Well it's official

[Just Plain Ruff]

As of December 30, 2013 my paramedic license officially lapsed in the State of Missouri. Still a paramedic at heart but no longer able to practice.

Honestly, I can say, I'm not sad about this turn of events. It was time.

So I'm holding a sort of a license(card) burning party over this weekend.

I now consider myself a retired paramedic (officially), started in 1987 as a lowly emt dispatcher and moved up to medic over next three years.

Anyone need some EMS pants?

[island emt]

Welcome to the ranks of the retired old fogies club Mike

My license is still good until 2015 but 12-31 was the date of my retirement from the service.

[scubanurse]

I remember when I "retired" from EMS, when I let my NR and state license lapse. It was a weird feeling for me, even though I had only been in EMS for 5 years at the time. Congrats Ruff!

[ERDoc]

Congrats Ruff!! I think most of us remember when our cards expired. I was in my first year of med school and thought about renewing but in the end decided not too. They tell me that if I went back and wanted to renew my card, I would still have the same numbers. I may do that just for the nostalgia.

[paramedicmike]

Congrats, Mike. We needed a countdown, though! We had one good countdown going.

My Registry cards are good through next year. My state is good for longer than that. I'd hate to let NR go especially after all I went through to get it. We'll see what happens over the course of the year.

[Caduceus]

Good luck.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Congrats, Mike. We needed a countdown, though! We had one good countdown going.

My Registry cards are good through next year. My state is good for longer than that. I'd hate to let NR go especially after all I went through to get it. We'll see what happens over the course of the year.

Well Mike, this kind of snuck up on me, since I wasn't currently actively using my medic card since I can't use a Missouri card in the lame state of Maryland, I just wasn't practicing and I knew that the time was coming shortly but I didn't really think about it until I was cleaning out my wallet and saw the expiration date.

[ERDoc]

You could always become a volley!!

[scubanurse]

Well Mike, this kind of snuck up on me, since I wasn't currently actively using my medic card since I can't use a Missouri card in the lame state of Maryland, I just wasn't practicing and I knew that the time was coming shortly but I didn't really think about it until I was cleaning out my wallet and saw the expiration date.

Maryland also has that funny requirement that you have to be affiliated with an agency to maintain your license. That's how mine lapsed when I moved to CO.

[Just Plain Ruff]

The thing is, I'm not Nationally registered so getting a medic license up here in maryland is not a feasible possibility.

In all actuality, I'm not really interested anymore in working in EMS, I sort of like my current high paying job with the super duper title.