+1 on that! One day as I was leaving school I stopped JMH ER and as I was leaving two emts were dropping off a patient, one of the guys was wearing a beanie with some football teams logo sideways, shirt mangled, boots untied and dirty. Once I start working, you won't catch me looking like I walked out of a trash can. One thing that I have learned from my rides and my friends (with which I now volunteer) at the local station is to look sharp.
Most of the places that I have worked at over the years had 2 types of uniforms: one for daytime and one for the night. Both were enforced fairly strictly. Typically the daytime uniform was a two-piece, pants and a shirt and the nighttime uniform was usually a jumpsuit. While we did not match the general appearance of other service providers in the area, our appearance standards were such that you could tell us apart immediately just by looking at us.
And has been said before, appearance does count. You may not think that appearance does not count for much, however, when you see someone that generally looks pretty well put together, you get the idea that they are probably a good crew. Just remember that first impressions are key. If you do not make a very good impression when you see someone first, you're going to be fighting an uphill battle trying to make someone understand that you are a good, competent, effective provider of care.
More than a few years ago, I can recall pulling up on scene because my company had to be called as backup, and seeing the look on the firefighter' s faces: it was one of "oh good it is them" as opposed to "oh crap it is them." I had never worked with those firefighters before, I had never seen those firefighters before, yet because of employees that came before me and their dedication to professionalism they made the uniform that we wore synonymous with professional personnel. That alone gave me instant credibility with the firefighters that I need was meeting for the very first time. After that, my activity on scene, my appearance, etc. maintained that impression that they had of employees from my company.
That company that I worked for had a very good working relationship with the fire department for many years. Certainly much more so than some of the other companies in the area, even though that fire department did their own transports. Even though we did not have any sort of a contract with that fire department, we were certainly the most preferred of the ambulance companies in the area to back them up. That certainly made for an interesting few years!
