WEBVTT - How Paramedics Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.560 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from how Stuff Works 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:13.640 dot Com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:17.439 Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bryant and there's Jerry Jerome 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:22.000 Roland and this is Stuff you Should Know the emergency 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:31.920 re Rear rear wo er er Ah. We should have 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:37.000 a new podcast called Sirens Around the World. Yeah, it's 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:40.479 annoying showever, it would be pretty annoying, but there'd be 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:43.800 some subset of people who like just really despise themselves. 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:48.000 That would be popular. I'm on so we would love it. Uh, 0:00:48.159 --> 0:00:51.080 we don't hate ourselves? Do we tell me? I need 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:53.920 to know? No? Okay, so it depends on the day. 0:00:54.240 --> 0:00:56.240 I didn't want to hate myself. Sometimes I want to 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:59.000 punch myself. Does that count? No? I know exactly what 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:00.960 you mean, man. Sometimes is I'm just like, I am 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:05.319 so sick of myself? Is that? Is that what you're 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.640 talking about? That was a good song? Remember that song? No, 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:15.319 it sick of myself? No, that was Matthew Sweet. Oh yeah, wow, 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.880 that's weird that this is going on right now because 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.559 Matthew Sweet just popped up like randomly in the last 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.480 couple of days and like an article I was reading. 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:26.319 I was like, I forgot about him, haven't heard about 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.120 him in twenty years, and then bam, bottom mine off. 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:31.160 Here he is again. Well he's still around. He's an 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:35.560 Atlantic guy. You know, I didn't know that. Well that's cool, Yeah, 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.680 I know. I think I think that's like the way 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.319 it goes. Just because you had one hit in the 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.440 world came and like listened to you and then moved 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.240 on doesn't mean like you're like, Okay, well, I guess 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:47.000 I'll go bury myself alive now in my own backyard. 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:51.960 Usually usually the artist like keeps going. You know, yeah, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.920 he had two hits stuff. I know, girlfriend and then 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:57.000 the other one. You're just talking about girlfriend. That's a 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:03.000 great song. Yeah, that's a good song. Okay. So obviously 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:08.840 what we're talking about today are paramedics, para medicine really 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:13.359 is what we're talking about, which is, um it's actually 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:16.080 a pretty interesting topic because you kind of look into it, 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:20.160 You're like, oh, these these people save lives. That's great. Um, 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:24.120 here's some of the life saving techniques that they do. Fantastic. 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:26.760 But there's like actually so much more too. It's got 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:31.400 a really interesting history, it's got a it's one of 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.160 those things where it's way worse off than it should 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.160 be as far as like funding and and and like 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.400 UM logistics and stuff like that goes. I just find 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.360 it interesting. It's it's interesting to kind of poke into 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:46.720 a topic and then find that, oh, this is even 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.840 more interesting than I thought, and have it poked back 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:54.240 yep with forceps. So I guess we should say right 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:59.359 off the bat that the word paramedic para means alongside, 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:05.079 so alongside medicine, I guess, which I'm not quite sure 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:09.040 what that means. So what I think it means is 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:16.760 as follows Charles, these people paramedics. They are not doctors, 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:22.920 but they work with an alongside and really honestly um 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:28.359 as an extension of a doctor and empty. So that's 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.240 what I think it means, because it's not like what 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.080 they're doing is a different type of wacky medicine. Like 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.360 they're actually doing the same type of medicine that an 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:38.920 E R doctor and E R nurse would be doing, 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.480 and e R they're just doing it out in the field. 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.680 Could you imagine how disconcerting it would be to be 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.480 like on the ground and have a paramedic come up 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.000 and like blow green dust in your face. You're like, 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:54.400 what are the chicken bones for? Man? Oh man, blow 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:58.000 green dusty. I don't know, it would depend on what 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:01.960 the effect of the green dust was. So, um, I 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:05.960 think that's what paramedic means. Right, we can go we 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:08.600 can go further back actually and and and describe what 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:12.720 ambulance means. We know that one for certain. Yes, Uh, 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:19.480 that came around in fifteenth century Spain during the Inquisition. 