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paramedic
What do you need to become a paramedic? four year college? extra schooling? What courses should I take in high school?
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Want to answer more questions in the Work & School category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Colleges & Universities?
EMT takes a semester, Paramedic takes a year.
A very hard year I might add. It will be all you do for an entire year. When you aren't in class studying you will be in the field doing clinical's.
Riding in ambulance etc.
I am in no way discouraging you I hope, just know
it will be very time consuming. You have to be very dedicated.
I am an EMT. It can be a very rewarding career. I
would love to be a paramedic but had young kids at that time and just couldn't spend that much time in training.
Any first aid classes will help you out. They aren't required though. You will learn them all. :)
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You need about one year of schooling to be a paramedic. I can't say for certain what exactly you need to do... I think every place differs a little. In high school you should probably take as many health classes as you can. Your local American Red Cross chapter should have classes that you can take in the evenings or on the weekends for emergency first aid, CPR, etc. They usually have a fee but it is usually pretty minimal; under $25 or $30. Once you graduate high school you may be able to find the program offered at your local community college. Our community college here has a great program and, though I am not a paramedic, I believe it is listed under the one year or less category. It may be a one quarter/semester type of thing.
It kind of depends on what paramedics do in your area. In some places it is strictly a volunteer thing, other places pay. In some places the paramedics are ALSO the firefighters- in which case you would need more training because you would be doing a wider variety of work. The BEST place to start is finding your local fire house and just asking. Beyond that I would contact the red cross. I think their website is americanredcross.org. if not, just google the American Red Cross. You should find some pretty good info there. And after that, I would check out your local colleges to see what programs they have to offer. But I don't think in most places you are looking at more than one year of school beyone high school... just be prepared to be doing it volunteer, not necessarily to make a living.
You may want to ask your local paramedics also if they offer their own training. My dad was a paramedic (Note: Going back 25-30 years!!) and he was trained as I recall by our local medics. This may not be the case anymore though.
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