What made you join EMS?

Having just come out of a career where 16-20 hour days, 5-6 days a week is the norm, I figured that i just was working hard enough for the tiny pay check i was reciveing!! So i looked around and found a even more insane job that might only be suitable for the functional mentally ill*

Seriously, I was killing myself for nothing at my old job and decided that if i was going to kill myself with work, that work might as well do a job where I have the possability of helping someone.




*No offence ment to the mentally ill.
 
Veneficus said:
Are you suggesting that most EMS providers have similar conditions?
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In some places, yes. In Florida the EMS is largely provided by the FD and 3rd service county systems which do pay well. California also has a similar situation. Like any job be it in health care or whatever, you may have to relocate to find your dream job that allows you to live comfortably and/or provide the satisfaction you desire for a career.

If your only goal is to be an EMT, then you may have to take your chances but even the FD and some county services will fairly well for that level.
 
There were two times that I've had to be taken to the hospital and both of those times I remember almost nothing as I was in and out of consciousness for most of the day. The few memories I do have are of the paramedics. I can't remember the hospital, or the doctors, or the nurses, just a bit of my parents but mainly the paramedics... Something about them really affected me I guess and ever since then I've wanted to be them. Wanted to be able to impact people's lives as much as they impacted mine.
 
I woke up one day and immediately after rolling out of bed, I decided to do it.


no really, thats how it happened. it just slapped me in the face one morning, and I haven't looked back since
 
well when I joined the army I wanted to be a combat medic but the guy in the very next cubicle got the last spot for that mos lol. so I did my 4 years as a cav scout and when I got out in 07 I did a few different jobs including driving a semi and well its something that I have always wanted to do. I was a vol firefighter for a couple of years and that didn't excite me like ems does so I decided to give it a whirl.
 
There's a waitlist for nursing schools
 
thats great.
 
Veneficus said:
Don't know about you guys, I'm in it for the money ;)
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bahahahaha......awesome.

i didnt find EMS it found me. took a class in high school that explored different medical professions. i just knew that riding the ambulance was something i didnt want to do. was so pissed that i had to even spend one day there let alone 2 days. (which was required) went one day ran ONE call and LOVED IT!!! from that moment on i just knew thats what i wanted. and here i am an EMT and happy.
 
basically after my high school anatomy and physiology class i fell "in love" (for lack of better words) with the medical field. i went from wanting to be everything from MD to ultrasound tech and everything in between. EMT and eventually medic is where i landed...who knows where this journey will end but i didnt learn on my observation in class that i prefer the Ambulance to the ER...not my thing unless i have to
 
I want to marry a doctor and figured this was the easiest way to hook one.
 
I was sitting in the grandstands at my local racetrack on the 4th of July. Before the races began one of the medics was sitting down a couple rows in front of me, and I was watching him talk to some people. I've always watched medics/firefighters and of course ambulances, etc. while their doing their thing, because it interested me, so that's what I was doing that night.

During one of the races, a 15-year old boy (racing in those little cars, ya know?) crashed on the 4th turn and had to be airlifted to a trauma center. I made my decision that night, that very moment as I sat in the silent crowd and watched the crew work to free him, that I was going to be a paramedic, and I haven't looked back since. In one second my mind changed from wanting to become a veterinarian to wanting to become a paramedic.

I too grew up watching Rescue 911, and I always watch medical shows on TV. I guess it just took something to big and close to hit that spark and tell me which way to go.

Emily
 
I know I already answered this once but something just hit me today... don't know if this happened to anyone else. You know those high school tests you take when you answer a bunch of questions and it tells you what field you should go in to... I think it's an interest/career survey? I remembered taking it in tenth grade and it said I should become a paramedic. Thought about that driving to school today to my EMT-B class... ironic how it took me 12 years to finally decide that the test was right.
 
I'm looking at EMS as a career change after a stagnant 20-year career in IT. I swear I'd end up punching my own ticket if I had to spend the next 20 years of my life sitting on my *** staring at a computer monitor 10 hours a day.

