JChernov1977

I thank all of you for taking the time to reply to this. I am not throwing out the idea for a one size fits all, or anything of that nature. However, there should be some kind of recognition by the companies that provide both the care and the supplies to those providing the care that this is a real problem. Since my accident I have lost quite a bit of weight, however being still of a larger stature and never seeing myself being a "normal size" on the BMI charts (what a joke) there is a definite need. I know when I worked on the Native American communities we did have the gear for all the patients those who were 600+ Lbs to the infants, so why not in the mainstream areas such as the big cities? Granted our ambulances in some of these areas were bigger than most in the city, but we were able to provide the needed care to all, with the proper gear. That is the question I pose to all companies.

To Whom It May Concern: Writing this letter for me is two fold. I was an EMT and Paramedic student when my life was thrust in a different direction all together. On the night of March 20, 2012 I was involved in an MVA when a semi-truck driver hit me on the driver's side of my truck at 35 mph. This left me unable to work in my field as I had a compound fracture of my left leg and a pretty severe head injury. After speaking with one of the responders and a friend of mine, I soon found that almost none of the equipment worked on me because of my size at the time. Although my life was spared by the people who responded and the care that I received it should be known that this happened. My friend told me that the C-Collars where to small even the "no-neck" size, and they tried using a towel with tape but because of the amount of blood this didn't work either. My friend also informed me that they had to have people ride in the back of the ambulance to hold traction on my leg, as well as hold C-spine manually. Given these factors I would like to work with someone to help develop a class of equipment that will fit everyone and not just be a one size fits all. While I have been working diligently on reducing my size and making myself more fit there are those that simply don't have the drive or the ability to do the same thing, along with that even when I do lose more weight I am sure that given my natural size there will be some equipment that still won't work on me. I am at a loss of who to write or who to let know about this so I have written this letter in hopes that it might reach the right people. I am not looking for compensation out of this I simply want to make sure that when a Paramedic responds they have the ability and equipment to handle every situation they might come across. Remembering that I have worked in various places myself where the population was different in sizes ranging from the smallest infant to people well over 600lbs, I want to work together with a manufacture or someone in the business of developing equipment used in life saving emergencies to ensure that this doesn't happen to anyone else. Given this letter is indirect to whomever might be able to assist in this I ask that if you find yourself wondering more about my story or would want to work on this feel free to email me at jlchernov1977@gmail.com, this is my personal email and I will respond to all who might ask. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and hopefully we can work together to make sure that all patients can be helped efficiently. Sincerely, Jacob Chernov, AZ EMT -Basic

Disclaimer::: This is only my opinion::::: While consideration for doing away with the EMT Basic level shouldn't even be given thought in my opinion. There does need to be consideration to what actually happens in the field. I have asked the question for years in Phoenix, Arizona they staff the fire trucks with Paramedics, and they make you work on a rescue for so many shifts before you can ride the fire truck. Now I'm not one who works in management or even always has a high opinion of fire fighters (no offense intended), however to me this doesn't make sense. You have highly trained medical personel on a fire truck that isn't used to transport the patients, but you have instead in the ambulance the rookies who are fresh out of the fire academy. I think that there are some systems that do it correctly. Have a distinct seperation between EMS and Fire but at the same time have them working together and closely. Let the fire department do the more technical rescue and of course the firefighting while the people who want to work in the EMS and medical system are the ones riding in the ambulance, and treating patients. When someone wants to work in medicine a lot of the time they are either not bitten by the fire bug or they have no desire to do firefighting. Myself for instance I am one of those people who loves medicine and would give anything to work in a system where I could make a decent living without having to have 2-3 jobs. I have seen some of the statistics and I personally find it amuzing that a fire truck responds to a person down. I understand the logic that there are more of them throughout the city and that they might be able to get their faster if there are less ambulances, however what I don't understand is that the ambulance not only costs less, but costs less to operate. In a time of financial downfall in America you would think that the municipal systems would be looking at this fact very closely, yet they continue to buy more and more fire trucks. People that call 911 and ask for medical aren't thinking about getting a fire truck to respond to them, they are looking for a transport vehicle to take them to the Emergency room. I know my wife is an epileptic and has had some pretty bad spells. I wasn't interested in getting a fire truck to her, I was looking for an ambulance to come so that she could be taken to her neurologist at Barrows. Instead they sent a fire truck for which the captain tried to tell me that she didn't need to go to the hospital and that the neurology center was to far away. Why would he care if they are billing by the mile, and not only that he wasn't the one that would be transporting her. There are people who just don't want to be involved in health care and this is why they are on the fire department, then there are people who want to be in health care that don't want to be fire fighters. I think that the real issue is that people should look at this type of thing and have a definate seperation of the two systems, while still having them under the same blanket. There are some systems here in Arizona that do that, but there are so many more that don't. The EMT-Basic still needs to exist for the people who are the first responders, and those who want to get into the field but aren't sure about making the jump to medic. Emt-basics do have their place, when it comes to basic skills there are plenty of medics especially when they are new to the field or new out of class that want to jump right into the advanced steps when they haven't considered the basic ones yet. For this reason I think that they should keep the EMT-Basic and cut out the middle like the Intermediate as they have for the most part done in Arizona.

