Because worst-case, you might enjoy it.
Also, I’m 38, so I tend to feel too old. But I just started a part time program at a community college. Worst case I just learn some interesting skills.
Anyway, thanks for writing it. It’s good know I’m not just crazy wanting to do part time EMT work and keep my software career. I kind of feel like an idiot sometimes when other people ask me why I’m doing it.
Like OP and others, it would be great if there were better volunteer opportunities in big cities. Lmk if you want to start something.
Not OP, but there are dozens of us. If you might be interested in things like ski-patrol or guiding.. there's loads of related NOLS certificates besides WEMT / WFR for things like avalanche, cold-water rescue, high-angle rescue. It differs by location, but something like EMTB cert often requires a "intern" type of deal with ride-alongs and intubation IIRC, which may or may not be scary, but just the schedule of it can be harder for people with another career. Meanwhile your friendly local search and rescue may need help, and many of the more casual certs are very helpful, and knowing some of this stuff is just good civics.
Generally first aid/ CPR is the basic medical requirement, but they will teach you that. EMT or higher is absolutely useful though.
> How do you balance keeping the skills sharp while working another job full time?
I don't! I've been volunteering with my current service for ~2yrs, and I still don't feel like a very "smart" EMT. It's coming, but slowly. And I'm trying to do more shifts (e.g. every week).
I simply try to "manage" my stupidity. I usually ride with a more experienced EMT, and any very-big calls will get a medic; I focus on learning & asking questions when it's appropriate; I try to drill _something_ every shift. If I really wanted to learn quickly, I'd take a few weeks off and run with AMR in a city... that definitely gets the calls.
> Also, I’m 38, so I tend to feel too old.
That's one of the biggest reasons I delayed. I felt too old at 29 & worried I would be out of place. FWIW, I think the class after us had an average age of ~35, so you might fit in more than you expect.
I resonate with wanting to be good, though. I think about it every time I get a call. My counterargument is (a) that 1 month of training is 1 month more than most folks have, and (b) in an emergency, you're always part of a team.
Even if you just fetch the stairchair.
The work seemed to suit him, he enjoyed it. I'd hang out with him at his base of operations (he was a private paramedic in LA County).
Then, one day, he quit.
He quit, and didn't renew his certification.
And he won't talk about it, and, boy, yea, did he have some stories.
But something got to him.
There was one "gallows humor" story of an obviously fatal bicycle accident. As paramedics, they could not declare the victim dead. They had to have authorization from the hospital.
The hospital insisted they send the EKG data back.
They said "Ok", and rather than going through the effort of connecting up the victim, they just stuck the leads to the truck and said "here it comes".
Then they got the OK to declare there at the scene.
One I'll call John. He was a fantastic medic. Calm and reassuring in the toughest situations, and he was a great teacher of new EMTs. He had seen everything. Farming accidents (they're terrible), DRTs, MVAs, MCIs, child abuse. The works. Handled it all professionally.
One day John and his partner get this nothing call. Kid fell off his bike and scraped his knee. John's partner puts a bandaid on the kid, looks around and John is gone. They find John sitting on a curb a block away bawling his eyes out. That kid with the skinned knee was John's breaking point. He was done.
My BIL is a pretty highly credentialed RN. He was seriously considering quitting a few years ago and was asking me about software dev or IT as a career path. I didn't ask for any stories as that would be disrespectful & insensitive, but he was working in the NICU (intensive care unit for infants) and had transferred in from the ICU.
Medicine is clearly his calling, but even as an outsider I can understand how emotionally draining it would be to have to struggle (and sometimes lose) to save children's lives and then go home to your young family. It's tough to see death and suffering daily, and this is a big struggle for these parts of the medical field.
My BIL ended up transferring to a specialist organ transplant unit. He continues to apply his trauma experience, but doesn't need to see quite as much trauma and death on a daily basis.
Suicide & self-harm/addiction issues are higher, and it's not uncommon at all for people to need to leave the field after a traumatic event. If you aren't in the field or don't know anyone who is, it's easy to gloss over how soul-wrenchingly difficult it is to deal with having to be calm and professional to help people going through trauma. Some of the stuff these folks need to deal with is truly horrific, and it's no wonder that PTSD is fairly common.
