MicahW
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I am a fairly new EMT (under 2 years). I am now 17 and became an EMT in CT at 16. I have heard opinions from both sides about weather or not people under 18 should be allowed to be EMTs. I have had a variety of experiences in EMS regarding my age. It is not uncommon for people to ask me my age and then respond with "and they let you stick me" (when I am taking a glucose, for example). I have never let it bother me. I do not try to tell defend my ability to be an EMT to them, I just show them that I know what I am doing.
I was wondering what your opinions on the matter are (please don't hold back).
Here are some of my experiences and opinions:
I believe that some people are vey capable EMTs at 16 ad 17. Even through EMT school, I read all of the literature I could find. Over the summer, I spend days just looking at new studies on cardiac arrests and the like. I read every month's JEMS front to back. I am not saying that I am the most knowledgable EMT, just that I put in as much effort as any EMT I know, of any age.
I think that having become an EMT when I was 16 actually made me a better EMT. I knew that I was being judged harder than anyone else was and that any mistake I made, even if every other student had made it, would, in their minds, just go to show that you can't be 16 and be a good EMT. This made me work my *** off and that made me a better EMT.
I took my EMT class at AMR and did every shift I could take with them. You could always tell when a crew didn't have faith in you because of your age, even before you even stepped on the rig. Most were very accepting and some did not even ask me my age until after the shift.
I think that some people thought that a 16 year old EMT would be fine at a tiny, 0 calls per day, volunteer company but did not belong anywhere near the inner city where I would take my shifts (I won't name the city because I do not think it is appropriate to name the company, even though I loved them and still love them and plan on applying for a job with them when I turn 18).
Some people outside of my company definitely did not like the idea of me trying to do the same job that they did. I once rolled up on a heart problems call where fire had already been on-scene for 5 minutes. I was rolling ALS that day with one medic and one EMT. We walk in the house where the woman is on the second floor. Fire says that they will have her walk down to us but my medic says he wants to check her out first. We walk upstairs, where the woman is one her bed. Medic hooks her up, SVT. "OK, I'll go get the stair chair." I go, get it, bring it upstairs and we get her out of the house. Transfer her to the cot and continue treatment before we put her in the ambulance. The stair chair is currently leaned up agains my leg so I ask a firefighter if he wouldn't mind grabbing it for me while I load the stretcher. He just stairs at me and doesn't move. I get his attitude and decide to just leave it on the ground and run back and get it once she is loaded. Later that day, I find out that fire has filed a report against my hole crew, claiming that I barked at a firefighter to go and get the stair chair while we were inside the house. It was bs and both of my crew vouched for me to the supervisor and told him that I was the best student that they had ever had (ended up backfiring on fire). Everyone knew that it was because I was 16 and the firefighter did not like the idea of being an EMR on a call where the EMT was 16.
This is not to say that everyone who is 16 can be an EMT. Most cannot, just like most people in general cannot.
I also disagree with programs such as this one: http://www.post53.info
The entire EMS system in this town (Darien) is made up of high school students. I think that the only time anyone else goes to a call is for ALS assistance. I have never been on a call with them (even though I live quite close to them) but I have heard some bad things.
I think that they make it seem like EMS is a job that can be preformed by kids--it is not. I think that it also encourages an attitude that this is not too serious, that it is something you do with your friends. I think that some people can be EMTs before they are 16, but to be one, you need to be trained in an environment that does not tolerate a childish attitude. EMS is nothing like school: you don't get to screw around on calls like you do in classes and making EMS an "after school activity" is absolute absurd (but it is Darien's prerogative and I am glad not to live there). Look at the pictures on the site too. I am not one to judge a company on its gear, the best can do anything with nothing, but they really need to stop shopping at Bob's for their pants. I have never seen a supervisor wear white pants and I would be interested to see how well those work out when getting bled and thrown up on.
I was wondering what your opinions on the matter are (please don't hold back).
Here are some of my experiences and opinions:
I believe that some people are vey capable EMTs at 16 ad 17. Even through EMT school, I read all of the literature I could find. Over the summer, I spend days just looking at new studies on cardiac arrests and the like. I read every month's JEMS front to back. I am not saying that I am the most knowledgable EMT, just that I put in as much effort as any EMT I know, of any age.
I think that having become an EMT when I was 16 actually made me a better EMT. I knew that I was being judged harder than anyone else was and that any mistake I made, even if every other student had made it, would, in their minds, just go to show that you can't be 16 and be a good EMT. This made me work my *** off and that made me a better EMT.
I took my EMT class at AMR and did every shift I could take with them. You could always tell when a crew didn't have faith in you because of your age, even before you even stepped on the rig. Most were very accepting and some did not even ask me my age until after the shift.
I think that some people thought that a 16 year old EMT would be fine at a tiny, 0 calls per day, volunteer company but did not belong anywhere near the inner city where I would take my shifts (I won't name the city because I do not think it is appropriate to name the company, even though I loved them and still love them and plan on applying for a job with them when I turn 18).
Some people outside of my company definitely did not like the idea of me trying to do the same job that they did. I once rolled up on a heart problems call where fire had already been on-scene for 5 minutes. I was rolling ALS that day with one medic and one EMT. We walk in the house where the woman is on the second floor. Fire says that they will have her walk down to us but my medic says he wants to check her out first. We walk upstairs, where the woman is one her bed. Medic hooks her up, SVT. "OK, I'll go get the stair chair." I go, get it, bring it upstairs and we get her out of the house. Transfer her to the cot and continue treatment before we put her in the ambulance. The stair chair is currently leaned up agains my leg so I ask a firefighter if he wouldn't mind grabbing it for me while I load the stretcher. He just stairs at me and doesn't move. I get his attitude and decide to just leave it on the ground and run back and get it once she is loaded. Later that day, I find out that fire has filed a report against my hole crew, claiming that I barked at a firefighter to go and get the stair chair while we were inside the house. It was bs and both of my crew vouched for me to the supervisor and told him that I was the best student that they had ever had (ended up backfiring on fire). Everyone knew that it was because I was 16 and the firefighter did not like the idea of being an EMR on a call where the EMT was 16.
This is not to say that everyone who is 16 can be an EMT. Most cannot, just like most people in general cannot.
I also disagree with programs such as this one: http://www.post53.info
The entire EMS system in this town (Darien) is made up of high school students. I think that the only time anyone else goes to a call is for ALS assistance. I have never been on a call with them (even though I live quite close to them) but I have heard some bad things.
I think that they make it seem like EMS is a job that can be preformed by kids--it is not. I think that it also encourages an attitude that this is not too serious, that it is something you do with your friends. I think that some people can be EMTs before they are 16, but to be one, you need to be trained in an environment that does not tolerate a childish attitude. EMS is nothing like school: you don't get to screw around on calls like you do in classes and making EMS an "after school activity" is absolute absurd (but it is Darien's prerogative and I am glad not to live there). Look at the pictures on the site too. I am not one to judge a company on its gear, the best can do anything with nothing, but they really need to stop shopping at Bob's for their pants. I have never seen a supervisor wear white pants and I would be interested to see how well those work out when getting bled and thrown up on.
