Update on the new job

So I have completed my first week working at CareFlite. It has been all classroom, which is kinda boring, and my butt hurts at the end of the day, but I really am digging the 8a-5p thing. I have had plenty of time in the evening to hang out with Jeremy and relax at home. I feel like I have a life. Its great. And it's nice having a little refresher. The classes are really good, and I'm getting CE hours that I can apply to my recertification. We also did a bit of driving, and I had to sit through Defensive Driving with videos that are 15-30 years old. Boooring. We also got to play with sheep guts on Thursday. They had a complete sheep airway, epiglottis, trachea, lungs, and also the heart. So we "intubated" the trachea and got to watch the lungs reinflate. It was cool. Lung tissue is incredibly lighter that it looks like it should be for it's size. I got to perform a crichothyrotomy on the trachea. It was interesting, but I wasn't feeling well that day and the plastic gowns and smelly guts didn't help much.

The guys in my orientation are pretty cool too. Most of them are 21-24 years old, and they are hilarious. They sit through the entire day, talking shit to each other and making snide comments to each other. It's great.

Next week we start what is called 'boot camp.' It is all day classroom stuff to make sure we know how to do stuff, and then tests. We have standing orders for Rapid Sequence Induction. It's cool, but if they test us over it and we don't get 100% on the test, or random retests while we are working, then our primary status gets pulled. I'm not too worried about it, though.

I think I am going to like working here. They have several 24 hour shifts, and one of them is in Irving, about half a mile from my apartment. Acutally, they have an apartment rented in a complex on the same street as my complex, that they use for their 24 hour station. Shannon, the guy who hired me, says that because I am a paramedic, I have a good shot at getting a 24 hour shift because my seniority will rise quickly and there aren't enough paramedics yet. That would be so cool to have a 24 hour shift right next to my apartment.

Anyways, I am happy.