Volunteer EMT

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vietsatilllite

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Hey guys, I'm a recently new EMT. I just got my state Cert in California just last week. I'm currently unemployed as of now with little experience working as an EMT. But I have been watching the news with Hurricane Harvey and upcoming Hurricane Irma. I understand that FEMA is stretched out and I'm wondering how I can volunteer as an EMT in Texas or maybe Florida if the hurricane causes destruction (hopefully it doesn't). I've been looking around websites but can't really find any foundations that do EMT volunteer for major disasters. Anyone have any good recommendations of places to look? And would you recommend being an EMT volunteer especially out of state? I want to put my skills to good use and it's a great experience.
 
You are a new EMT, you have no skills. You have no experience.

Just sit and watch it unfold on the news...

The time to volunteer has passed, every reputable agency has systems in place. Volunteers have been screened, vetted, approved....and after all that, they then have been trained...repeatedly. All the initial responses and the ones which follow are coordinated events and now is not the time to plug newbies into the plan.

As always, there are caveats but this is not yet one of those.
 
@vietsatilllite ak is right here.. your best hope is to watch and learn from live streams on tv. The last thing we would need is a new/newer emt freezing while trying to rescue somebody else(then we need to rescue the rescuer, and that's much more difficult). It's FANTASTIC, that as a new emt your willing to volunteer for a natural disaster, however what your trying to do is like driving a formula 1 car the first day after your driving test. Develop your skills, join your states rescue team, and in a few years, come out and show us old folks how it's done.


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I suggest that you focus your efforts into finding employment. Volunteer work won't put food on the table or pay bills.
 
As akflightmedic and Nysems117 have said you need to get experience first before being a part of the teams that go out. It's great that you want to help, but when events like these happen it really helps to have that experience to guide you through what you have to do. A lot of the actual work requires lots of training and there is also a lot of knowing what you know and how to apply it in a different manner. These events will not be like how it was in the classroom setting or even day to day EMS calls, I've found it's more the critical thinking that you get on the job that helps the most in these situations. In some events you end up operating as an individual unit and there will be more patients then you can fit into your ambulance and no clear place for them to go yet, except for the next staging area that might have doctors and nurses there. I've worked scenes on post where I've had a total of eleven patients over a 1/4mile and had to coordinate casualty collection points and get a second ambulance to go to the second collection point. All the while still having to help treat my patients while my partner was working with other patients. As you can see it's not always a one or two patient situation and each scene needs to be handled in a way that is appropriate for that scene.
 
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The above posts are right. There's not much more to say on the topic. Inexperienced staff at any mass casualty or rescue operation can be more harmful than good.
Your new, and excited, we get it. We've all been there. Gain experience whether it's paid or volunteer. The more experience, the more knowledge retention and better skills you'll have.
  • Fix that unemployment issue.
  • Gain experience, it's a great teacher.
  • Be great with 1 patient first.
  • Then move on to helping several in one incident.
Best of Luck.
 
One thought might be to call your local Red Cross in CA and volunteer there. I am sure they have sent crews to FL and TX and are likely short staffed. It is not 911 EMS but if they are operating shelters you can get plenty of hands on patient care helping people change dressings, work their O2, just in the course of their everyday lives. When I started my EMS career I volunteered at a Katrina shelter which was hundreds of miles from New Orleans, but those people still needed help. I learned a ton about diabetes, COPD, CHF and other chronic conditions that folks had by just sitting and talking to them, finding out what meds they were taking, helping them with basic wound care etc. It is not sexy but no one is going to give you a job fast roping out of a chopper to save babies and kittens on your first day.


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I have a question closely related. I currently volunteer with a local Basic rig. My day time job is what pays the bills, but I don't get a lot of experience because of it.

Anyone have any ideas for ways a volunteer can obtain more experience without going FT on a paid department? I'd love to find a way to rotate like a half a dozen weekends a year with a paid service to get more hands on and gain much needed experience with patient care that I won't ever get as a volunteer at my current department.
 
Giant81 said:
'd love to find a way to rotate like a half a dozen weekends a year with a paid service to get more hands on and gain much needed experience with patient care that I won't ever get as a volunteer at my current department.
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Many places will take part-time employees. You could also try and do a ride-along (not likely to result in hands-on experience), or see if your volunteer service's medical director might let you do an ER rotation.
 
Giant81 said:
Anyone have any ideas for ways a volunteer can obtain more experience without going FT on a paid department? I'd love to find a way to rotate like a half a dozen weekends a year with a paid service to get more hands on and gain much needed experience with patient care that I won't ever get as a volunteer at my current department.
Click to expand...
In my experience, FT paid experience is what employers want to see on a resume, but what they really want is experience in a busy service with a high number of patient contacts. If you work full time doing 24s twice a week, and you only see 3 patients a day, how much experience will you have? now compare that a volunteer who does one 12 hour shift a week, and sees 6 patients every shift. who has more experience?

My very first volunteer EMS agency ran about 5000 calls a year. my very first full time EMS agency ran a lot more, but there were days when the suburban stations didn't even turn a wheel for the entire 12 hour shift.

You can try to get on part time or per diem, but many places are going away from hiring inexperienced part time personnel, because of the time it takes to train them in the way they want you to do things. in a county near me, all new paid personnel (both part time and full time) need to attend a 4-6 week academy, before they are put on the the trucks.

But it all depends on where you live and what the agencies near you allow.
 
Yeah I work as a network engineer so I get no PT care experience there. and volly with a service that gets like 150 calls a year, most of which I miss since I'm working out of town during the day, so I can only run calls on nights, and every 3rd or 4th weekend.

Means I don't get a lot of hands on experience, and I'd love to find a way to get more. I've been licensed just over 2 years now, and still haven't done much.
 
Giant81 said:
Yeah I work as a network engineer so I get no PT care experience there. and volly with a service that gets like 150 calls a year, most of which I miss since I'm working out of town during the day, so I can only run calls on nights, and every 3rd or 4th weekend.

Means I don't get a lot of hands on experience, and I'd love to find a way to get more. I've been licensed just over 2 years now, and still haven't done much.
Click to expand...
join your states task force team? for example new york states:
http://www.cdutsara.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Search_and_Rescue_New_York_Task_Force_1
 
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