Cows With Guns

I'm back in Toronto, and have been now for a week.  Last Monday I went apartment hunting and got a large basement apartment in a nice subdivision in thunder bay. 
I then packed up everything i had brought (which wasn't much), made a small lunch for the next day and went to bed around midnight after loading my stuff in my car.  At about 635 the following morning I was in my car, sipping a coffee and eating a bagel while driving east on highway 11/17 heading back to Toronto.  I arrived a little before 9 pm on Tuesday evening, approximately 14 hours after I left Thunder Bay.  It was a long drive. 

On Thursday my AEMCA results came in and I passed with a very good mark.  As an aside I kinda wish the Ministry included the percentile, just to see how I did in comparision ot the rest of the people who wrote.  Either way it was a huge flipping relief.  That horrible, horrible exam is now behind me and I never, EVER, have to write it again.  

And really that's about it.  I'm in a holding pattern waiting for my ministry ID to arrive, I am still hopeful that it'll come this week, but realistically speaking it'll probably be next week.  And that totally blows.

My first week in Thunder Bay is finished (well technically I’ve only been here 6 days, but you get the gist).

To say that this was an interesting week would be a bit of an over statement.  That's not to say that it's been a bad week, or an overly boring one.  In fact it hasn't been boring at all, at least in terms of material that has been covered.  So let's do a bit of a recap.

My last post was written on Sunday evening, only a few hours after I arrived from in town.  (I'm sure I’ll post my experiences driving up here, but not today...).
On Sunday (and Saturday for that matter) as well as Monday morning I was quite nervous, for multiple reasons.  Firstly, I was nervous about the move up here.  As of then (and still now) I hadn't arranged (semi) permanent accommodations in the city.  Secondly there were the normal nerves associated with jumping into a new experience.  And lastly, I was nervous because I had absolutely no idea what to expect (yeah, this can be lumped with the second reason....), I honestly didn't even know what the expected dress was for Monday morning.  I had these visions going through my head that I'd show up and everyone else who was hired (at the time I was expecting one other person) would be wearing SNEMS uniforms that they were able to pick up the previous week.  On Sunday evening I had decided that I was going to show up in business casual, I just had no idea if that was the right choice. 

I didn't really sleep well on Sunday, but that's not to say I didn't sleep.  I woke up several times through out the night, for no apparent reason. 
At 0700 the alarm on my watch had gone off.  I had actually awoken a few minutes before it, which is not unusual for me - I seem to have developed a knack for waking up shortly before I want to for special events.  I stayed in bed for a few minutes gathering my thoughts and rolled out for my first shower in a dorm environment in 8 years (again this brought back memories lol).  After my usual morning preparations I found that I had some time to kill so I just sat on the bed and thought about things.  I can't really say what I thought about specifically as I can't remember now, and I probably couldn't tell you if you asked right after the fact.  All I knew is I sat there and thought about things, almost lost in mind.  When I returned to reality I realized that I was a few minutes behind schedule, and as such I rushed down to my car.  Once in the car I activated the GPS on my phone in google maps and took a second look on the map to confirm where my destination was; this was not necessary as I drove past the place the previous evening to scope out potential parking spots, but I did it anyway.  And I headed off.  I stopped for a coffee at Tim Horton's and again was on my way.  After parking the car at a local municipal lot I discarded half the coffee I drank for fear that it would be frowned upon if I showed drinking a coffee (don't ask why I thought that!).  
From my vantage point on the street I could see a gaggle of people standing in front of the SNEMS Headquarters, people who I assumed were like me, new hires.  As I got closer I noticed that none of them were particularly well dressed (and weren't in uniform much to my relief), several were just wearing t-shirts and jeans, one in shorts and the rest in generic casual clothing.  I was definitely over dressed.
I walked up to the group and said hello.  Most of them gave me a cursory nod, a couple introduced themselves, but for the most part I was ignored.  They had all gone to school together and were all Thunder Bay locals.  I felt very out of place.  

We eventually made it inside and were directed to the board room.  Sitting in there, surrounding by people I didn't know, the same thought went through my head "What exactly am I doing up here?”  

