This is it - no more - never again - I'm done after this

[Just Plain Ruff]

I just sent in my relicensure packet for the last and final time.  What I will get back will be my final license good for another 5 years.  Will I ever use it again, maybe but more than likely No. 

Facing back surgery which the end result will likely make it impossible to get back on a ambulance based on what the pain doc tells me. 

Not like I've actually practiced on an ambulance much in the past 3 years anyway.  

So it's not like I will miss it but it's good to have as a fall back, now that's a plattitude I hate to use.  Would you want a 48 year old, hasnt' been in the ambulance for at least 3 years working on your loved one having a heart attack?  didn't think so.  But anywho, there's always, teaching, or selling insurance.  

I promise not to quit my day job, which is keeping my hospitals medical record system running smoothly, which I can say I'm pretty damn good at. 

[MedicNorth]

Mixed feelings, to let a long-time career go, and I am sure the field will miss you. I hope the surgery goes well, and that the day job continues to be rewarding.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Well the day job is what pays the bills, EMS hasn't in several years so it really isn't a matter of not being on the ambulance, it's more a matter of if I let the license fully expire, then I lost a part of me that has been me for 25+ years and that doesn't feel too good.  So I'll keep it for 5 more years, if I use it great, if not, well I haven't used in for a couple years so it's sort of status quo.  

Maybe I'll write a book, who knows.  

[paramedicmike]

Still have NR?  You can move to inactive status and maintain it that way.

It's always a tough decision to let it lapse.  I'm sure this is something you've considered pretty thoroughly.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Yeah,  and no i don't have NR.  I've always been grandfathered in for Missouri and only Missouri.  had no plans to use my medic outside of missouri so didnt' forward think to keep registry(which I did have at one time) in an inactive status.  But bygones be bygones.  

But hopefully the packet has arrived or is due to arrive in jefferson City MO today or tomorrow.  Since I lived outside of missouri for a 2 year period during my last licensure I needed to get fingerprinted so I'm not expecting my license back until around February. 

I don't have any plans on using it before then anyway.  

I guess it's more the "I spent so long having it that I don't want to give it up" kind of mentality.  

[Just Plain Ruff]

Well it came today, another 5 years validity.  maybe I should put it to use?  maybe not.  

 

I do know that I'll be teaching a first aid class to my son's Trail Life troop in the next 2 months.  

Now if I could only find a service that wants an EMS Dinosaur who needs some TLC to get back into the field who can only work weekends and some nights.  

[scubanurse]

I know some departments down in Montgomery County that would take ya!

[paramedicmike]

Ah yes.  The Kingdom of Montgomery.  Better than PG County anyway.

[MEDCOM RADIO]

The only reason why I (Along with all the other wise old NYC EMS heads) decided to bail out of Wally World was the fact that we knew we were being served up to FDNY as sacrificial lambs come March 17th, 1996 which everybody that elected to stay & be considered real FDNY fire medics & EMT's now calls that day "The Ides of March" & rightly so. We always were the red headed stepchildren of NYC & once FDNY grabbed our budget (You know how the ever optimistic ones say cheer up, things could be worse) the newbies cheered all up in their brand spanking new FDNY-EMS uniforms & FDNY-EMS buses until they realized that there were no promised raises, benefits & pension plans & if you're at a hospital you better be dropping of a patient (Or else) along with other career crippling one sided policies, rules, protocols & decisions, so if I had the opportunity to return to FDNY-EMS: Absolutely not, if NYC-EMS in all it's faults still existed, I'd re up in a cardiac beat. Thanks for reading.

BTW: True fact....Back in the day the NYC Civil Service Commission actually considered the top 3 services to be:

1. NYPD

2. FDNY

3. DSNY

Why no NYC-EMS you ask? Well because NYC-EMS wasn't an actual municipal agency, it was founded under the NYC corporate charter as NYC-DHH which wasn't qualified for Civil Service status, DSNY slung garbage cans for like $26.00 an hour yet we saved lives for a paltry $6.00 an hour, go figure.