the 100% directionless thread

[abckidsmom]

My new running shoes have a 5 am appointment with destiny tomorrow. The goal is to have 200 miles on these shoes by mid-November or sooner. The Tough Mudder is October 23. Getting close now!

 

[JPINFV]

And I won't even begin to get into discussing how the volunteers doing EMS are doing it because they actually want to as opposed to the career firefighters, most of whom do EMS only because they must do. Or, more specifically, I won't begin to get into discussing that people who want to do something, and actively pursue training, education, and practice related to it, tend to be better at something than those who don't want to do it but are made to as part of their job.

If they want to do it, why not treat it like a profession instead of a hobby? If volunteers are pure and want to pursue training, education, and practice, then they wouldn't have a problem becoming paramedics with, at minimum, an associates degree, right?

 

[usalsfyre]

Covering a high school football game. The Cougars are playing the....Cougars?

 

[abckidsmom]

Covering a high school football game. The Cougars are playing the....Cougars?

LOL. Our high school team, whose school was destroyed last week and whose stadium was vandalized with the opposing team's colors last night, is KILLING the bigtime rival team.

In the first quarter, they pushed for 34-0. 4 possessions, 4 touchdowns.

Tonight, the coaches are thankful for the earthquakes, bringing the motivation.

 

[HotelCo]

It's official. I'm crazy about my iPad. It's already transformed the way I'm able to stay up to date on the news I care about. That alone made it worth the money.

Any other iPad users out there? What apps can't you live without?

 

[Cup of Joe]

It's official. I'm crazy about my iPad. It's already transformed the way I'm able to stay up to date on the news I care about. That alone made it worth the money.

Any other iPad users out there? What apps can't you live without?

Yep....I hate that the New York Times now requires you to pay for their news. The app is free, but you have to pay for a subscription.

Oh, and Angry Birds HD is great. It has gotten me through very long stretches of being extremely bored.

Solitaire HD is good too if you like solitaire, and its free.

 

[Sasha]

So 1.5hrs till the.end of my shift.

Guess what im doing.

Road trip to Cleveland, OH!!!!!!!

4hrs away.

Woohoo girl! get that OT! You gotta pay for the wedding somehow!

 

[saskvolunteer]

It's official. I'm crazy about my iPad. It's already transformed the way I'm able to stay up to date on the news I care about. That alone made it worth the money.

Any other iPad users out there? What apps can't you live without?

I'm a big iPad user and a huge Twitter fiend. I also enjoy a good dose of humor so I've got apps like TFLN and DYAC. I like to laugh often. Use it constantly when traveling and love everything about it.


Sent from my pencil and paper.

 

[usafmedic45]

Blah...what a boring night.

 

[medic417]

Blah...what a boring night.

Yes totally quite. Nothings happening. All in EMS will sleep all night undisturbed. :rofl:

 

[Anjel]

Yes totally quite. Nothings happening. All in EMS will sleep all night undisturbed. :rofl:

Ill make it to bed around 5am.

Thats what happens when your partner says 2hrs before you get to go home.... "geez last time it was this quiet I got screwed over at the end"

 

[usafmedic45]

Yes totally quite. Nothings happening. All in EMS will sleep all night undisturbed. :rofl:

Remind me again why I don't do any patient transfers that I don't find out about several days in advance? Still....I'm bored and I am lonely.

 

[Sasha]

Hey I offered to talk to you! You "weren't in the mood to talk"

 

[JJR512]

I do EMS as a paid job, because I care enough about EMS to dedicate all my efforts to it, not just a couple hours a month. I do EMS as a profession. Not some hobby.

And vollys in my area do volly EMS because they're hoping to get on full time paid at the fire dept so they can be fire fighters, not medics.

Not all areas are like this. And I doubt that every single volunteer EMT in your area is only interested in becoming a paid firefighter, but I do understand that it can seem like that.

If they want to do it, why not treat it like a profession instead of a hobby? If volunteers are pure and want to pursue training, education, and practice, then they wouldn't have a problem becoming paramedics with, at minimum, an associates degree, right?

Doing it on a volunteer basis doesn't make it a hobby.

There is one volunteer at my station who is an EMT-B. Professionally, he is a PA. It would be a pay cut for him to become a professional paramedic.

There is another volunteer at my station would would like to become a paramedic, but earns too much money at another job that requires him to work hours that are incompatible with paramedic schools in this area—which are, as far as any of us here could find, only offered during weekdays (no weekends, no evenings).

There is another volunteer at my station who is currently in the four-year bachelor's degree paramedic program at UMBC. She moved here from California for that. She volunteers now for the experience.

There is another volunteer at my station who recently completed a paramedic program. I'm not sure what kind of program he went through (whether certificate, AAS, or what), or what his job is, or if he eventually wants to be a professional paramedic.

Maybe someone just likes something else slightly more than they like doing EMS but they do like doing EMS, so they do it on a volunteer basis, and the thing they like slightly more professionally. EMS is easy to do on a volunteer basis. It isn't so easy to be a volunteer architect, accountant, lawyer, garbage truck driver, etc. Not to say those things are impossible to do voluntarily, it's just that volunteerism is more associated with EMS than architecture.

Additionally, not all people that genuinely like or want to do EMS can afford to become a paramedic. I can't afford to become a paramedic. Fortunately, I've found a free way to do it, which I've been accepted into the introduction to that program and hope to get into the full program subsequently. But if it wasn't for this free option (which is not an Associate's Degree), I wouldn't be going further than EMT-B.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to dream and talk about what things would be like in a Perfect World. But we often forget that if the world was perfect, we wouldn't need paramedics in the first place, or EMS at all, because in a perfect world nobody would ever get hurt or sick.

 

[usafmedic45]

Kolibri.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

It's official. I'm crazy about my iPad. It's already transformed the way I'm able to stay up to date on the news I care about. That alone made it worth the money.

Any other iPad users out there? What apps can't you live without?

I really like the Post on a Date app. :rofl:

 

[DesertMedic66]

I really like the Post on a Date app. :rofl:

I have been needing to get that app. I keep forgetting

 

[DesertMedic66]

I really want to know how this goes...

It went pretty well actually. Only 2 of the 37 students did anything. The rest were kind of frozen in place. After my "seizure" I went into "snoring" respirations. My wonderful EMT instructor decided it would be a perfect time to have a student insert an NPA.

I heard my instructor go "hey hurry up and grab a NPA and get it in there, he is having trouble breathing". All that was going through my mind was "WTF, no one said anything about NPAs.

Luckily it was a small NPA. Unluckily I still have lube in my nose. And man the NPA feels soo weird

 

[Cup of Joe]

It went pretty well actually. Only 2 of the 37 students did anything. The rest were kind of frozen in place. After my "seizure" I went into "snoring" respirations. My wonderful EMT instructor decided it would be a perfect time to have a student insert an NPA.

I heard my instructor go "hey hurry up and grab a NPA and get it in there, he is having trouble breathing". All that was going through my mind was "WTF, no one said anything about NPAs.

Luckily it was a small NPA. Unluckily I still have lube in my nose. And man the NPA feels soo weird

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

This is really funny knowing the whole thing was planned...I picture a few people from my EMT class trying to put in an NPA and it just would be a hilarious scene.

 

[DesertMedic66]

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

This is really funny knowing the whole thing was planned...I picture a few people from my EMT class trying to put in an NPA and it just would be a hilarious scene.

The NPA wasn't in the plan I was told about. It was an uncomfortable surprise