I agree with you re: the bottom point about EMT's salaries. It's the same with teachers; they're one of the most essential parts of society, and they're paid so little.

An example: in Georgia, just picking a random county, teachers make around 20,000~60,000$ a year, leaning more toward the lower end. It seems that importance to society and salary are negatively correlated...

You can look them up here: http://open.georgia.gov/openga/salaryTravel/list

Also, a somewhat-related video I watched recently (a fantastic channel, by the way:) https://youtube.com/watch?v=VOAaFyv_shY

> I agree with you re: the bottom point about EMT's salaries. It's the same with teachers.

It toils be interesting to see if these problems were related. Eg invest heavily in education and teachers, and would the demands on EMTs fall?

> they're one of the most essential parts of society, and they're paid so little.

They can somehow hire enough even at this salaries, and appear to think that's enough. Quality of education is hard to measure, and it takes very long to measure, much longer than a typical election term.

Agreed, however the turnover is terrible. With the low wages and tough working conditions, the department I worked had 15 EMT-firefighters when fully staffed, which was pretty much never. We averaged a little over two and a half new hires a year the time I worked there, nearl 17 percent turnover, every year. Ran into a former coworker a the grocery store a few months ago, he told me an entire shift just quit, a third of the department. That is no way to run a business.

>> I agree with you re: the bottom point about EMT's salaries. It's the same with teachers; they're one of the most essential parts of society, and they're paid so little.

See also:

- Truckers

- Farmers (though some do pretty well) and farmhands

- Janitors

- Babysitters

- Teaching assistants

- Receptionists

Recently retired EMT here. Kudos for saving a life. I very seldom saw a person OD more than once, but it happens some times. I once ran on the same guy ODing three times in 24 hours. He died of an OD a few weeks later, though not on my shift. He was only 18. Folks, if you are going to use opiates, keep a friend that knows CPR with you. Simple chest compressions can keep adequate air exchange until somebody arrives with Narcan.

There are two drugs I carried that had an instand life saving effect: Narcan and D50 (50% dextrose solution). Somebody with low blood sugar will often present with a radically altered level of response, if they are even conscious. Start an IV, push D50 and within seconds, they sit up and talk to you as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Be advised, it is relatively short lived and the patient needs to consume some complex carbohydrates or protien to sustain their blood sugar levels.

Yes, it is terribly under paid, but there is great job security. I worked tech/research most of my adult life, but market and government priority changes made it really tough to work toward a retirement. It seems every few years, either the project was cancelled, or the line was shut down.

As an EMT/firefighter, my minimum week was 56 hours (by federal law due to the standard 33% duty cycle of a 24 hour, 7 day week) and sometimes nearly double that. Unfortunately, only the firstw 40 hours, (at just above minimuim wage) applied toward retirement benefits where I worked.

I got a lot of satisfaction from being an EMT-B. But no pay; I was a volunteer. If you're at all interested and you already have a day job I recommend you seek out a volunteer fire department near where you live, or move to an area that has one. Often they will pay for your training if you agree to be on call.