How Old is to Old

I tried to find the answer to my question using the search function, but they really didn't help me much. I am into my 6th decade and now have the opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for many years. I can't run as fast as I used to but am in better condition than most my age. My question is: Is age a handicap/limitation to advancing your skills, qualifications, progression in EMS? Is there a "time limit" to this career? I want to progress further up the ladder. Have you observed discrimination, for lack of a better term, with those that are older or does all anyone care about is the proficiency of said geezer? I currently work in a National Park and will be volunteering for a local Fire/EMS in the adjacent town. Thanks in advance for your advice.

When do we ever run?

Being on the young end of the spectrum, I personally don't care one bit if my partners are significantly older than me. I've worked with some great folks who were in their 50's and 60's and would absolutely work with them again if given a chance. I'm not gonna say discrimination doesn't exist as far as getting the job goes, those decisions are above my paygrade. When it comes to being liked and respected by a partner though? No you wont have issues, not unless they're an *** and those people are just generally hard to get along with anyway. If you can do your job, are good at your job, and are a all around good person to work with you wont have any problems. Whatever it is you want to pursue, go for it.

I think providers with some life experience have great value. It may just be difficult to be the FNG at 60. Other than that, if you can learn, you can work in EMS. We just had a medic retire who was well into his 70s. Only reason he left was that his wife wanted to travel.

Ageism is like any other form of discrimination: stupid. I like working with guys 30, or so years my senior. It's often the closest I'll get to having worked with my dad. He passed when I was a teenager, but was my hero nonetheless.

Being able to hear many things echoed in terms of ways of life, words of wisdom, and just the general outlook on life is refreshing, and enough to crack a sh*t eating grin on my face the entire shift; I say you'll be fine. Those that appear to hold something against your age are most definitely not worth their weight in gold, and more so, not the providers worth learning from as a newcomer.

Any provider with half of a brain should be smart enough to realize regardless of your "experience" with this particular field, your life experiences are invaluable, good luck.

-Vent.

i agree with everybody else. here is how i see it in a condensed version. Will you be judged by your age- most likely YES. Should you be judged by your age, no. With age comes tough life choices, it happens with everybody, you face hardships and you overcome them. Most likely with age you've had to deal with more then the average 20 or 30 year old. I say, as long as you can do it physically (without destroying yourself by taking 2 aleve every 6 hours every single day), go for it, i'd be glad to have you as my partner. For my main job the parole officer(SPO technically) that trained me was 61, still doing the job.

Suggestion: If you have a pension or do not need the salary, volunteer? Not trying to start a debate if there should be volly EMS, reality is that it's just about everywhere.

I had a brand new EMT partner who was in his 6th decade also when I was a young, female, paramedic. (Early 20's). One of the best EMT's I worked with. He too was interested in progressing in his EMS career and because of such was open to constructive criticism and learning new (and new to him) things. Still have a great working relationship to this day.

Not sure of any agencies having a max starting age (except military)

Fwiw, the oldest partner I've had was 70 something. He seperated from the company for reasons other than his inability to do the job.

My advice? Go for it. Be humble. Be a sponge, and don't let it go to your head. A lot of patients see age as experience. They won't know it's you that is the 'new guy' not your partner.

I work with a few guys in their 60's. Two of them have only been in EMS for a couple of years now, and I knew them when they were rookies. They can do the job perfectly fine, and are great people to work with.

One difficulty that they both seemed to face, though, was being treated the same as an 18 year old rookie. They had vast amounts of life experience, and felt they could self-evaluate how they were doing pretty well. They took offense when people wanted to look over their shoulder the first year on the job. They seemed to make an equal amount (no more or less) of mistakes than a younger rookie. One person had a hard time accepting advice from people with 10 years of experience who were in their 30's; the other person didn't.

There is no physical or mental boundary to this job that comes with age. There are people of all ages that are great, and people of all ages that can't cut it.

In casual conversation, people might respect your previous life experiences, but be prepared to be treated like a rookie when you get started. Don't take offense. Be willing to learn from any knowledgeable source, even a millennial that lives in their parent's basement and plays video games all day.


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ParkMedic said:

I can't run as fast as I used to

Click to expand...

A young bull and an old bull are standing on a hilltop, watching a herd of cows grazing down below. The young one can't stand still for a single minute and constantly goes "Hey dude, hey dude ! See that one, she's got separated from the rest ! Lets run over there and have some fun with her". The old one gives him a very long look and says "Slow your roll, son. Here's what's gonna happen: we're going to slowly walk down the hill, and screw the entire herd !".

@ParkMedic - I've been asking myself that same question for a while now. I've been accepted into Paramedic school starting this fall and have been thinking about using it as a the cornerstone for a medical school application. On one hand, if I were to get accepted into medical school I would graduate 35 and not finish my residency until 39. On the other, I'll always wonder how far I could have gone in medicine.

Dead is too old. Physical inability to do a job is a different matter (though once dead, that counts as a physical inability...) There are sometimes other reasons NOT to apply for a particular job or school/education. Do I have the brains for medical school? Sure. I'd have to do quite a bit first to make my applications stand out. Am I too old to do medical school? No. In my particular case, I would likely be starting school in my mid-late 40's, graduating at around 50, residency done at around 53-54, and I'd basically be working until close to death because of student loan payoffs and basically no retirement. Or I can continue working as an RN, maybe do NP at some point, put some money aside and actually enjoy retirement with PRN work as desired! Sometimes you have to look at factors other than age. Now were I single and no kids, that changes the narrative quite a bit!

Now if I wanted to become a physician badly enough, I'd go for it and deal with the student loans and retirement issues later.