Re: The last stand

[Guest guest]

Thom:

I refer you to a later post in which I define what I mean by an amateur

paramedic. You, sir, and most certified medics do not fit that

definition. I prehaps let my frustration get the better of me in my

choice of words in the post to which you refer, but I still believe that

we have tried to accomodate everyone for too long with the result that

we have no respect, poor pay, and almost no prospects if we want to stay

in EMS. For your information, I have 25 years experience in EMS and was

one of the first officially-certified paramedics in Texas. Over 23 of

those years has been with a red patch. I have worked in high-density

urban EMS, hospital based EMS, rural EMS, as a dispatcher, as a flight

medic, as an operations manager and, most recently, as a professional

EMS educator. I went back many years ago to get my EMS Associate's

degree and three years ago earned a Bachelor's related to disaster

management and public administration. I am qualified both by experience

in this profession and by formal education to make the statements I have

made, as distasteful as they were. I can work the streets with the best

of you, I dare say, although my back won't stand it for long these days.

I guess that does sound kinda paragod-ish, but it is true!

I have long had a vision of what EMS could be. In some other states,

that vision has moved far toward fruition, but in Texas, my lfelong

home, it has not. It has not because things are tolerated in Texas EMS

that more progressive states do not allow. To our credit, we have some

features that some other states would do well to emulate, such as our

non-specified scope of practice, but the deficiencies override the

benefits. This bickering is happening because it is important! Texas

EMS got off on a wrong foot when we made it so easy to become a

paramedic. At the time, there were social forces driving the policies,

but they were short-sighted and we now pay the price. It kills me when

I have to tell students in my classes what they can expect to make once

they graduate. I can't bring myself to tell them how they will be

treated by most private EMS services; disposable resources. I hate to

tell them that if they become firefighter paramedics, they will be

expected to be a firefighter first and a paramedic second even though

most departments run far more EMS than fire calls. It grieves me to

think of the nurses who will look down on them, even though they are far

more able to handle a tense or critical situation than that nurse. I

hate it because we; you, I, and our generation didn't stop the process

that led to it years ago. I guess we didn't know how, then. What tore it

for me was several years ago when the JTPA office in the region my

college operated told me they would not fund anymore paramedic students

because the salaries they could expect were no better than that for

unskilled burger flippers. In Texas, we obviously have brain problems.

We pay our teachers less than 43 other states, even though they hold the

key to our state's future. We pay paramedics squat even though they hold

the key to survival for many patients (the cost of whose death to the

state is significant). For some reason, we require less training of

these same people than is required by many other states. Want proof?

Just see what reaction you get if you try for reciprocity in many states

as a Texas paramedic who is not nationally-registered. You'll be given

the " sorry, Charlie " treatment, because our state minimums don't measure

up.

That, Thom is the point I'm trying to make. This licensure thing was the

first step toward putting things back on track, and it wouldn't have

harmed any of the current crop of paramedics that didn't want to change.

It would probably affect their children if they wanted to carry on the

tradition. But those amateurs I keep mentioning couldn't leave well

enough alone. They had to keep us all wallowing in the muck. Hell, they

even lied to a state senator, I suspect or at least someone did, to

encourage him to make that amendment that otherwise makes no sense. By

the way, if you'd taken business law like I and many others with an EMS

degree did, you'd know that my earlier remarks, while inflammatory, were

definitely not slander, libel, or anything else actionable under civil

law.

Just to clarify things, Thom, I'm not really interested in this matter

for myself. Although I don't enjoy being an EMS program director or

instructor very much anymore, I make a decent salary. It's not for me

personally that I am so fervent about this matter. Its for that guy with

a young wife and a new baby who is going to have to abandon EMS or be

prepared to work 90 hour weeks (which will probably end that family

eventually) just so they can have some of the decent things in life,

like a nice car or their own house. It's for that young single mother

who wants to feel worth something and so goes back to school to be a

paramedic only to find that the pay is worse than what she was doing

before and the hours increase her childcare expenses big time. Its for

that 40-year old medic with the degree AND the field experience who

knows (and is right) that his knowledge and experience would improve the

operation of a hospital ER or some community health center, but can't

get a shot because of.....well, you know the rest of that story.

By all means be affronted. I wanted to piss people off, although I meant

and mean every word I said about the people I was referring to. But

understand that we have very little time left if we're going to ever be

viewed as anything but semi-skilled labor in the eyes of the rest of the

medical professions. And these amateurs I referred to are standing in

the way of progress. I suggest to all of you, the next time you can't

pay a bill on time, the next time you have to have get-by repairs made

on your old car, the next time you wish your family lived in a house -

not an apartment, the next time some nurse 10 years your junior and far

less experienced and knowledgeable smarts off to you and you just have

to take it, remember that some of your colleagues helped to make it that

way. See who you get mad at then. Certified professional, or licensed

professional, we all had a lot to lose, and we jus' lost it again.

Thom Seeber wrote:

>

> Mr. ,

>

> Although I do not support the contents of this bill, I do take exception to

> your slanderous remarks concerning the certified paramedics in the state. I

> have held my certification for almost 20 years, and consider myself anything

> but an " amateur " . In the course of those twenty years, I have run transfer,

> 911, Volunteer & compensated. I have obtained every certification available

> including: EMT-P, NREMT-P, Flight, Dive, Remote, Rescue, Tactical, CCEMT-P,

> ACLS-I/C, BTLS I/C, PPPC-I/C, BCLS-I/C, EMS-I, EMS-E, EMS-C. I have worked

> offshore and International with such extensive scope of practice that most

> paramedics at the time would find unbelievable. I have worked in eight

> different countries performing and refining my skills and abilities in order

> to provide my patients with the highest level of care I was capable of. I do

> not consider myself an " amateur " by any stretch of your imagination.

>

> This constant bickering over the licensing process which only indicates the

> possession of a college degree, PERIOD. It has nothing to do with the

> abilities of the individual(s) holding that license. You sir, had better sit

> back and reexamine your experience level before you begin to attack what I

> have always considered the " backbone " of our EMS system in this state. That

> is your certified EMS personnel (at any level).

>

> As I stated above, I do not support the bill as it is written. I have keep

> my tongue during the back-and-forth fighting for and against the issue, and

> most likely would have still maintained my silence had it not been for the

> disrespectful attitude that you have displayed in your comments. How long

> have you held your patch? and what is your experience. If you wish to keep

> your comments strictly along an educational requirement for licensure, I

> will agree with your stance and concerns, but when you begin to attack me

> and other certified Paramedics simply because you believe that any Paramedic

> that lacks a college degree is an amateur and is " dangerous " to the patients

> they treat, then you and I sir WILL disagree.

>

> I would have rather sent this reply to Mr. 's personal email, but he

> chose not to display it. To the rest of the group, I am sorry for the wordy

> reply, but this slander could not be left unanswered. And to you Mr.

> , I welcome any retort you feel suitable to this reply. You are

> welcome to send it through the group or to my personal

> mail...............your choice.

>

> Thom Seeber, EMT-P, EMS-C

>

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