Midterms

[Ninja Geoff]

Our course is roughly 130 hours as well. Ohio is the leading state in EMS care. To be fair though, as basics we can only intubate someone who is pulseless and apneic. A simple compromised airway is not within our SOP. But if they're basically dead anyway, we're puttin' a tube in. We can do aspirin, oral glucose, prescribed nitro, prescribed epi-pens, and prescribed albuterol inhalers, but we would still need to get authorization from medical control for all of that. Oh yeah, and activated charcoal is in our SOP, but apparently it's just not done around here prehospitally.

I'll most likely head on to at least the intermediate level - there's just so much more benefit to the patient. I might even venture into the paramedic level. But before any of that, I'll be doing level I firefighting training to see if I might like that more. Which ever one I enjoy the most is the one that I'll pursue past the basic level.

We ran some practice sessions tonight in class with our trauma assessments, and I got 37 out of 40 without missing any critical criteria. Yay! Trauma assessment is the only practical I've been worried about, but I'm feeling better about it now.

Cheers,
Loonette

Gotcha on the number 1 thing . I think MA was the second to last state to adopt EMS as the main/only pre-hospital care service, so we're a little behind . I've also thought about taking the "Fire Science Technologies" course at GCC, it's an Associates of Science degree. The EMS courses count for up to 14 credits of that, so it'd have a decent head start. Though I wouldn't take it up until i take the afor mentioned bio and pharm classes.

So you need med-con for all that stuff? The only thing we need med-con for is the charcoal. And med-con hates charcoal in this area i guess. I don't blame them. Region 1 (aka western MA) is pretty good about what their basics can and can't do without calling it in i guess. And from what I've heard, the teacher I have is one of the best teachers for the course in the state. Comments have been made by testers that he "really pounds this stuff into us".

And if you want to do my med assessments, I'll do your traumas

So what made you guys decide to do these courses?

idk really. I was sitting in the laundromat reading the community college brochure out of complete boredom and saw the class listed, and for some reason, i really wanted to do it. I'm so glad I have too. It's amazing how much stuff I've learned in it that I didn't realize that I would. I've also met some great people (one in particular . Now I just need to stay out of the "friend zone":roll:). And for once in my life I look foward to class.

[Loonette]

Gotcha on the number 1 thing . I think MA was the second to last state to adopt EMS as the main/only pre-hospital care service, so we're a little behind .

Trust me though... Ohio is a little behind on a lot of other stuff, so it all evens out, I suppose.

I've also thought about taking the "Fire Science Technologies" course at GCC, it's an Associates of Science degree.

Our paramedics program gives us a 4-year nursing degree (with the course condensed into roughly 2 1/2 years). But from what I've heard, it's the EMT-intermediate program that is the toughest to complete/pass.

So you need med-con for all that stuff? The only thing we need med-con for is the charcoal. And med-con hates charcoal in this area i guess. I don't blame them.

We need med-con if there is no intermediate or paramedic on board. But yeah, if it's just a couple of basics, we have to call it in. It's more to protect our butts in court than anything else. And Ohio is in the process of revamping our system. Eventually basics will do more stuff like intermediates do. In the future there will most likely be two main levels instead of three. Makes sense... we learn the stuff - there's no reason we shouldn't perform it as well.

One more thing I forgot to mention. We had to complete a couple of FEMA online courses for "NIMS" (national incident management system). All I learned from that experience is that FEMA is a bureaucratic joke, and I doubt if our country could ever truly be prepared for a serious national incident. As a matter of fact, this NIMS program and training went into effect after 9-11, and was in full use during Hurricane Katrina. Didn't do too well, did we? I still believe that people in general perform much better on a localized level than a national one. OK - rant of the day over...

So what made you guys decide to do these courses?

Since my first child was born over 11 years ago, "Scan" has been the paycheck monkey of the family, and I haven't had the financial need to work outside of the house. Aside of my part-time job as a film projectionist and playing around on my motorcycle, I haven't been doing a whole lot with myself out in the big world. I knew that as my kids got older and would need me less, I would want to have something for myself that was meaningful and productive.

We live in a very small village that relies heavily on their volunteer fire and rescue department. Our community takes excellent care of our elderly residents, and this also falls into the services provided by our volunteer fire & rescue department (we don't even charge our residents for ambulance runs - no matter what - it's all covered by our taxes). So this service is of huge benefit to our community members, including me and my family. Anyway... volunteerism is right up my alley (again, don't really need an income right now). So here I am. Also, I would be too old to be considered as a firefighter for most departments that pay for their employees, so I'll be offered an opportunity to pursue something that might not otherwise be feasible.

Now... should I ever need to earn an income using these skills, I might be screwed. People are waiting in line for jobs at fire departments, so I might have to find a better use for these skills if needed. But for now, it's a good fit.

Cheers,
Loonette

[Ninja Geoff]

(we don't even charge our residents for ambulance runs - no matter what - it's all covered by our taxes).

wow... Hats off to your community. Seriously. They're a good $400 around here.

Now... should I ever need to earn an income using these skills, I might be screwed. People are waiting in line for jobs at fire departments, so I might have to find a better use for these skills if needed. But for now, it's a good fit.

Cheers,
Loonette

Ah, well, this is part of it as well. Baystate (aka the Death Star) is always looking for people per diem for their ambulance service. Most of the hospitals in western MA are part of the Baystate system, so I could be based out of Franklin Med in the next town over. And admitedly, a job is one of the reasons I originally wanted to get into EMS. Though I also want to Volunteer in my old home town on days off. And the couple of hospitals around here have a tendancy to hire EMT-B's for some LPN styled positions in ER's too. Not too recently, the hospital about 30 minutes south of me was looking for ER techs. Basically taking vitals and doing paper work. While not putting my full training to use, it's a job if I need it and can't get one with an ambulance service.