Also not surprising that EMS has a bit of a fratty/military culture. The job demands high periods of physical exertion and exposure to stressful and traumatic experiences. I'm glad there are people who do this work, but I very much understand why it is difficult.
Effectively people are on call. A radio is passed around amongst the volunteers and it's pretty open (most of my family have been EMTs at one point, and for decades).
Because it's rural, there's not a whole lot of cases needing EMTs, but they do occur. And because there's a rotating schedule and it's not anyone's full time job, it's really easy to say "not to day" or "I need a month".
I don't know how you can translate this into professional EMTs for a city. The best I got is hiring more EMTs and offering more flexible and lenient time off.
I have family in medicine and there were just endless stories that would have had social media in a frenzy if anybody ever shared them. At some point you have to laugh or cry, and one is way more sustainable than the other.
Wow dismissive... it is true but seems like some outsider doesn't understand the experience and what it takes to hang with them.
I have trouble dealing with EMTs and firefighters. They come off as officious and pushy. They are there to do a thing and duty calls them, and I usually represent a waste of time and effort for them. Yet, they saved my building when someone set fire to it 6.5 years ago. Yes, two weeks into the pandemic lockdown, I was nearly displaced by a huge fire. Officious and pushy tough guys/gals made sure I still had a place to live, and they even kept my electricity on.
Last Tuesday I visited the Police Museum, and I owe another visit to the Hall of Flame firefighting museum. I'm really trying to cultivate a respect for first responders, because they are in my family and in my community.
What first responders really face every day is hostile war-zones in an urban jungle. They go into places where people hate ICE, where assholes are filming and recording and Facebooking them; they go into places where people would rather start fires and put lead into bodies than take them out. They deal with victims who are combative and families who are uncooperative. They deal with uncertainty and chaos and every possible obstacle in their way. Literally, because I was riding a Waymo two weeks ago when it was the only vehicle on a 6-lane stroad to pull over and stop for lights & sirens screaming past! (It also pulled the same stunt for a school bus with flashing lights.)
If you've seen/read The Hunger Games through its conclusion, you may get the journey of Prim after her mother, and how the cruelty of life claimed her as a victim in the end, after all that Katniss had tried to do. Primrose Everdeen is the quintessential paramedic whose mind, family and very life is ruined by her compassionate, merciful vocation.
Seriously though, there seem to be many considerate people out in traffic, and oftentimes I am the rudest one on the road, for whatever reason. I do not drive, but I find that queueing up and boarding the bus all the time, that people are generally real polite one-on-one, but also extraordinarily inconsiderate to the collective, insofar as flouting rules and breaching etiquette in crazy ways all the time. And the same goes for my neighbors around here, who seem to go out of their way to irritate others, and oftentimes I snap.
Perhaps it is an artifact or side-effect of DEI, multiculturalism, melting-pot mentality, in the big city, that really there is no common culture or common manners to any of us, and mostly people are out for their own interests. It is extremely common in American cities for road-rage escalations to violence and death. Surely the news outlets cannot even report the accidents and fatalities from people simply losing their temper whilst operating motor vehicles. And we're back to the EMT grind.
I believe that a lot of people accused of xenophobia, or hating immigrants, are actually frustrated by a loss of culture, or a dilution, and the inexorable pressure to cope with increasing diversity of cultures around us, which is simply inhuman and unworkable, IMHO. You can't solve it by mass-deporting or any human strategy. But people who share heritage and share common values are more likely to get along daily, than a crucible of ethnicities, tribes, and subcultures, that are all asserting their supremacy or dominance over one another.
Even though where I live a lot of firefighters are just EMRs... the fire services are a lot more willing to take you if you already have your EMT (since you're not gonna abuse the program to get free EMT training).
EMT really is the fastest way to become any first responder.
Also, they (BC Ambulance) treat you like garbage when you need assistance, and effectively force you back to work or to go find a job elsewhere.
It's shocking how badly we treat the people that willingly take on life's hardest challenges (for low pay, I might add). It's amazing any are even left after all that BS.
As a former PTSD therapist, there's a lot more overlap between these two than you might expect.
