Becoming a firefighter/paramedic after the military?
i truly want to help you. paramedics are heroes, no one can say they are not. go Army and get 68Wm6 in your contract. That will get you an EMT-B and LPN in one year. From there, look for any on-line school and use the TA so its 100% free and work on your EMT-P. Find the quickest program that makes you an EMT-P. 68W = EMT-M which is like EMT-I dont go corpsman. go army 68w combat medic. you can make a better career that way, more money and benefits esspecially since you will need to go to college. its easier and even the training is better quality. if you have your EMT-B you can skip the first 8 weeks of 68W training. you will have further opportunities to get your RN through the Army, all paid for, actually you get paid to learn basically. Then get out and become a Flight Medic on the outside and you will be like a super paramedic, making ridiculous money working a few days a month. Listen to me and you will have a great and fullfilling life.
Navy Corpsman or Civilian Paramedic?
You aren't going to be trained beyond the NREMT-B equivliant for most medic jobs within the military until later within their career. Now, keep in mind, military medicine and civilian medicine are pretty different and your experiences as a military medic would differ than that of a civilian medic. You would also do far more than a civilian NREMT-B is allowed as a basic medic so the civilian equivilants don't really matter outside of the requirement to keep them. If you are looking into the Navy because you want to be a Recon Corpsman, you may want to rethink things a bit. There are very few SOF support slots within the Marine Corps and they are very difficult to get into. If you want excitement, why don't you look into Special Operations? If you want to stick with the Navy, you can apply for the Navy SEALs, they have corpsmen. The Army has Special Forces medics (though there is no guarantee you would be choosen as a medic if you make it through selection .. there is a good possibility with your background). There is also the Ranger Regt. which has SOCM medics. Another job you may want to look into if saving lives and adventure is your calling is USAF Pararescue. Our bread and butter is combat search and rescue and personnel recovery .. though we have other Special Operations skill sets and mission requirements, those two things are our main focus. Try looking into some of the other fields out there .. talk to a couple of recruiters about your options within the Special Operations community as a medic or personnel recovery specialist. I think you'll find you have a lot of opportunity to really challenge yourself while putting your interest in the medical side of things to work. Feel free to e-mail me if you have more questions about something. Parachuting is just like anything else you may be afraid of .. it's easy once you decide you're going to do it and you aren't going to let fear get in your way.
Hospital corpsman.. what type of civilian job can i apply for with the training as a HM when im done my time?
You might get your EMT or PA credentials, then decide if you want to be a fireman/ EMT or a nurse or O.R. tech . (I worked with a great doc who was a medic in 'Nam and he studied nursing then medical school....he knew it from all angles!) You can go to medical school later if you want, or become a Nurse Practitioner (MS degree). As an NP you can specialize in things like Trauma, Family Medicine, or Emergency / Transport medicine = flying patients out to trauma/surgery centers. Then there is Nurse Anesthetist, which pays well, and you basically do same as an Anesthesiologist. I recommended this last one for my future nephew in law. Hope this helps.... and thanks for your service!
What is hospital corpsman school like in the US Navy? Is it a good place to get training if I want to work as a civilian paramedic later or maybe become a PA?
When I went, it was a combination of EMT and nursing classes. The first month or 2 we did the EMT part where we it was more of an introduction to emergency management, identifying certain medical conditions, and how to treat it. Things like rapid trauma asssessment, and other things EMT might do. The nursing part is more of skin care, medication administration, venipuncture etc. At the end of the school, you go to a medical facility like the VA hospital , and do a clinical just to get your feet wet. HM A-school is about 15 weeks long, so most of what you learn is to get you familiarized with a few medical concepts before sending you to the fleet. It alone will not turn you into a paramedic. After A-school, you could be selected for C-school, were you could specialized in X-ray, preventive med, dentistry, or you could go to field medicine. I heard they are changing the course from EMT as part of the syllabus to tactical combat casualty, since that is more of what we do. When you get to your permanent duty station, you can pursue medical certifications paid for by the Navy.
What is the best way to become a firefighter/paramedic?
I became a firefighter / EMT first. To do this, I joined my local volunteer fire department. However, while the EMT Basic training is the same every firefighter has, the fire training was only 36 hrs worth.Thoses 36 hrs were just enough to get killed, so I listened to the guys who had more experience and as soon as I could, I signed up for FF1 certification. This was 120 hrs on top of my 36 hrs of volley.After a couple years volunteering and getting the 120 training, I started part time at a paid department. After a year there, the department paid for me to get the advanced FF2 or 240 hrs of training. I did this during my paramedic schooling ( 1,100 hrs of my life ) but as I finished both, I was 240 certified and paramedic trained.Now I would honestly recommend finding a volley department, if not and you cannot afford the paid training, the next best is the US Military. Go to the Air Force and become a aircraft firefighter ( you will get the same 240 hrs I did ) or join the navy or coast guard. That way, you can get the fire certification and become a corpsman. And then when you go for that full time job, you will have military experience to add points.
Where do paramedics work?
do paramedics work and stay at the firehouse with firefighters for 24 hour periods? what is it like to be a paramedic or EMT. what are the differences between the two? salaries? etc.? typical work week?
What are possible ways for an EMT/paramedic to transport an obese nonwalking patient to the ambulance down the high stairs?
Oh Boy, what a fine summer day that was. The non-airconditioned building was about 20 floors, maybe less. The lady lived on the 14th. The elevator could barely fit the two of us plus gurney, which stood upright for the journey. She was a diabetic and received too much insulin because she found out her neighbor had See's Candy. See's is powerfully evil as it is hard for any to resist. She must have consumed quite a bit over her lifetime as she was 300+ given that her body liberally flowed over both sides of the gurney, think: Jabba the Hutt.The short of it, we had to take the stairs, which had low ceilings and was crazy narrow, with 7/8s the normal tread, so it seemed oddly steep. The landings were tiny, where we tried to catch our breath, pausing just long enough to slightly recover. We almost had to stand her upright to turn the corners for the next flight down.When we finally reached the bottom we were dripping wet. My hands, arms and glutes were spasming. My partner looked like he was dying and we were both young guys that worked out!We were lucky that she did not code in the stairwell. She was too, for there was no way we could have done anything except at a landing. But that would have been a real problem, as the situation was subpar for a code, thus she probably would have died.We talked about it later, as we wanted dispatch to make note of the situation for the next call she would make, because there would definitely be a next time. Thus we came to the inescapable conclusion that she needed to move. So we got a social worker involved. Lucky for both us and the patient, one of the guys at the company was dating one and she happen to walk in with his lunch while we we arguing over what to do.Because the next time would most likely have been her last. That building was very strange. Even the hallways were oddly narrow, deffinately not code. I don't know what happened to the lady. But anytime dispatch gave us the address, we tried to get someone else to take the call... to , you know, spread the love.