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Are you high???? Seriously, calling anyone who lives in a northern smaller town with a small black population racists? I am also from Colorado Springs. I must have lived in a different area than Dwayne because we had a pretty decent amount of minorities. Maybe minorities dont choose to live in small towns where there is not many black people because they choose to stay near their families? Maybe they choose to stick where they were raised? Maybe they don't want to live in a town full of white people, I don't know. However I am friends with 2 of the black people in our town and they enjoy living here. They have never run into any kind of racism here. They moved here because of a job transfer. That post above was one of the most ignorant posts I've seen on here. Way to play the racist card!

For the record, and maybe I'm showing my age, but my biggest issue was with the attitude of, "Could you please help me, but while doing so, don't waste my time with any of your happy horseshit...I've never done what you do, nor know anything about it, but I know enough to know that other than, within this tiny window, you have nothing of importance to offer me because I've already Googled EMS and know all about it..." It's just such a common, and poisonous attitude in EMS...

Okay, I will get some a&p books and start reading them. My mother is a P.A. and so I'm hoping that she can help my with some A&P and vocbulary if needed.

I did an interview today with my favorite paramedic and his fire chief about the fundraiser their department is doing to build a new shed, we talked about that, and about the challenges faced by those of us trying to serve small rural communities. Please give it a listen! http://tallcornandcrossroads.blogspot.com/2013/07/granville-fire-and-ems-fundraiser.html

explain. Our pager goes off... within 2 minutes our rig is rolling to a call. ( our average scene time is also right at 10 minutes) What do I need to think about? We are down to three EMTs, with five going to school in the fall. we do not have any first responders, Fire only comes if we call for lift assistance. Triemal04, that our protocols do not allow the rig to roll without an EMT. And the majority of our calls we all respond to, we don't all ride, but we are there for scene assist. I guess what bothers me, in the whole paid vs volly fight, and has for years, and I said that also in my first post, Volunteers have the same level of training that someone on a paid service has. We are all professionals. No, we don't have the same call volume, but I know that on my service and the ALS service that we call for assist has volunteer members who take their service seriously, and work to maintain and advance their skills even with a limited number of runs. Would I be full time if I could, absolutely. Would I go to school to get my P if I could, you bet, but I'm not in a position to do either. SO, I and the rest of my team, work as hard as we can to offer the best care possible in the prehospital environment. I really wish I had been able to read the original blog. Then I might not have gotten this thread so off track.

A quick and CHEAP EMT class could well be the entry requirements for a 90 day wonder medic mill.

I was. I lived on ridgeglen growing up. Near where academy and union meet. I moved with mom to Denver, Greeley and eventually upstate NY. However I spent summers and holidays with Dad. He moved to Briargate when I was 11. I moved from NY to Colo Spgs again full time when I was 18 and lived in Cimmeron Hill's off powers. My ex and I divorced and his best friend was murdered Jacine. Very high profile. Also a friend of mine was killed by hubby. My new husband and I moved back to his home town in Iowa. I go back often. However my father has moved down to the base of a mountain near Canon city But I'll take you up on coffee as I go through. We will get Scuba to join too

Wow, amazing how those of you in the south assume that those that live in the north are all racists.... And of course this case is about race. The police had decided that it was a non issue before the public outcry, and that came because a black kid got shot in a decent neighbourhood...I've only just Googled it yesterday and followed the timelines...so I don't really have a dog in this fight... I live in Colorado Springs, where, in my experience, relatively speaking, there are only a handful of blacks. There are also, in my experience, only a handful of Mexicans, Thais, Phillipinos, Cubans, Pollocks, Russians, Ethiopians, etc...Have we been cold to them all?? To the best of my knowledge, it's an amazingly tolerant city to all races, sexes and sexual orientations. Holy shit, we've just legalized weed! (Sort of) Is it possible that blacks live often in the areas you mention because that is where their traditional U.S. heritage is? Mikey, you're wicked smart, surely your not suggesting that in every community that has few blacks that blacks have moved there, been treated poorly, refused jobs, and then run back and told all of the other southern blacks how horrible it is there, preventing others from going? Is there, like, a black party line for such things that I'm not aware of? Some sort of blackstuff.com that white people haven't heard about yet where you share such information? I've never lived in Las Angeles, though I've visited...that's not where my small town culture lives, nor most of the attitudes or energy that I know. I live where I know how things work. Though, I've heard rumors on whiteysecrets.com (if that's a real website, it's coincidence only, as I just made it up) that there is a significant population of black families that have made their way out of the south. Does discrimination happen still? Of course it does...possibly just as much black against white as white against black..., as well as brown against white, white against brown, black against brown, black against yellow and all other flavors of idiocy. But to claim that the main reason that many communities have only a few black families is because they are intolerant is craziness... What is truly, terribly sad? That following generations of racism, that many blacks have chosen to celebrate the hard won victories of those that came before them, of all races, by claiming, "It's our turn to have ignorant hateful attitudes now!!" What a waste...

Exactly! There's all sorts of reading to do about NSAID use and side effects!

