yakc130

I just took a leap of faith last night, and bought the 48 hour refresher class from Distance CME. From the stuff I was able to find on line about them, they seem to be just what I need to get my Registry back. Apparently, the guy that started it was a military medic here in the ME, and nearly lost his certs due to being unable to take any con-ed while deployed here. Anyone have any experience with them? Thanks.

What Dwayne and the others have said. I'm going through the refresher stuff now to get my Registry back after losing it years ago. Most contracts require it to get hired overseas. As for what you guys were saying about the military, they have their own system, and do NOT support local/national requirements for maintaining your civilian status. Yes, a corpsman or medic can do a lot of cool shit in the field, but the civilian side doesn't recognize it, either. Think about it. The majority of patients that they deal with are young and healthy males who are suffering from trauma. There is no need to know cardiology and other "old person" diseases. It would cost the military, and the government, too much money to maintain everyones civilian certs. It's really a very screwed up and unfortunate situation.

You can always look into working here in the Middle East. Where I am at right now, we are hiring lots of medical staff from the Czech Republic. Just do a Google search of Middle East paramedic jobs, and go from there.

I think with my old service, you were assigned a desk job until things were over, and your license was good again. I remember that we had one guy who had a few violations, including accidents, and he wasn't fired until about the fifth time. We had a union, and EAP. Of course, where I work now, we don't have that problem because we don't have alcohol or drugs here.

Never heard of this one.

Never had to take any head tests, just agility tests. Sometimes though, I think those would have been better than the agilities.

It's all a matter of perspective. How drunk are you? Can you even do BLS skills, or are you that hammered? Who are you with? Is it other EMS/fire/police folks, or civilians? Does anyone else there know what you do for a living? It's up to you, but I wouldn't do anything that I can't do in my service, and I damn sure wouldn't attempt any ALS stuff. Sometimes it just comes down to "play stupid games, win stupid prizes." A cleaning of the gene pool, if you will. And Captain, I like that term "automagically."

Easiest thing to do is to Google "paramedic jobs dubai." Also go here: http://www.haad.ae/haad/ That should answer a lot of questions for you.

I call BS on this.

That's because of all the hate generated by you righties.

Does anyone have any suggestions for schooling for this? Specifically, online classes that I could do here in the desert.

Matt Temps are a definite primary consideration. Our temps here in the summer can run upwards of 140f+. Nights in winter can go to 15f in the remote areas we serve. Quite the extremes. Most likely, I will write it up for an SUV. Gasoline is no problem here (go figure). Octanes are 91 and 95, but it doesn't have any of that environmental sh*t like in the US. Hence, new engines/chassis are not cleared for export here (yet). Screws the computer up, and fries the motor, apparently. We have a wide variety of SUV's here not seen in the US, which is kind of nice. I'm used to Suburbans, or Expeditions. They always fit the bill. I do have possible access to both of those, as well. I want all of the units to be shoreline adaptable, just because. In my opinion, it only makes sense. Some may be used extensively, while others may be parked for who knows how long. Parking is outside under awnings, or in open-air garages. Most places don't even have garage doors. Saudi Red Crescent Authority uses SUV's and cars (Suburbans/Tahoes, and Toyotas). Their frontline squads are Wheeled Coach Type II's for now. They are in the process of converting to Type I's because of the fuel problems here. We will probably carry the same equipment that the squad does, minus the cot/transport capability. That will consist of: ALS bag, drugs, monitor, backboards/scoops, MCI stuff, O2 and associated goods, and some other things (spare suction, batteries, maybe splints, etc.). The problem is this: we have 5,000 housing units being built right now on the one base. Our new pediatric specialty hospital is due to open sometime this year. Over 50% of the population is supposedly under 25, but the remainder is over 50. And finally, our call volume has been going up. All this, and we currently only have about 13 medics to handle all of it. That is the most they have ever had here at one time, but many are nearing their end of contract. We will need to change over to the chase car type of response. No choice. The reality is: They want all these things. They will need them. Unfortunately, they don't do anything to change things. And if they do go ahead and make the decision, it is based on, or decided by, who can pocket the money. I will probably write all of these different vehicle specs (standard transport unit, crit care, peds crit care, chase car, and disaster unit), and they will just get filed away someplace until someone else comes here, and they request them to do it all over again. It can get pretty depressing. But hey, at least it is giving me practice.

Because that's what they want. This is not the real world. This is the "Magic Kingdom." They buy whatever they want to buy when they can finally make a decision. One of the things is that they have many Expats from all over the world that come in and work for a few years and then leave. Everyone gives them differing ideas and opinions on stuff. So then, the Saudis spend lots of money on lots of things that they may, or may not need. By ALS-interfacility, I mean an ALS transport from one of our satellite clinics to our main ED. Sometimes they are BLS, sometimes ALS.

