EMS Abroad?

[mrswicknick]

Anyone know of any companies that will send volunteers for international disaster relief?

 

[usafmedic45]

Anyone know of any companies that will send volunteers for international disaster relief?

Suffice to say without a lot of experience and additional training, throwing an American EMT-B into a true disaster scenario is about like handing a kindergartner a fire hose and sending them into a burning building. If people wouldn't suffer as a result, it would be damn funny to watch.

I know it sounds exciting but most disaster relief is boring, dry and repetitive and has little to do with what EMTs think of when they hear it. The chances of you crawling into a collapsed building to rescue a set of adorable quintuplets to emerge, covered in concrete dust, sweat and maybe a little blood is the exception to the rule. If you really want to know what it involves, it's handing out food, maybe lugging around dead bodies, unloading trucks and doing minor first aid to the walking wounded.

By the time any teams but the front line international deployment qualified USAR teams get even to the point of the pre-deployment bag drag, the patients that would attract the attention of the average EMT-B have either been rescued and evacuated or are already starting to decompose. Sorry to be a wet blanket, but someone has to interject a dose of reality into threads like this.

 

[bigbaldguy]

Anyone know of any companies that will send volunteers for international disaster relief?

Generally not as a basic I've looked pretty carefully, let me know if you find anything though. Most programs want at least a paramedic and many want RNs at a minimum.

 

[mrswicknick]

usafmedic45 I appreciate the reality. Im relatively new to the field with only a month of working, but its always good to know options. I spent a lot of time in high school volunteering abroad and wondered if there were ways to use my EMT cert to help in more ways.

 

[unitedterra]

I'll tell you what far wiser people have told me when I started asking about this, start locally. I see you're in WA, stop in at your local Red Cross and see if they have any local disaster relief programs. Or if you want some occasional excitement look around for local SAR groups. WA is a lot like my area (the Upper Peninsula of MI) and we get tons of snowmobilers in the winter and hikers in the summer that get lost or injured and need help. Get experience and your EMT-P and then start looking toward national disaster relief like FEMA.

Or in another vein, the National Guard is an option. Our battalion med unit just went to Haiti for their three week annual training to provide medical support for the people there. We are also our state's quick reaction force to get called up in state emergencies (tornadoes, floods, etc.) Probably not what you're looking for, but I'm just throwing out ideas. Good luck on your search!