The first hour or so was spent doing nothing.  The individual running the orientation spent the time getting things in order, setting up the smart board and the like.  Once everything was ready to go we did a bunch of paper work and went through some policies and procedures.  My tenure with SNEMS had officially started.  

By the first break at about 1030, the group had meshed and my thoughts of being in the wrong place had started to dissipate.  

The majority of the day was spent going over the official City of Thunder Bay Harassment policy, which as I’m sure you might imagine was dry.  And that was the first day.  

The day actually went well. I got to know my fellow new hires.  I found that we were able to connect on past experiences that, even though that took place over a thousand kilometres apart, were very similar.  Everything from the stresses of scenario testing to the stress from the AEMCA, to getting a stupid Fitness certificate.  It really highlighted, for me at least, just how small of a community it is for paramedics in this province.  And that was a nice thing to remember, something I’m going to try to keep with me as I expand upon my experiences up here.

The following days went quickly.  The second was spent primarily going over pieces of equipment that SNEMS uses, such as the Phillips MRx Cardiac monitor which I believe SNEMS is the only user of in Ontario.  Heck it was a unit I’d never used before.  It's a nice unit, has a beautiful display.  But I still prefer the Lifepak 12 (I'm going to miss that machine).

Wednesday in the morning I did my base hospital certification.  A very painless process, which is nice.  I was honestly expecting to be put through an incredibly difficult series of scenarios and tests to prove to the BH Physician that I am worthy enough to practice under his license.  But it wasn't.  There were 4 scenarios in total, 2 of which were verbal (in that I didn't do any skills just talked my way through patient care).
The rest of the day we went over the computer software that SNEMS uses for ACRs (Ambulance Call Reports). 

On Thursday our last day was just some left over PPT presentations that we went through relatively quickly.  And we finished around mid afternoon.  And that was that.  I had officially finished my orientation with SNEMS and was ready to work the road.  The only thing preventing that right now is my OASIS card, which is the official Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (MOHLTC) identification card that I need in order to work.  SNEMS has sent off for it, but unfortunately it could take as long as 6 weeks for it to be issued.  Which totally sucks.

As of right now I’m not entirely certain what to do.  I have two choices; stay up here and wait, but in the mean time hemorrhage money.  Or I can head back to Toronto and enjoy free rent and food.  I honestly don't know what the best option is, and it's a toss up as to whether or not I’ll be heading back to Toronto.  Right now I’m leaning towards it, but we'll see.

So all in all the first week was good.  I'm itching to get on the road, but that will happen soon enough. 

In other news i'm toying with the idea of starting up a new blog for my experiences up here, but we'll see. 

I've arrived in Thunder Bay.  For those wondering why I'm in TB, i'm here for work.  That's right, i got a job now.  Starting tomorrow morning I'll officially by a Paramedic with Superior North EMS in Thunder Bay.  Cool, eh?

Unfortunately it's only a summer relief position which expires on October 3rd, though there is a good chance it'll be renewed, but also at that time Hamilton will be posting so I may be moving back south at that point.  

So right now i"m sitting in my temporary accomdation at Lakehead University in one of their res rooms.  Being in it reminds me a lot of Trent back in 2001/02 (holy flipping christ, I can't believe it's been 8 years!)  Many things are pretty much the same as they were at Trent.  Go figure.
It's also making me a little nostalgic.  I do miss my times at Trent, actually I miss them a lot.  But I also enjoy what I do now. 

Ah well.  I'm not going to get my things ready for the morning.

later. 

I'm really having trouble getting myself motivated to go to the gym. 

I write the A-EMCA (Advanced - Emergency Medical Care Assistant) tomorrow.  It's the provincial certification exam for paramedics in Ontario.  The exam has a maximum time frame of 6 hours (two 3 hour sessions) and is comprised of 300 muliple choice questions, many of which are scenario based.  Scenario based essentially means they give you a 200 word blurb about a call and then ask multiple questions that may be directly relateled to the scenario listed or may have nothing to do with it. An example would be:( Read more )

I walk straight I hit a wall, I turn to the right I hit a wall, I turn to the left I hit a wall, if I turn around will I hit another wall?