Oh no! This is the Wild, Wild, West here. They use whatever they want. You should see some of the stuff that is used as ambulances. I would say that the only body that I operate under is my employer. Unfortunately, it's really sad. We are using locally made Type II and III squads from 2008 on E-450 chassis. We also have some left over Wheeled Coach II's and III's from 2001 and 2004. All are very ragged out, and high mileage. I was assigned to design replacement trucks. After dealing with the low sulphur fuel problem, I submitted some ideas. Since it's winter now, and we don't need to use the A/C, they feel that there is NO NEED to purchase new ambulances. In the meantime, they came to me just before I went on leave in Jan, and asked me to design a Peds CCU truck, chase vehicles, a disaster vehicle, and a station to house it all in. I don't mind doing this. In a way, it's fun, and interesting. It's just that these folks think that it takes only a few days to do this. They start demanding "where are the plans?" The other joke is, they think that you can just go down to your nearest Saudi-style Walmart and pick your ambulances off the shelf and take them home with you. They don't comprehend that once the paperwork is finally signed, it will take about nine months to get a new ambulance built and shipped by sea over here. We aren't that big of a service. We are a government hospital-based EMS service. Mostly, we are doing transfers of pts like a private outfit, BLS home/dialysis or hospital/home. Also ALS interfacility transfers, ALS medivacs from the air base to the hospital, and the 911 service for the hospital grounds, and employee compounds. Saudi Red Crescent does everything else. As of now, we are averaging maybe 15-20 911 calls/week tops, seven medivacs/week, and 10-20 interfacility transfers/week. The bulk of the calls are the BLS private-type transfers. We have a new peds hospital slated to open sometime this year, and they are building 5,000 housing units on the one base. There is the potential for us to need to double, or triple our staff within the next five years. It's not a bad job. It's pretty easy, and the pay is decent. Because we are losing a lot of Saudi EMT's to the Red Crescent, they are going to give us a raise within the next few months. That may also entice some more Expats to come work here. If it weren't for all the stupidity, and cronyism, it has the potential to be a pretty awesome long-term gig.

Great. Thanks.

In my former FF life, we wore Cairns 660 Metro helmets. Those were also the same type my EMS service used. Not bad. I just wish that I had the EMS version in the fire service. It had the ratcheting knob to adjust the size.

Now that the ambulance specs are finished, my bosses,have decided that they want to order some sort of "chase" vehicle. I have never worked in, or near a service that utilized these. They don't know what they want. They are leaving it up to me to find out, and decide for them. So, if anyone has anything at all, I would appreciate it. Doesn't need to be an SUV, it can be a car. I'll take any info that I get. It will be a learning experience for me, also. Thanks.

Here is an example I found just this morning. I withheld the contact info. You can pm me if interested. ILS Paramedic Required Urgently In Abu Dhabi Yas Water Park are urgently looking to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced ILS for a full time position Salary is 14,000 AED (R28,000) Monthly negotiable, plus expat benefits Please send CV's to Sanet Meyer at

If you are looking for a retirement gig, then your best bet is an overseas job. specifically, the Middle East. Most jobs here are tax-free if you are working for a foreign company, or government agency. There are lots of different types. If you are former military, you can get a job doing PSD work in Iraq or A-stan. If you want something a little slower, check any of the other countries over here. I have seen ads for major hotels and theme parks looking for medics. One problem developing is that many of the countries, Saudi Arabia specifically, are asking for Batchelor's and Master's degrees in "Paramedicine," EMS, etc. Australia is looking for medics for mining jobs, but with the exchange rate, it may not be worth it. Malaysia, and some other Pacific rim places are also looking for medics. Recently, there have been many listings for austere locations in Africa. Just do a Google search for "overseas paramedic jobs." You will be amazed.

Island EMT called it. Everything that I have been reading online in the various overseas job listings is the same. Extended on/off duty time doing just about anything that you can think of. Housing included. Food not always listed as being included or not. Depends on how remote. I know that working where I am currently, we do normal type rotations since we are hospital based EMS. Three on/three off 12 hour shifts. Hospital covers everything except food, wifi, phones, and outside transportation. Salary is pretty good (no taxes). A lot will depend on where you will be, and what it is they want from you.

From your description, I'm genuinely surprised that no one has brought up the possibility that your employer is creating a "hostile work environment." That is a violation of Federal law, and they can get into a LOT of trouble if they get busted. But honestly, if I were you, I would do what is best for my own mental health, and that is usually just get out of Dodge, and into a better place. My former urban employer was one of those toxic places. We had a high turnover of staff, over 50% of us were using EAP, discipline for anything minor was off the charts, and sick calls were rampant. Some people were so beat down that they refused to quit because they believed that they wouldn't get hired anywhere else. I took a chance, and an almost 60% pay cut, and got out. Best decision of my life. Some folks believe that the grass is never greener, but you'll never know unless you peek over the fence. Good luck.

Over here, there are very few street addresses. They have only started putting them up in the last few years, because the city has grown so much. We will get a call and be dispatched to an area. Think of it as getting dispatched for an MI in some place like Brooklyn, or Queens. Many calls that we go on we have to go stage at an area on one of the bases we cover, and wait for the MP's to show up and lead us. Unfortunately, they get rotated out about every six months, or just as they are getting to know the area.

Well. Had an interesting meeting today with one of the squad reps. While discussing general information about requests and requirements for what we are looking for, my young acting Chief pipes in that something happened yesterday, and now, the CEO of the hospital wants to know why we can't operate. Long and the short of it, the Chief says "well, I really like this company, and the CEO says we need to replace the ambulances right away." Then turns to me and says, "Can you go ahead and have specifications done by Saturday to turn into him at the meeting we are having?" The Rep and I look at each other like I try to explain that you can't do something like this in a month, let alone a week. The Rep is jumping in agreeing with me, but it was no good. So now, I am being told that on Saturday, we will have a meeting with the CEO or his designee. We are going to ask for a direct purchase order to eliminate the bidding process. Once I have the specs emailed to me from this company, they want me to have everything ready and finished in two weeks. I just cannot get it through people's heads that speccing and buying a fleet of ambulances is not like going out to Walmart, comparing wide screen, HD TV's, and buying one. Just wow.

Received. Thanks!

I started with that, and came up with some really good articles from Fire Chief magazine. Just kind of wondering how OCD some people get with their trucks, and what they want.