olaf1988
Forum Crew Member
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Hello,
my name is Bernhard, I'm from Munich (Bavaria/Germany, Europe), hence the screen name. I found this site when looking for an alternative for another great US based forum, which unfortunately is experiencing an acute traffic loss. Maybe the one or another knows me from there.
I'm in EMS for over 30 years now, started young. My level is "Rettungsassistent", which is compareable to an US paramedic (see Wikipedia: "Paramedics_in_Germany"). Most time I worked volunteer/part-time, beside gaining a masters degree in computer science and engineering. After several positions in IT management and as self-employed consultant, I eventually combined my management and EMS skills. Now I'm full time in EMS management, responsible for regional Red Cross, which is the main EMS provider over here (80% market share).
I still do shifts on the ambulance, with our local volunteer (non-transport) first responder team, as incident commander, covering events and in disaster response. Beside that I have a family (wife, kid, dog, hamster), several other hobbies and an awful time management.
From this forum I expect to get interesting discussions and a view "over the pond". My contribution may be insights from German EMS, my experience in EMS organization, patient care and incident command over here. Plus some faulty english.
My plan in EMS is to get the new education level of "Notfallsanitäter", a recently introduced (effective January 2015) three year education, replacing the "Rettungsassistent" level. For this I have to take a state exam and learn a lot of things I already forgot. I hope, EMTlife can help me a bit here...
My dream in EMS is to visit some EMS places around the world, so maybe we'll meet in person some day. If you're happen to travel to southern Bavaria, just drop me a note and I'd look forward to arrange something.
Great to be here!
Bernhard
P.S.: My avatar shows the inofficial patch for Bavarian EMS of Red Cross - it's not worn in duty, but looks cool. I have some spare ones if you're interested in a trade (EMS patches only).
Best thing to is take time to read through the different threads. We have over ten years worth of discussions. Lots of information has been shared over the years.I will appreciate if you all would give me pointers on this rewarding career .