What made you start?

I knew from the time I was five years old I would be a police officer...........

Then one summer day in 1983 my father was electrocuted with 220v for 2.5 minutes. 911 was brand new at the time. I was with him on a service call (he owned a successful HVAC company).

I dialed 911 and EMS responded. I became an EMT first, worked for the very service that picked up my dad. (He is still alive, had numerous reconstructive surgeries and was never the same).

I went on and became a medic, then a police officer ( and now have been an instructor in both).

And as far as the second part.......... Yes. EMS has always taken care of my family.

I have never been rich, but I have served many communities proudly.
 
I haven't started yet but I want to pursue a career in EMS because I was interested in helping people and medicine. I originally wanted to be a cop but some of the cops are up themselves and then you have those :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:s who mistreat and shoot at cops who are only there to help. I also wouldn't like to use a gun, something I feel is necessary for cops but I don't think I could hurt someone on purpose, as I want to preserve life. I also don't want 9-5 hours and to be stuck in an office all day. At least if your not responding to a call you can take a 5 minute break and sit outside in the fresh air. To me this makes EMS a logical career choice for me. I just hope I get into the University Course. Then as soon as I can, I will try to go for MICA course.

The only thing I don't like is that where I am its two 10 hour day shifts followed by two 14 hour night shifts and from I hear, It can be really really busy and really stressful, but then you get 4 days off.
 
I was kind of bouncing along, not knowing what I wanted out of life. I had a BA, but it was in Studio Art from a lib arts college, and I had always felt a bit bad about not pursuing a science. (I took physics classes for fun during college).

Then I witnessed a car accident, and I was the only person there with their head on straight. Everyone else was freaking out. But I didn't know what to do, really. I decided then and there that I would do whatever it took to be the person who can handle any emergency. That, of course, is EMS/Fire!

However, now that I've gone through clinicals, and I know that it's not all lights and sirens and excitement, I'm mostly in it for the geriatrics. I /loved/ all my time in the ER, talking to the old people there. But I could never work exclusively in a SNF, so EMS is still the right path for me, I think.
 
We're not in it for the money?! :unsure:
 
I've cheated death more than one time. The worse one was a car pulling in front of me when driving Code 3 (in a van) tried to avoid her which didn't work...and crossed a 4' wide 3' deep ditch without rolling the truck nearly going into a building. Followed by....ABD bleed post surgery 10 hours with multiple syncopal episodes being my clue....being hit across the face and having the MD telling my mother I should be dead with the blow that I took.

I truely believe I have been spared because I have more people to help. Guess that would be about the size up since I just had my 14th "true" cardiac arrest save walk out of the hospital!
 
I went into EMS for the same four reasons everybody goes into EMS...

1. Chicks
2. Money
3. Glory
4. Chicks

And I am happy with it, despite having found out that none of these four things actually existed.

(before anybody says anything, that was all tongue-in-cheek)

Real answer:

The truth is, I don't know why. When I was 17, my grandfather coded and was taken to the hospital via EMS. He didn't survive. I had an immediate negative opinion of EMS right off the bat. I didn't know anything about cardiac arrest survival rates or anything like that. All I knew was that one minute my grandfather was here and the next he was gone, and EMS couldn't do anything about it.

Two years later, I had just dropped out of college for the second time and was looking on the local community college's website for something to do with my life until I figured out what I "really" wanted to do. I saw the EMT program and just said "F:censored: it, I'll do that." Now, the most flippant decision I ever made has turned into a career I love. What was intended to be a stepping stone has become what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Do I like it? I guess so, since I don't plan on leaving anytime soon.

As for my future goals, here's my checklist...

[ ] PA EMT-P
[ ] NREMT-P
[ ] AAS in EMS
[ ] CCEMT-P

I start paramedic school this fall. Upon completion, I should have both my PA EMT-P and NREMT-P. After that, I plan to gradually whittle away at my AAS. Whenever I have the opportunity to do CCEMT-P, I will take it.

