After college.

My name is Élizabeth and I come from the small village of Rawdon in Lanaudière. When I finished high school I decided to go on a humanitarian trip to Africa to recharge my batteries. After this trip I realized that I wanted to help people on the ground. So I decided to enroll in a technical program to become an ambulance driver at the CEGEP of Shawinigan. I was afraid to move to an apartment in this city far from my family. After a few days I knew I was in the right place. I studied at this school for 3 years and I loved the atmosphere of this small school. I made friends that I will keep for life thanks to this technique. Now I already have my diploma but I don't know what to do?

Choice 1 : Advanced paramedic training (UDEM).

Choice 2 : Going to work in a small village (Rawdon).

Choice 3 : Going to work in a big city (Montreal).

Advanced paramedic training (UDEM).

I decided to continue my studies at the University of Montreal. The advanced paramedic training will allow me to administer more care to my patients. The fact that I am going to study at the university makes me dream. I have started classes, I already love the subject matter and the teachers are very passionate in their way of teaching. The covid is at the end and the bars in Montreal are starting to open. I made a lot of new friends in the program. Tomorrow morning I have an exam but I really want to go to the reopening of the bars with my friends. So what would be the best choice?

Choice 1 : I will study for my exam.

Choice 2 : I go to bars with my friends to party.

Going to work in a small village (Rawdon).

I'm really happy to be working in my hometown. I am also reassured to be close to my family and if an accident happens I will be there to help them. Rawdon is a small touristic town at one hour from Montreal and many people come to visit our water holes in the summer. I arrived at the ambulance station today. I met my boss, he offered me to choose my future teammate. I have a choice between a young ambulance driver my age who arrived two weeks ago. His name is Antoine, he studied at Ahuntsic College in Montreal. The second choice is an ambulance driver who has 30 years of experience, his name is Denis. Which teammate should I choose?

Choice 1 : I will work with a young teammate.

Choice 2 : I will work with an old teammate.

Going to work in a big city (Montreal).

I am happy to be working in Montreal. This city is so lacking in paramedics, it makes me even happier to come work for them. I now have to find an apartment to live in. The prices of housing in Montreal are very expensive so I'm thinking about the option of sharing an apartment for my first year of service. I also have to decide if I will work day or night shifts. I am an early riser and an early goer so I think I would be more efficient during the day. However, during my technical training I did my night shifts and everything went well.

Choice 1 : working during the day.

Choice 2 : work at night.

I will study for my exam.

Finally I decided to concentrate on school and not go to the party. So I studied all evening, non-stop. I can't even tell you how much coffee I drank during my study. I feel confident. I think I got a good grade. I'm stressing about my grade. I am currently in class and the teacher is handing out the exam papers and correcting our grades. I passed! I am very proud of myself. It's so rewarding to do well on your own. The director comes to see me to tell me something.

Choice 1 : He asks me to join him in his office.

Choice 2 : He congratulates me on my exam.

He asks me to join him in his office.

I follow the director into his office. He closes the door behind me. He asks me to sit down. He congratulates me on my grade. I got 96%. The director tells me that the average is 65%. He then tells me that I got the highest grade in my class as well as in my cohort. I was very excited. He told me that with this grade I was entitled to a $1000 scholarship to reward my academic efforts. The teachers in my class had never told me about this scholarship. They want to keep it a secret to surprise the winning students.

Choice 1 : After college.

He congratulates me on my exam.

My director came to see me to congratulate me on my grade. He took the time to go to each student to either congratulate them or explain their mistakes. He is very present with the students and is very involved in the teachers' classes.

Choice 1 : After college.

I go to bars with my friends to party.

I just woke up from my nasty intense evening. I think it was the best night of my life. It was full of people, good music and everything was just perfect. I just looked at the time and I'm late for my exam. I'm really tired despite the nice evening. I just want to sleep. Do I stay in my bed and not go to the exam because I'm late anyway, they won't let me in. Or do I go to my exam and see my teacher and offer him money to take the exam.

Choice 1 : I stay in bed and miss my exam.

Choice 2 : I offer money to my teacher to pass the exam.

I stay in bed and miss my exam.

Finally I decided to stay at home and sleep. I was very tired so this nap allowed me to recover my sleep. I believe that despite my 0% grade, if I make a lot of effort for the next evaluations, I may end up passing my course.

Choice 1 : After college.

I offer money to my teacher to pass the exam.

I decided to stand up and take action. Before going to school I went to the bank to withdraw some money and give it to my teacher. I arrived at the school and the last student got out of class and had just finished the exam. I go into the classroom and see my teacher. I offer him my money for the passing grade. My teacher is scandalized by my proposal. He tells me that this is not the way life works. He decides right then and there that he will expel me from the course.

Choice 1 : After college.

I will work with a young teammate.

