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I looked into this when my kids were small and we lived in the boonies. I did NOT want to rely on a 30 minute wait for the ambulance to get there. Our local community college had a program: you had to have a clean criminal b/g check (local PD) and a CPR cert to get into the program (two Saturdays, eight hours a week). It was a four month series of courses, but very intense - twice, three times a week, six hours a night. But it was Community College cheap. As with college these days, the nights you are not in class, you are advised to be riding as a volunteer with your local Fire Department. Builds the experience base.
EMT is only the entry point. You keep taking courses for higher qualifications. By the time you are a paramedic, you are making some really good dough. BUT...there are no short cuts. Riding with the volunteer ambulance corps is non-negotiable. You will NOT get hired without these credentials.
So, even though it's only a four month certification, it is academic unless you devote your life to getting the actual on the ground experience to do it.
My decision was time with the children. I traded off emergency expertise for more time to spend with them. Thankfully, nothing ever happened that would have made that half hour wait a life or death situation. But it was a real risk, and I really sweated over that decision.
IF I had not been working already, i would have put the kids in day care and used that time during the day to get certified as an EMT. Even if I had never made a dime from it. It was that important to me to know that I'd be able to stabilize them until they could get to a hospital if something serious had ever happened.
Good luck to you - but there are no short cuts to EMT certification. You can do it for cheap (relatively), but you cannot do it without devoting your entire life to it for four months.
Perfect. I got my EMT and Paramedic certifications there originally.
Go to EMT class. The instructors, students and folks you do ride time with will have an idea of the local job market.
I'm not familiar with all areas but unless you are near one of the big cities the volunteer component will be prominent. Some hospitals will hire you. There are always the private services.
I think some of the posters have given you pretty good advice. A paramedic cert is very intensive and requires a lot of pharmacology. Start with your EMT cert and go from there.
I think some of the posters have given you pretty good advice. A paramedic cert is very intensive and requires a lot of pharmacology. Start with your EMT cert and go from there.
I have a Bachelors in Nutrition Science so pharmacology it is one of the skills I think I could get down pretty good actually as we hit up cellular metabolism pretty good (medical level).
Thanks for the advice all. I do think the EMT-B is a requirement prior to Paramedic so it looks like that is a good start.
Maybe OP could CLEP some coursework with his/her existing degree's courses. Best wishes to OP.
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