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:24.200 They clearly had a lot of need for medical work. Uh. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.560 And they actually had field hospitals that were called ambu lancias. Right. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.160 It was just basically like a mass unit out in 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:38.160 the field. Um. And then eventually the the French shortly after, 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:42.640 I think under Napoleon, they innovated on the ambulance and said, well, 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:44.880 that's great, that's neat that we have these things out 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.520 in the field, But there's some guys way over there 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:52.880 who are injured, and they probably wouldn't die if we 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:57.160 could get them to these ambulances, these field hospitals. Right. 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.640 So they came up with basically mob ambulances um, which 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.440 is the this idea of a flying or a moving ambulance, 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.839 which is like a little medical facility that they would 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.720 put the people into and move them away from battle 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:15.279 to go patch them up, rather than waiting for the 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.760 battle to end. Well yeah, and before that, even during 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.560 the Crusades, and they also had a great need for 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:29.159 medical care. Uh, there were the Knights Hospitaller. Hospitaller I 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:33.360 think hospitalier. Oh whoa is there an extra I might 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:36.320 be putting an extra syllable in there. Well, I'm known 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:41.200 to do uh nights hospitaller. That's what I'm gonna say 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:44.520 of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. And they 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.560 were the first kind of the first people to practice 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.680 emergency medicine on the battlefield. And they even invented the 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.880 what we now call the stretcher, although it's still called 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:01.160 a litter in some circles. Yeah, it's pretty intuitive thing, 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.719 but it's it works. Someone had to think of it. 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.479 A couple of sticks with some canvas stretch between them. 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:10.760 Throw a person on there, you can pick them up. 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:12.680 Two people can pick them up and get them off 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.359 of the battlefield lickety split. So yeah, So this is 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:21.800 the idea of emergency medicine grew basically exclusively out of 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.800 warfare over the centuries. Well, yeah, But what's remarkable to 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.320 me is that from that time, I have the right idea, 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.240 let's get these people out of here quickly. It took 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.960 about a hundred and thirty years all the way until 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:40.479 the mid to late nineteen sixties until they said, hey, 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:45.359 wait a minute, if we actually put trained medical people 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.440 in these things and weren't simply driving people to a hospital, 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:54.240 we might have even more luck. Yeah, that was the 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.440 late sixties and then amazing it is And at the 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:00.240 time it was so a lot of medic It was 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.760 practiced through house calls right, including emergencies like if there 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:06.880 was an emergency and you could get ahold of a doctor, 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.520 the doctor was expected to go out to that emergency 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.680 and do what they could. But more often than not, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:19.200 either the cops um or local morticians were tasked with 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.400 basically was called like a scoop and scoop and run, 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.720 scoop and carry, where you just basically get the person 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.640 out of that car wreck or um from the bottom 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.840 of that ladder or whatever just happened to him, throw 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:34.560 them in the back of a car, a cop car, 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:38.680 or a hearse. I would looked it up the ECTO 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:44.520 one the ghostbusters, um ambulance is a modified Cadillac Hearse, 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.400 so um, they would dress the sinking feeling. It really 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.400 was for a mortician to show up in a Hearse 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.480 and be like, I'm gonna take you to the hospital. 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:54.920 Depending on what happens, you may be back in the 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.800 same car. Yeah, and talk about a conflict of interest, 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.280 you know what I mean, that's a good point. Hopefully not, 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.520 but yeah on paper, yeah right, or they just you know, 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:08.600 casually put their hand on the person's nose and mouth 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.680 in the backseat. Dry. Um. The thing is, though, is 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.600 whether the mortician or the cops were getting you to 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.400 the hospital. Even when you got to the hospital. It's 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:20.800 not like there was such a thing as an e 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.200 er room. E Arston come about really until like the 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:28.080 mid seventies, where you could find them in in fair 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.840 abundance around the United States. Like e r just didn't exist. 