There is an element of necessity here too - I recently got laid off from my last IT job and am having no luck finding work whatsoever. All the work - what's left of it - is going to China, India, or naive new grads.

Moreover, I want to do something for a change that actually helps people and is the sort of work where I can take satisfaction in that I've made a difference in somebody's life.

I had an experience a few years ago where I was in a lone Good Samaritan situation and was present for the tragic death of a young woman. I remember the EMTs and LEOs that responded to my call (too late, unfortunately), and how they not only fought to save her but even showed concern for me and my well-being for having been there. This experience has stuck with me and I have wanted to do more to help people ever since.
 
I traveled to Rwanda, Africa in August of 2006, and June of 2007. I spent sometime in some of their local hospitals. One day I ran in to a kid who was about 8 years old, he had cut his leg pretty deep on a piece of glass, it was about a 2-3 inch gash on his inner thigh, but couldnt go to the hospital because he was a "street kid," (Street kids are considered worthless in Africa.) All I had in my first aid kit was some neosporin, gauze, advil, and bandaids. This kid clearly needed stitches but obviously I couldn't do that. So I cleaned the wound up, put some neosporin on it, and wrapped it with gauze. It healed up before we left, he had a gnarly scar but he was good to go

After that it was common sense for me. I enrolled in my college EMT class and I'm working on getting my paramedic requirements done, and considering going fire. I was thinking about doing nursing, but I can't really see myself working in a hospital, or office. I know theres other nursing opportunities but it didnt seem like the right fit.

Thats my story!
 
I can remember being fascinated by ambulances and their equipment since I was a toddler and living in California's "beautiful" San Fernando Valley, I got to see them a lot. I would always ask questions and if I saw a car accident, I would ask my mom to pull over and park so I could watch paramedics (never got in their way, was careful about that). When I was a teen I knew that I wanted to work in a medical setting but was not sure exactly what direction to go. I finally decided that EMT-B would be a great first step to a career. I'm looking forward to becoming a paramedic or RN. I think I'll still try to work with an ambulance company if I go the RN route.
 
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im almost done with my EMT-B and i have to say i started it because of the women. They lke uniforms and sirens. so i figured what the hell... Police get shot at... so that was a no. But hey Paramedics KEEP POLICE ALIVE, so that made my choice. Im a EMT-B and vol. Fire and vol. Rescue Squad and i wouldn't change it for anything now. since the first day in class i cant sy ive thought of anything else. I love it. even the labs and class talk and Triage labs we have are the funnest thing. Id rather be in class than at home or out of school. ^_^

Remember- If you wanna feel safe at night... sleep with an EMT!!
 
al.emt said:
im almost done with my EMT-B and i have to say i started it because of the women. They lke uniforms and sirens. so i figured what the hell... Police get shot at... so that was a no. But hey Paramedics KEEP POLICE ALIVE, so that made my choice. Im a EMT-B and vol. Fire and vol. Rescue Squad and i wouldn't change it for anything now. since the first day in class i cant sy ive thought of anything else. I love it. even the labs and class talk and Triage labs we have are the funnest thing. Id rather be in class than at home or out of school. ^_^

Remember- If you wanna feel safe at night... sleep with an EMT!!
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Try single-role fire, you'd fit in with them a lot better. Either that or FFS I hope you're kidding.
 
My FD neede one more body to fill the class to meet the reqs for a grant. So I was in.

I used to hate blood and body fluids. Anybodys blood except my own would turn my stomach. I figured having my basic could come in handy if we were on a fire and something happened to one of our guys. Had no intention of working an ambulance. Actually, if you had said ambulance to me before the class, I would have said ewwww, yuck. Then somehow by the end of class, the local ambulance service had talked me into riding as a third just to get some experience. So I was going to ride for 6 months, then ditch it and forget the whole thing unless a FF got injured on scene. By the time six months was up I was hooked. Now I have my Intermediate and hopefully someday will get my medic and keep on going with that. I am not really sure how I went from being scared of strangers and hating anything having to do with the human body to loving pt care and working with people and being a guy who lives for that good trauma run.
 
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