Sadly, Palmer knows first-hand the devastating risks faced by wildland firefighters. His younger brother Andrew was killed on July 25, 2008, while battling a wildfire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Northern California. Andrew was a rookie firefighter from Washington state when he was dispatched to California to assist with the blaze in the state’s largest national forest.

Just 18-years-old, Andrew died due to severe blood loss after debris from a collapsing pine tree hit and severely injured his leg. Much of the blood loss occurred during the 3 hours and 20 minutes it took to remove and transport Andrew from the accident scene to the airport in nearby Redding, California. Rob Palmer believes valuable time was lost during the prolonged rescue effort, due in part to a lack of qualified emergency services personnel immediately available to respond to his brother’s emergency.

Since the tragedy, Palmer has retired from firefighting in order to campaign for improvements to the emergency response plans for treating and rescuing wildland firefighters. His research and proposed changes are outlined in his 8-page proposal for national wildland fire reform titled “The Palmer Perspective.”

One of his key suggestions is to increase the number of skilled emergency service professionals assigned to assist with wildfire emergencies. According to Palmer, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group requires only one emergency service professional for every 499 wildland fire personnel. He identifies this figure as “the lowest medical ratio in the industry.” By comparison, says Palmer in his interview with Scripps Howard News Service, there are two to four EMTs for every 22 high school football players. Palmer recommends having at least one EMT for every 10 wildland firefighting team members.

As the summer months heat up and fire dangers increase throughout California, highly-trained wildland firefighters will prepare for the precarious job of combating dangerous and often widespread wildfires. Skilled emergency service professionals such as Sacramento EMTs are needed to help treat wildland firefighters during medical emergencies.

If you’ve considered pursuing an exciting a reward role in the healthcare field, consider an in-demand job as an Emergency Medical Technician. Whether you’re thinking of working as a San Jose EMT or a paramedic in Fremont, Unitek Education offers extensive emergency service training that can help jumpstart your career.

For additional information on Rob and Andy Palmer, and the wildland firefighting field, please visit:

http://wildfiretoday.com/documents/Palmer_perspective.pdf

http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/55134

http://www.nwcg.gov/index.htm

According to a recent brief issued by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of Americans requiring emergency room visits and related services is rising sharply across the country. The brief, published this May on the federal agency’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) website, summarizes nationwide statistics on emergency services for 2007.

The brief, titled “Emergency Department Visitors and Visits: Who Used the Emergency Room in 2007?,” states:

“In 2007, approximately one in five persons in the U.S. population had one or more ED visits in a 12-month period.”

Specifically, the agency identifies people aged 75 and older and adults over 18 reporting “fair or poor health status” as having the most emergency department visits in 2007.

The brief also cites the CDC’s 2006 full-length report on emergency department visits as providing evidence of the recent pressure on emergency services to meet rising public demand. From 1996 to 2006, the number of emergency department visits is reported to have increased 32 percent, from 90.3 million annual visits to 119.2 million.

What do these reports and figures mean if you’re considering a job as an EMT in Milpitas or as a San Francisco Paramedic? If the CDC’s ‘06 and ‘07 statistics are a sign of what’s to come, then the demand for complex emergency medical care will likely increase dramatically, particularly among the rapidly expanding population of aging Americans.

As the need for emergency services continues to grow, the number of job opportunities for qualified EMTs and paramedics is likely to increase significantly. Besides the potential for excellent career security, the emergency services field also provides an invaluable public service. As the CDC summarizes in its May brief:

“EDs [emergency departments] provide a critical service to persons in need of immediate, often life-saving, treatment and are a major component of the health care system.”

Whether you’re interested in becoming a Northern California EMT, or a San Jose-based Paramedic, the time has never been better to start training for an exciting and fulfilling new career! Find out today how Unitek Education’s quality EMT training program can help you land a rewarding role in the expanding emergency services field.

