Am I to old to start?

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Hello, I am 36 years old and have worked since I was 16. Recently i left a job that I wasn't happy with. I have some money saved up and looking for different career options. Ems is one of the things that I'm looking in to. I enjoy helping people and I'm in pretty good physical condition. There is a local emt school that starts in April. My last job I was working 60+ hours a week and didn't have the time to spend with my family that I wanted. What I am wondering is if it is too late for me to become an ems provider? Would I be pretty easy to find work once I completed the training? Hope I am posting in right section and if not please move to the right section. I also hope I've used the right acronyms because there is a lot of them. Thanks for listing and any advice is welcome and appreciated.
 
Definitely not too old to become an EMT, not by a long shot.

Job opportunities for EMT's are very location-specific. In your area there may be pretty good places to work that offer a good schedule and working conditions, or there may not be.

Unfortunately, EMTs generally make very little hourly and many work overtime routinely just to bring home a decent paycheck. In the right circumstances that might not be bad (if you get to sleep most nights on 24's, for instance), but at a busy service the shifts might be exhausting.

Paramedics make more than EMTs, and there are some really good jobs out there for paramedics, but in many places they still don't make much money.
 
I was older than you when I switched to EMS. You'll have a better chance of finding a job than young folks, the age/family makes you a better candidate. But yes, the paycheck is miserable & OT is what pays the bills.
 
The one concern I have about your post is your preference to cut back on 60-hour work weeks. Depending on your financial situation, you might have to work that much or more to make ends meet as an EMT (or even as a medic).
 
As above, not too old, but... At 36 with a family, money and retirement are concerns. The average EMS career lasts something like 5-10 years, after which point many people go into nursing, PA (physician assistant), other allied health careers (Respiratory Therapist, XRay Tech, etc), or leave healthcare altogether. The fact is that EMS is relatively demanding physically, and is not something most people do until retirement. Do you want to be carrying people down stairs at 4am for $25/hr when you're 50?

I would absolutely encourage you to become an EMT. I don't think you would regret taking the EMT course in April. EMT-Basic is a great way to get some experience and see some of what healthcare has to offer. However, I would ask you to think long and hard before making the jump to becoming a paramedic. Working as an EMT will help you figure out if you really do love EMS, or if some other healthcare job would be better suited for you (or if you hate healthcare and want to do something unrelated).
 
In many ways I'm right there with Gurby and most of the above posters. No, 36 is not too old to get into EMS. As I have said before, if you're not dead, you're not too old. That being said, you do have to look at your situation to determine if making the jump into EMS is the right thing for you. Working 60+ hours per week (sometimes that's done in only 3 days per week) is often necessary to bring home a reasonable-enough paycheck to pay the bills and modestly provide for a family. Sometimes even that isn't enough. Finding a job as an EMT can range from simply having a pulse and a cert and you're hired to having to compete for spots and taking months (or more) to get a position anywhere.

You rarely find old people working in the field in EMS. It is a bit of a grind every day and that can just wear you down. Pretty much wherever you go, you'll find a very few people that have been there since the dawn of time and a bunch of relatively new people that have worked in the field 5 years or less. I worked as a field provider for 7 years. I changed careers twice since then and now I'm an RN. Lots of EMS folks either move up the food chain in medicine and become nurses, PA's, RT's or others or they get out of EMS altogether and it happens pretty rapidly, often within 7 years of beginning work in the field.

Regardless, become an EMT, find a job doing that while still looking for another job that will meet your family's needs. If EMT work does manage to meet your family's needs, great! Use the EMT job to find out if you really want to continue working as a healthcare provider. A huge amount of the work you'll do in healthcare boils down to listening to people and holding their hand. Sometimes you're able to make a bit of a difference. I have a few CPR saves that made it to hospital but because I couldn't follow-up on them, I have no idea of their eventual outcomes.
 
"Paychecks are miserable, OT pays the bills."

Will never understand why people accept that crap.
 
Too old??? I will be 53 in May and qualified as an EMT only 6 years ago...
 
Chewy20 said:
"Paychecks are miserable, OT pays the bills."

Will never understand why people accept that crap.
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Because in most areas, the supply of workers exceeds demand, which makes EMS very much an employer's market. And if your only formal education is a 150hr EMT course, you may not even have the option to do any better in another line of work. It's just all that's available to them at that point in their life, for whatever reason, or least all that's available to someone who wants to make a living as an EMT.

And given that few people stay career EMT's for the long-term, it appears that not too many people do "accept that crap" for more than a few years, anyway.
 
No, you are not to old to start. When I went through EMT school there was a dude in his 60's that went through.

Now as far as pay its VERY area specific. Look where I'm at for example. California, Southern California to be specific. Where theres literally an ambulance company on every street corner (LACo for example) and the cost of living is through the roof. Generally EMT's in So CAL will make minimum wage to about $12 and hour depending on the company. You generally won't see an EMT making anything above the $15/hr mark. What it mostly boils down to is the fact that EMT's are a dime a dozen down here. Plus the fact that most ambulance companies are private for profit. Now don't get me wrong, you could make a living as a paramedic at a private ambulance company. Many people have done this. But generally the pay isn't as great and neither is the retirement. The only exception to this case in CA is Hall ambulance in Kern Co. where you can make a good living and have a decent retirement. Now if you take a look at Sussex Co. in Delaware for example. This is a county EMS system and while yes I don't know to much about it I believe its a non profit system. Take that and cost of living in Delaware which I have no idea but it can't be as bad as CA and you make good money with a good retirement. I'm sure @chaz90 could shed more light on everything cause I'm most likely wrong.

It all depends on where you're located. If you're in Southern California, then yes you'll have to work OT to make ends meat and support your family. If you find a good county system that pays well (with cost of living factored in) then you can make decent money and support a family. Generally an EMT job is viewed as a stepping stone. You'll rarely see EMT's spend a career on a ambulance, even paramedics for that matter. Most move on to RN, PA, MD, Fire, or they leave it as a whole. Am I going to be a EMT for the rest of my life? God I hope not. Would I stay a EMT if I found a good system with good pay and all that jazz? No. I want to be a medic and I want to go fire. I love fire and EMS. Some people find they like nursing more, or flight, or whatever. Point is its a lot like real estate, location, location, location.
 
Thanks everyone for all the replies. I am located about 30 miles west of Atlanta Georgia. I'm seriously thinking this is the career move that I want to make. Does anyone have a list of what all the acronyms? There is a lot of them and I would like to have a reference list while I do further research. Thanks again for all the answers.
 
Absolutely not! I had a class mate when I was in EMT school who was in his mid/late 40s and easily was the oldest in the class. He did just fine. Also several in their 30s, or almost 30, myself included.
 
Chimpie said:
Thanks. Sometimes, when so manadding to the quote is le are replying, if you don't quote the question you're answering it gets confusing. :)
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No problem. The forums oftentimes get wonky when accessed from a phone & adding quotes is complicated.
 
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