Proud to almost be one of you

[NormWhitehurst]

Hello all. What a great site! As this is an intro thread, let me intro. My first pet was a T-Rex so there is my age. Years ago I served a decade in the Coast Guard doing search and rescue/law enforcement. I lucked on an opportunity to transition over to a better paying job in television and have been doing that for more than 20 years. Hit me up if you want an ESPN tour . But I always regretted not staying in a profession that really makes a difference. In May, I enrolled in an EMT course and surprised myself on not only passing but missing out on the #1 spot by a tenth of a point. But you know, classes and tests are great, but essentially meaningless in the real world. It's what you do and how you do for people not made of rubber and bolts that count. My goal is to volunteer with a local EMS service. Not for any altruistic reasons. It's because EMS is not paid in a way you can live. And that's unfortunate. I'll keep the so-called day job and do what I can because it matters. I took classes with people much younger than me. Ok. They were all much younger than me. It was the best experience I've had in a long time. Just being with people who wanted to be firefighters, cops, nurses, doctors...people who wanted to help. I've mad respect for all of you here. I look forward to hearing your stories. My NREMT tests (written Tuesday, practical Saturday) are coming up and I hope that come the following week, I can call myself one of you.

[paramedicmike]

Welcome.  All the best with your pending exams.