For additional information on the Center For Disease Control and its National Center for Health Statistics website, visit:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db38.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db38.pdf

The 911 system that operates throughout the nation would have a major bottleneck if not for emergency medical technicians that are able to be dispatched at a moment’s notice. EMT schools have a curriculum that is focused on the most pressing needs of the community, and there are no elective classes in abstract subjects being offered. Students are schooled in anatomy, first aid, CPR and other relevant areas that they will put into practice beginning with their very first ride on an ambulance.

Almost everyone has had an opportunity where they could have made a difference if they had the skills and knowledge that can be learned with a basic EMT training program. Perhaps you can still readily remember a situation where you could only watch helplessly instead of being able to give aid and assistance that could have really mattered. If you are tired of being a bystander and want to be a “hands on” emergency medical technician you can enroll in one of the EMT schools that teach a curriculum that suits your needs.

With the appropriate type of emergency medical training you will gain the skills and techniques needed to render quality care to patients in a variety of settings. Once you have a good knowledge of CPR and basic first aid you can put them to use as stepping stones on the path to a new career that will reward you on a daily basis.

EMT schools provide you with a solid foundation of basic skills that you will be able to use for the rest of your life. You will be the one that your family and friends can rely upon in the case of an accident or emergency situation and you will have the confidence and competence to function responsibly and intelligently no matter what the problem may be.

Imagine having the knowledge and composure to take charge and provide help to others on an everyday basis. Imagine being able to save someone’s life or assist in bringing a new life into the world. Graduates of EMT schools are able to have these kinds of rewarding opportunities happen to them almost every day.

EMT schools can give you the training you need if you are interested in becoming a part of an emergency medical technician team. You can find a number of EMT schools that are now offering courses online as well as EMT programs that are available in local communities. There are advanced EMT classes and paramedic training that you might also want to consider. The choice is yours and the door to a better and more rewarding future can be as close as your computer.

Because paramedics have complete responsibility for the care of the patient while they are in transport, they have to be very skilled in how the human body works and what medications and equipment will be the most valuable in any given situation.  They must be leaders, able to make stick with decisions that they make and also be able to take charge of the scene that they are called to through a 911 call.

In addition to being the one who is responsible for the patient, even though he is working on a team, he must be comfortable directing the actions of the person who is his partner in the ambulance.  The other person is usually also highly trained, but is often not a paramedic, but only a basic level EMT.  As such, the paramedic has gone through much more training than his partner and usually has many more years experience in the field, and is thus best able to make final decisions on the team.

Usually people do not even attempt to go through EMT paramedic training until they have spent a few years in basic EMT service.  In this way, they get experience in the field and can determine if they are willing to sacrifice the extra time in school that is needed in order to become a paramedic.  The EMT paramedic training equips them to be able to know how all types of medications affect the human body.  They cannot be confused by different medications such as analgesics, anti anxiety drugs, sedatives and more, because the 911 calls that they go to will have patients on these drugs, and they do not want to mix medications and cause harm to the patients.

One difficult part of the job entails the use of medications, since patients are not always able to give a complete drug history when the paramedic arrives at the scene.  In addition, they have to be aware of any patients who might be pregnant, since there are medications that could cause detrimental effects to the unborn fetus.

The EMT paramedic training will also equip people to judge the size of the patient so that when medication needs to be administered, they do not give the patient too little or too much.  They also have to know what to do for patients who have overdosed on a certain type of drug, so that they can keep that patient alive until they can get the patient to the hospital.  The EMT paramedic training thoroughly equips the people who are successful in completing the program and the certification testing to take care of critical needs patients in the field.

EMT paramedic training is an intense program that requires people to have strong leadership, math, science, and problem solving skills.  If these areas have always been your strengths, than you might be a prime candidate to complete an EMT paramedic training program.  However, if you have never done any work as a first responder to emergencies, such as with the fire department or in an emergency room, then you will probably want to put in some time in this lesser area before taking the plunge to get your paramedic’s certification.