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.360 It was here you go, doc. I know, you just 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:38.160 delivered a baby and you um treated somebody else for Angelina, 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:42.960 but now you've got to put this person's head back together. Yeah, 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.600 And it was all just medicine at the time. So yeah, 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:49.280 the idea of getting somebody to a hospital and having 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:53.360 a medical person a professional in the car that's transporting them. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.520 It came out of Ireland, I think, right yeah, big 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:01.400 shout out N seven to Dr J. Frank Pantridge of Belfast. 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:05.960 He had a study. He published a study that said, hey, 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.160 you know what, we have more success saving people's lives 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:14.800 when our mobile units have a physician or a nurse inside. 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.319 And everyone went, huh, I never really thought about that, 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:22.800 but there it is. There's a study. Pretty cool. So 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.520 he definitely um set the stage for this. And then 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.840 the year before there was a report I think it 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.600 was a year earlier, right, the one from Congress in 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.440 America a couple of years sixty five. I think it 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.440 was like the National Academy of Sciences or somebody basically 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:43.840 got together with another group and said, let's let's study accidents. 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.440 And what they came up with was this idea that 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:53.880 there was like this um overlooked disaster that happened, like 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.280 accidents were a huge, major leading cause of injury and 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:01.760 death in the United States, and the this inquiry determined 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.080 that we weren't doing much about it, and specifically a 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.880 lot of people died who otherwise wouldn't have if there 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:12.400 had been something like an emergency medical service to attend 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.560 to them at the accident scene and on the way 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.760 to the hospital, and then having the hospital actually know 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.960 what they were doing as far as emergency medicine goes. Yeah, 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.160 it's just it's just staggering to me. It seems so 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:27.920 intuitive and I can't believe it took that long for 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.400 this to happen, you know. Uh. And in fact, the 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:37.600 Emergency Medical Systems Act was signed in nineteen seventy three, 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:43.959 which basically said, we need a standardized system here, Yeah, nationwide. 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.120 That was after that paper came out in nineteen sixty six, 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.400 many years later. I mean that's the speed of government, 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.120 I guess. Uh. And then in nineteen seventy seven the 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:57.960 publication of the first very first national standard Curriculum for 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:01.160 e m T s and Paramedics seventy seven. Yeah. And 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:06.319 then so alongside this para this, um, they they there 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:08.880 were people like around the country, at universities around the 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.520 country and around the world, who, um, we're kind of 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.600 all recognizing all of this. At the same time that 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.200 there were there's a lot more that could be done 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:21.640 for people who were injured in accidents. Um. And so 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:26.200 you had the people at Pitt University of Pittsburgh taking 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:32.160 up the cause. Yeah, they started UM. Is it the Panthers? Huh, 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:37.680 they started UM creating some of the first curriculum for paramedics, 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:41.240 some of the earliest tests for paramedics. Uh. The University 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.800 of Cincinnati came up with the first curriculum for training 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:48.720 physicians in e er medicine. I think the University of 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:53.200 California was an early entrant into the world of of 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:57.120 UM teaching paramedicine. And I think they were the first 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.839 one to be accredited in nineteen eight, Like they had 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.080 their operation going for years, but they were the first 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.040 one to say, hey, somebody take a look at this 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.000 and make sure we're kosher, and then we can say 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:13.120 we're an accredited training facility for paramedics. It is. It 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:18.160 is pretty amazing. And then the problem is this, So 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.760 the federal government got into the act in nineteen seventy 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:27.360 three with the Emergency Medical Services Act. But bye, there 