How do you stay "sharp"?

[JB Rotten]

I am in a very rural area with next to no calls. I am a vollie as is the rest of our EMS. I have been on 11 calls since January and find it very difficult to be 100%. We train monthly, but it just isn't the same as an actual call. I work in HVAC full time and EMS when needed. There is no way to earn a living doing EMS as a volunteer, and finding a paying EMS job elsewhere defeats the purpose of being an EMT in this area. Anybody have any suggestions? Any help is appreciated.

[becksdad]

I don't understand what you mean when you say that finding paid EMS work elsewhere would defeat the purpose of being an EMT there. What is the purpose?

Beyond that, though, I think it will be very difficult to get and remain sharp without frequent patient contact. Training is fine as far as it goes, but training rarely takes into account the infinite variables of any situation. It is almost as if it remains only theory until you experience many similar situations first hand.

Education is much more a key I believe. If it is within the realm of possibility for you, go to school. If you return to school to become a Paramedic, do the degree program instead of a tech school type curriculum. I gaurantee that you will be MUCH sharper after school (running no calls) than you would be running 11 calls in 10 months with only monthly VFD training sessions.

Education, experience, and continued training are synergistic in developing a good provider. So if you really want to become a good provider, set yourself up in a situation where you can get all three.

[JB Rotten]

If I become a full time EMT in the the "big" city I will not be here to provide for my community. I am 60 miles from full time paid EMS. There are only 6 of us who are EMT's here, and 3 are working out of the area during the day. I am hoping to go to classes to become an EMT-I, and eventually become a Paramed, but that won't be for a few years at best.

[mobey]

You could see if your local hospital ( or a close one) would let you vollie in thier ER. At least you would get some patient contact that way...Outside of that see if there is a service nearby that would hire you casual. HEY then you would even get paid...

BTW why don't the 6 of you demand pay....The guy who cleaned my sewer today got paid

Sorry not a derailment just could not help myself

[JB Rotten]

We only get paid when we go on a run. Budgeting doesn't allow for full time $. There aren't any full time agencies within 60 miles of me.

[JPINFV]

There is no way to earn a living doing EMS as a volunteer,

Ya don't say...

[Just Plain Ruff]

There is no way to earn a living doing EMS as a volunteer, and finding a paying EMS job elsewhere defeats the purpose of being an EMT in this area. Anybody have any suggestions?

2 things wrong with your statement above.

1. you are correct to say that there is no way to earn a living as a volly which is precisely the point of going paid.

2. The point of getting a paid job out of your area is that your area is too cheap to pay for full time EMS. Your friends or co-workers(with a side of chagrin when I say that) are working outside the area are being paid a living wage, why not you.

This exact post is exactly what dust and the others have been saying all along. If you give away your services for free then you get what you pay for. I'm sure the poster is a great guy and a good emt bbbbuuuuuuuutttttttttt this is clouding his judgement. His community doesn't need him, they need EMS. If he didn't volunteer someone else would do it cause we all know that there will be someone to give it away for free.

Put away the idea of going to emt-I and go directly to paramedic. You will skip the redundancy.

But the question I ask is this, if your service is only emt's right now what makes you think your service can provide ALS. Are you licensed for ALS yet can't provide it due to resources like medics? If so then your service needs to be paid.

I'm just waking up so this whole post may not have made sense but I think our original poster is cutting his nose off to spite his face.

[Dustdevil]

Greetings, JB! I saved my 7000th post especially for you!

If I become a full time EMT in the the "big" city I will not be here to provide for my community.

I submit that you are not providing for them as it is. If you and all the other vollies disappeared today, they'd have professional EMS in there within a week. Despite your honourable intentions, you're really not providing. You're actually obstructing.

I am 60 miles from full time paid EMS. There are only 6 of us who are EMT's here, and 3 are working out of the area during the day.

So you're not interested in actually being a professional EMS provider then? You just want a way to help your community? I'd be happy to provide you with a long list of ways to effectively do that without depriving the people you think you are helping of professional medical care. To start with, you could maintain the a/c at the courthouse, jail, city hall, community centre, and schools all for free? That'd be a good start. In fact, I bet with all the money they save through that act of true concern for your community, they could afford to hire a professional paramedic and put this whole question to rest. Hell, maybe they'd even pay to send you to be that paramedic as a reward for your selfless community spirit!

I am hoping to go to classes to become an EMT-I, and eventually become a Paramed, but that won't be for a few years at best.

Being a professional is not something you just wish for. The National Registry fairy isn't going to leave a paramedic diploma under your pillow some night. You have to make it happen through true desire, personal commitment, dedication, sacrifice, and damn hard work for a damn long time. If that is what you want, then there are a lot of us here to encourage and cheer you on. We'd love to see it.

Coming here and openly looking for ways to stay sharp is a very good sign. We can all respect that. It's hard. But that's the point. EMS is not an easy game. And there are no easy shortcuts to being a professional. If you are not totally committed, then don't do your community the disservice of half-arsing it. Go big or go home.

Good luck, bro!

[Dustdevil]

Ya don't say...

Just in case it is lost in the subtle, sarcastic humour, I want to make sure you see the very important point that our friend of few words was attempting to make. That is, there is a cause and effect relationship between volunteer EMS and the inability to make a living. Think about it; if we moved into your community and started giving HVAC service away for free because of our concern for our community (after all, we don't want them to die of heat stroke or frostbite, do we?), how long do you think you could continue to make a living at your current profession? Not long, I assure you. Bingo! There it is! The reason your community will not pay for EMS is because, thanks to you, they have it for free. I'm sure you can figure out the rest of the story from there.

Again, good luck!

[Paradude]

JB when I first started, I worked for volunteer services in order to start getting my feet wet until I got a real job. They would have good people do that all the time. (Not that I am good people or anything). They would be an asset to the service, until they had to start getting serious and paying their bills.

Truth is, these guys are right. I work for a very poor community right now. Poorer than some of the volunteer services I worked for years ago. I get paid 45K a year, and work with some pretty good equipment to boot. Why? Because they need an ambulance service, and that is the only way they can get it.

It's all a matter of getting the people and the politicians on the right train of thought. If the politicians can report to their very ignorant and completely uninformed contituants that they are providing an ambulance service, and they don't HAVE to dig deep and provide a real ambulance service, they are gonna take the path of least resistance. If the word got out that they were not providing the service that they should, they would have to start getting with the program, and find the funds somewhere.

Believe it or not, volunteer services are bad for our entire profession. As the name implies, we are PROFESSIONALS. I love my community too, but I would not work as a Paramedic for them for free. Mainly because I love my community. I also love my family and myself, and I won't give myself away for free. I can gaurantee that if your service was a well paid and professional service, you would do alot more calls. The small service I work for now, is a sparsely populated county of only about 6000. With that, we do an average of 2000 calls a year.

-Paradude-