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Wow, this one went downhill really quick. I can see where the miscommunications happened. Swamp, part of the issue is that it is hard for us to give you great advice without knowing more details. You are still young and inexperienced so I don't think you realize that the way EMS is done where you are is much different than it is done where I am. We were all there, including me. It took me a long time to realize that what happened in Suffolk County, NY didn't happen in the other 99.9% of the world. Some people can handle an accelerated course, some people can't. At the EMT level, it shouldn't be too difficult, especially if you have some back ground. Where I came from all courses were run by the vollies, whether it be a FD or a VAC. There were no EMT level college courses and only one ALS level college program (no degree, but got you the NYS EMT-CC certification). The only medic class in the county was run by the state university, but no degree again. Where I came from, all EMS classes were run by the gov't so I don't see it as a big deal, whereas others have issue. Again, it is the fractured nature of EMS in the US. Based on that, where I was, no employer cared where you took your class as long as you had a card. You will also find a lot of people here who have made EMS a career and have decades of experience. It tends to be a sore spot when people use the profession as a stepping stone to something else. Not everyone sees becoming a FF as a promotion and many see it as an insult. Just remember though, whatever course you decide to take it is not about you. EMS is a field of medicine, which is about the patient. Your patients are inviting you into their lives, seeing them on one of the worst days of their lives. You owe it to them to be at your best and bring your A-game very time. Unfortunately, most people who do EMS as a FD stepping stone could care less about the patients and just see them as part of that stone, nothing more than one more obstacle they need to get over to get what they really want. Don't be that provider.

Do we in EMS want the media, the public, our peers, or most importantly our patients, to take us seriously and respect the profession of EMS as much as we feel they respect the office of state trooper or police officer? Do we want a certain level of respect from the people we serve which recognizes the continual education and training hours we pursue to remain at the top of our field? From all intents and purposes, we seem to want that. In our off hours we will oftentimes don sweatshirts or T-shirts with “EMS for Life” emblazoned across the back of them. We wear our duty jackets when we are not working. Some of us even adorn our vehicles with some type of EMS symbol or lettering to further proclaim, or solidify our relationship with our chosen career in EMS. When tragedies such as the Boston Marathon bombing, a 104 car pile-up on a busy Denver Interstate, or the stabbing of dozens of students at the Franklin Regional High School in Pittsburgh strike and peoples lives are saved by ourselves, or others in our profession, we are proud to be a member of the EMS community. When a citizen in our community walks out the door of a hospital, weeks after surviving a cardiac arrest that we responded to, we are justifiably proud of ourselves, our ambulance service and proud of our responding crew. We are proud to be one of the few. We dedicate our lives to learning the rapidly changing world of emergency medicine and spend countless hours out of our daily lives training, adapting, and overcoming obstacles. We meet life threatening calls head on and battle drug addiction, alcoholism, and neglect on a weekly basis as a part of this career we have chosen. We carry the secrets of the dark side, the unimaginable sights and smells that we encounter deep within ourselves. We watch our children a little closer, and maybe trust a little less. We have seen the worst side of what people can do to others or themselves, and we carry that part of life inside of us. Hidden away from the public’s eye and away from our family and friends. Because of our career choice and our decision to enter EMS, we have accepted this responsibility of being the ‘secret keepers.’ No one is forcing us to stay in this industry and it is a decision we have made of our own free will. And because of this, because of our conscious decision to become a public servant, we are held to a higher standard in the public’s eye than many other occupations. We are expected to maintain a high degree of confidentiality concerning what we have seen in the field. We are expected to be professional. We are expected to have the maturity and the ability to retain all these qualities on a daily basis while we are interacting with our patients and with the public. And for the most part, I think as an industry we do quite well at this task. But I also think that as an industry we could do much better. We need to band together and make a conscious effort to encourage each other and support each other. And we need to remind each other that the public is watching us. With the world’s Wi-Fi technology and the increasing ability of the public to access what was once heard or said behind closed doors, between two providers in our field, can spread across the internet in the blink of an eye. What may be considered by those of us who work the streets and run the calls as an innocent comment uttered out of frustration can be construed, or embellished to make it more than what it was intended to mean. In an instant it can be turned from a frustrated comment into a malicious attack on our patient. And it can’t be taken back. What was once said in the rig or in the station house out of simple frustration or exhaustion is now being developed into sweatshirt and t-shirt slogans. It’s appearing on postcard type pictures that spread across the internet like wildfire with big bold words stating, “EMS- Where your stupidity is my job security,” and other forms of a less than a professional view of the people we serve. We can make all the excuses in the world for why it was said, we can rationalize it, giggle about it, and even understand it, but we can’t take it back once it’s out there in social media. And then we must work twice as hard to regain the respect that we sometimes so delightfully sabotaged in our effort to be comical. If we truly want to be respected, we must first respect those that we serve as well as each other. We need to remind each other that this is a career path or profession that we chose. We must also learn to have more respect for each other within our industry and stop getting into public squabbles over whose patch is shinier than whose and who is the most important provider in the chain of survival. But that’s a discussion to be held at another time and another place. Tami Bulik NREMT-I

happens every time we have a full moon without fail.

Apology accepted. Respect not earned. Glad that's over.

I hate to get into this pissing contest, but dude, seriously? There is a large difference between being called an arse and being called a cunt.

Alright. Let's all take a step back and take a deep breath. Swampmusic, yes. Some of what you wrote was misunderstood. Whether that was intentional or not is up for debate. Assume that it was an honest mistake and chalk it up to experience. Much of what you wrote was questionable based simply on your writing style. That's why you were asked so many questions... some of them repeatedly. So this can go both ways. Improve your writing and people will improve their level of understanding. You have to admit you're being a little antagonistic here, too. Ok... I just reread some of your replies and I think you're being very antagonistic. (Along with immature... really? Name calling? Come on, dude.) As I mentioned previously, nothing here is personal until it is. Don't make it personal and it won't be personal in response. If you're feeling like some of the comments you've received were getting personal then take a step back, take a deep breath and continue reading. We get people here with alarming regularity who present with an attitude/background similar to yours with questions similar to yours. These people, almost as a rule, are not interested in EMS for EMS. They're interested in EMS simply because it'll get them a job with a fire department. You say you're interested in EMS but then you argue that yes you're interested but it's also because it'll get you a better paying job. So you'll understand our confusion when in two different posts you've completely contradicted yourself. You need to understand, too, that you came in to a professional forum with an attitude that might've worked with your fire buddies. EMS is different. It's a different mindset. It's a different attitude. It's an entirely different ballgame. You asked a lot of questions and provided, what could easily be perceived as, shady or indirect information. Your questions have been answered. Whether your like or dislike the answers provided is immaterial. Those are the answers that have been provided. You can frequent any place you like. Badmouthing one place over another won't make you friends. There's a reason there's so little censorship here. We call it like we see it. Sometimes we get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong. However, you won't get unicorns pooping rainbows like you will elsewhere. If you're wrong we'll call you on it. If we're wrong others here will call us on it. But we'll do it professionally, without the attitude and name calling. As I mentioned previously you will not find a better place to learn than here. You will get honest, often raw, yet mostly professional, certainly more professional than some of your responses here, replies to your inquiries. So now the choice is yours. Unicorns pooping rainbows? That won't get you very far. Solid learning from people who've been doing this longer than those on any other site I've frequented? (I've been around a while... I've been on quite a few EMS sites.) That'll get you a lot farther than anything else. The choice is yours. Keep in mind, though. I'm sure you were taught that if you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all. Things have a way of coming back to bite you. You are not as anonymous as you might think. All the best with your decision.