This is gonna be fun... ^_^
 
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I've always wanted to work in the medical arena. I grew up watching my dad(chiropractor) have patients come in with ridiculous pain and leave with a smile. I was always fascinated with it, and I've always wanted and felt a need to help people as well. 4 years ago I found that lifeguarding gave me the thrill I was seeking as well as provided for my passion with helping and caring for people. Signed up for an emt class this year because I needed the cert for a promotion at work, but after doing ride-alongs and seeing the emergency medical field, I'm hoping to work part time on an ambulance during the school year as well. After the whole college thing hopefully I'll be headed to chiropractic college to continue doing what I love: helping people in need
 
I'm 34 i been in the fire/ems field for 19 years.I got started in the emergency service because i love helping people in my community.My grandfather interested me in the emergency service he was 1st assist fire chief for 30+ years before he passed away in 2003.My family is involved eighter in fire or ems.
 
Of all three emergency response jobs (fire dept, police, and ems), EMS appealed to me the most.

I thought about doing police work, but I am not a violent person, and I believe that my passiveness could lead to myself or someone else getting hurt in that career field.

My other possible career is fire fighting, but due to the rarity of payed departments nearby, I decided not to do it.

Last, but ofc not least (since I am here) was being an EMT. I never thought about it until recently and really never noticed them other than rarely passing by them when driving or seeing them on a TV show. But they play a very important role in health care and do make a difference between life and death. I like the idea of saving someone's life, I have no problem working under pressure, and like the idea of working with firefighters, police officers, and fellow EMTs.

But the downsides are the low pay for starting off, but I presume that with additional training, I will start making a lot better moolah. But it's not like I care much about money anyway...

I just want to be the guy walking on the scene who can make the difference between life or death and who others look up to.
 
I had some basic first aid skills, the kind you get from being a mom and doing some first aid courses. I was always interested in learning more but was always too busy until one new years eve night in a strange city when talking to a local police man some yob came up behind him and broke a full bottle of vodka over the back of his head. Right in front of us, thank goodness it was vodka and not a gun they had.

He went down like a ton of bricks and we were covered in vodka and glass. My husband and I took care of him as best we could but we felt really lost as to what to do.

His fellow policemen were more interested in finding the perp than helping this poor fellow. We waited for an ambulance but before it came the other policemen hauled the young man up semi conscious and thanked us for our help before shoving him into the back of a patrol car.

Even with our limited training we knew this was wrong but we had no power to stop them.

We then started thinking about how isolated we were in our rural town and how we could train and maybe help out more in future.

So we did and now we are so happy that we have gone down this road, its not as exciting as it would be in a big city but its great to be able to do something and its even better to know what not to do.

We found out later that the young cop had a skull fracture and he recovered, the yob that hit him had some terminal condition and a real gripe against cops, he was arrested but did not survive until trial.
 
In all honesty I never planned on a career in EMS. All my life I intended to be a soldier, but I fractured my tibia in the second to last week of BCT. I got a medical discharge and wondered "What now?". I started talking to a friend that is an ex-EMT and thought that might be a job I would like. Once I got to my MFR class and started learning I was hooked.
 
My grandfather was fire chief in my hometown FD, so I followed in his footsteps with that one. I have always been interested in medical careers as well as Emergency Response careers and was swayed into it by a paramedic friend of mine.
 
so you mean to tell me that everyone did not get into EMS for the money?
 
nmasi said:
so you mean to tell me that everyone did not get into EMS for the money?
Click to expand...

Ha. Haaahaaa. Haaahaaaahaaaahaaaahaaaa. HAHAAAAAAHAAAAAAA!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
 
nmasi said:
so you mean to tell me that everyone did not get into EMS for the money?
Click to expand...

For a split second I thought it was sacasm.

Then I realized that he was serious.
 
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