Who inspired you?

[dadotwins]

Over the years ,Having spoken with different EMT's , I find that there are as many different reasons that we became EMTs as there are EMTs. I am interested in knowing your inspiration. For Example: Both my mother's brothers served as Army Medics during Korea. So I trained as a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy. So my Uncles inspired me to be an EMT. Your turn!

 

[dadotwins]

Wingnut asked "What".

Our brother Wingnut asked "what" inspired you. Ole Dad wants to know "who".Maybe it was Johnny and Roy? But Who?

 

[KEVD18]

boredum. literally.

i had just gotten back from a tour on a dry bulk carrier on the lakes. i wasnt sure if i wanted to stay in the commercial shipping business or figure somethign else out. i had enough cash to kick around for a while without an agenda.

a friend of mine, well at the time a friend of a friend, owned an emt school. one day he said to me " i have a course starting next week. myabe you get bitten by the bug and make a career out of it. maybe you dont and go back to a ship but having the training cant hurt". so i did. got sucked into the vortex that is ems and emerged almost half a decade later, bitter jaded and angry at the world.

the ironic part, im going back to shipping. much better money. i wont have to carry people down triple deckers at 3am so they can go beg percs off the er residents. very little chance of getting puked on. better money. better working conditions. a job that doesnt want to make me kill stupid people in droves. did i mention the money isnt too shabby?

 

[only1jomo]

I've always wanted to be in the medical field. I was bumping around the idea of er or peds nurse until I recentley witnessed a fatal hit and run accident, by a drunk driver, in front of my house. I felt this overwhelming need to do something but what could I do, I knew nothing about what those poor people needed. So I did my best to help with the family of the victem that died. When paramedics arrived they were calm, comforting and professional and I knew right at that moment that I needed to do that.

 

[LucidResq]

Having an epileptic dad who also did lots of fun stuff like blow up a propane tank in his face and crash his car into a house kept me really familiar with the local paramedics and ER staff.

I was also pretty accident-prone as a youngster.

Medics, nurses and doctors were always great to me. Would bring me ice cream and blow up gloves to have volleyball matches in the ICU.

 

[EMTCop86]

My drivers ed teacher. He was a volunteer fire fighter and he kept telling us all these stories about things he had done and was showing us pictures. I signed up for the explorer program and then became a volunteer. I loved the medical aids more then I did the fire calls. I got burned out and left to go to school for a while. I am now wanting to get back into it but am going to get my EMT rather then going into the fire department.

 

[41 Duck]

Friend of mine was killed after an MVA. Was left walking around on-scene for twenty minutes, repeating: "I've killed Joey, I've killed Joey, I've killed Joey."

I've always suspected he was mishandled. I wasn't there, so I don't know and I can't say for certain. And yes, my emotional attachment to him, I'll allow, may be wishing to blame the providers because it's human nature to want to blame SOMEONE. So I'm guilty of being human. There's worse crimes.

But my departed friend, Jon, is really the reason why I'm in this.


Later!

--Coop

 

[flhtci01]

I first got pulled into trauma by ski patrol. Did that for years before I happened on an offset head-on MVC and had the people triaged out before the rig arrived. One of the vollies responding was a former classmate who suggested I become an EMT.

 

[Sasha]

Honestly? Its a loooong story. Kind of.

First, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I was going to high school, but we have magnet programs here with different career paths, like computer technology, broadcasting, etc and one that was called the Academy of Health Careers. It gave you a step up if you wanted to enter the health field

Originally I had no interest going into the health field, but I wanted to be different from the mainstream crowd so I went to the health academy high school. So my history classes dealt heavily with ancient medicines, we had a class that taught health sciences, CPR, how to take BPs, medical terminology, went in depth in to a&p. It was great. I fell in love with health care, but I wanted to go to nursing school.

Well due to depression and family stuff during high school my grades were not that great, Im not stupid, but my grades were low especially in math, so the nursing schools I wanted to go to either rejected me or had a year and a half waiting list so I of course was totally discouraged!

My family was harping on me to get into college get into college. So I found the EMT program at a private college down the street and totally fell in love with EMS. I loved dealing with patients and I loved the amazing feeling I got from my rides.

I eventually will go into nursing but for right now im content being an EMT and eventually being a medic

 

[stephenrb81]

I actually started out as a Sys Admin for a local dial-up ISP. The company was sold and outsourced six years ago. I was looking around for another job but there just wasn't anything available that could utilize my computer skills. Family suggested I look into Healthcare. "There's always a need for those in healthcare", they would say. I was told about an EMT course so I contacted the instructor, had a sit down with her and was really impressed about the world of EMS so I signed up.

I have not *once* regretting my career move from IT to Healthcare. During my 5 years I have worked with a wide variety of individuals, but one partner stands out. He was an EXCEPTIONAL medic. He was intelligent, fun to hang around, and the level of compassion he shown patients was above and beyond what I have seen others use. I wanted to be *THAT* kind of paramedic, hence my jump to medic school.

