the 100% directionless thread

DesertMedic66 said:
$0.48 comes out to a little more than $1,000 per year assuming a normal schedule and no OT. On its face that may seem good but you also have to deduct gas milage increase, increased frequency of oil changes, and additional wear and tear on your car. Now that $1,000 is cut down by a lot if your current job is local. You are also now spending an additional 3 hours "on the job" that you are not getting paid for in the form of commute time.

Ask what exactly their benefit package contains and what they contribute to your 401K and compare it with what you may be getting at your current company.

If the job does sound interesting and you want to work there but the pay won't make sense, make a counter offer. You have the upper hand if you are already employed at a job you like in that you really don't have much to lose.
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The only real reason I want the job is for 911. I get an all you can eat buffet of OT here (except whet Rona affected and that's over) and most places apparently don't offer that even if they say OT is available. That might mean 1 shift a week.

For driving all the way out there, yeah ... it doesn't really seem worth it.

If they or anyone else gets that Cypress Creek contract, I might go to them. If by any means AMR gets it, that is just icing on top.

I just honestly am happy at my job. And that's kinda weird 😅. I worked hard to get where I am and it's only up from here.

A lot of people say 911 isn't all that. But the bug bites hard when you never get to run hot or feel like a real EMT. I just need to get that 'being out there" out of my system.

I'm the kind of person who wants to touch the wet paint after seeing the sign. If a button said it will shock me if I push it, I would be very tempted to push it just to see. They really cannot understand my craving to experience more and to learn with my own two hands. Not just hear from older guys who mellowed out.

I am happy with my job but I feel like I'm jogging in place. I'm still learning. I still have great shifts and stuff.

For better or for worse I'll never be satisfied with being told how 911 isn't real all that cool, exciting, important, whatever they say to downplay it. I need to experience it firsthand and make my own decisions.

And it's hard waiting for an opportunity that isn't unreasonable or puts me at a disadvantage.

I think I know my answer. I'm better off here and short of death or dismemberment, it will still be there. I just need to keep my ear to the ground.
 
DragonClaw said:
The only real reason I want the job is for 911.
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Take it from someone who has set themselves up for the future. It’s not only about 911 and pay. Retirement and benefits is what makes or breaks a place.
 
CALEMT said:
Take it from someone who has set themselves up for the future. It’s not only about 911 and pay. Retirement and benefits is what makes or breaks a place.
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Those are factors. But both offer the same 401K match. They both offer health insurance and other benefits (that I'll have to closely compare)

I get free ground transport for me and anyone in my immediate family in the Houston area. I think I get free life flight too cause the GMR/AMR fight brand now shows up as an additional benefit after the merger.

I don't plan on needing it though
 
DragonClaw said:
Those are factors. But both offer the same 401K match. They both offer health insurance and other benefits (that I'll have to closely compare)

I get free ground transport for me and anyone in my immediate family in the Houston area. I think I get free life flight too cause the GMR/AMR fight brand now shows up as an additional benefit after the merger.

I don't plan on needing it though
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AMR will likely still try to bill your immediate family. One of our medic's fathers was transported a year ago for chest pain and they billed him. It took our local management going to corporate and fighting and eventually saying "well then we will just give him a 99% discount and what his insurance paid will be considered final payment". HEMS is all going to depend on what company flies you.
 
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DragonClaw said:
The only real reason I want the job is for 911.
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911 isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, it is mostly shenanigans and BS calls.

I also think that 911 is what brought most people into EMS in the first place. If all we cared about was pay and benefits it would have been much wiser to have gone into another profession.
 
Peak said:
911 isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, it is mostly shenanigans and BS calls.

I also think that 911 is what brought most people into EMS in the first place. If all we cared about was pay and benefits it would have been much wiser to have gone into another profession.
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*sigh*
 
911 is why I stay in EMS.
 
Fatigue is my constant enemy
 
VentMonkey said:
Financially I think we’re ok to pull that plug once we move into a bigger house. Payment plans are a thing as well.

It’d be a worthwhile investment for me. I think it will also slowly segue into me canceling my gym membership. Perhaps a silver lining of sorts for me from all of this.
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Thats true, I've actually used those a few times lately. Just not sure if Rogue does that. As much as a good rack and barbell set cost, it would definitely make it easier to manage.
 
So I'm sitting in the dock at the customer's warehouse in southwest Florida, watching the SpaceX launch on Youtube. Look out my window about 45 seconds after liftoff and I could see the Falcon 9 engine plume for about 2 seconds just as it was going supersonic. Keep in mind I was over 150 miles away from Cape Canaveral.
 
StCEMT said:
Thats true, I've actually used those a few times lately. Just not sure if Rogue does that. As much as a good rack and barbell set cost, it would definitely make it easier to manage.
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For sure. Gyms are opening up out West. My particular chain has not yet.

I think it’s gonna be mostly for the aquatics for me, and whatever machines/ racks I can’t fit in my garage. I’m not a fan of being timed for my workouts, or scheduling appointments.

We just cleared out the garage and made room for the current essentials. It doesn’t look too shabby thus far, if I don’t mind saying so myself.
 
Seirende said:
Lakes are free
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Haha, true. So is the Pacific Ocean for that matter. Logistically, with small kids, it makes
it easier to 2 for 1 at the gym with a pool.

Plus, I’ve seen about every lake in my area from an aerial view. Hard pass. I prefer not to grow a vestigial tail.
 
VentMonkey said:
Haha, true. So is the Pacific Ocean for that matter. Logistically, with small kids, it makes
it easier to 2 for 1 at the gym with a pool.

