Dustdevil

Yeah, that is perfectly understandable. I can go with that. I would think those medics would look with particular disdain upon n00bs who would be presumptious enough to mimic them. Imitation is not always flattering. Sometimes it's just plain annoying. Hold it... does NYC seriously charge you to apply for a job? :shock: Seems like there has to be something unconstitutional about that. :?

It's a typical liberal ploy. They always use a false concern for "the children" as justification for any governmental power grab. And since nobody wants to risk the appearance of not caring about "the children," they get away with it. Pretty sickening, actually.

Sweet!

Who is "they"? Where do you draw the line between "them" and "us?" And what objective criteria do you use to come up with that standard? Does your criteria have a scientifically valid basis, or is it arbitrary, and therefore ripe for appeal? It ain't cut and dried.

Not yet. But one day, the EMS gods will smile upon us and rid us of the scourge of "public safety." :wink:

This is sort of a prank. I had a new partner once. Eighteen year old girl right out of high school and EMT school. She was drop dead gorgeous. About 5'11" and built like a supermodel. She was nice enough, but she was overly enthusiastic and too eager to prove herself. She would mimic anything I did in order to fit in. But since she was so eager, I figured I'd have some fun with it. The station was a small apartment with a small, two-bunk bedroom, a living room/kitchen combo, and a bathroom. The bedroom and bathroom were separated by the living room. I knew this chick didn't have a clue what was normal for station life. And I wasn't going to stop getting comfortable to relax just because there was a girl around. So, like always, I took off my uniform shirt when we were at the station. She did too. Then that evening, after a long day in the heat, I stripped to my underwear and grabbed my bag and towel and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. When I was in the bedroom getting dressed afterwards, she walked in, stripped butt naked, tossed a towel over her shoulder, and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. I was shocked, but not unpleasantly so! Anyhow, this continues for many shifts, with her (and me) frequently walking around the station topless or in her underwear, showering with the door open, and basically living like nudists. Then finally, she worked a shift with another medic one day. The very next day, I walk into the office and the other medic grabbed me and took me into a private office. He was freaking out, haha. He was like, "Dude, that girl is a FREAK! She runs around the station naked!!' He ended up having an affair with her and his wife found out and trashed the station. They were both fired.

Really no stranger than all those people who call for an emergency and then keep saying, "PLEASE HURRY!!!" Dude, it's an ambulance! You don't have to ask them to hurry! Funniest three incidents I can recall: Christmas eve, 1986. Somewhere around midnight, I heard the unit whose territory we were covering check enroute to the hospital, so I flipped over to the med channel to hear their patient report, just out of boredom. It went something like this: "JPS, this is Medic 32, Paramedic Navarro. We are enroute with a 28 year old male victim of an assault. He was doing some last minute Christmas shoplifting when he was caught and beaten by store personnel..." One night, my partner and I picked up an assaulted street person in a parking lot just a few blocks from the hospital. For some reason, we couldn't reach the hospital directly, so my partner was giving a patient report to a dispatcher to relay for us. Since we were now very close to being at the ER dock, he gave only a short and sweet report. The total report was like, "22 year old male, assaulted with kicks and punches, suffered a seizure and found post ictal with minor head contusions and no other obvious injuries. Vitals stable. ETA 1 minute." Well, the dispatcher was a relatively new medic and was one of those guys with a degree and a lot of book knowledge, but not the least bit of common sense. Real management material. He decided he needed more information, so he tells my partner on the radio, "NO NO NO! WAIT!! First of all, was there any loss of consciousness?" We looked at each other in stunned silence for a moment, then my partner keys the radio and politely replies, "Well, let's see... he had a seizure, so yeah, I'd call that a loss of consiousness!' And finally, on scene of a motorcycle collison out on a rural highway, I requested a helicopter by telling the sherff's dispatcher to "shoot me the bird!" To which she replied, You got it, buddy! I was told afterwards that every cop, medic and fireman in the county simultaneously shot the finger at the radio when I said that.

I agree it looks professional. The problem is, it looks like a totally different profession than we are in! Why copy some other profession? Why not establish a unique identity? You can have an extremely professional appearance without looking anything like a cop. Or a fireman. Anyhow, in this case I believe the original poster is talking about hanging the badge on his belt, not on his chest. I've worked in street clothes, police style uniforms, fire style uniforms, flight suits and jumpsuits, and even scrub suits and lab coats. To be honest, I have never noticed a single bit of difference in the reaction of my patients. Their reaction is established by what you say and do. I would however say that your uniform style does make a difference in the perception of fire and police personnel. I notice a higher level of respect from them when I am in a uniform that doesn't look like I am trying to mimic them. The best treatment I ever got from public safety was when working for a hospital based system who wore scrubs.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying your trying to be a buff. I recognize that you are still new enough to the field that you don't even know what a buff is when you see one. Hell, none of us did. Yep... I had a badge made up too. That's $75 dollars I still wish I had back now thirty years later. They are just stupid and pointless. What purpose do they serve? On duty, you're in a uniform that clearly identifies you. The big orange and white truck you drove up in is a pretty good identifier too. So what does a badge add? Nobody can read it unless they are in your face, which they shouldn't be. Off duty is where you seriously run the danger of being mistaken for a cop. When that shield flashes out while you're paying for your Slurpee, you're just inviting any con with a grudge against "the man" to waste you. And for what? So the Pakistani guy behind the counter will be impressed? I can guarantee you that no police officers are impressed. In fact, they too will label you as a wannabe, and possibly jack you up and hassle you just for their own entertainment. So the bottom line is, it serves no purpose except to stroke your own ego, both on-duty and off. It's nothing but a conversation piece. Something you flash at every opportunity so people will ask about it and you can tell them you're an EMT, just like a million other guys in NY. And by the way, do you see FDNY wearing shields? No. That should be a clue right there. About the only legitimate purpose I can think of for having a badge when none was issued is for quick ID at an MCI where you might respond off-duty. But even then, you'd be better off with a marked traffic vest, t-shirt, or windbreaker that can be seen front and back. Again, nobody can read that badge unless they are right in your face. Nobody here is trying to make any personal judgments about you our your motives. We've all been in the same place. We were all n00bs at one time with EMT stickers all over our cars, hanging our stethoscopes on our review mirrors, wearing an EMS t-shirt off duty. It's a phase that most of us go through. After a few years, when you no longer have anything to prove to anybody, you begin to roll your eyes at those guys when you pass them on the highway. We're just trying to give you an edge and help you bypass that pointless and embarrassing time in your career where you can barely afford gas every week, much less a badge that will end up on the bottom of a drawer somewhere in due time. If you're smart, you'll take good advice. If you're average, you won't. But remember, the people you work with can tell who is smart and who is average. Which one do you want to be? Get smart and spend that $75 dollars on a PHTLS or PALS course or a medical book. Something that will make you a better medic. Show your priorities are in the right place. Be a professional, not a wannabe. And just to show that I'm not a total dick, I just spent nearly an hour on Google trying to find someplace with in-stock NY style EMS badges. Sorry, but I didn't find a thing. Just the generic looking crap. If you see some other n00b wearing something you like, ask him where he got it. Maybe there is some warehouse in Chinatown selling them. But otherwise, you're going to have to get Galls to make you one up custom for $50 to 75 hard earned dollars. Good luck!

