Don't panic, I'm a medic

[Betonov]

Don't want to brag but....

A few hours ago I finished my training for a red cross volunteer medic in a first aid team. I believe it's called a certified first responder in some countries. So I'm off to saving lives :DL

Well, actually it's not that superhero, saving lives daily stuff like the paramedics, but in a case of real emergency or disaster (earthquake, terorist attack, war) I'd be called into service, to augment the rescue services that will be overstrained in such an event. And it's all voluntary so I'm not paid, the satisfaction of saving lives will have to do. And the feeling everyone around me are safer just because they have someone close by with advanced first aid training.

And ladies, I know mouth to mouth better than the average guy :03:

[frau kaleun]

Congrats on your certification, and kudos to you for wanting to be out there helping others when they need it most. :woot: :salute:

[Feuer Frei!]

Congrats :up:

[the_tyrant]

ahh congrats:woot:

[Gargamel]

Have fun being hit with spleens!

They stain!

:yeah:

[Castout]

Congratulations! :yeah:


http://www.halolz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/teamfortress2-medic-wehaventgotone.jpg

[UnderseaLcpl]

Doctors save lives. Medics just make you more comfortable while you die:O:

Seriously, though, congrats on the cert. The world needs more people like you. :salute:

[Gargamel]

Doctors save lives. Medics just make you more comfortable while you die:O:

Nope.

medics save lives. Doctors get the credit

[Gerald]

Congratulations, :up:

[papa_smurf]

Congrats:up:

[kiwi_2005]

I learn't my medic training in the America's Army online 2 & 3 games. :DL dam close enough.

Gratz Betonov

[Takeda Shingen]

Congratulations! In honor of your achievements, I move that we make the Medic avatar permanent for Benatov.

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr278/A_Very_Super_Market/a18.jpg

Oh yeah.

[Betonov]

Congratulations! In honor of your achievements, I move that we make the Medic avatar permanent for Benatov.

http://i491.photobucket.com/albums/rr278/A_Very_Super_Market/a18.jpg

Oh yeah.

Haha, the idea crossed my mind also, but I'd prefer this one :DL
http://youngforred.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Red_Cross_Heroes-188x188.jpg

But no thanks, if I'll have my own custom avatar I'll gain it like everyone else. Trough donation. And I prefer the nautical ones, since profesionaly I will be a ships officer one day :DL
A hero must be modest after all ;)

And an advice: take courses, read books on first aid, ask people. The first minutes count, in the words of Gargamel
medics save lives. Doctors get the credit when there's a doctor at the scene before the paramedics it's a coincidence, but anyone can be a medic, you don't have to be certified to save a life, just keep a cool mind and remember what Teddy said

http://rlv.zcache.com/theodore_roosevelt_decision_best_thing_right_thing _speckcase-p176965890705444982vu9ql_400.jpg

[Herr-Berbunch]

Well done, congratulations, and thank you!

You'll need to carry some of this: :D

http://s3.thisnext.com/media/largest_dimension/94977315.jpg

[Betonov]

Well done, congratulations, and thank you!

You'll need to carry some of this: :D

http://s3.thisnext.com/media/largest_dimension/94977315.jpg

And a pack of the real deal for the medic right (drool drool) :D

[Penguin]

Congrats, Betonov! :up: Always usefull to have some medical skills!

Too bad that you're in the Red Cross, not the white cross, so I'm sorry that I can't send you this nice lady to work with you:

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/3038/56687968.jpg

[Slyguy3129]

Ha I thought this was a similar joke to "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" joke that Reagen told.

On a serious note :salute: Congratulations Betonov for passing the test, and thanks for your public service!

[Gargamel]

when there's a doctor at the scene before the paramedics it's a coincidence, but anyone can be a medic, you don't have to be certified to save a life,

In the US, a medic is almost a 2 year program. You need 6 months or so to get your EMTB (basic), and then another year or so to get your EMTP (Paramedic). I personally went on and did another year to get my Critical Care Paramedic cert.

I have the ability to do anything, except surgery and some drugs (insulin for one), that an ER can do within the first 45 minutes. So most of the time, we are staying on scene and actually saving the patients life. Quite often I'd roll into the ER, say "Here ya go! I fixed him!", and then they would have nothing left to do.

