How to become a paramedic 101.
Word count: 1283
Choice count: 30
Section count: 21
Image count: 21
Error count: 9
Field Related Analysis:
Prehospital Emergency Care : 23 matches (ambulance, head injury, heart, heart attack, hospital, injury, response, trauma, emergency, paramedic, blood pressure, blunt trauma, cardiac arrest, diaphoresis, dyspnea, pulse, transport, vital signs, patients, abnormal, pressure, foot, emergency care)
Law/Paralegal-Technology : 22 matches (absence, appointment, arrest, blood, company, corporation, family, Information, injury, living, master, month, opinion, order, profession, receiving, road, schedule, vacations, waste, witness, young)
Nursing : 19 matches (abnormal, absence, ambulance, blood pressure, pressure, diaphoresis, foot, head injury, heart, heart attack, hospital, injury, mean, pulse, response, trauma, vital signs, emergency care, patients)
Target Structure:
a foot in the door (1 match)
come in handy (1 match)
in-depth (1 match)
internship (5 matches)
leave of absence (1 match)
more often than not (1 match)
retirement (1 match)
straight A's (1 match)
the drive of work (1 match)
worthwhile (1 match)
How to become a paramedic 101.
High School.
You are 16-year-old, living on Montreal's South Shore. You're currently in High School and the month of February will soon come to an end. What happens when February is over you might ask? Well, March 1st comes, and THAT means you need to make a choice about your future CEGEP program before then. Two options stand before you : Pure and Applied Science in your home town or Prehospital Emergency Care far away from your family. One opens up a lot of doors and the other a real actual job. What do you do?
Choice 1 : Go into Prehospital Emergency Care.
Choice 2 : Get a diploma in Pure and Applied Science.
Choice 3 : Quit school.
Go into Prehospital Emergency Care.
You are about ten months early for that decision. Chill. Now go waste a year of your life before.
Choice 1 : Try again.
Get a diploma in Pure and Applied Science.
Interesting choice. You apply to your hometown CEGEP using SRAM. Now all you can do is wait to hear from them but you are confident about receiving a positive response because more often than not people who apply in this program get accepted.
Choice 1 : Run a marathon to pass the time.
Choice 2 : Use this time to learn ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.
YOU GOT ACCEPTED!
Great job. See you in the fall and don't forget to enjoy your summer vacations.
Choice 1 : Enjoy a crazy summer with your friends.
Choice 2 : Begin studying mathematics right now to take some advance on your first semester.
ARE YOU FOR REAL?
You did NOT pass the vibe check. Go out! Live your life to the fullest while you are still young.
Choice 1 : Try to be fun this time.
Time to learn.
Sadly, summer is over. It is now time to get back to your real life because the fall semester is beginning and you plan on giving it your best shot to get straight A’s.
Choice 1 : Put a lot of effort into your grades.
HOLD UP.
Oh... as it turns out, this is going to be a LOT harder than you originally thought. Your CEGEP's administration had a great idea : give you only math courses for your first semester. What does this mean? It means it is going to demand more effort on your part. Are you sure you want to continue that way? The due date to cancel a course is coming up soon. Do you want to cancel a course or two? This could help you succeed.
Choice 1 : Yes, I want to cancel some courses to have better grades and be mentally stable.
Choice 2 : No, I'll be OK.
NOT HAPPENING.
Sadly, you are a master procrastinator. You forget to make an appointment with the administration. You are stuck with the courses you have on your schedule until the end of the semester.
Choice 1 : Continue with your current schedule.
Choices...
The semester goes on... it's not going great at all. What do you want to do about it?
Choice 1 : I want to try harder.
Choice 2 : Consider that this might not be for me.
Urgences-santé.
This would be a good choice if all you were looking for is to see some patients! But in reality you also want to take this opportunity to get a foot in the door where you will want to work in the future, and that is on the South Shore. Acquiring knowledge on the company can come in handy when the time will come to give your resume.
Choice 1 : Do your internship on Montreal's South Shore.
Other options.
Slowly but surely, you come to realise that you will not be able to pass your courses and even more importantly : you HATE it. The thought of having to start all over again makes you anxious. You are not happy. Also, you have always had this abstract idea to make a bold move and become a paramedic. You don't really know anything about the profession, what you need to do to get there or even if it really interests you. What are you going to do about that?
Choice 1 : Search information on the internet.
Choice 2 : Continue in Pure and Applies Science.
Hmm...
Very sorry but this story needs you to go into Prehospital Emergency Care. It's just the way of life.
Choice 1 : Try again.
The search.
You start by doing the simplest thing there is, you Google "How to become a paramedic in Quebec?". A lot of results come up and you read them all. Your conclusion? This is what you want to do. Being a paramedic would give you an opportunity to get the drive of work from your interactions with the patients which will make every day until your retirement enjoyable. But first of all, you now have to ask yourself where you want to complete your degree.
Choice 1 : Apply to Ahuntsic College.
Choice 2 : Apply to Ste-Foy's CEGEP.
Choice 3 : Apply to both.
Go big or go home.
Why apply to one place when you can apply to both? You optimize your chances of being accepted in the program.
Choice 1 : Try again.
Great choice.
You check your emails and find out that you've been accepted in both CEGEPS! Even if Ste-Foy's program appears to be very good, you feel more confidant going to Ahuntsic College because of its location, it's closer to home.
Choice 1 : Fast forward to the month of September
The beginning.
You made it. You are a student in the Prehospital Emergency Care program at Ahuntsic College in order to become a paramedic. It's your first day and you learn that you will be given the opportunity to do an internship in a real ambulance during the semester! This is very exciting. You hesitate whether you want to do it in Montreal with the Corporation of Urgences-santé or with another company on the South Shore.
Choice 1 : Internship in Montreal.
Choice 2 : Internship on the South Shore.
The day.
The day has come. You will be able to get an in-depth opinion about what the job is really all about. A big part of yourself is really curious about what you will be able to witness, maybe some dyspnea, a head injury, diaphoresis or even a cardiac arrest? Who knows... You start your day by heading to the station. There you meet your internship supervisors, which is not who it was supposed to be because another paramedic is on a leave of absence. After meeting up, you are ready to hit the road.
Choice 1 : Get into the ambulance.
On the road.
You spend the whole day in the ambulance, traveling back and forth to the hospital to transport patients, sometimes with lights and sirens. You saw the paramedics treating a blunt trauma, a possible heart attack and other stuff. You also had the chance to see some very abnormal vital signs like a low blood pressure or a very high pulse. At the end of the day, you ask yourself, "is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?" Was this day even worthwhile?
Choice 1 : YES, IT IS!
Choice 2 : No, this is not for me.
YES, IT IS!
Excellent choice. You have a great career ahead of you.
Write a choice here.
No, this is not for me.
Well, it's not for everybody!
Write a choice here.