I read your post and all I can think about is someone who lives in a glass house and throws stones through the window. When someone makes a mistake that doesn't cost someone their life and they are fairly young in their life, because even at age 29 we are not all as mature as you were, they tend to have life altering events. Maybe for the person wanting to become a medic was changed by their decission to drive intoxicated that night or day, and they were woken up to all of the things that they could have done with their life. Maybe seeing the videos that they put on in those driving and alcohol classes really made them think about their purpose here on Earth. It cracks me up to read people who are so judgemental on others and yet this person was brave enough to field a question about what they are facing going into this. They are obviously being open and honest which is more than I can say for some people who work in Emergency Services ( all services included in this). If you truly love your job as an EMT, Medic, Fire Fighter, whatever then you will assist this person as so many people have already done with the information that they might or might not be looking for. Why do you feel the need to treat them poorly when others have already done that, and they have paid their debt to society? That is what I see as being wrong with the EMS profession, so many people are so proud of what they do that they put themselves on a pedestal and crack on those who are interested. Sure maybe this person won't get the information they want but at least help them find the resources they might want to get the information.

In the words of an old wise man... "Tis Better to be pissed off then pissed on"

If you read the threads I was actually looking for information... but with the attitudes on this board it shows that the people here aren't worth the effort of talking to at least not in these threads.

Well... judging from the fact that you have posted more than a two line reply it appears that I have struck a nerve with some of my postings. Apparently something has hit home with you, and hopefully you will refresh your brain and figure out why you became a medic. What I don't understand is why you are so fast to be-little people who want information on here and come on here for just that. When you make an attack on someone on a posting board it just shows how little you respect people. Either that or you are one of those internet tough guys that couldn't do that in person. You remind me of a few of the fire captains I have had to correct in the field when they have attempted to dump an overdose patient at a Detox facility... showing just how much they retained from paramedic school. It's no wonder people don't like to work in the field if people like you are there.

I have actually had some experience with this issue. I have worked in various psychiatric facilities and I have also worked with many "paramedics" like you (of course using the term loosley) who got the patch but didn't know what it was for. They would often times try to stop bleeding with it.

Thank you, your information was much more helpful than most of the other posts on here. I was just curious about the job and if anyone out there knew more about it. I don't know why people feel that they have to rag on people who are in here looking for information. Maybe some napoleon syndrome going on with some of the posters I guess.

So I take it then all of the overseas jobs are for medics only? I have been an EMT basic for 14 years

Hey someone has to add something to them when they get old right?

HA HA... I don't want to fly either... if god wanted me to fly he would have given me wings, feathers, and a beak

While money is a good help in getting people in, however the trick to keeping and getting people in the door is to treat your people right. The trick to keeping employees is to giving them a reason to stay. Companies in Arizona have a mentality of Ruling by Fear. This is one of the thing that I found that no matter what type of positions you offer, and how much money you are paying. It is also going to come down to how the employees feel that they are being treated as employees. Do you allow the employees to voice their opinions and so forth with out feeling like that they are going to be terminated for doing so? There is also the fact that maybe a lot of people don't know about your services. Maybe advertising on websites such as this or other free sites might help. Also have you thought about offering people such as myself who want to get out of the state their in a relocation bonus, or something such as helping with paramedic school. That's my two cents... I would be interested in finding out what you could offer to get me to come out there. I have always wanted to try living in another state... Arizona is to hot feel free to email or message me at anytime.

Are all of the out of country jobs for the area's where we have troops? I would like to find a position in Russian or Ukraine sometime. I am currently an EMT basic and I am looking to get my EMT-P starting next year. I would be interested in going just about anywhere but the middle east.

This is actually the career I would like to get into... if anyone has some good tips on how to get into it please let me know. I am currently an EMT-B and going to medic school in spring of 09. I will have a bachelors in CJ here in the next year as well. I would like to get into doing tactical EMS because I like both law enforcement and EMS and want to do the both of them together.