Plus, I’ve seen about every lake in my area from an aerial view. Hard pass. I prefer not to grow a vestigial tail.
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Or become food for something in the ocean.
 
3 bari calls back to back yesterday. Oof I'm sore. Manual gurney apparently had a malfunction yesterday as it came out of the truck. Nobody was hurt, but we did swap out the gurney. I guess the handle got stuck in the unlock position. I was on the legs so I didn't see what happened. But we had plenty of people and just had to adjust again.

The last call was a complete crapshow.

This lady was labeled 375 but she was over 400. We had 3 crews on scene and could not get her into her narrow stair and narrow hall second narrow floor apartment into a small room. We had to call for mutual aid from 911 and the FD. Luckily they had a man sack and even then by the time we got her into the apartment and on the bed you could hear the sound of a dozen people just breathing hard.

We had to wait a long time for the 3rd crew and then we came to the conclusion even we did not have the resources to get her upstairs safely

She had accused hospital of attempted and threatened rape. I have no idea how true these accusations are, but I believe she believed them. So instead of riding with my partner to the home, I went with her and the female provider that was primary so nothing could be said of us. She talked about lawsuits half the time.

She says she had to quit nursing school. So whenever we said anything, she'd bring up her unfinished schooling.

While we prepared to unload her and we went to go get entry to the apartment (before we realized she was on the second floor due to her confusion of where she lived. We were told it was first floor), she called 911 because a car was parked in a handicap spot her ex fiance uses.

She wanted us to talk to them about the offending car. I told them there was no emergency and even checked the cars. They had placards and were legally parked, told then to cancel and not to send anyone.

I got her key and knocked on the door loudly like 3 times. No answer. It was not a good complex to be in and I couldn't be sure if anyone was home. Her answers weren't really very well put together. I entered the pitch black apartment and for the first time yelled "EMS" as it felt like a good thing to say. I turned in the few lights that worked and cleared the apartment with another crew member. That part of going intrusion the dark hoping you don't startle anyone was a little... jumpy? I was 100% focused on safety for that one. Am I being overboard?

She was also upset we couldn't just easily pick get up and take he in. The gray slide sheet we had was fine for gurney to bed vise versa but not for actual weight bearing. It wasn't going to hold her if we carried her with it. Hence getting extra help from 911/FD. She asked why we thought we was too big to du that if her sugar was low. She hasn't eaten in 3 days, she said.

She said she was in her own feces because they wouldn't bathe her at the hospital. Hospital said she wouldn't let them.

She would talk about how she was grateful to God but then start cussing at us for taking things slow and anything that happened. She says she was nauseated and dizzy, but then refused Zofran. She later took it and felt better. But then she said she felt like she was going to have a seizure but at the mention of a hospital she was suddenly feeling better and not seizure like.

He ex fiance that lived with her took too long to get over and she was mad that he'd apparently eaten and she hadn't. But she said due to a black tube down her mouth (H&P had nothing on this) she couldn't eat because he throat and mouth hurt too much. But in the ambulance she was getting her aunt to get her whataburger. She called him her husband but when she got mad at him for going to park the car or whatever, but she would yell about how lazy he was and selfish and scream that's why she's single and didn't marry him.

He honestly.... got a little upset because how she treated him and had to go take a walk. I only was with them for a few hours. He was mostly chipper and patient and calm except for one incident.

By the end of the night we'd been on that call for hours in the hot humid air

I got elbowed in the face by the 911 crew, my glasses were hanging off my face until we got everything situated. Her cellulitis on her posterior was weeping and I wasn't going to go contaminate everything.

When we finally got her on the bed, she wanted to be prone. On her posterior was a wound that looked like pink smooth flesh, maybe like a hernia or an avulsion of sorts near her anus. Maybe a hemorrhoid? It was just aggressively oozing fluid. The primary on the call almost puked but I rate it a 2/10 on gore severity.

She refused going back to the hospital for anything.

We were happy to leave.

Even all that said, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than on an ambulance.

Two phrases came out of this day.

"A disturbance in the scene safety", meaning your EMS spidey senses for certain or possibly danger are going off.

Such as when we tried lifting with 3 crews and then we decided to put her back on the gurney. She didn't want to go back on but we couldn't carry her to her apartment like that.

And "Waffle house effort/vibe/mood/quality". Very low effort, low quality things, no hustle, etc. Or when things are bleak and craprastic.

When people aren't even trying anymore

"That's very waffle house effort of you"

"Ah, giving that waffle house effort, I see"

"Mmm. Look at this. Waffle house mood"

Edit: Also. I noticed more and more I'm speaking up, taking charge, offering suggestions, calming people down. Things need to be done and others aren't stepping up. Our I see something potentially bad and I commucate, verbalize the plan, make sure everyone knows what we're doing and that they're ready to execute the plan. Such as when the 5 crews assembled (one of our crews left when FD and 911 got there), I made the suggestion to move the gurney to have it lined up with the stairs so we wouldn't be akwardky pivoting. The supervisor of the 911 crew agreed with my plan and we moved to do that. It felt a little good to hear her listen to my idea and agree. It helped make things smoother up the stairs for sure

It was a very cool experience that we got to work with a 911 crew. That was my first time. We all communicated and stuff. Well oiled machine even though none of us even had met before.

The primary crew I guess didn't check their bag because they couldn't find their PO zofran so I immediately grabbed mine. After the call I showed him where his was after I realized where his might have been. He also did not know the truck had a winch. Etc.

Even among people who have done this job for years or longer The me, I find myself noticing things they never knew about. Things they never bothered to question or learn. It's kind of weird but it makes me realize even in IFT you need to keep your mind sharp and not get complacent. .
 
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