EMS Question (Cary, Asheville: office, medical, rating)

[guyfromjersey]

I am new to NC and have a question on the EMS personnel that I see responding to emergency calls. My question is: what level of certification are they required to have? Are they Paramedics or are they EMT qualified? Having been a former EMT myself, I am interested in knowing.

[Asheville Native]

I think you will find that Paramedic is the standard. Can't speak for Cary, but here in backwoods Asheville, Paramedics are the standard.

[NCgirl]

Here is the North Carolina Office of EMS website

According to Wikipedia the emergency medical responder levels are:

Medical Responder
EMT-Basic
EMT-Intermediate
EMT-Paramedic
EMT-Advanced Practice Paramedic (Currently a pilot program in Wake County; the emergency scope of APPs is similar to a paramedic, but they do additional work in community preventative care)

For comparison New Jersey's levels are:

EMT-Basic
Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic* (MICP; also known as EMT-Paramedic)
Mobile Intensive Care Nurse (MICN)

[LRoyal10900]

Some of the more rural areas, you will still find EMT-Bs, & EMT-I's. More populated areas will have paramedics. Now, some of the rural areas have been able to get Homeland Security $$ and are upgrading to Paramedic level.

In some places you still have volunteer services, and others are paid, and/or a combination of the 2...maybe paid during the day, and relying mostly on volunteers at night & weekends. Some are county-run and others are run by municipalities.

[cary native]

In Wake Co. all EMS units are staffed with at least 2 people. Usually both are paramedics, but sometimes you will see an EMT-I (intermediate) riding with a medic. Most of the fire departments are operating at the EMT-B level and run as first responders.

BTW- Wake Co. has about the best EMS system in the nation!!