I've been an Local EMS Dispatcher for my town's Ambulance Corps for 2 years - I'm currently the Assistant Dispatch Supervisor and a First Responder. I've spent so much time on the ambulance as a CFR that I can actualy clear as soon as I show them my card. It's our agency's sort of teenage right of passage. When you're 14 you join the Explorer Post. When you're 16 you take your CFR and start medic training and dispatch training. Then you dispatch and medic until you're 18 - show them the card and you're done. You get way more calls and do way more hours in those 2 years then most of the other trainees do so it all works out.
Its actualy a combo of paid and volunteer. We're "compensated" - our agency does what we call pay-per-call. Dispatchers get $6, Drivers and Medics get $10. If you have a trainee with you its a $2 bonus. So this is just the next step for me.
The training can also never hurt in the outdoor setting - I'm going to try to get active in a SAR group once I get to college next year.
Where do you practice?
peace,
Oysterhead
