PGEMTP

After reading this and the other posts, I have to say, "Wholly Crap, Are you Serious". And the reasons are listed between your post and mine. If you are a firefighter you obviously have been through high school or at least a GED. Also if you don't know what a salad fork is, you probably don't know what a pike pole is either, therefore you shouldn't be a firefighter, let alone an officer. Ask Obama how many table cloths or butter dishes in his home. Remember now, he was poor and black, too. And as far as paying for "MY" wrongs, none of my ancestors were rich enough to have slaves so I don't know what that would have to do with me. My parents, my grandparents, and great grandparents have been all too poor to have these things. I see many African Americans come out of a ghetto, house, apartment, and live educated smart lives that didn't need the NAACP to get them somewhere. Go to Atlanta (where I grew up) and see the predominately, affluent black communities. Don't get me wrong, there needed to be a lot of help for us to get to this point, but it's here. I want to hear about this "other stuff" that we are talking about here on the tests. If I was a firefighter, I would want my officer to have a great memory. I mean, maybe that's just me. I'm going to have to go with the test. If race is supposed to be left out, then leave it out. It's now a two-way road. If you are not "caught up" with me it's not because of your color.

Wow Dust, Can you explain it again?? Not to be blunt... no wait to be blunt, what does this have to do with improving the progression of the paramedic profession? We are not talking about making 18-22 an hour. We are talking about being recognized, and having a distinct ladder of progression. Having our own real association, governing body, and higher levels of education. We don't even know if half the stuff we do is even worth doing (see the hundreds of studies on prehospital care). I'm not saying we are worthless, because we are not. But we could be so much more. That's the type of legislation I'm looking for. Maybe we can have an association of Prehospital Research or an Association of Paramedicine. We need someone who will actually fight for the core competency of EMS which I don't even know if we have one yet. So yes I'm sorry if I made the mistake in looking into an association that may or may not progress our profession. However, being involved I think is the important point. We are so money driven, me included, that we don't realized EMS will not be as we know it today. We have the power to make it what we want. We need to organize in order for that to happen. I'm not worried about the pay right now. If we organize, educate, research, and put those into effect then money and recognition will follow. I don't know if it was on here or another thread, but someone said that Paramedic should be a B.S. and Management should be a M.S. I couldn't agree more and to go one step further EMT should be A.S. There is a school here in Pittsburgh that requires Medical Assistants to take College English and A&P along with other college level classes. EMTs I feel have more responsibility than a CMA. They should have the education to go with the responsibility. People say we don't get paid enough to be required to get a degree, but, do we have enough education to get paid what we feel we should? I don't think so. We do have the responsibilities that justify a higher pay though. Does that explain it better?

WOW Dust, 10 weeks?!? That is crazy. I couldn't imagine gaining the knowledge needed to be able to identify conditions in 10 months let alone 10 weeks! My Medic class was 15 months. No core classes required. So THIS is the problem of why we cannot be professionalized. Look at our "standards". Keep looking. Wait, they have to be around here somewhere? Anyone? Anyone? Hmmm.. Sucks for us. We fix our education first and I feel the rest will fall into place. To do that we need organization. The ones out there may not be perfect, but it's all I have. I have never heard of OZ until I heard it in another forum. I guess it's worldwide. I'll keep looking for organization and advocacy. I'm happy about the new EMS educational standards, I just wish states would jump on board with the NR. Even though I think it's a joke, again, it's all we have as far as standard certification. States like Florida and Tx I guess are holding us back, same in PA. Though PA requires you to get NR initially, you don't have to keep it up. Any ideas? My point in the beginning was that maybe the Indiana Association is going to be a flop, but at least someone is trying, and that can't be said for most of us. SirDuke, Where from GA are you from? I actually have a test and interview there in June. I'm originally from Roswell.

I know nothing about unions. I know that some of the companies around here have unions and they generally get paid more than I. I'm all for organize too. I agree with dust devil, if we can progress the profession (a term I use loosely, not because we can't be professional) the pay and benefits will follow. First must come the education. How can we justify getting paid more when you can literally get your paramedic in 10 months (including EMT). Then after you pass a test (which I can tell tests you on the ability to take tests and not on how to treat a patient) you can be on your own after just ten preceptor calls. So what is an EMT/Paramedic to do when you want to make a difference. I don't want to change the profession myself. I couldn't, it would be a waste of my time. But the only thing I can do is get involved. And the only way I know how is searching and trying. It might cost me $300 the first year, but I'll try different places and become involved any way I can. And I know if every medic thought this way, we would actually make a difference.

Thanks. I'm new to the forum idea. I'm sure I will learn a lot.

I am glad someone is trying to make a difference. I see the points on both sides. Yes many people have tried and failed to bring unity. But we are not going to bring unity with disagreeing all the time. I am a member of NAEMT, and advocates for EMS. These associations I found to be the most reputable and largest groups. By contributing to these groups, staying up to date with current affairs, and becoming active when possible, I contribute to changing EMS for the better. If everyone with an interest in protecting the EMS profession and making it a more recognized profession joined we WOULD have a more unified group. As long as the Indiana association works parallel with NAEMT and suggests that their members join NAEMT, I don't see how this would fail. I had to get my bachelor's degree to learn about NAEMT and the importance of advocacy, so the word needs to be spread more. RPM has the right idea of advertising this advocacy. But remember RPM, we want to be portrayed as professionals. I did not get to see the post you deleted, but I saw a part in reply and it's not the image I want to be displayed on any website. Oh, and while I'm on the topic. I saw someone with the caption "I'm here to save your ass, not kiss it", you could not be any more wrong! Our job is to provide patient CARE which includes comfort, professionally. Your comment is not only trashy, but contributes the reason why we struggle to make our now, "job" a profession or even a trade. Paul Galon, B.S, CCEMT-P, NREMT-P