Paramedic School

January, 2020

If you asked why on Earth a fifty-something Gen-X'er would decide to enroll in Paramedic school after a career of working in technology start-ups you wouldn't be alone. I've been working as a paramedic for several years now (Yes, I'm still catching up with the blog, but I've made solid progress in the past week, and hope to keep up the pace until I'm current!) and I still get the question on a regular basis.

The Cliff's Notes version:

I mostly retired from the tech industry around 2010, a few years after my wife was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Having never heard of the most common genetic disease on the planet we searched high and low for resources and eventually educated ourselves. It was shocking how difficult it was to find information on the topic just 15 years ago.

We traveled to see different doctors, participated in multiple studies, and attended the annual PKD conference for many years. Her health declined.

In 2018 she received a kidney transplant (as referenced in a previous post) and life changed. In the fall of 2018 I obtained my EMT certification to see if I might enjoy the vocation. In early 2019 I stepped up to an Advanced EMT certification (a level not recognized in every state) and decided I wanted to get my Paramedic certification. For a kid who grew up glued to the television watching Johnny and Roy in episodes of Emergency! this was pretty heady stuff.

In January 2020 paramedic classes started. There were about 24 of us in the program. We ranged in age from 18 to 53 (I was the oldest by far.) Some were taking their first bite from the apple, several had eaten a few apples by this point. Some were in class because they had a sincere interest in healthcare, some were there just because it was "something to do" and they thought it would be easy. By the end of the program there were 12 of us still standing. Of those twelve, eight of us are still running EMS calls. 

In Mid-March 2020 our class started clinical rotations in the Emergency Department. COVID was already spreading across Europe and there were reports of outbreaks on cruise ships. Three of four groups of my classmates completed their introductory shifts in the hospital. On March 15 the first states with outbreaks began implementing shutdown guidelines.  My first shift was scheduled for March 28, 2020.

On Wednesday, March 25, our school shut down for in-person classes and all clinical activities were suspended.

COVID had arrived.

We completed the remainder of the semester online, and the entire first summer session was conducted online. The second summer session was hybridized, with small groups meeting for lab sessions while implementing social distancing protocols with mandatory masking. The fall semester maintained masking requirements with less stringent distancing. We were allowed to resume clinical rotations just after Labor Day, 2020 and in late October we started our 911 ambulance rotations. By the first of May, 2021, we completed the course and two of us passed our Paramedic exam the next morning.

And there you have it.