# Demographics..since SEARCH didn't reveal this



## mycrofft (May 7, 2009)

I was harping about subject selection and looking at the poll about how long folks here have "been in EMS", and realized that I can't find a poll about basic demographics of my co-denizens.
So, what about it?


----------



## Sasha (May 7, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> I was harping about subject selection and looking at the poll about how long folks here have "been in EMS", and realized that I can't find a poll about basic demographics of my co-denizens.
> So, what about it?



You spelt search wrong, love :]

Signed The Queen Of Bad Spelling


----------



## mycrofft (May 8, 2009)

*Well, no WONDUR it didn't wherk sowel!*

:blush:
Wish I'd posted it somewhere else.


----------



## Sasha (May 8, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> :blush:
> Wish I'd posted it somewhere else.



It worked fine and dandy. You have like 12 answers!


----------



## silver (May 8, 2009)

hmm interesting range 10-25...do we actually have 10 y/o 5th graders on the forum?


----------



## Sasha (May 8, 2009)

silver said:


> hmm interesting range 10-25...do we actually have 10 y/o 5th graders on the forum?



EMS, so easy a child could do it!


----------



## mycrofft (May 8, 2009)

*Silve you caught me. Now I have to go back to recess.*

It was a convenience, I know we have teenagers logging in and wanted to get them represented. I've known some fifteen year olds who could BS as well as many of the rest of us can..certainly spell as well!


----------



## mycrofft (May 8, 2009)

*"It worked fine and dandy. You have like 12 answers!"*

One female. Yikes.:sad:
Need to market this on chat I guess.


----------



## mycrofft (May 10, 2009)

*32 respondents, vast majority male*

Any more lurking about?


----------



## Sasha (May 10, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> Any more lurking about?




A vast majority on this website are male. Although women have broken in and done a kick bum job in EMS, it's still a widely male profession. At least in my area!


----------



## mycrofft (May 10, 2009)

*I see many females running EMS around here.*

AMR sems to be mostly female at times, but oddly the crews they send to our jail are usually all male.
Fire EMS tends to be one female per six person response.
(Nursing: since forever can't seem to get past the five percent mark for males who stay past school).
I guess Bossycow, Airway Goddess and the others might be in the "this is silly" category?


----------



## Sasha (May 10, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> AMR sems to be mostly female at times, but oddly the crews they send to our jail are usually all male.
> Fire EMS tends to be one female per six person response.
> (Nursing: since forever can't seem to get past the five percent mark for males who stay past school).
> I guess Bossycow, Airway Goddess and the others might be in the "this is silly" category?



I know BossyCow has been busy with her sick husband. Maybe the others think this is silly?


----------



## ffemt8978 (May 10, 2009)

Sasha said:


> You spelt search wrong, love :]
> 
> Signed The Queen Of Bad Spelling



Huh?  No he didn't












h34r:


----------



## WarDance (May 10, 2009)

I'm actually 12.  I just look old for my age so I fooled everyone and they gave me my cert.  Did I mention I was also extra smart so I'm a junior in college too?


----------



## mycrofft (May 10, 2009)

*WarDance, I once knew a guy with a Master's at eighteen.*

And an EMT. He brought it in on a bet, before computer printers etc. Navy snapped him up.


----------



## lightsandsirens5 (May 11, 2009)

Sasha said:


> A vast majority on this website are male. Although women have broken in and done a kick bum job in EMS, it's still a widely male profession. At least in my area!



Personally, I think that the women in EMS often do a better job than the guys. I like the one male one female crew thing. Seems to work in every scenario I've been in when I have a woman for a crew partner. Sometimes I _wish_ I have had one.  (Eg: Me and my male partner arguing silently on scene over who has to do pt care on an OB call, pt is nervous because here come two, big, over 6'2" tall guys to "help" her, oh and by the way one of us is going to ride in the back with you and no, your husband can't ride back here.)


----------



## Lunah (May 11, 2009)

I'm female, and closer to 40 than 30 these days.


----------



## mycrofft (May 11, 2009)

*You know, if EMS is such a great career...*

how come the numbers drop off as you get older instead of easing off or staying steady?


----------



## AJ Hidell (May 11, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> how come the numbers drop off as you get older instead of easing off or staying steady?


People grow up eventually.

Although obviously not all of us.


----------



## Sasha (May 11, 2009)

lightsandsirens5 said:


> Personally, I think that the women in EMS often do a better job than the guys. I like the one male one female crew thing. Seems to work in every scenario I've been in when I have a woman for a crew partner. Sometimes I _wish_ I have had one.  (Eg: Me and my male partner arguing silently on scene over who has to do pt care on an OB call, pt is nervous because here come two, big, over 6'2" tall guys to "help" her, oh and by the way one of us is going to ride in the back with you and no, your husband can't ride back here.)



I think people feel more comfortable with women, in general. OB or not.


----------



## Meursault (May 12, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> how come the numbers drop off as you get older instead of easing off or staying steady?



From what I hear, backs and waistlines tend to go out.


----------



## AJ Hidell (May 12, 2009)

It would take major improvements in EMS for people to stay in the field long enough for their backs to go out, lol.  Darn few people stay that long.  I think I've known maybe two people to permanently injure their backs in three decades.


----------



## mycrofft (May 12, 2009)

*Roger that you guys, er, folks.*

Back Injuries...there's a whole separate thread.
I didn't know any person doing old style lifts and etc for more than a year who didn't hagve twinges and little acute instances..which accumulate.


----------



## mycrofft (May 16, 2009)

*So EMTLIFE has 66 active members?*

Not bad.B)


----------



## lightsandsirens5 (May 16, 2009)

Sasha said:


> I think people feel more comfortable with women, in general. OB or not.