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.000 was an omnibus budget that said we're out, We're done, 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.040 We're not funding emergency services anymore. And then from that 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:38.080 point forward, the emergency service system in the United States, 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:42.120 whatever had been developed to that point, broke into patchworks 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:47.400 of state, local county programs, sometimes multiple ones within a 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:49.400 single county. I think there's a county in Michigan that 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:54.679 has like eighteen different emergency services UM and that has 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:57.360 kind of created this where we are now, which is 0:12:58.679 --> 0:13:02.000 people doing the absolute us they can in what what 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.520 amounts to a broken system in a lot of ways. 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.760 Should we take a break, all right, when we come back, 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.240 we will put the broken system behind us momentarily. Talk 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:37.319 about e m t s and paramedics change to change, 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.640 all right. So if you want to ride in an 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:49.480 ambulance or drive an ambulance and get on the scene 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:52.520 and help someone out who's in need, there are a 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.760 couple of ways you can do it. UH. You can 0:13:55.800 --> 0:14:01.079 be an empty emergency medical technician. And this is the UH. 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.640 This is the person who has has undergone about between 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:06.480 about a hundred and twenty and a hundred and fifty 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.920 hours of course work. They're they're well trained and all 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.560 kinds of life saving procedures. If you need CPR, if 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:18.200 you need oxygen administered, if you were having some bad 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:22.680 allergic reaction, that your life is in jeopardy. But there 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:25.240 are limits to what they are allowed to do. So 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.160 one thing they cannot do even in the case of 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.640 giving shots, is they can't break the skin, right, which 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.880 is super interesting. I never knew that. No, I didn't 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.200 know that either. But you can consider an e m 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:43.760 T like an entry level paramedicine professional, right, that's where 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.760 you would start. And in fact, I think you have 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:47.520 to start as an e m T to go on 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.760 to the next level, which would be paramedic. Yeah. So 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.640 if you're a paramedic, you have about ten times the 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.880 amount of coursework and schooling under your belt by the 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.080 time you're a paramedic. And I think you do have 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:03.080 to have about s months at least of prior immediately 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:07.120 prior e m T experience to start um becoming a 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.880 paramedic as well, which I'm sure is the way most 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.000 people go. As you start out as an e m 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.040 T and then you you know, move on to the 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:16.800 next level, which is paramedic. Yeah, which, like you said, 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:21.080 ten times, so that's about anywhere from hours depending on 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:25.600 your state or your municipality to get certified. And this 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:29.280 is where the real action can happen. Um, you can 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.320 give an i V. You can if someone's having a 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:37.600 heart attack, you can deal with that. You can operate uh, defibrulator, fibulator, fibrillator. 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:41.400 It's fun to say. Once you master it. They should 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:48.800 have just called it the the clear machine. Yeah, the uh. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:50.680 But it's a it's a lot of work in a 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.400 lot of hours. And one of the people that they 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:56.920 interviewed in this article said that, you know, it's really grueling, 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.480 and when you're in paramedic training in school and doing 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.520 your coursework basically for a year or two, you can 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.760 just say goodbye to your friends and family. Yeah, I 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:10.520 saw that too. Stuff. So, um, the paramedic is actually 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:16.280 they operate under the license, not just like like under 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.640 the direction, but under the license of a physician in 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.360 their locale. Right, there's a couple of ways that you 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.440 can do it. And and as you'll start to see, 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.160 like I saw a quote that um it said, if 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.960 you've seen one emergency medical system, you've seen one emergency 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:34.080 medical system. They're all just so different and the whole 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.680 thing is so patchwork. But um there is a national standard, 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:46.760 which I think is the National Emergency Medical Technician Registry Exam. 