Doctors don't go on the squads in the US, unless they are dumbass students who just get in our way, or the Head of the emergency department (basically our boss (medical control)) who just sit back and observe.

Yes, I have been hit with a spleen. I have flicked oil soaked body parts into the bushes because they were too small and ruined to collect. I have walked into an ER holding a spurting artery clamped shut between my fingers. While working in an ER, I have done more thoracotomies than I should have. I have held a blue apneic 3 year old in one arm, while dragging a 250 pound gun shot victim with the other (that day had a lot of beer at the end of it). I have carried a 1200 pound man down a flight of stairs (not alone of course).

But that's the point of my post. Doctors get all the credit for saving the lives, because it takes time for the family to get to the ED, and that's what they see.

"Oh thank you doctor for saving mom's life!"

"No, maam, thank the medics over there!"

"Oh them, that's just the ambulance drivers"

:nope:

I lost a lot of colleagues on 9/11. Everyone knows the 343 firefighters died, but name me one person who knows how many EMS workers died? Anybody?

Anybody?

Hell, I don't even know the number, but there's more than enough to be remembered.

Try this. (http://www.fdnyemswebsite.com/Page13.html)

It's a thankless, underpaid job. Maybe twice a year somebody would actually come up to me an give a heartfelt 'Thank you' to me. And I don't mean the "hey thanks for the same ride the taxi I should have called would have given me" thanks, but a Thank you from the heart because I was able to help them in a time of crisis.

To put it in perspective, My last partner was getting paid $8.00 / hour to do this job. I got quite a bit less than twice that (experience and certifications). There was that kid not to long ago complaining about pushing a broom for $9/hr. Betcha you get shot at a lot less in that job. Course, whenever I get shot at or a gun pointed at me, I get mad and start screaming at them. Usually works somehow :hmmm:.

But I didn't do it for the money. I did it to help people. And that's why Betonov has done it too, I hope. One day there may come a time where he can use his skills to affect the outcome of somebodies life, and it will be a point in your life that you can look back on and be genuinely and thoroughly proud of.

Betonov, I hope you do well with it, and congratulations again on your cert. Welcome to the fraternity.




Sorry for hijacking your thread.

[Platapus]

As a former EMT, I congratulate you on your new job. It is the first responders that save many lives, simply by being there to stabilize and call EMS. :salute::salute:

[Betonov]

As a former EMT, I congratulate you on your new job. It is the first responders that save many lives, simply by being there to stabilize and call EMS. :salute::salute:
It's not a job, It's volunteer service.
I'm in a first aid team, blessed by the red cross and under the civil protection. I am not qualified fo an EMT (need a 4 year medical school for that), I'm just there to augment the EMS if there is more than they can handle. If the japaneese disaster would have occured here I would have been called in, but not on a 5 car pile-up, since the EMS can handle it.

But if I am in a vicinity of a 5 car pile-up then my training comes in, since I am obliged to help (moraly and legally). 2 people can bleed to death until the EMTs arrive without a pressure bangdage and one would suffocate since he is unconcies and lying on his back.

Every driver here has to laern basic first aid before they get their permit, but it's a joke. A 5 hour course. On my training we actually had simulations. You went out of the room, 5 people prepared their ''wounds'' and you came in and had to make a triage and tend to them. Then we started going in as teams (6 member teams and 10 wounded) And the simulations were very elaborate. The others would stand around and suddenly one of them faked a heart attack, or one of the doctors observing you, thinking they're just there to observe until you see one of them has a ''bulge'' in his sleeve and his faking a shocked person with an open fracture. One of the ''injured'' even ran out of the room when we took care of him and we actualy failed that one because we thought he was going to the toilet, actually he went delirius because of shock.


Sorry for hijacking your thread. Ahh no, hijacking this thread would mean blaming Obama for EMS being a thankless and underpaid job, you just aded an interesting view :DL

Ohhhh, one interesting fact. When we were going trough CPR, it is 100 pushes on the chest (is it called that, we call it heart massage). And to have that frequency we had to learn to sing Staying alive from the Bee Gees. It has a beat 100 per minute :DL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vj092UgKwQ

[Gargamel]

Yeah, that's what we call it.