"Just in case"... I'm shocked that with your smug attitude of lacking U.S. EMS training and education that you spout off crap like this. The moral and legal issues of restraining another person are more profound and farther reaching than "just in case". Morally speaking, the willingness to restrict a patient's freedom willy nilly, because you had one patient become violent towards you, surely lacks a moral basis of preserving a patient's right to autonomy and right to refuse. The previous sentence speaks to your impartiality of applying restraints and is morally irrelevant in dealing with your next patient. I'd like to think you want to provide good care for your patients, but automatic restraint of psych patient's "just in case" will systematically violate personal freedoms in order provide care and prevent harm. Sure, a utilitarian view of protecting others is a consideration to be taken, but there is still one person who is not "most benefited" by the procedure. Tell me, how is restraining a patient therapeutic? Or is it just containment? Do you think your patients see restraints as treatment to getting better, or more as punishment? It seems these considerations matter when deciding to restrain a patient. With your better psychiatric education, do you even try to use less restrictive measures in your 5 hours ago raging storm but now compliant paranoid schizophrenic patient? It makes about as much sense as putting you in handcuffs because you were royally pissed off with road rage 5 hours ago.... wouldn't want you running down and hurting someone... Legally speaking, committing acts of battery come to mind first. I'm not the most legally savvy person, but restraining patients based on previous patient's or "just in case" situations, would seem to be a form of battery. The schizophrenic patient that previously exhibited a "raging storm" extreme of behavior doesn't mean that five hours later, while being compliant, deserve to be battered. Again, this type of systematic use of restraints violates a persons right to refuse medical care. Now, this is a double edged sword, I agree, but the point I'm trying to make is that systematic use of restraints can leave one liable in violating another person's rights. In no way am I saying that restraints should be banished, but rather the decision to restrain should be carefully considered in regards to moral, legal, therapeutic, and safety aspects. Its not an issue to take lightly and very much should be a last resort when other less restrictive ways of behavior modification have been exhausted. In regards to safety, I realize two persons on an ambulance certainly raises concern when dealing with an acutely violent psychiatric patient. Placing patients and personnel in situations that are dangerous and make the requirement of the most extreme measures necessary as the primary intervention in lieu of not being the most appropriate treatment.....system error much...???

I am the opposite of a shrink..... I am better at bitch slapping than hugging, but I do have some suggestions for you. First off, clearly you are way too smart to dwell on the things you can't do. So go ahead and cut that crap out. How?? Well, Here's what has worked for me! Advice #1 First off, think about the colour blue. OK, Now, think about the colour red. What just happened to blue? Well.... you chose to stop thinking about it so you could think about red, so it went away. Easy hey! Now apply that theory to all those things that pick at your soul. I know it seems pretty easy to say, but ultimately it is your choice not to let these things fester. Advice #2: Perhaps you need to set some goals, both long & short term. How about starting a blog? A bunch of us will follow I do promise that! Set daily goals, weekly, then long term (no dates on these ones). Short term goals should be both progress and distraction goals. Here are some examples: Learning to crochet Put an ankle weight on the uninjured leg and do 'leg ups', set goals for reps Post 1 scenario on EMTCity per week (13 years on truck and you're not sharing?) Find a physiotherapist (online perhaps) and get advice on how to maintain muscle while laying there Start making jewelry and sell it online Get some bubbles and play with the kids Long term goals could include walking with only a cane, or just 1 crutch. Doing light yoga, Weight lifting goals, etc The ultimate end goal could be passing a fitness test of some sort, then you can decide if you want to go back on ambulance or not, but i'd leave that alone right now. by posting your goals and progress online, not only will you get a 'cheering squad' but you will also have some accountability which helps with motivation. I know first hand it is easy to sit and wallow in sadness, so if your looking for the easy way out - go ahead and do that. If your ready to shake off the dust and get on with life, set some realistic goals and get at 'er As a side note: 9 Ibuprophen every day? What dose? Sounds like a recipe for a bleed to me...... I'd be following Dr.s orders if I were you, I know Narcs aren't fun and addiction is a real concern, but lying in bed bleeding from your stomach ulcer ain't fun either.

First off, congratulations and welcome to the industry! Secondly, advice for school. I'm going to have to agree with the people commenting before me; if you can, get anatomy & physiology down, and to add to that start brushing up on your introductory pathophysiology. My next piece of advice, don't let anyone take away that spark you have! You're motivated and passionate, and for the rest of your career you're going to have bitter, jaded, crusty old medics try to make you as bitter, jaded, and crusty as them. Fight the power, rock and roll, and keep on trucking in the free lane, my friend. You'll do great in school, as long as you continue to love what you're learning. Good luck

Studying A&p for sure. Also maybe getting ahead on the vocabulary. That seemed to throw a lot of people off on the test. Many of the words we saw were not in our books.

I'm also not a fan of a test that gives a dead person 3 points, but that is just semantics.

Lets see A black man and a cuban man get in a fight one gets shot & killed. Who's the minority here?????

Just giving an update. So I ended up having an interview with another company just a few hours ago. I went in with a full suit and tie (took me a while to debate on whether to leave the pocket square at home but I always wear one so I left it in). It was a one on one interview and there weren't any other applicants there at the time so hard to tell if I overdressed (although I definitely out dressed management and got a few looks walking around the facility). There was no physical test there so I didn't have to worry about a change of clothes. I aced the written test and the interview went well. He gave me a job offer right away and I accepted it. Ideally I would have liked to at least interview with the other company next week before accepting but they are having orientation week next week. I'm wondering if I should have asked for a higher pay but I figured its already an oversaturated job market and an entry level position so he could easily find someone else. I don't think a job offer from the other company would have been much different than this one. The only plus side to the other company is that they are closer to me so I could pretty much walk there. However, I hate their uniforms (white shirt, green pants). In the end I'm just happy to find a full time position and to just get my foot in the door somewhere. I'm hoping to get some experience and then eventually get into FDNY.