Unfortunately, I don't see things getting better. The banking collapse created the housing collapse, which created a tax shortfall and now many municipalities are looking to cut costs everywhere they can. Including EMS jobs and wages. On the bright side, the proposed healthcare bill in congress should make insurance companies rich. Don't get me started….

If money is important, consider re-locating to a place where the pay is respectable. There are a few places like this; not many, but a few.

Finally – Some of us would do well to ask why we're doing this job in the first place.

Is it money?

Is it pursuit of knowledge?

Is is a journey to find self-respect?

Is it glory for ourselves?

Or is it really to heal those who are sick and injured?

If you picked the last one, check out my blog. This post might be a place to start looking for answers:
http://mobileintensiveprayerunit.blogspot.com/s...

thanks,
Dave

Unfortunately, I don't see things getting better. The banking collapse created the housing collapse, which created a tax shortfall and now many municipalities are looking to cut costs everywhere they can. Including EMS jobs and wages. On the bright side, the proposed healthcare bill in congress should make insurance companies rich. Don't get me started….

If money is important, consider re-locating to a place where the pay is respectable. There are a few places like this; not many, but a few.

Finally – Some of us would do well to ask why we're doing this job in the first place.

Is it money?

Is it pursuit of knowledge?

Is is a journey to find self-respect?

Is it glory for ourselves?

Or is it really to heal those who are sick and injured?

If you picked the last one, check out my blog. This post might be a place to start looking for answers:
http://mobileintensiveprayerunit.blogspot.com/s...

thanks,
Dave

Unfortunately, I don't see things getting better. The banking collapse created the housing collapse, which created a tax shortfall and now many municipalities are looking to cut costs everywhere they can. Including EMS jobs and wages. On the bright side, the proposed healthcare bill in congress should make insurance companies rich. Don't get me started….

If money is important, consider re-locating to a place where the pay is respectable. There are a few places like this; not many, but a few.

Finally – Some of us would do well to ask why we're doing this job in the first place.

Is it money?

Is it pursuit of knowledge?

Is is a journey to find self-respect?

Is it glory for ourselves?

Or is it really to heal those who are sick and injured?

If you picked the last one, check out my blog. This post might be a place to start looking for answers:
http://mobileintensiveprayerunit.blogspot.com/s...

thanks,
Dave

Unfortunately, I don't see things getting better. The banking collapse created the housing collapse, which created a tax shortfall and now many municipalities are looking to cut costs everywhere they can. Including EMS jobs and wages. On the bright side, the proposed healthcare bill in congress should make insurance companies rich. Don't get me started….

If money is important, consider re-locating to a place where the pay is respectable. There are a few places like this; not many, but a few.

Finally – Some of us would do well to ask why we're doing this job in the first place.

Is it money?

Is it pursuit of knowledge?

Is is a journey to find self-respect?

Is it glory for ourselves?

Or is it really to heal those who are sick and injured?

If you picked the last one, check out my blog. This post might be a place to start looking for answers:
http://mobileintensiveprayerunit.blogspot.com/s...

thanks,
Dave

I think this question of pay is something we do to ourselves. Out of hospital care needs to happen, and we step up to do that. We work 80+ hours a week with knowledge we wont make very much, hell when I worked 911 in the north of my state we didn't even get paid for our mandatory 24 hour on-call shift, but we did it, because money isn't going to come out of my ass to feed my kids.

Do you think the Fire-dept based model keep us from separating ourselves from the public safety realm and out of being recognized as healthcare professionals? Or do for-profit companies that pay their employees less and crappier benefits then a county or municipal service hurt retention and longevity in our field?

You might find this interesting…. I had a discussion with a nurse at a local ER a couple of weeks ago. I was there as a paramedic student doing my 350 hours of clinical time, and in walked an EMT-B student from a local “technical Institute”. This was a new program, before this last fall semester, if you wanted to be an EMT-B you had to enroll at one of the community colleges, but now you can go do a 3 month class with NO EMS RIDE TIME. Their clinicals consisted of 2 8 hour ER shifts(at a heart hospital, not even a trauma center, which we have 2 of). This made me sad. I mean, we need to pushing more of our training into formalized education. That way people who want to do it and make a career out of it are taught to invest in their education. It seems like a step backwards to take a college level program like mine where my Paramedic instructor is not only a 22 year veteran of EMS but also has her Master's in Education, and start offering something that offers little more in the way of commitment and effort as a lifeguard class at the local YMCA.

Perhaps, maybe this plays into a larger healthcare discussion, if we get paid more, our services will cost more to the people we serve, and while unfortunately(IMO) we don't live in a society that sees healthcare as a right, it would pain me to see more anguish caused to my patients because of financial distress from a larger ambulance bill. And Maybe Mark(@UKMedic999) can answer this, but do Paramedic make more in a universal system?

Also, I believe you can get a Bachelors Degree in EMS from a handfull of schools… in fact doesn't The Happy Medic have a BS?Can you confirm there are some BS EMS degrees out there, because I'm not sure.

I think this question of pay is something we do to ourselves. Out of hospital care needs to happen, and we step up to do that. We work 80+ hours a week with knowledge we wont make very much, hell when I worked 911 in the north of my state we didn't even get paid for our mandatory 24 hour on-call shift, but we did it, because money isn't going to come out of my ass to feed my kids.

Do you think the Fire-dept based model keep us from separating ourselves from the public safety realm and out of being recognized as healthcare professionals? Or do for-profit companies that pay their employees less and crappier benefits then a county or municipal service hurt retention and longevity in our field?

You might find this interesting…. I had a discussion with a nurse at a local ER a couple of weeks ago. I was there as a paramedic student doing my 350 hours of clinical time, and in walked an EMT-B student from a local “technical Institute”. This was a new program, before this last fall semester, if you wanted to be an EMT-B you had to enroll at one of the community colleges, but now you can go do a 3 month class with NO EMS RIDE TIME. Their clinicals consisted of 2 8 hour ER shifts(at a heart hospital, not even a trauma center, which we have 2 of). This made me sad. I mean, we need to pushing more of our training into formalized education. That way people who want to do it and make a career out of it are taught to invest in their education. It seems like a step backwards to take a college level program like mine where my Paramedic instructor is not only a 22 year veteran of EMS but also has her Master's in Education, and start offering something that offers little more in the way of commitment and effort as a lifeguard class at the local YMCA.

Perhaps, maybe this plays into a larger healthcare discussion, if we get paid more, our services will cost more to the people we serve, and while unfortunately(IMO) we don't live in a society that sees healthcare as a right, it would pain me to see more anguish caused to my patients because of financial distress from a larger ambulance bill. And Maybe Mark(@UKMedic999) can answer this, but do Paramedic make more in a universal system?

Also, I believe you can get a Bachelors Degree in EMS from a handfull of schools… in fact doesn't The Happy Medic have a BS?Can you confirm there are some BS EMS degrees out there, because I'm not sure.