Often (not always, some people are great suppressors) the worst thing you can do as a trauma survivor is continually avoid the source of trauma.
Unfortunately that was not the case here, and his untreated PTSD left him very vulnerable to the effects of additional traumatic (work) experiences. He really needed a career change, but kept getting pushed back into service. With little in the way of effective treatment, it was hard to watch him being treated like that.
You probably pay the cost.
(But, y'know, this is a very ymmv kind of thing. I enjoyed cadaver lab and thought attending an autopsy was fascinating; other people had very different reactions, etc. no idea what causes us to differ there, but differ we do!)
I was very impressed with those folks, younger than my own kids (who I am impressed with as well, of course).
For my own part I taught at a university during my 20s and then dropped out to work in software- changing life around has been very helpful. I can relate to doing something difficult for a while and then moving on when you've figured it out and see that it might not be the path to where you want to go. I hope it left you better for having the experience.
I agree with you that it’s a great job for anyone who can stomach it—especially early in their career.
Kind of like how people say everyone should work in the service industry at least once. I think caring for and serving others is messy work that forges a beautiful soul.
Also, I bet the whole blog post's worth would flash through the author's mind within all of 10 seconds whenever they were reminded of the possibility of taking the course. It takes both patience and self-discipline to put it all on paper like that.
Great blog post! Makes me want to take an EMT course :-)
Pros: - Societal good: There are few who would argue Emergency Medical personnel do harm. Being able to visibly see your work improving people's lives and contributing directly to the public good is incredibly self gratifying. - Handling emergencies: I am the one people call when things go wrong, in charge of patient care, managing scenes on the medical side. - Problem solving: each situation is unique. Assessing situations, determining patient care, and actively working difficult scenes can be fun and helps fulfill my unmedicated ADHD needs. - Handing out ambulance stickers to kids.
Cons: - Smells - Limited medical scope: I stop bleeding, give people oxygen, and get them to the hospital. I have very few medications, cannot intubate, and am not allowed to interpret an ECG. Paramedic is a 14 month program minimum that is a much larger time and money commitment, and even then, doctors are the ones that actually end up managing full patient care and make final decisions. - Pay: I took a very large pay cut. I knew this would happen, and I was incredibly burnt out at my previous job, but the medical field, especially first responders, gets away with low pay and high hours because they often rely on passion and many new people entering the field at the lower levels.
Ultimately, I still have not figured out what I want to do long term. I could go back to programming, but with the current job market, that seems inadvisable. THe medical field will pretty much always guarantee some job. I do want to pivot (still have not completed college), but see above untreated ADHD along with a few other personal things I need to work on. Nursing has higher pay, but puts you underneath doctors such that you rarely make independent medical decisions. And paramedic/firefighter is nice, but hard on the body plus issues in the culture previously discussed.
For anyone considering it, I do recommend taking a class. You can do it in 4 months with a one day a week class (how I did it), and volunteer somewhere. But understand the tradeoffs and recognize that is far from glamorous most of the time.
But a good nurse can listen and advocate for patients in a very impactful way!
I'm curious about this...?
Go into majority of nursing homes and the smell is a combination of shit, piss and disinfectant
EMS also has a bad cultural issue with PPE and cleaning. Masks are not standard for every call, and by the time you walk into a house and realize you need one, your gloves may already be dirty and you may already be busy with the patient. I am thinking about wearing an n95 mask to every single call, but most people just need someone to take them to the hospital and be a friendly ear while riding. To put on a mask in front of a patient may be taken as a rude gesture, and facial expressions are a large part of communication.
Delightful. But you do it anyway, because that's the nature of the task.
As far as the job...things for entry/junior level in IT are frankly extremely bleak. I haven't seen an entry level job rec get approved in maybe a year. And I'm watching lots of my peers getting let go; it's a bad time to be old or young in IT. OTOH...not just my BiL but my wife is in health care, and whatever downside the job holds, 'no one is hiring' and 'they're laying off folks left and right' are absolutely not something they are worrying about.
And no matter what the downsides, no matter the lack of appreciation and compensation, you're actually helping people. That's better than most of us. Best of luck.
