New member. need to talk

J

jesiah

Forum Ride Along
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Hey guys ill make this short i guess. Im a 21 year old emt in socal. Been an emt for maybe 6 months. Love the field, plan on being a medic. Just today my family was over. Im half native hawaiian and half fillipino. So the fillipino fam was over. What just pisses me off sometimes is that some people dont even know what emt stands for or even what emts do. You know like its rough out there for all of us. And sometimes we may not feel appeciated or respected the way we should be, not that im trying to sound like im hungry for respect or anything. But i said i was an emt and one of the fillipinos were like" so do you wanna be a nurse?". No disrespect to all the nurses out there but idk why im so salty. It just really grinded my gears. Being pre-dominantly fillipino means that nursing is literally all older family thinks of. Alot of fillipinos down here are into nursing. And it just kind of pains me that they dont understand or seem to respect what emts or medics or ff medics do! All my family thinks that medicine is just nursing. Idk this is just a rant. But anyways, big thank you and Shout out to any emt or medic out there that feels unappreciated. Its been a long week guys
 
Ewok Jerky

Ewok Jerky

PA-C
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Get used and it. I doubt your family ment disrespect. I've been an EMT for 6 years and my family still doesn't know the difference, and why would they? I didn't know the different between a medic and a basic until I was in school.

Chill out, don't let others define you or your self worth.
 
redundantbassist

redundantbassist

Nefarious Dude
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As ewok jerky said, get used to it. I've been called everything from an ambulance driver to a doctor and it doesn't bother me at all.

Most likely, some of your family members are probably involved in a profession that you know very little about as well. Just because someone isn't an expert in a certain field doesn't mean they are any less intelligent or respectable. I personally don't know very much about electrical engineering. Does that make me stupid? Of course not.
 
FoleyArtist

FoleyArtist

More murse than medic now...
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First gen filipino american here. Ems for 6 years. Medic for the last 2. Im also trying to be a career medic. Reading your post was like standing in front of a mirror. And even now as i contemplate rn school to segway into a flight medic/rn postion i get a bunch of i told you so's. Family, immediate and extended still thinks im playing around driving an ambulance. If you wanna pm to vent as well im all for it. Peace man.
 
A

AtlasFlyer

Forum Captain
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I'll be completely honest and admit that until I was researching exactly what was involved in the EMT-B certification process as I was preparing to go to EMT-B class, I did not know the extent of the level of differences between EMT-B and Paramedic. I was 37 at the time. Does that make me dumb or stupid? I don't think so, I had been in other industries my entire life and it was just something I wasn't aware of. You're going to have to let it go, that others don't know or may not even care that much about the specifics of your job. It's nothing personal, it's not that they have any disrespect of you or what you do, they're just not as into it as you are. If they're interested in learning, by all means tell them all about it, but some may not be. People refer to us as "the paramedics" when we're on scene all the time. I don't correct them that my partner is a medic and I'm only an EMT... it's just not worth it. I'll gladly talk details to those who want to learn, that's cool, but not everyone does.

As for nursing, it's a relatively common jump to go from EMS to nursing. So when people ask if I have any interest in nursing school I just say "no, I don't". And that's that. I have all the respect in the world for nursing/nurses, it's just not where I want to go.
 
SeeNoMore

SeeNoMore

Old and Crappy
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I just pretend I'm the pilot and I can't hear everyone's expectations over my cool guy shades.
 
Akulahawk

Akulahawk

EMT-P/ED RN
Community Leader
4,937
1,339
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OP: I have to admit, as soon as I read your statement about your Filipino family coming over and seeing you, I expected that they would be asking about you going into nursing. Sure enough, they did ask… And I was not surprised. Unfortunately, I think it'll be quite a while before it becomes fairly common knowledge in the Philippines that becoming a nurse is not necessarily a golden ticket.
 
Seirende

Seirende

Washed Up Paramedic/ EMT Dropout
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It's tough when it's your family. I'm lucky in that while there are differing levels of interest/knowledge about EMS in my family and group of close friends, everyone's at the least happy for me because they know I love whatever it is that I do. Those that are close enough to see the work that I've put in also have respect for that. Those that are really close are pretty much just sick of hearing me talk about emergency medicine. ;)

So I can imagine that it would be difficult that have your passion and hard work unnoticed by those whose opinions matter to you.
 
Jondruby

Jondruby

The PLS of BLS.
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Don't worry about it man, there will be alot people are not going to understand or appreciate what we do and the time and effort we put in; but they sure appreciate the help we give them. Besides my crew leader got back from Sturgis (with alot of stories) and one of his favorite guys to work with is a Flight medic, and a nurse. Although most people think of nurses as being women, there are alot of men nurses that rock it out there. I plan after getting my paramedic to go into nursing, probably when I get a family want to slow down. ALthough I dont see that in the too near future...
 
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