over 40 EMT or Paramedic?

ladyMj

ladyMj

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Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to see how many people started their EMS career after they turned 40?

Thanks,

Mj
 
I can think of a dozen people ay my agency! There were a few in classes I taught. Some men and women well into their 50s or early 60s. We all know age is just a number.
 
we have a guy at my former job is a paramedic, and on his third career. he just turned 76, and got his paramedic certificate less than 7 years ago
 
Started - no. I started in Emergency Medicine at 17, continued it on in the military as a Hospital Corpsman (Independent Duty).

However, I got out and pursued a career in law enforcement, retired from there and now, I've gone back to EMT-B school and now paramedic school in my 50's (I'm 52, will be 53 when I graduate from medic school).

Age is just a number, a person from my "volunteer squad" just "unvolunteered" at the age of 77.
 
I was 46 when I started my basic class. I'm 49 now. I absolutely love it and wish I had started a decade earlier. In fact if I had started in my 20's I guarantee I would be a Doctor now.

I do feel too old to go for the medic though but that is mainly due to my time commitment. I volunteer once per week and that is just not enough run time. I've done about 100 calls in 2 years :(
 
Great!

So great to hear these comments! It just seem liked everyone I met go into EMS early in their life. I really want to do this. I just called a program today and asked if my LPN experience would count, so I could go right into medic school. I will keep you all updated. ;)
 
I got my Medic the week before my 50th B-Day.
 
I completed my EMT and graduated the USFS Wildland fire academy, and I did that at 50 years old. Never to late.
 
One of my supervisors is 79 years old and he is better at this job than most 30 year old EMTs/Medics I have run across. This guy stays in crazy good shape though. In addition to being a field operational supervisor, he works out like 5 days a week, runs every local triathlon, fun run, 10 K, you name it. He rides the STP every year and also rides like 200-300 miles a week. In the winter he is a ski patroller too.

So I am sure he would tell anyone that 40 is not too old at all!

Just stay in shape and you'll be fine for a much longer time.


Sent from a small, handheld electronic device that somehow manages to consume vast amounts of my time. Also know as a smart phone.
 
I am 43, and I will chime in with what I have discovered as a 40+ year old FF/EMT....

For me, I have to work at things I would not have needed to work at 20 years ago... I have to diet and excersize because if I allow the normal eating habits of EMS combine with the normal metobolic changes of a 40+ year old man I will die before I am 50.

I see it. I see young people who do this full time put on weight right before my eyes. It is sad.

Also, to pass my FF1/FF2 class and even the yearly physical I needed to work harder than people half my age.

But... that being said I think the above 40 crowd just entering into EMS can have a lot to offer if we remember what it was like to be young and learning something new. When I work beside a 25 year old MEDIC who has been doing this for five years I treat them with a great deal of respect and let them know I am the learner.
 
Mj,

Thank you for starting this thread. I am 48 and will be attending EMT-B class this semester as well as taking Anatomy/Physiology. For some time I have been doubting myself wondering if I was too old and too out of shape to do this, but I have been getting in real good shape (thanks to my two sons) and I am looking forward to the challenge. :)
 
I walked in to PCP class two days after my 43rd birthday. Five years later I went to ACP school. Best job I ever had, and I've had a few.
 
started my emt-b at 48
passed state final right befor 49th birthday
 
Took my EMT-B at 52, followed with the IV and ECG classes. Continued by taking a class each semester I can: A&P, microbiology, cell biology. Being a volunteer FF/EMT in the mountain community I live in has been one of the most rewarding and wonderful experiences of my life.
 
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