I'm certainly glad I have my good programming job right now. I'm not sure where the field is going, but it certainly ain't 2017 anymore. I will say: like the sibling comment mentioned, nursing (or PA?) can still be a very independent job, especially as an APRN or flight nurse. But I wish you luck!
Maintaining the certificate also requires ~40hrs of continuing medical education every 2 yrs, which I accomplish via short 1hr courses every few weeks.
I obtained a BS in Aerospace Engineer in 1998. After job jumping several times I realized I didn't care for it. I was basically a "paper" engineer, which was my fault as I never pursued jobs that did "real" engineering.
Anyway, around 2003/2004 I went to night school for EMT. The purpose was to be a dive master on dive boats (I was/am a dive master - I don't dive anymore). It was fun.
My engineering job sucked so I jumped into paramedic school right after EMT. I really enjoyed it. About a month from graduating PM school, county fire department came in to class and said they would hire paramedic only but we would have to cross train to firefighter.
In Feb 2006 I was 35 yo with a 9 month old baby and decided if I didn't do it then I never would so I applied and got hired then department put me through fire school.
It was the best career decision of my life. It didn't take long to see a bunch of people get hurt from the job, so I figured I better have a back up plan since I also have chronic health issues. From 2010 to 2015 I did an online Masters degree in CS. After completing it I started working part time remote jobs as a developer.
Then COVID hit in 2020 and they pulled me out of the field due to my health issues. I turned 50 and was getting tired after 14 years. I started applying to full time jobs and landed one.
In 2022 I switched jobs again for a better org and I am still here. I just switched positions from Java dev to cloud engineer in May.
I absolutely enjoyed 85+% of FF/pm but it is a young person's game. It gave me confidence I probably never would have found. Again, it was literally the best career move I ever made and would recommend anyone to do it.
To anyone that has even thought of something more outside an office, try it so long as you're physically able. Compensation is one thing, but the experience for me has been priceless.
Yep. When I got hired on at the fire department I took a $12,000 pay cut. Overtime was abundant so it was easy to make up the loss plus some. But you definitely can't purchase the experience
What it did not translate to, for me, was working under pressure in IT. As a paramedic I had standard operating procedures / guidelines to guide me AND once we departed the scene I was usually no more than 30 minutes away from a doctor AND I didn't cause the problem to begin with AND once I gained confidence in my abilities I didn't get nervous as much or questioning myself. For the most part there is only so much you can do in an emergency situation in the field.
However, if something breaks in the IT world and I have management breathing down my neck (doesn't happen often) I worry that it was something I did, I don't know how to fix it, I'm not fixing it fast enough, blah, blah, blah. You would think non-life threatening IT-issues would not bother me but they do. Day to day office politics and team interaction doesn't bother me much though.
Another thing I feel like I got out of the FF/PM career is a get-it-done-figure-it-out-as-you-go. From the proverbial cat in the tree (never had that call) to a person having a heart attack, to person needs to be extricated from a vehicle, you can't just say "nope can't be done" or "I'm not doing it". I now see coworkers pushing back on stuff without even making an attempt. Try something, anything, but just don't say "nope can't do it". That is frustrating to me.
If you're thinking about it - try it! An EMT class is pretty easy, fun, and doesn't take long.
I never realized that I was the type of guy who doesn't enjoy desk work until I became an EMT.
Some will say you get used to it. I don't. I compartmentalize during and feel after. And we have an excellent CISD (critical incident stress debriefing) program for after-care where I work. I kind of think if you get so used to the horror that you cannot be empathetic, it's time to quit.
Have a look at the Award in Remote Emergency Medical Technician[1] from the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine. It's 75 hours of online study, then a 6 day course in their classroom in Malta (another 50 hours). Afterwards you'll hold a recognised European tertiary qualification, but you'll still have to sort out local registration.
The AREMT course is actually also the first module in their full BSc in Remote Paramedic Practice programme.[2]
[1] https://corom.edu.mt/award-in-remote-emergency-medical-techn...
Last year, I considered becoming an "EMR" (Emergency Medical Responder) - the lowest level of certification for emergency medical care that there is (basically, you can get vitals and stats from the patient if they are conscious). Because of timing considerations, I ended up not doing the course.