One reason that it is a good idea to get experience in the field first is that there are some aspects of a first responder’s job that you might not be able to handle, even though the thought of helping people who are in need sounds like a rewarding job to you right now.  First, you will have to help people who are in the worst shape of their entire lives.  They are usually in a crisis situation where they are upset and are likely to treat you with disrespect in one way or another.  It is not that people mean to do this, but they are usually so upset and scared that they forget to treat you as they normally would, and expect instant results instead.

Another aspect of a first responder’s job that may not appeal to you is that patients often throw up on the way to the hospital. Luckily you were taught how to handle these events as part of the emergency medical technician training that you received when you took your classes online.

Sometimes this response by a patient is in response to their fear, while other times it is because of their illness or is a response to medication.  In any case, you will be the one responsible to clean it up and make sure that the patient stays as sanitary as possible on the way to the hospital.  Patients also have a tendency to defecate under certain conditions, which you also have to be able to deal with in the close quarters of the ambulance.

Finally, and probably the area that turns most people away from becoming a paramedic, is the fact that patients die on the way to the hospital.  This is a difficult situation for anyone to face, and you will have to be able to deal with the fact that you will not be able to save every patient that you are called to assist.  Sometimes the patients will already be dead when you get to the scene, while other times they might die while you are still trying to perform CPR on them.  Their ribs will sometimes break in the process of doing CPR, and you have to be able to process these horrible situations and still carry on with your job.

If after a year or two you still think that EMT paramedic training is for you, then you can start into an associate’s degree program that will give you the training you need to be the leader in the ambulance, telling the basic EMT’s what to do, and becoming the expert in medications and patient care.

rogram that will work best for you.

You are going to learn how to isolate broken bones, and how to use a backboard and neck brace for patients who might have a spinal or neck injury.  At an EMT college there are courses and programs that will even teach you how to safely move patients from a stretcher to a bed so that you do not injure yourself or the patient when doing so.

Your emergency medical training will teach you how to multitask with ease and you will be ready to roll on an ambulance call once you have mastered the coursework and passed all of the tests. If you are ready to challenge yourself to do your best and be the best then there is an EMT program online that is ready for you.

As an emergency medical technician you will have the training that is necessary for you to be competent and confident in a job that requires you to constantly adapt and be able to think on your feet. You will learn techniques and skills that you can use for the rest of your life, and in the process you will be saving lives in your community. Could anything be better than the chance to give others a new chance at life?

Training

Questions always arise about the training that is involved in order to become an emergency medical technician. Some people worry that they will not be able to schedule the courses at convenient times, and others might think that they have been out of school too long to change careers. Still others believe that the classes will be too difficult or too technical in nature.

You can take a deep breath and relax because emergency medical technician training is within your grasp. Although there may be some tight scheduling concerns involved with these courses when they are offered at local community colleges but online EMT classes are also available. When you sign up for these classes you are able to schedule them at times that are most convenient for you and your family.

The classes for EMT training can be challenging but they are designed for students with a variety of personal, professional and educational backgrounds. If you have been away from a classroom setting for an extremely long time you might want to brush up some basic skills, but most people find that the EMT training is fun and easier than they first thought.

Even though each state’s requirements are different, most will require that you take a written part of an exam as well as a practical portion where you have to demonstrate your skills.  Any EMT online program that claims that you can do all of the training without taking any ground classes is probably not a reputable one.  The ground classes are essential to allowing you to practice the skills you have been learning about and to get to use the equipment that will be on the ambulances once you get into the field.

As you can see, the online courses can be beneficial in giving you flexibility in scheduling the classes and completing the work.  However, you also have to be much more disciplined than a person who is required to turn in work at a particular time through a ground based class.

When you consider that you also begin this line of work with a solid starting salary of $25,000+ it starts to seem like things are indeed looking up. The initial training for you to become an EMT at a basic level can be accomplished in just a matter of a few months. And let’s not overlook the fact that you are going to get some much needed, on the job experience along with your EMT program courses.

There are some things that you need to be aware of when thinking about becoming an EMT. EMTs are the first responders on the scene of some terrible accidents and emergency situations. As such, they have to face blood, broken bones, illnesses, body fluids, and even death. The job is very physical as well, requiring bodies to be moved and lifted, CPR to be administered and more. However, because EMTs have to face these things, it is a highly rewarding position, since they save people’s lives on a regular basis, and give comfort to those they meet.

