Recent content by chriscemt

In over ten years, I've never once put my mouth near a patient's mouth. OPA and a BVM. I know old habits die hard, but in our district we teach hands-only CPR in the schools.

...sometimes even the patch.

The rivers swelled that winter and spring and made for tough passing on horseback. /thatoldgag

Oh, yeah, we also get a stipend for degrees - $50/paycheck (every two weeks) for a bachelor's.

My agency pays for $500 of college classes, and as far as I know, those classes don't have to do anything towards a career in EMS. I haven't made time for that, yet. They did offset my paramedic school to the tune of $8700 and that was awesome.

Which, really, says very little, especially here.

My agency has high school students ride along at one of our stations. It's incredible the lack of real maturity every one of those students has and I would personally be appalled if my boss told us we were hiring one of them. There's a tremendous amount of growth to occur between the ages of...

EMT-P last week. Less than 45 minutes, and (I think) 70 questions. Passed. I know I aced the scenario based questions (crew safety before airway) but there were a few that I really didn't know. I get to start my medic orientation in a few weeks. Holy fart. Also, I used medictests. I think...

Nevermind.

The cot is now an inFERNO.

Can someone in Reno chime in? Stand up 48s? That can't possibly be a thing.

I wouldn't want to comment directly on the state of employment opportunities in Illinois. In the Kansas City area, you would have to look past indeed, and other online job sites and go to agency websites directly. They are all, basically, hiring. Heck, working full time, single parents, etc...

In the Kansas City area, there really isn't a "bad" school for EMT. Passing the NREMT is all that really matters until you gain some experience.

“Nowadays, we actually do more medical calls than we do actual fires,” Chin said. No way, really?

Very much, this. A few months ago my partner and I were dispatched for a panic attack. Presented very much like a panic attack. Patient described it as a panic attack, and even said that the symptoms she experienced were like some of her other bad episodes. Patient had experienced a death...