WolfmanHarris

The main ambulance I've been riding in for consolidation is the Crestline "Commander" Type 3 on the E450 chassis. It's set up as a centre mount with the "CPR seat."

Good to know Rock Shoes. I wasn't aware that the pass criteria for the test was independent of the test format. Either way it's a moot point as I got into my first choice school and should be graduating at the end of this academic year.

One of the Colleges I applied for used this test as part of their screening. The problem I had with it was I scored "very good" on cardiovascular, "excellent" on back stability and sit-ups, "good" on all the rest save flexibility where I scored "fair." (I have never been flexible, even as a kid or when I was going to Karate 4 times a week) I failed the test overall though because of BMI. I agree that the test was very well rounded vs a standard lift assessment, but the all or nothing evaluation was frustrating. Agreed. This needs to change. There's a medic I know of who weighs ~400lbs. He's apparently a nice guy, but no longer a competent medic as he can barely physically do the job. We should have to do a lift test or some sort of assessment every few years. I've got more than a few pounds to lose at 5'11", 240lbs, but I'm working on it. Now if you'll excuse me I think I should grab a carrot stick and go to the gym.

This sounds like the "steel toed boots will cut your toes off" thing. Ya there is some extreme cases where random chance may reward stupidity and unfortunately these rare anecdotes will in some peoples minds wipe away any evidence to the contrary, especially if they already don't like wearing their seatbelt, hi-vis, helmet, steel toes, etc. I'm in favour of seatbelt laws. I live in a country of socialized medicine and collective responsibility which means your stupid decision to not wear a seatbelt or drive drunk becomes to responsibility of everyone else to pay. Were that not the case, people have the right to believe what they want and be as stupid as they like.

Huh? One is a concerted effort by a well organized lobby group aimed at taking over EMS across the board representing and providing resources and support for local FD. The other is a single company trying to stay in business without that organized support. On a long enough timeline, without Private or 3rd Service EMS having a strong equivalent counter to the IAFF, this seems like a losing proposition. How the heck does this provide excellent service. It's not a Store A vs. Store B situation where competition pulls down prices. It's a single service securing a contract to provide EMS response to 911 calls. How exactly would Fire EMS be taken over by private? If FD takes over EMS, the previous service ceases to exist. If reversed, FD continues, just without EMS. Honestly man, your whole post makes no sense. Ben, excellent post. I still disagree that the best eventual, permanent home for EMS should be FD (not a fan of privates either) and I have my strong doubts that an in house training program can provide the highest quality in EMS education. I still think that in the long term EMS needs to be a degreed program with a single level provider with maybe a post-grad diploma for critical care. But given your experiences I can see why MFD would be a better fit for you and I do understand the draw of FD as a career. Great first post and I hope we hear more from you from here on in. Welcome to the city. - Matt

I might be one of them. Depends how things go in the next few weeks.

The barriers keep mounting I'm afraid. All public college EMS courses give preference to Ontario residents over even other Canadians and the programs are highly competitive. There were 700 applicants for 45 spots in my class. Of those who started 21 are currently expected to graduate and not all will get a job. I am scheduled for the second stage of hiring for Frontenac county (Kingston, ~3hrs E of Toronto). Hundreds applied and wrote the test, 100 moved onto this stage, 12 will move onto the next and form the hiring list. Only 2 will be hired, part-time at this stage. For Centralized Paramedic Competency Recruitment Testing (that covers Toronto, York, Peel, Durham and Halton) had over a thousand write the written test. 299 moved onto scenarios and are now waiting to hear about interviews. Obviously the job market will change over the next few years, but we're still churning out way more PCP's than there are jobs. There are private college programs, but I would say steer clear. They are as close to medic mills as we have here. They do the program in half the time and charge three times as much. If you do get your education here, be prepared to go right to ALS so that when you return to the US awaiting immigration, you can work as an EMT-P rather than a basic (where your education would be wasted) or in something else where you'd atrophy.

Chris, thank-you so much! You have no idea how much I needed that today. Cheers! - Matt

Crotch man I don't know what Ambulances you were on, but they need to step up their cleaning. Every Ambulance I've ever been on, the patient compartment smells like virox from all the cleaning. Then again, only one area I know of has SSM, so no one ever eats their lunch in the Ambulance. Most I've seen is coffee and a granola bar (in case of stand-by), up front. Actually scratch that, as the student sitting in the back I've had a coffee with me on the way back to base. I'm bad.

One guy in this area wears a ballistic vest over his uniform and I think a couple have a stab best underneath. The guy with the ballistic vest though, wears it for good reason. He got a gun pulled on him when working Toronto EMS and his wife won't let him work without it. I doubt I'll wear ballistic at any point. The areas I'm hoping to work don't call for it. I'm consideing a stab vest depending on the service, but even that's unlikely at this point. If I do, it will probably be for the peace of mind of my fiance. Same reason I've promised that I stay buckled in the back unless I positively have to get up. (that and my own life I guess)

To echo Spenac, why would any non-firefighter join the IAFF?! I will give them their due, of all the unions and associations out there, they stay on message and have a very clear goal. But guess what folks, it puts FF jobs above all else. Honestly, how dumb are we in EMS that we'd invite the wolf into the hen house and be surprised that we're getting gobbled up?!

I think you might have missed the main thrust of my argument, which was that any determination must be by a mental health professional. I have no issue with psych evaluations, my issue was with management staff with no professional education in psychology (or worse, just enough to be problematic) being the person determining whether someone's mental health history made them suitable for employment or not. As long any evaluation is being done by a professional.