But in reality, it's very difficult to do that (keep that rate), during the real thing. Your first push and all you feel, and hear, is their ribs and sternum shattering beneath your hands. I had a partner vomit all over themselves because of it, one of the sickest feelings you'll ever have. Give the dude credit, he wiped off the puke and kept going. I usually made rookies buy me ice cream whenever they had their first arrest, I bought this guy a beer, he really manned up.


And yeah, those proctors can be real bastards when you do live scenarios. I once pulled a guys bone out of his leg (stick in his sock) cause I didnt realize it was supposed to represent a compound fracture. :D

[Betonov]

But in reality, it's very difficult to do that (keep that rate), during the real thing. Your first push and all you feel, and hear, is their ribs and sternum shattering beneath your hands. I had a partner vomit all over themselves because of it, one of the sickest feelings you'll ever have. Give the dude credit, he wiped off the puke and kept going. I usually made rookies buy me ice cream whenever they had their first arrest, I bought this guy a beer, he really manned up.

Those puppets, Little Anies don't really show you how the body behaves during CPR, does it ?? It was a bit to easy I think. Never done it on a real person so it makes nervous when I think about the real thing

[Gargamel]

Those puppets, Little Anies don't really show you how the body behaves during CPR, does it ?? It was a bit to easy I think. Never done it on a real person so it makes nervous when I think about the real thing

It is flat out, the hardest physical activity I have ever done. I once worked in a system where we couldn't pronounce on scene, so we ended up working one for over 90 minutes.

Their ribs shatter, you feel that and hear that. The compressions force their stomach contents to geyser out sometimes. Get yourself a face shield (like http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=general_catalog&cat=&style=RO831) to protect yourself. I keep one on my keychain at all times just in case.

The enormity of it cannot be described. It's a simple, yet strenuous action. But the emotional aspects of it are immense.

But the feeling that you were in the right place at the right time to make a difference is what counts, and I do hope you get the chance to help somebody one day.

[Betonov]

A requirement for passing was doing CPR un-interupted for 2min (4 series, one serie 30 massages and 2 blows) and then succesfully changing posts with another trainee. Some of them were avid sportsmen/women and they gained a sweat. I was as wet as a pig in a storm. During the test there was a slight communication breakwdown and I had to do 7 series until the doctor/judge said that I revived him... pheeew.
Yeah, they said it would be bloody, disgusting and grueling. One of the lecturers said: remember baywatch, everything that will hapen will be an absolute opposite. One even compared Saving private Ryan to a children bedtime story :S

[Gargamel]

One even compared Saving private Ryan to a children bedtime story :S


eh, dunno bout that, but we did study that movie in class. We had to identify 7 different forms of trauma.

[Betonov]

eh, dunno bout that, but we did study that movie in class. We had to identify 7 different forms of trauma.
Interesting :DL We only had photos of real life injuries and analized those. Suprisingly no one blacked out or threw up. And we had some high school girls with us and they all took it quite well

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Congratulations! :yeah:


http://www.halolz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/teamfortress2-medic-wehaventgotone.jpg

Heh. First thing I thought of!!!

[Gargamel]

Interesting :DL We only had photos of real life injuries and analized those. Suprisingly no one blacked out or threw up. And we had some high school girls with us and they all took it quite well

I met my wife in my EMT basic class. We were partners in our patient assessment practical. So I got to feel her up (makes motion of hands sliding ups ides, then feeling the breasts (works better in real life)), then I asked her to dinner! She even called me out on it! But she still said yes!

[Rilder]

Grats on the training completion, the closest I've been to any sort of certification on that is the Red Cross first aid card thing I got back in middle school for health class which according to my health class teacher basically meant you could help hurt people without getting sued if you screw up. :hmmm:

[Betonov]

I met my wife in my EMT basic class. We were partners in our patient assessment practical. So I got to feel her up (makes motion of hands sliding ups ides, then feeling the breasts (works better in real life)), then I asked her to dinner! She even called me out on it! But she still said yes!

Nice :D, I had a female partner for the practical parts of the course, veeery nicely built. Especially enjoyed the Rautek maneuver :DL. But alas, I was looking for adventure, she was looking for a husband.... And she already had one so no love story like yours