March 5, 2009
After being an EMT for two years, in 1982 I decided to go to paramedic school. I was living in Los Angeles at the time and being a paramedic was still a relatively new career. I chose a local school that was affiliated with the start of Emergency Medical Services in the Los Angeles area.
I chose the school I did because of it’s reputation and because it was an intensive, every day school. I preferred the immersion method because I knew it fit my learning style. The course consisted of classroom training 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for two months, followed by a month of 12 hours every day of clinical rotation in local hospitals. That training was followed by a two month internship working as the third member of the paramedic crew at a local fire department.
It was a tough 5 months. Everything else in life gets put on hold and your focus is entirely on the training. With that said, if I had to do it all over again I would do it exactly the same. I will always remember the sense of pride at my accomplishment. I remember even now, 25 years later, driving the Paramedic Ambulance and looking down at my left shoulderand seeing the crisp LA County Paramedic patch outlined against the crisp sky blue of my uniform shirt. Even to this day I’m proud.
