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Permalink Reply by Alex Carter on August 2, 2009 at 2:37am

OK an update.

I am now CPR certified, first aid (or at least 2nd or 3rd aid lol) too. I'll have my card in the mail in a week or two. That allows me to sign up for an EMT course at a local Jr college. So, I have a few choices. There are several colleges, all of them 40 miles away or more. There is ONE college that's local, and teaches EMT, as part of its fire program. I have to take Fire Academy I too.

Time to see about getting into that fire academy dealie!

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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on August 5, 2009 at 7:22pm

Alex, I was down your way July 4th for the Freedom Motorcycle ride. Have been down there 7 years straight. Its to your advantage to learn all you can whether fire or EMS. Never hurts and may well pay off for you in the long run. Good luck and welcome.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Carter on August 7, 2009 at 4:14pm

Thanks for all the warm greetings people!

OK here's the deal. I think fire stuff is awesome, but speaking as a 46-year old female (changing to male?!?!?!? yep we exist) with one bad eye and trashed credit, my local jr college requires being accepted into the fire academy to get the EMT stuff. I'm just not sure I can get accepted, nor am I sure I WANT to learn fire stuff right now - my goal is to become an EMT, I can learn fire stuff later. I want to get the EMT training done, accomplished, under my belt. And I think the fire academy wants fresh springy young kids not an old weirdo like me.

SO .... I am looking at going to this one EMT school in Santa Cruz, it's on Soquel avenue and although there's a URL right on the front of their building, as far as I can tell they have NO web presence, and I'll have to ride my little motorcycle over there and check 'em out in person. They're right next to a large hospital. Now .... some factors in my way:

1) - I have a cold and feel like hell. I may go over there next week, or hell I may chug a few vitamin C's and just go over there today and right back. Not sure.

2) I have next to NO money. In fact the reason I like the idea of this place is, what little money I make is made hustling crafts on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, and I'd do that after each class day at this school. The main thing is though, I'll need either financial aid or to save up for a LONG time to get up the tuition. So, depending on what they can or can't do for me financially, I may get in right away or it may take me quite a while to get the money together.

Conclusion: I've narrowed it down to what I think is the school I'll try to get into, and the main obstacle: money. And how to overcome that: get financial aid or save up.

I'll keep posting on here as I progress.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Carter on August 7, 2009 at 4:17pm

BTW I should put in a plug for good old Skip Bloom, who taught my CPR class. Great guy and great lecturer. He's a fire chief and coaches football too apparently. Some famous football player came from here and Skip coaches him, I've heard. I dunno about that but what I can say is, if you are in my area and need to learn CPR, contact him.

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