, separate individuals from groups, and don't take offense. We're all part good, part idiot, part competent, part asshole...if you're not being singled out as a majority of one or another, then take a pill...OK? Dwayne

I notice that a lot of people on this site seem to be medic students and many of us are just starting out so we are sort of experiencing this together. The purpose of this thread is to find out who the other medic students are and where in the program they are. I'll go first... I started my medic class in January of this year. We are doing A&P until April then we will begin the paramedic curriculum with intro to adv practices, adv airway, pharmacology, and IVs. First clinicals start in late May, just doing IVs in day surgery and intubations in the OR. Currently we are in the cardiovascular section of A&P. My class will last a total of 15 months and will include 240 hours of ambulance ride outs and 480 hours (may not be exact number...) in various hospital rotations. Next! edit to add: This goes for Canadian ALS students as well, or whatever other country you may be from.

I started in January too... although we jumped right into intermediate interventions, and a basic overview of an EMT-I. In order to get my Associate's Degree when I'm done, I have to take an A & P class on my own time. My class is part time, lasts about 18 months, and I'm doing it while still working my full time job. We have to do a minimum of 48 hospital clinical hours each semester. During clinicals, we're also required to get 50 successful IV sticks, 20 intubations and 30 complete written patient assessments each semester. After that, at the end of the program, we must complete a 300 hour (25- 12 hour shifts) internship with our county EMS agency. But we just finished our intermediate class last week, and next comes pharmacology... yay. :wink:

Well what a coincedence, I started my meic program in January as well. We are doing A&P, Neuro, Pharmo( that covers all administration routes ) and our medications we can administer as EMT's here in Alberta. We are also doing infection control, skills labs (refreshing our EMT skills). Then in April we will be starting our first of three ambulance practicums that will last 340 hours. This will take us until June and then we return in Aug for our second semester which will last until Dec '06 and we will be starting our advanced skills then and more indepth A&P on the oragan systems.