Still unemployed.  I applied to Superior North EMS last week, but was given a bit of a scare yesterday.  Seeing as how far away Superior North is (it's Thunder Bay area) I decided to be safe and send my application via express post (an expedited service from Canada Post).  I sent it off last Tuesday and it cost ~$12.  I checked the tracking yesterday assuming it had already been delivered... and much to my surprise the tracking software that Canada Post has said that my package was sitting in Mississauga waiting to be sent off.  
I called Canada Post immediately and asked WTH.  I was told they would open an investigation.
This was at about 530 last night (Thunder Bay HR closed at 430 i believe).

I called Thunder Bay HR this morning to find out if it had arrived and thankfully it had, though it arrived yesterday.  So it makes me wonder if it was really worth it to send it by express post.  It was "guaranteed" to arrive on Thursday of last week but didn't.  and seeing as it arrived (eventually) Canada Post will say that it was a job well done.  bah.

The posting were for part time (which just means they don't have to pay benefits and you get a fair number of shifts, enough to live off of) positions in Marathon, Schrieber and Nakina Ontario maps.google.ca/maps/ms .  While moving up north isn't exactly ideal, it would be interesting.

Though i'm still hopeful that a southern service will hire me.  Hamilton should be posting soon. 

I also wrote Durham's ACP entrance exam yesterday  (advanced care paramedic program en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramedics_in_Canada#Advanced_care_paramedics this in basic terms discusses the scope of practice for ACP and PCP  if you're interested).
Hopefully i'll get in.  The test wasn't too difficult, just long.  100 muliple choice questions (which was relatively easy) and 7 essay questions.  It took a while. 

Though I must admit it still irks me to think of who got jobs over me.  But there really isn't anything I can do about it.  I did my best (for the most part, my practical testing for Toronto Centralized wasn't my best, though it did get me two interviews with Toronto and Peel, but sadly no job).  

I'm feeling stressed

I'm on my six days off now.  Not entirely certain what to do with myself, but it's not like i don't have anything that needs to be done.  I've fallen behind (again) on my daily log sheets for my rideouts.  I need to write 10 up, unforutnately as the shifts go on a lot of them sorta meld into each other.  I can remember some of the patients, but definitely not all.  So I'll have to do some creative 'remembering'.  

I have tentative plans to go to the gym this afternoon.  I should really go, I haven't been there since Tuesday and I feel the urge to work out.  

In other news my interview for Ottawa EMS is rapidly approaching and i've also been given an interview with Toronto EMS which is a week Monday. 

Okay, time to write.

Got the call from Ottawa, will be doing their interview on April 9.

sweet!

I'm tired. Just finished a set of 4 nights.  I don't go back to the station till Friday for a set of 3days/3nights.  

And by the end of that set I will have accumulated the minimum number of hours required to graduate from my program.  Somewhat frightening that i'm just about done the paramedic program. 

Still haven't heard about an interview from Ottawa Paramedic Services yet, and I just finished the testing for Toronto and the surrounding services.  I hope someone calls soon.  

This is the absolute worst part, I hate waiting. 

I'm thinking about doing the Advanced Care program next year out of Durham college.  Unfortunately the program costs around 15k, but when i'm done i"ll be an ACP, which most services are crying out for.  It'll just be a year from now.  I kinda want to start working and you know start paying off my debts and make money for once in my life.

But we'll see what happens.

Today has been a relatively annoying day. I was originally going to say shitty but I was reading through other people's LJ posts and I can definitely say my day was not even a eighteenth as bad as others.

First things first:
I'm having some, albeit not unexpected, difficulties getting my Vulnerable Sector Criminal Background Check. And no it's not because of things i've done (As Dan would joke, thank god sheep can't talk), but it's just the bureaucratic bullshit. I need to get it done in order to be hired as a paramedic, simple enough eh? Well it's not. As a resident of the City of Toronto I have to get through the Toronto Police Services (who they 'service', and how is beyond me). However TPS will only issue you a vulnerable sector search if the requesting agency is registered with them. Most agencies/services/people/entities outside of the city of Toronto don't know this so 99% of the Services i'm applying to aren't registered with TPS... therefore I cannot get a Vulnerable Sector search from them.
I tried to circumvent TPS by going to the OPP by Kristen's home. Where I 'discovered' that you have to be a resident of Haldimand county to get a check done by them. This was annoying, but not unexpected. Though Kristen was surprised even though I told her it wouldn't work.