Cockpit jokes? Grow up.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

In the interests of equality, I demand they serve vagina as well. And make the bathrooms bigger. And sex in them no longer a crime. Flex cuffs are fun during, but hours after the thrill is gone and it's just damned inconvenient.

I'd be more concerned that you'd be making judgments on their psychological state with an obvious lack of understanding for the spectrum of depression symptoms, the multiple manifestations of clinical depression, treatment options and prognosis. The stigma of mental health is bad enough without people that are health care professionals perpetuating the same misconceptions held by the general public that encourage those with mental health issues to not disclose their problems or openly seek help. This only supports my initial belief that only a mental health professional should be making recommendations on whether this person should be hired or not based on their mental health history and that this information, like any other medical history should not be in the hands of supervisory staff who are not qualified to evaluate these individuals. There are obvious and rational concerns here, but the average EMS manager is not qualified to evaluate them.

This could be awesome. I won't speak for Spenac other than to say that from talking with him, he works in a system that the rest of EMS could learn a great deal from to help Paramedicine progress as a profession.

I grew up (well half the time) in downtown Toronto and spend a lot of time in the city. Unless American cities fit their caricatures from 1980's cop movies I don't see this holding a lot of water for the majority of calls. Are the majority of calls in these areas not still CP, SOB and all the usual medical fare? I just have some trouble buying this. Fair enough. But does that mean you need to be rolling trying to do everything in a moving vehicle? This is just potentially sub-par patient care being justified by covering for the failings of a sub-par system. I'm not sure i follow here. Is this advocating using skills unnecessarily on patient's that don't require it as practice for those patient's that might in the future? I agree.

Good timing. I had a field trip to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto a couple weeks ago and snapped some shots of their brand new trauma room. The trauma room is across the hall from the dedicated ED x-ray and CT suite which is cleared when a trauma alert comes in. When EMS arrives they report to the trauma team leader and one of the charting RN's and then hang around in case on of the specalists wants the info again (ortho, etc.). Plus being a slack jawed lollygagger is fun apparently. Photos aren't the greatest as my camera sucks.

In Ontario you are required to have an "F" class Driver's License to work as a Paramedic. Interesting to note that this law covers all Paramedics as it doesn't differentiate between land and flight. So the medics on the choppers still have to keep this license current. F class covers Ambulance and small bus (up to 24 passengers, not including school bus) and requires medical clearance (which remains the source of my problems at the moment), a written exam and a road test. You're also required to redo the medical and written test every 3 years.

Why not avoid any sort of exclusionary agenda. It's not like there aren't awful non-fire services and providers. I have no issue with any one particular group running EMS provided their service is entirely devoted to the highest level or educated, professional patient care without unnecessary distracting obligations. Unfortunately the fire service tends to find this unworkable with their desire to be full-time fire fighters with job security. Rather than focus on a provider model, why not advocate for higher standards of education? If education standards are increased such that EMS is not an education committment measured in hours over a few weekends to a couple of months, would not some of the other issues begin to tend to themselves? Essentially, I'm saying you should aim to have EMS providers educate themselves right out of the price range for those that would seek to hold the profession back.

Once again I'm quite glad of my ability to go with curiosity unfulfilled once in awhile. I'm the person that when someone says "Eww! This tastes/smells/looks disgusting. Here." I'm willing to take their word for it. I will remain ignorant in this case and enjoy it blissfully. The rest of you have my sympathies.

This is both a practical and a personal question. Practically speaking I'd wonder how an employer would gain access to this information short of the potential employee volunteering it. Is their history one that for whatever reason could be found publicly? (such as a criminal record) If not then the employer has no reason to know about it and this is not an issue of hiring but of the individual and their ability to do the job. Of course if the employer's health insurance requires a physical and full health records, the insurance could be tricky. To be honest I'm not sure how hiring works in the states and health insurance is not a consideration in hiring here. On a personal level this person needs to be very introspective and realistic about their history and their own ability to cope with stress in life. Simply put, no job is worth potentially permanent mental illness. This person should seek the advice of their Counsellor, Psychiatrist, Psychologist, whoever their seeing before entering a job that may aggravate their past condition. This professional will have a far better handle on their history and their ability to cope and should be able to help them make an informed decision about their future employment. As far as my or anyone else working with this person, we come back to the question of why would anyone know?

Hey Crotch you're confusing BC with Ontario and Alberta. BCAS is running is really weird system where the urban areas get modern, well paid EMS and the rural areas get f'ed. Because the province maintains total control over EMS there is no room for the munipalities to increase their own level of service and the people who work in these areas are not paid well at all. That being said, sod-off. The gains made in education, professionalism and as a result pay and benefits by Paramedics in parts of this country has been hard fought and has resulted in a system that's not falling apart. You don't have to sympathize with the Paramedics in BC, but don't denigrate those that are working to make EMS more than a stepping stone to fire or nursing. The medics out in BC have my full support. Such as it is from a student with no say, sway or power. Best of luck guys!

The only sure way to "kill" a Zombie is to remove the head or pulverize the brain. On a related note, if you're looking for an entertaining book, look up "World War Z: The Oral History of the Zombie Wars." Incredibly entertaining and written by the same author as "The Zombie Survival Guide." I kinda like ERDoc's thinking on the large calibre weapon, especially if you live beside one of the survivalists with all the packs. With the weapons they can become your packs for free.