I've meet him; a "Paragod"

MMiz

I put the M in EMTLife
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I've only been in EMS for a few months, but just last week I had the opportunity to meet my first "Paragod". It was quite an experience. I've learned that in my county there are two levels of being an EMT: Paramedic, and the rest are just ambulance drivers. I was able to laugh about it after the call when we were going back to our post, but I admit it was frustrating. If ever there was any doubt I'm only an EMT-Basic, he sure let me know.

It's all part of the job I guess.
 

SafetyPro2

Forum Safety Officer
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Unfortunately, there's a lot of that here in LA County as well due to how EMS works here.

Most all FFs are EMT-1s, but the Paramedics are the lead on EMS calls. Its not so bad amongst the FD personnel since they're all FFs together and the Paramedics do usually let the FD EMTs do what they can.

Private ambulance company EMTs, however, are generally looked-upon as "ambulance drivers" by the FD Paramedics. In the situations where a private ambulance does transport for a FD, the FD Paramedic will end up riding in the ambulance and being the primary patient-care person. Private ambulance EMTs usually only get to do their own patient care on inter-facility transports where the FD's not involved.
 
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MMiz

MMiz

I put the M in EMTLife
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I guess in a sense I understand the viewpoint from FD folks that we are just transporters. The private company I work for just got their first contract for a city. We respond with BLS, ALS, Critical Care, and Paramedic First Responders (in Tahoes). The city has only a volunteer FD, and PD will respond to EMS calls just to see what's going on.

It's the paramedics that work for our own company that are the paragods. While almost everyone else has been nothing but amazing toward me, there are those few paramedics who can't stand us basics. I sometimes want to remind them they they are just a paramedic, not a MD. But of course I wouldn't.

I do understand the whole ambulance driver standpoint from many FDs though. Around here in many cities an ALS or BLS crew will transport with a FF-Medic in the back doing the primary treatment.

I guess it's just one of those things in EMS, one that I'll have to accept. This surely doesn't spoil the job, I've met some amazing people in EMS, and one or two paragods :D
 

ffemt8978

Forum Vice-Principal
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I've met a couple of the paragods before. How's that saying go? Oh yeah, Paramedics save lives, EMTs save Paramedics.

I will say that the worst case of Ambulance Driver Syndrome I've seen was with a ICU nurse that was attending one of my CPR classes for her recert. I was pointing out the differences between ER CPR and field CPR (ie., wedged between the toilet and the shower at 0300 versus a well lit ER with plenty of room and lots of help). The nurse made the comment that all ambulance providers are nothing more than an overpriced, glorified taxi service. I politely reminder her that without the ambulances, she wouldn't be working in the ICU but probably the morgue.
 

medic1emt

Forum Ride Along
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B) i have been in the ems transport service for 12 years, and i have met many "paragod's", some are fresh outta registry or school and others seem to think the medic patch is linked with being God. during my years i have found that some are harmless and can be rationed with after many arguments to prove even though i am just an emt-basic, i have the knowledge they do, but just dont have the cert to do it. the other ones are the stubborn headed medics that wont listen to the emt, so it takes them to get on a bad call and to need the emt to realize, hey i used to be a basic too, and this usually calms them down. then there is a few that u just ignore and do what you need to do. i try to argue the point that we are a team no matter what our levels are. it takes both of us to run and transport a pt to the hospital
 

cbdemt

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I thought that my basic instructor was a Paragod... since then I’ve realized that he's just been doing his job for a long time and has a very low tolerance for stupidity.
 

rescuecpt

Community Leader Emeritus
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There's a paragod in my FD... one night while I was taking my Critical Care class I pointed out to the Chiefs (non-EMTs) that when I finish I would be able to do everything the paragod could do (I just have to call medical control for a couple things he can do as standing orders, and he can do a needle crich but how many ops are there for that in my little neighborhood anyway), so I expect to be called "Goddess" once my card arrives.

My CC card should be here anyday, so hopefully they're getting the rose petals ready to throw at my feet. :p

HAHAHAHAHAHA!
 
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