Meetin and Greetin

[MariB]

Ive been reading posts here for quite awhile.

I joined out local ambulance team back in August, Started classes in September. I responded as a student as much as I could and very quickly learned the new ambulance (broke it in with first call) and began driving at the end of September.

My National registry test is to take place in April.

My whole life, my dream was to be a paramedic. Maybe it was the cool ambulance, maybe it was the TV shows, but I ended up planting my feet in a small town with a volunteer squad. We do have 2 Medics on our Squad, which is fantastic, but I really cant see me paying my way through school to go that far, in a volunteer community. As it is, our medics bridged over from a nursing program.

I have decided to join this forum after searching several and being frustrated with the lack of respect the Paramedics have shown the EMTs. This one seems to not be the case here. I hope to learn a lot

Our Paramedics love the EMTs and say they couldnt live without us

[DwayneEMTP]

Hey! Welcome to the forums....

We sometimes bash on hosemonkeys, but as far as EMTs, until they start the "Paramedics save lives, EMTs save paramedics" nonsense, they're pretty safe.... :-)

I think that you'll like it here if you really want to learn...feel free to jump in. Even the replies that you don't like are coming simply from an internet forum...they're not terminal..

I look forward to your thoughts!

[paramedicmike]

Welcome.

I'll withhold my thoughts on the EMT level for now.

[Arctickat]

Welcome to the City, nice tongue. My wife always says "Don't stick it out unless yer gonna use it."

Edited December 29, 2012 by Arctickat

[MariB]

Thanks for the welcome. Mike, just keep withholding, Im a volunteer in an EMT squad. I simply can not make a career out of this. Our medics are nurses who bridged over.

I would still love too, but to be a paramedic and to have it pay for my schooling etc, if have to move and all that.

I just thought all the time I was putting into the community as a volunteer was enough to make me proud of myself. Eh I dunno.

Im in a town of 5000 people and we cover transfers for smaller surrounding towns. We respond to back up the smaller communities. I take about 72 hours of call a week, knowing I may not get a single call, or may get 10 on my shifts but im trying to learn, absorb what I can. Most is done on scene and transport time with me driving, is 3 to 5 minutes.

When one of our two paramedics respond, they usually grab me and talk me through everything they are doing. One is our director and knows im eager. One time during a rapid extraction with a KED she saw me struggling to see, even though I was there to do grunt work and told me to give her my paper work and get in there nice and close to watch.

We are a very close squad, like family. Proud to have paramedics, two in fact! That smaller towns call to meet for us to assist.

I am set to sign up for AEMT as soon as my registry test is done.

I work hard, I study hard, studying has been somewhat difficult due to being ADD, after working all day, being up at 3 am. Kids being noisy, dogs barking... I finally moved my study spot to the office at work. I work at the local community college. Convenient? Someone always willing to help.

I've breezed through my skills tests thus far minus one when I supposedly did everything beautifully minus asking if the scene was safe *sigh*

Mod tests are at the top of the class...

So please, don't bash me for "only" being an emt.... I can't afford to put myself though school to be one on a volunteer squad.

I looked into it, and seriously wanted to. I would be driving 75 miles a day, four evenings a week, after working my job, plus all day Saturdays.

Im a mom of three... sports, activities, being a mom comes first.

Anyway, thanks for the welcome

[Resqmedic]

When I was in medic school I always studied at the local coffee shop, nice and quiet, ready access to caffeine (before the days of wifi even). One day I was banging my head against my books on the table trying to make the cardiology go inside when a older gentleman walked by me and said "Trying to learn cardiology huh?" He was the head of the Heart center at the hospital, and I learned more from him in he 20 minutes he spent talking to some dumb medic student while waiting for his wife, than I did my entire year of Cardiology in school.

[MariB]

That's awesome! I love when things like that happen.

Our medical director also happens to be one of my TaeKwonDo instructors and is also on call a lot at the hospitals when we bring a patient in.

My squad director lives not to far away and when I was having hearing issues with a cheaper stethoscope, she started having me switch mine out with hers in our second ambulance. I have a new one coming and hate to mention the name and brand because of what I found doing a search, but I will. I have a Littmann Master Cardiology stethoscope ordered, given to me as a gift, due to hearing loss I encountered as a teenager. I went through two cheaper Littmanns, one I could finally hear the pulse during blood pressures, but never could hear the breath sounds. It is not showing off, being silly or over equipped, I just can't hear well, so I bought what our ambulance has just to get me through the rest of my classes. Nothing is wasted, my daughter is a nursing student

The main instructor at the college im going to is a paramedic in a town about an hour away, I can call on him for anything, and his tests involve at least 50% questions worded from National Registry type tests.

It's been a great experience over all.

I decided on getting my AEMT because my sqaud does offer help in paying a bit twords furthering education.. and I believe it would cover most of this. It would be another 140+ hours of classroom time which is what I am doing now. I just have to weigh the benefits of what more it has to offer.

Forgive me for sounding dumb, im learning, im trying ... and even if I only remain an EMT, im still happy for offering my time to my community. Maybe someday my lifelong childhood dream of being a paramedic will come true, but for now... I will be an emt with plans for AEMT

[Resqmedic]

Funny thing about the Litmans, we are having more war veterans join our ranks at the FD, and many of them have significant hearing loss due to getting blown up frequently. We have bought a number of the mater cardiology IIs and some of the more expensive electronic ones, but the verdict on those is still out.

[MariB]

The one on our ambulance is fantastic, I can hear everything, but strain to hear a pulse on my lower end one. I used the ambulances for testing, but can't take it a few times a week. Luckily, Mom bought it for me. Ill let you know on the breath sounds.

[DFIB]

Welcome to the city. I have already enjoyed your comments. You know why Medics really love EMT's? CAuse they don't lilke carrying their own bags

It is good to have you.