So I'm now kinda stuck. however on the bright side, I emailed the Ottawa Paramedic Service contact regarding this and he replied within 45 minutes saying they were aware of the situation and that I shouldn't worry about it as they're working to resolve the problem. Oh and reason why I mention Ottawa is because so far they're the only service I've done testing for. I've passed everything so far, and am now just waiting for an interview, which won't probably happen till March.

Beyond that, the only other really shitty thing that happened was that I made a pizza for dinner (from scratch... well sorta, I bought the dough, and pizza sauce in a can and cheese and basil... well I assembled it!) and while I was cutting it the cutting board flipped off the counter and pizza went boom. So that was annoying.

Oh and yeah the ongoing issue of brogue shitting under the dinning room table.

And in other news I somehow ended up buying a very leather jacket on Saturday.  It was 50% off and somehow I couldn't stop myself from spluring.  

It does look pretty awesome!

Long story short, without giving too much information that may infringe upon PHIPA, I did a call on my last shift for an individual with terminal lung cancer. Long story short it was his time to go, but we prevented it. His family (and I can't fault them for this) didn't seem to know or understand or were unable to comprehend what an advanced directive/DNR was and what it meant. And unfortunately becuase of it, this patient had to and possibly still is eduring a fate worse than death.
But that's my opinion. Everyone is entitled to theirs and it is not for me to judge.

Just so everyone knows, if i get cancer or another disease that is terminal. I'm going to be a no-code. Just make me comfortable, that's all I want.

It amazes me how quickly time passes. About 16 months ago I moved to Cornwall to begin the paramedic program. During the time i met many people and made many friends, learned a lot, and did many new and interesting things. But now that's all done. Everyone is making their respective way back home. Some (ie: 4 bastards) are heading to Florida for a week. And here I am, sitting at my computer reflecting upon the past 16 months.

While I'm excited to begin my field placement, I am also quite nervous. But above all else, I am sad right now. Saying bye to friends is never easy and it's never fun. But I did that last night, with several hugs and hand shakes, what began 16 months ago ended.

We are supposed to get together in May for an A-EMCA (provincial test) review. But that doesn't make me feel any better. It's still 5 months that I won't see the friends I've made here. I just hope that facebook and other media allow us to remain in contact and remain friends.

I want a macbook....

Is it wrong to get excited about the possibility of doing a VSA (vital signs absent) call?

Yesterday in the afternoon my crew was dispatched as a second to a VSA call. When I heard the call I got all excited, then nervous obviously, but mostly excited. As we drove to the call I spent the time reviewing everything in my head and just getting myself prepped for the possibility of popping my CPR cherry. When we were about 5 minutes away from the scene (it was a rural home) the first crew dispatched radioed saying that the person was not VSA and that they didn't need the second crew.
Instead of being relieved, I was actually disappointed.
While don't get me wrong, it's a good thing the patient wasn't dead, but yeah, I'm anxious to finally do CPR. It's going to happen eventually.

yeah there's snow on the ground... i"m not ready for snow.

I love this video. lol

One night done, one to go.

It was an interesting shift last night, had a stat transfer to Ottawa at around 9, then from there we were sent back to SD&G land where I slept for about an hour or so at one of the bases, only to be woken up by the base pager sending us on a code 4.

We we're initially given the wrong location and as we were driving towards it we were passed by 6 OPP cars, we turned around and caught up (they were going to the same call). At one point i looked at the dashboard and saw we were going 160 in an 80 zone, it was at this time that 4 more OPP passed us - they must have been been going around 180-200 kph. It was interesting.

Oh and the call? It wasn't anything too exciting.

Then we went back to the base and slept till 6, when the base pager went off again, only this time we were told to 10-19 (return to base). I must admit, 10-19 is a lovely phrase when you're tired.

Second post in less than a hour.

I'm doing something I haven't done in about 10 years, i'm watching Much Music (Canada's version of MTV). I've been watching for maybe 15 minutes and I recgonize none of the bands that have been featured. Granted this isn't very surprising.

I do however have one question, who the hell are the Jonas Brothers? Are they the Hanson of the late naughts?