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.600 That's like the national exam, and then you may have 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.120 to pass like a state and or local exam to 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.560 depending on where you live. But there is like a 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.440 national accreditation and national coursework. But then how the system 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:02.040 functions and runs is what's the the patchwork part of it. Yeah, 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.119 and it will cost you. I mean it depends on 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:06.000 where it is, of course, and what program. But the 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.080 the example they used in art article is the u 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:11.760 c l A Center for Prehospital Care. Uh, and they 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.120 quoted about ten grand for just tuition. And then of course, 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.280 like any college or coursework, you're gonna have to pay 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.960 for books and equipment and uniforms and stuff like that. 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.840 That's exactly where they get you the plaid skirt. Uh. 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.639 And then after that, though, the good news is is 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.000 that you have a really good chance of getting work. 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.160 I get the impression that if you have gone through 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.520 all of your paramedic training, you're not sitting around like 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:40.960 there's usually a job waiting for you somewhere. Yeah. I 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.160 saw that as well. And actually, um, it doesn't necessarily 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.919 pay super well people. So if you ever see a paramedic, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.360 be extra nice to them for sure, because not only 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.680 are they running around saving people's lives, they're not getting 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.000 rich off of it at all. Um, They're doing it 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.760 because it's something they care about um, but they're just 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:04.520 bite that despite the mediocre pay um, it's I saw 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.960 it's gonna be one of the most in demand jobs 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.200 over the next like ten to fifteen years. I really 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.800 wish I could remember the statistic exactly, but I think 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:17.080 they're like expecting another like fifty three thousand e m 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:20.000 T jobs or paramedic jobs to be added to the 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.919 American economy over the next decade maybe. So it's definitely 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.920 a growing, growing um career for sure, growing profession. Yeah, 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.359 and you mentioned the pay. If you, uh, if you 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.080 go to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to kind 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.680 of find a mean salary or something, they do it. 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:39.800 It's not really they should separate it out, but they 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.560 lump in e m T s and paramedics, when of 0:18:43.600 --> 0:18:45.199 course e m T s don't make the kind of 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.360 money they're paramedic would. But they had a mean annual 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:53.240 wage of about thirty one dollars a few years ago. Uh. 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.119 And if you're in the top ten percent, it's about 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:01.359 fifty four thousand. And apparently this to Washington is one 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:03.560 on the higher side. They you can get as high 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:09.040 as seventy one grand in the state of Washington, but 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.560 I mean, you know, that's a that's a good living 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:14.640 and a decent living. But it's not like like you said, 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.600 they don't go into this because like, oh man, you 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:19.720 know that thirty one grand year. It's sort of like 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:21.560 being a school teacher. It's a I feel like it's 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:24.240 a calling in a lot of cases for sure. For 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.560 sure um as I was saying about the license that 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.880 they operate under, right, So if you're a certified paramedic 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.600 when you are um depending on the state you're in, 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:38.960 you may be operating under the license of the state 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:43.200 medical director, like that's where you have your license, or 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:45.760 you could also be operating under the license of a 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.600 local physician, like that physician's license covers you, covers the 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:53.239 physician's assistant, basically everything working for everyone working for him 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.560 or her. So you might be operating under that physician's license, 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:01.080 or I didn't know this man during an ambulance ride. 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.800 So remember how just adding like a trained medical professional 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:08.760 to the ride from an accident scene to the hospital 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.440 improves outcomes. And we've done that since nineteen sixty six 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:15.080 at least they've figured out that if you can communicate 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:20.600 with a doctor, an e er physician en route you 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.360 could also improve outcomes even more so. During these um 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.679 this transportation from an accident to the hospital, the paramedic 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:31.720 is probably in touch with an E R doctor who 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:36.119 is instructing UM and advising and consulting with the paramedic 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:38.280 to figure out the best course of action, the best 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.879 course of treatment, and then how to carry that out. 