 

[Airwaygoddess]

An old diploma nurse and Johnny and Roy!!

My mother was an old school diploma nurse (R.N.) so I have always been around the medical profession in one way or another. As far as EMS goes, being 12 years old and see Johnny and Roy run a call on that show EMERGENCY! That is when I fell in love with EMS, and having some wonderful mentors a long the way!


KMG365!!! B)

 

[mycrofft]

Who got me started or who inspired me?

I'd like to thank the Academy (of Orthopaedic Surgeons.. )...

I guess retired LAPD lieutenant Detective Donald Mann and his wife, an ex-WASP named Laila, who hired me on green as a vacaton dockhand and lifeguard when I was nineteen years old. They inspired me with their integrity and their willingness to take on an untrained (well, I did pass the ARC classes) and apply their parenting skills to help me learn about responsibility and the willingness to be prepared then step up.
They also let me take out their younger daughter. Brave, too!

 

[grumpy1]

My dad, I grew up visiting him at the fire or ambulance station and sitting in the trucks.

 

[Oregon]

sorry, long story

I dropped out of law school because it was no fun, just rote learning and spitting back stuff I read out of a book. I promised family that I would go back to school if I didn't find a decent job in 5 years. During that time, my husband had several major medical issues, and as I interacted with his doctors, several suggested that I go to medical school...saying I'd make a good doctor?
I gave it some thought, and wondered if I'd faint at the sight of blood, hate touching people, barf if someone barfed on me, etc.
Knowing that I would never have wasted all that money on law school if I had know how much I was going to hate it, I decided to get my feet wet in the EMT class that was just starting up Winter term up at my old community college.
I had just been accepted as an active member of my SAR group, and was digging the wilderness thing, and it turned out my instructor had a fondness for the wilderness side of the house. As the days went by in class, I learned just how lucky I was to have him teaching me ( the man is a legend...one of the first Paramedics in this area.) I want to be just like him when I grow up (if I have to grow up.)
Oh, sure, I'm still going to apply to medical school. But inspiration for the whole EMS thing comes from him. He's always going to classes, reading the journals, learning new stuff. He showed me that being an EMT is a dynamic position...always something new to learn even if it's your 35th blister patient of the day.

 

[imurphy]

When I was 16, my first instructor was in a volunteer ambulance. I had just completed a First Aid course and thought it would be something I wanted to expand on! When I went to the first course my instructor was already a number of years in the service and was a fantastic instructor and a fantastic person. I loved his instruction method, including if I did something wrong getting smacked in the back of the head! Made me a better EMT!! I've NEVER forgotten anythign he taught me!

 

[BossyCow]

I was most inspired by a husband/wife medic team. They taught the classes at the first vollie fire department I was in. They really lived their beliefs in how a rural community works togther when the excrement hits the ventilation device. We had dances to purchase equipment. We got together socially on non emergency occasions. And when the husband developed pancreatic cancer we took shifts monitoring him so he could die at home. Then we cried together and went back to work together.

Rural EMS, truly way out in the dingleberries rural EMS is more about a community working together to provide through sweat what you can't get from taxes. (Yes we do it for roads, garbage and water as well).

 

[marineman]

I had a whole list of luck happenings in my life so that EMS just fell in my lap. Growing up I was a boy scout and first aid was always my favorite part. In high school I never really thought about a career as I was 100% dead set that I was going to be a Marine. During senior year of high school I got in an internship course so I could go to work and get school credits for the second half of the day. I got an internship in the office of my local ambulance service through contacts my mom has made (she's a secretary at a hospital). While I was working there I got to ride on the ambulance for some mock accidents and it was the most fun I'd ever had so I signed up for a first responder class. After my internship was done and I was heading for boot the boss came to me and said if you ever want to be a paramedic call me. Went in the military briefly before being medically disqualified. Came home and got a CDL and started driving a truck never thinking about EMS anymore. I had one particularly bad day at work, I called my old boss and told him I wanted to be a paramedic in the heat of the moment and now here I am, two months into medic class.

 

[Nephemera]

It was...kind of an accident, really. I'd always wanted to go into the medical field, but the more I was around hospitals and clinics, the more I realized how much I hated most of the people that worked in those places.

At age 18, I was a mess. Drinking, partying, dropped out of high school...I was just a worthless bum going nowhere. Joined the army to get out.

I chose to be a medic, since I still wanted to be in the medical field. The first part of our training was EMT-B certification, which I really enjoyed.

To make a long story short...I went AWOL after I got my cert, got discharged, came back home, had my baby and went to work as a part-time EMT for the local ambulance service. Rural area, so it alternates between periods of insanity and periods of sheer boredom, but I've been hooked ever since.

 

[KEVD18]

well thats a whole lot of information for your fourth post.....

 

[mycrofft]

I'm surprised (B.Cow...)

Non of our rural folks has mentioned author Michael Perry.

http://www.amazon.com/Population-Meeting-Your-Neighbors-Siren/dp/B0006SHMHA