Ah, that makes sense. Although, I don't like them for city EMS either. If you are not a cop, or a fireman in full dress, you have no business wearing a badge. EMS is not public safety. EMS is medicine. We have no "authority," and have no business pretending that we do. I'm all for uniforms and uniformity. It is important. But that doesn't mean you have to look like a Mexican general. There's a Six Flags near Fairfield?? :shock:

If you lack the communication skills to explain yourself to us, just tell us and we'll understand. But otherwise, I would still like to hear a little explanation as to why you feel this way, and what experience you base your opinion on. Not agreeing or disagreeing with you. I just think you ought to have the integrity to explain your opinions if you're going to spout them off.

IF everybody is wearing one, you don't look like an FNG. You just look like a dork, as does your entire organization, unless of course you are a public safety agency and not a stand-alone EMS agency.

Rules change, and I certainly agree that a re-testing procedure would help assure that drivers stay abreast of those changes. For example, I would bet that more than half of the drivers in Texas honestly don't have a clue that it is illegal to drive in the left lane of the highway when not passing. And they sure don't know that it is required that they give a one-lane buffer to parked emergency vehicles. Re-testing would solve that problem. But what we are talking about here is a deterioration of skills, not knowledge. And skills can only be measured through a driving test. That is what needs to be re-tested to weed out incompetent drivers of all ages. Anyhow, you need a "none of the above" choice for your poll. None of them address the problem adequately. It is more complex than age itself.

Skip, as a medic in Texas since 1973, I'm afraid I have to fully agree with you. If it ain't an ambulance, it ain't an ambulance. Period. What you describe is no more an ambulance than a fire truck is. It's simply a first aid station. Nothing but a big first aid kit on wheels. And if no attempt is made to represent it as an ambulance, then TDH is just being a dick. An admin law attorney could probably set them straight if you have the money for such. Sounds to me like what happened is a competitor ratted you out in an attempt to steal your business. A similar situation happened to me in the early 80's. A competitor complained to the city of Fort Worth that the standby company I was supervising for was operating unlicensed in their city. One afternoon, a FWPD unit drove into the racetrack grounds and up to my ambulance, where he asked for my ID and told me I was being cited for unlicensed operation of an ambulance in the city. I told him that we weren't even IN the city! He said, "Yes sir. The city limits extend all the way to the railroad tracks." My reply was, "Uhhh... don't you remember crossing the tracks when you drove in here?" He stopped, looked at me for a second, then said, "Oh yeah! Sorry about that. Have a nice day!' and drove away. I heard the following week that the jerk who had tried to rat us out was screaming and yelling at city hall on Monday morning about us not being cited! Anyhow, the point being, you CAN fight city hall. They aren't always right. Good luck!

I agree in theory. However, it punishes the honest guy by allowing the liars to sneak through the system. The same standard should apply to all applicants.

Texas doesn't do automatic background checks on medics or nurses for licensure. But if you admit to ANY criminal background on your application, even simple misdemeanors, then they craw up your ass with a microscope and hold up your application sometimes for months.

Badges are a rookie/yahoo thing, and anybody carrying one is immediately identified as such by veterans. Within a couple of years in the field, you'll realize that, get tired of it, and wish you had your fifty bucks back. Medics are not "officers" of any sort, and do not carry any kind of legislated authority, which is what a badge indicates. But, if you are absolutely dead set on inflating your ego for a year or two: http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=gen...06&cat=2643 Of course, if you're really eat-up hardcore, you can have one custom made to your specfications at the same place. Dyna Med used to have some California style 7-point star badges that were nice, but their website is dead now. I think they sold out or something.

Yes, a very minimum of an associates degree should be required for entry into EMS. But no, it will never happen. The IAFF and IAFC would fight any such legislation tooth and nail, and they have HUGE political clout. And since, unfortunately, most people in this country associate EMS with the fire service, they will listen to them. Not to mention that every politician with a budget will fight it because it would more than double what they currently spend for EMS. Our good friend from the Great White North is correct. EMS needs to be completely restructured from the top down in this country. It's a total mess. Love to see it! But it ain't happening.