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.240 And from what I understand at that time, the paramedic 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:49.000 is operating under that physician's license in that state. Would 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.640 that make you feel better or worse? What that the 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:56.960 paramedic was getting instruction from a physician, Like if you're 0:20:57.000 --> 0:21:01.000 here here this going on, I don't know. I would say. 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.240 Part of me is like better because it's a doctor 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:05.280 telling you that, But the other part of me is like, 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:07.919 don't you know? And you would hate to hear like 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.760 the doctors say, we'll get the something something and for 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.320 the paramedic to say the what you're right, I don't 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.760 know what that is. I've never seen this before ever. 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.320 Have you ever had to take an ambulance ride for yourself? No, 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:22.639 thank goodness, I didn't think I had either, But then 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:27.280 I did. Remember UM, when I was thirteen or fourteen, 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.280 my brother was sixteen, or seventeen, we were in a 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:34.800 car wreck. There were eight people in a jeep, my 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:37.640 and my brother's jeep that was once my dad's cheep, 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:41.480 and that was definitely not safe to do to begin with. 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:44.399 But we were going to a movie after church on 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:46.600 the Sunday night. A bunch of kids in youth group 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.560 piled and my brother's cheap wasted now just kidding, um, 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:56.439 completely sober wasted on the Lord we were and it 0:21:56.480 --> 0:22:00.920 was raining really hard and uh, you know at at 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:04.920 Ponts ponstantly on Avenue here in Atlanta. Everyone that doesn't 0:22:04.960 --> 0:22:07.280 live Atlanta probably laughs that we pronounced it that way 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:11.840 instead of pulse dadion. Uh. But on Ponts where it 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:15.359 kind of um, if you're leaving from Atlanta, it's that 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:20.160 big curve where you go over that large stone archway. Yes, 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:24.000 kind of headed toward Intdicator. We were coming down that 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:26.920 way nowhere near North Lake Mall where we were supposed 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.359 to be headed. We were lost and my brother we 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.760 hydroplane hit a curb and turned the jeep over on 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:37.520 its side and I ripped through the canvas ceiling or 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:40.439 whatever it's made. Man, you got thrown. Oh yeah, we 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:43.439 were scattered all over the street. You are lucky. I know. 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:46.800 It's the only time I think that I've been knocked unconscious, 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.520 and I just remember waking up, you know what would 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:53.240 have been probably seconds later, in the pouring rain, and 0:22:53.240 --> 0:22:56.119 looking around and seeing my friends like scattered within like 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:59.159 twenty ft of each other in various places. Man, that 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:02.960 is scary stuff. It was scary so uh. In the end, 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:05.800 the good news is no one had like I think 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:09.640 the worst injury was like a broken collar bone. I 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:13.080 broke my finger. There were little cuts and scrapes, but 0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:16.760 nobody was hurt bad. Uh. But I do remember this. 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:20.320 My brother doesn't listen to this one. In the ambulance 0:23:20.480 --> 0:23:23.560 on the way, my brother was just sort of catatonic, 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:27.040 and they said they were trying to get information, and 0:23:27.080 --> 0:23:32.160 they asked what his name was, and he said a whole. 0:23:34.840 --> 0:23:37.800 He said a hole, he said the real world. Yeah. 0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:39.359 I think he was just sort of out of it 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:43.080 and felt terrible. And he didn't curse at all at 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:46.119 the time. It still doesn't even curse much, but it 0:23:46.240 --> 0:23:48.840 was just it's weird that that is what stands out 0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:50.880 of my mind. I wonder if he remembers that. Actually, well, 0:23:50.880 --> 0:23:52.879 that's a big one. Especially you didn't curse. You're not 0:23:53.000 --> 0:23:57.160 so funny man, that's a that's you were a great storyteller. 0:23:57.600 --> 0:24:00.359 Was that a good story? Yeah? I was like, I 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:03.240 was seriously, well, you kept like going off on tantons. 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:04.840 I'm like, no, We've got to get back to the story. 0:24:04.880 --> 0:24:07.040 What happened to the cheek? I know you looked a 0:24:07.040 --> 0:24:12.240 little nervous. Yeah, so, um wow, Okay, should we take 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:15.240 a break. Oh yeah? And also I forgot to mention 0:24:15.280 --> 0:24:19.080 the one guy that was tragically killed. Right, You're like, 0:24:19.119 --> 0:24:22.159 but did I mention? I also broke my finger. No, nobody, 0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:25.280 nobody was hurt. Everybody's too bad. Everybody was good. Everybody's good. 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:28.600 I think my brother broke his foot. Yeah, it was 0:24:28.640 --> 0:24:30.680