re: Are there any paramedics on here?

Sometimes the job can be rewarding, many times people are not appreciative and sometimes people just plain abuse the system. Occasionally you can really make a difference, but many times people don’t want to help themselves and that becomes a rut you can get in. Some calls are really bad and weigh on people, and in some cases there are support systems in place to assist the employees. And sometimes the best support structure is the coworker supporting each other. Sometimes es, days weeks or years after the call, the patient and or the family reaches out and extends their tanks, and that makes some of those bad calls really worthwhile.

In my opinion, for the responsibility you have in the amount of risk in the job, starting pay can be very low, however in the correct setting, meaning employer, you can have really good benefits, good retirement, and good equipment. Some of the private & public agencies are well-funded well-equipped, while some of the smaller agencies are not as well equipped to but the pace may be slower in some cases.

Beginning my 29th year in the industry, I can’t say that I have any regrets in choosing this profession, it’s been a good job, probably have five more years left. Had my share of good/rewarding calls and really messed up situations/911 calls. I can’t say that I miss the clinical portion, I now prefer the management responsibilities.

If I had to go back to running calls every day I would, but it would not be of my own choosing. In my opinion each person has a finite number of emergency calls they can go on in their lifetime, and I think I’ve reached that point.