Becoming Certified

There are many EMT programs that can help you get started as an emergency medical technician. You can find EMT program outlines and courses by browsing online. Then you can decide which one is best suited for you.

You should determine which specific EMT program will best provide the basic knowledge that you need as an entry level EMT. Online courses are especially convenient if you have to work other jobs while training to become an EMT. The great benefit of an EMT program that features online training is that you are allowed to complete the coursework at your own pace.

Another way to take EMT program courses is through community colleges or technical colleges. These schools also work with you if you need to continue working another job while going to school. There are usually financial aid opportunities and scholarships available at most schools, plus the classes are usually scheduled at all times of the day and evening so that you can find a schedule that works for you.

If you are interested in pursuing higher levels of EMT training, you might want to look for an EMT program that leads to becoming a paramedic. Then you will need to continue your studies at a community college or four year school. Paramedic training requires more difficult coursework, such as classes in advanced anatomy and physiology and there are many practical, hands-on elements that are involved. People who want to become a paramedic often pursue this dream after gaining experience in the field for a couple of years at a basic or intermediate EMT level.

Paramedics have more knowledge of the different medications that can be utilized while in transit; are taught how to insert a variety of IV’s for life-saving fluids, and know how to use all of the advanced life support, emergency response equipment that is available in the ambulances.

They are also the ones that the nurses and doctors will look to when they need detailed information when the patient arrives at the hospital so that they are clear about the situation. Certain 911 calls can also require the services of a trained, skilled paramedic. Pursuing an EMT program will provide you with the necessary coursework that can be the bridge you need to move into nursing or another medical field at a later date.

There is sometimes confusion between the classifications of EMTs versus Paramedics, but it is relatively easy to define and categorize each one so that a person considering EMT training will be prepared to make the right curriculum choices. A person considering EMT training, and perhaps thereafter paramedic training, should first perform a personal assessment of his or her disposition and abilities.

Pursuing EMT certification will ultimately prove to be fruitless if an individual cannot feel comfortable in the high-stress, intense environment so frequently experienced by EMS professionals. An EMT is regularly expected able to make critical life and death decisions at the spur of the moment, and may have to manage high levels of intensity for long periods of time. If a work environment like this seems too intense, perhaps a person is not the right fit for such a career.

Conversely, if the notion of a high-energy career of this sort seems exciting, then a person should certainly continue to pursue a career as an emergency medical technician. Once a potential EMT candidate identifies this career as a good fit for his or her lifestyle and natural aptitudes, he or she might wonder about the differences or distinctions between and EMT and a paramedic.

All prospective emergency medical technicians start their EMT training in the same way, and depending on how many classroom and hands-on hours they complete, their classification will continue to change. Initially, an EMT will be classified as an EMT-Basic and gradually, with additional training and more practical knowledge in the field, he or she may finally work their way up to the highest level of EMT, formally title EMT-Paramedic.

Therefore, paramedic training can be seen as an advanced, increased version of the standard EMT certification, with a higher pay and more responsibilities to accompany the increased knowledge base. Now that the candidate has the knowledge to make solid education and career decisions, it is time to research EMT training requirements for their particular state.

Because every state has its own specific guidelines regarding classroom training hours and hands-on practice time that an EMT or paramedic training course is required to provide, it is crucial that the candidate enroll in a program that meets or exceeds the specifications set forth by the state in which they plan to be employed. There will be many different types of programs for the candidate to choose from, including some that are completed totally online.

Before being tempted by and pursuing an entirely online option, however, it is strongly advised that they review the requirements of their state, as it is very unusual for a valid EMT certification to be issued based solely on virtual training. The proper training combined with appropriate natural skills and abilities will allow a person to pursue and succeed at a career as an emergency medical technician. Whether they focus on preliminary EMT training or go on to obtain further paramedic training as well, an EMT will be assured a very fulfilling, absolutely stable career.