True, although there are exceptions. I guess you could say that women have a more calming presance then men. Look who people in horrible situations aoten call for: mom. Obviously the main reason is because they were raised by their mom, but I think the presance of a female may subconsciously remind them of their mother.


----------



## mycrofft (May 18, 2009)

*This would make a good thread,*

Gender roles amongst EMS responders, and gender stereotyping amongst EMS "consumers" (patients).


----------



## minneola24 (May 18, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> It was a convenience, I know we have teenagers logging in and wanted to get them represented. I've known some fifteen year olds who could BS as well as many of the rest of us can..certainly spell as well!



Hello,

I am 15 and want to work in Fire / EMS, interesting to see that there are alot more males than females in the poll.


----------



## Sapphyre (May 18, 2009)

minneola24 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am 15 and want to work in Fire / EMS, interesting to see that there are alot more males than females in the poll.



WHy is it interesting?  EMS started in the fire department, at the time a MALE only field.  Women still haven't totally broken in.  It's happening slowly.


----------



## Wee-EMT (May 18, 2009)

Sasha said:


> A vast majority on this website are male. Although women have broken in and done a kick bum job in EMS, it's still a widely male profession. At least in my area!



Very true...sometimes I dont see another female employee for days!


----------



## mycrofft (May 19, 2009)

*I think it's interesting, Saph.*

And there is a higher pecentage of female ambuance workers  than there are male RN's in civilian practice (about 3% for the latter).


----------



## fortsmithman (May 19, 2009)

AJ Hidell said:


> It would take major improvements in EMS for people to stay in the field long enough for their backs to go out, lol.  Darn few people stay that long.  I think I've known maybe two people to permanently injure their backs in three decades.


Here in Canada we have EMS personnel who have been at it for 20 to 30 years.


----------



## Wee-EMT (May 19, 2009)

fortsmithman said:


> Here in Canada we have EMS personnel who have been at it for 20 to 30 years.



Most people who have been in the industry for that long usually don't do it all on the streets.


----------



## AJ Hidell (May 20, 2009)

Wee-EMT said:


> Very true...sometimes I dont see another female employee for days!


While I completely understand the problem where Sasha is, where all EMS is unfortunately fire-based, I am surprised that you don't see that many females where you are.  More than half the AB medics I know are females.


----------



## Sasha (May 20, 2009)

AJ Hidell said:


> While I completely understand the problem where Sasha is, where all EMS is unfortunately fire-based, I am surprised that you don't see that many females where you are.  More than half the AB medics I know are females.



Half of two is not a good sample of the general population! 

Pretty much everywhere when you think of a Paramedic, you think of a male. 

It's how we were raised! I've noticed quite often when talking to other members of this forum, even by some male nurses, a nurse is often referred to as "she" and a doctor as "he" even though it's a hypothetical doctor with no assigned gender. I think Paramedic falls into one of those "he" jobs, because the public generally doesn't imagine a woman in a dirty job that requires heavy lifting. Instead they think of women as nurses, prancing around in skirts and cute little hats.


----------



## mycrofft (May 20, 2009)

*With my hairline I stick the hat on with a suction cup.*

and as for prancing...maybe if you fired tasers into my legs.

Our fire based EMS has a high percentage of females, I think due to statistics; some go there because they realize they do not want to do the grunt work firefighting mostly is, and there are amongst the majority male firefighters some who do not want to do emergency medicine. Win/win.

Interesting to see how long females registering onto this site are active, versus males. There are websites for female fighter pilots, why not for female "EMS"?


----------



## Sasha (May 20, 2009)

mycrofft said:


> and as for prancing...maybe if you fired tasers into my legs.
> 
> Our fire based EMS has a high percentage of females, I think due to statistics; some go there because they realize they do not want to do the grunt work firefighting mostly is, and there are amongst the majority male firefighters some who do not want to do emergency medicine. Win/win.
> 
> Interesting to see how long females registering onto this site are active, versus males. There are websites for female fighter pilots, why not for female "EMS"?



Why segregate ourselves?


----------



## mycrofft (May 20, 2009)

*Not segregate from males, discriminate against them!*

Probably not viable since, perhaps as in my case, we chose and stay with our careers because we chose ones crowded with the opposite sex.
A thought. The webmeisters must be a little ticked I keep bringing up alternatives to EMTLIFE as it is, I'm just that way. CERT-LA is very miffed


----------



## mycrofft (May 26, 2009)

*Eighty two responses!! Thanks so far. Poll ends...*

...in about a week I think.


----------



## mycrofft (May 30, 2009)

*Last week for this poll.*

It's free, it's private and it's in COLOR!


----------



## Seaglass (May 30, 2009)

Sasha said:


> It's how we were raised! I've noticed quite often when talking to other members of this forum, even by some male nurses, a nurse is often referred to as "she" and a doctor as "he" even though it's a hypothetical doctor with no assigned gender. I think Paramedic falls into one of those "he" jobs, because the public generally doesn't imagine a woman in a dirty job that requires heavy lifting. Instead they think of women as nurses, prancing around in skirts and cute little hats.



This. I grew up in an area where I never encountered female firefighters. When I later moved and ran into one, my first reaction was "Wait... women can do that?" Then I kicked myself for never realizing that EEOC covers fire too, and started wondering if that would be a good job for me. 

It wasn't that anyone actually told me that women couldn't do it. It was just that I never saw it. Besides, I don't think my hometown much approves of female firefighters. They're gotten one since I moved, and people act a bit weird around her.

Fire around here doesn't segregate; every paramedic is required to take turns on the ambulances. If you don't become a paramedic, your chances for promotion aren't very good, so just about everyone tries. There are still more men than women, though. The test requires lots of upper-body strength, and the requirements are the same for everyone.


----------

