SGT.M

Ill never forget this one as long as I live , I was working in a small vol fire dept in east Texas we rolled up on an mva with a brand spanking new EMT-B, the women in the wreck looked in pretty bad shape but was actually pretty stable( lot of facial lacerations) the newbie said to her "do you have a feeling of impending doom" OH S*$T. anyway she said back to him " I do now" we never saw him again.

you know I hate to chime in on this little feud but I feel the need, I think what DD is getting at is you have to look at the big picture as long as there are volunteers (some are great some so so)anyway as long as they are there no one (town city's etc..) will offer to pay for full time and private services will pay even less . so everyone complains about pay. and there are some very good volunteers but most of them don't stick around very long.granted we cant all be paragods but we try and I think first responders and vols are great in times of crises or on the side of the highway until a paragod shows up. if it were me in trouble I would want the best not a part-timer but some help is better than non so i guess this argument will go on forever. just my 2 cents.

personally disagree with this practice. Working a wheelchair service as an EMT does NOT get the EMT's working in their field of training. In the State of Michigan, there are certain exemptions to the motor I was just saying its a good way to get your feet wet as far as driving and dealing with yes patients most of these people i am talking about are dialysis Pt's and such not just taxi cab rides and in this state you have to be an EMT-B to drive one.

Well I guess I better practice my 9 lines I don't want to get my ass chewed off by the chief. see ya in the sand box. be safe

I love playing checkers with my boy Daniel (except he always wins) TPBM loves cold pizza and warm beer for breakfast

A lot of our private companies will put new EMT's in the wheel chair vans first to get them used to it and also have them do extensive ride alongs after their chair shifts are over. this seems to work out pretty well. Just my 2 cents