A year later, I see my 2 fellow firefighters who did become EMR's having to 20+ hours a year of mandatory continuing ed/training to their lives, and I'm pretty glad I ended up not doing that.
The firefighter part, given that we're a small, very not-busy volunteer rural fire district with an awesome district chief and culture, continues to be fantastic.
[0] thanks to the unions in my county fire department, volunteers are required to go through all the same certifications as career firefighters. We lack their level of experience (mostly) because we don't go on as many calls.
Moved three provinces over, and joined the volunteer fire department, doing FF and medical first responder calls. Back to just carrying a pager wherever I go, but otherwise largely back on my own time. If I'm available, great! If not, well, it's volunteer. It sure helped get acquainted with our new community, and met an awesome bunch of folks. It'll be 12 years for me in 2027.
Congrats on the 12 years - apparently 3 years is the average for volunteer FF's.
I think that I could not do healthcare professionally if I wasn't old and had a lot of free time- it would have been thin pickings when I had a wife and kids. And a lot of the folks I work with have some deep, deep trauma and moral injuries from how poorly US healthcare treats 90% of the population.
But EMT-B is some of the lowest standards for getting into a position where I can help folks. Compared to a lot of the professional knowledge I have recieved, it's not super expensive or time consuming... like, $3k all in (including travel and supplies) and about 6 weeks of intensive study.
I am still considering what to do with that (I spent all day putting a cistern into my weird off-grid setup, so it's not like I don't have other work to be doing)>. But I have spent a lot of time with newer/beginner rock climbers and guiding is one thing. I did several days of music festival first-aid, and that was excellent and interesting. I do work at a free clinic and that's been very rewarding.
But I feel like I will have to try and get at least a couple of months of IFT or (preferably) 911 truck work to become as proficient as I'd like to be so that's what I am trying to find at the moment. But I am curious how that will go and what I will find.
I have a lot of respect for EMTs and I’m grateful for all of them, but the pay is (comparatively) low, the stress is high and you’re pretty much guaranteed to burnout.
I think in the past, CEs had to be done in person, but after COVID they started allowing 100% online CEs. IIRC, certification is good for 2 years, so if you renew at the end of your cert period, you can immediately knock out your CEs for the next renewal period, you'll be set for a whole 4 years, and you only have to pay for a month subscription to one of the CE providers.
Highly, highly recommend paying them a visit - truly a special organization, though I've neglected trying out one of their proper expeditions.
Lost a programming job in the dot com bust, couldn't land another one, eventually ended up in an EMT class and worked a series of traditional ambulance jobs and other health care positions since. Not really using it for anything but some volunteer stuff these days though.
From everything I hear about what programming jobs have become I don't really mind the career change, but man oh man do I miss the pay that comes with tech jobs.
EMT was a challenging class because a few of us were competing for highest grade.
I don't do too many EMT calls these days, most of my volunteering is as a lieutenant on the fire side.
I'm very glad I did both, it's been fantastic for my chronic anxiety. I've seen some upsetting things but then I take a break for a bit to process it in therapy. There is a huge need for volunteer emergency response in the suburbs and farther out. If you are interested definitely check it out. If you find a station that's got too many assholes just find another one. Also the people I thought were the worst assholes turned out to just be a little prickly to newcomers and now we are always going out to dinner and renfaires and stuff. Heck my current year long TTRPG game is all folks from the station.
I am also a thru-hiker so I'm very interested in getting into wilderness search and rescue in the future.
I don't think I could ever do emergency response as a career, but I love volunteering. Nothing makes me more appreciative of getting to sign into work with a nice cup of tea and soothing music.
One recommendation, if you want to take the class but aren’t planning on doing it professionally (and have any interest in outdoor activities), take a Wilderness First Responder class. I found I learned a lot more in that class, and much it is practical in many circumstances, not just riding on an ambulance. It’s also a lot more fun, as you spend a lot of time running around in the woods learning to macguyver splints out of all kinds of stuff.
The other thing I found was that to really be good at it/feel confident treating anything beyond the most basic patients, you’re going to have to work on an ambulance full time in an urban setting. And in most places, to do that professionally, you’re going to have to become a paramedic.