I am very happy to have chosen to work with a young teammate. We will be able to tell each other about our love life and personal life, then we will understand each other. I can't wait to meet him, I hope we can become best friends. I have been working with my partner Antoine for a month now. We get along great. We are working together today, we currently have 2 hours of work left before the end of our shift. We are called for a lady who fell on the floor. We go on the scene, the lady is stuck between two very heavy pieces of furniture. We look at the scene of the accident and Antoine and we see that the lady has difficulty breathing and is bleeding from the head. The adrenaline is pumping and we are lost. Should we move the victim first, should we give her oxygen, should we bandage her bleeding head? We are confused. We don't have much experience so we don't know what to do. Do we go ahead and move the patient immediately or do we take the time to look in our books during the procedure?

Choice 1 : we improvise.

Choice 2 : we look in our books.

we improvise.

We had to be as fast as possible and that's what we did. We immediately moved the victim. However, the fact that we moved him quickly had consequences that we had not anticipated. Once moved, the victim fell unconscious because he was not getting enough oxygen. Fortunately we were able to resuscitate him. Afterwards, when she was moved quickly, her spine was displaced, so it is possible that she was paralyzed. However, she is still alive. Working with a young teammate has its advantages and disadvantages.

Choice 1 : After college.

we look in our books.

I think we made the right decision to look in our books to make sure we did the right thing first. After reading, we made the decision to immobilize the victim's head, give him oxygen and then move him. However, our intervention time was too slow and the lady lost too much blood and died in the ambulance. In addition to the fact that the lady died, we were met by our employer because our reading time caused prejudice to our patient.

Choice 1 : After college.

I will work with an old teammate.

I'm glad I chose to work with a paramedic who has experience. He will be able to teach me a lot of things. He will be able to tell me a lot of stories of interventions he had. I really hope that we will be a great team. Today I meet my teammate and I'm excited. His name is Martin and he already has 32 years of experience. Everything goes well the first day. I've been working with Martin for a month now and I'm having a blast every shift with him. He makes me do all the dirty work. He makes me wash the truck alone at the end of each shift. He lets me do the inventory of the truck alone too. He chooses the interventions he wants to do and the ones he doesn't want to do, he gives them to me, for example, drug addicts and psychiatric problems. Faced with this situation, should I talk to Martin about my feelings of rejection or should I let things go and hope that he will stop giving me the dirty jobs?

Choice 1 : I talk to Martin about my feelings.

Choice 2 : I let things go.

I talk to Martin about my feelings.

I think the best idea is to face the problem and communicate to my partner what I don't like about our teamwork. I ended up explaining the situation to him and he received my message very well. In turn, he explained that he had been with the same partner for 20 years and that he had retired before I arrived. He explains that he never worked with a new one like me and that he had it imposed on him. Following this exchange our relationship as colleagues changed for the better.

Choice 1 : After college.

I let things go.

I have decided not to tell Martin about the situation because I am afraid it will get worse. Two weeks later the situation remains the same. Four weeks later no change the situation remains the same. Finally I realize that from the beginning I should have talked to Martin about my feelings to settle things rather than delaying them.

Choice 1 : After college.

working during the day.

I'm glad I chose the daytime schedule so I can continue my sleep routine. The interventions are also different during the day than at night. I will still be able to live at the same time as everyone else! Today my partner Melanie and I received two calls at the same time and all the other ambulances are busy so we have to make a choice. The two situations are; a child drowned at the beach or a motorcycle accident. The child needs resuscitation as soon as possible. The man on the motorcycle was not wearing a helmet and swerved around a curve and crashed into a car. In what situations should we intervene first?

Choice 1 : drowning of a child on a beach.

Choice 2 : motorcycle accident.

drowning of a child on a beach.

I think we are right to choose this situation! We arrive on the scene, the child has been taken out by the rescuers, they are doing the maneuvers, we take over. Continuing the maneuvers we move the victim to the ambulance. After 5 minutes of resuscitation maneuvers the child wakes up! The parents are very happy and so am I!

Choice 1 : end

motorcycle accident.

Arriving at the scene of the accident it was already too late. The fact that the victim did not have a helmet did not play in his favor. We arrived and performed resuscitation maneuvers but nothing, no sign of life. Maybe we should have gone to the drowning instead.

Choice 1 : After college.

work at night.

I decided to work nights. I'm looking forward to it because often the interventions are very comparable to the day shift. I've been working nights for almost a month now and I'm just getting used to my new routine. I had to go buy some black curtains to sleep during the day. In Montreal they are short of ambulances and right now me and my colleague Cassandre are the only ones available in our area. Both situations are the same; a suicide or an alcohol and drug intoxication . Which situation should we prioritize?

Choice 1 : suicide.

Choice 2 : alcohol and drug intoxication.

suicide.

We went to see the person who was trying to commit suicide. When we arrived at the place we saw the person unconscious with a lot of pills. We try to wake her up, she wakes up. We ask her questions but she doesn't know the answers. She mentions to us that she doesn't see anything anymore. She feels a lot of tingling sensations in her ears. We bring her to the hospital urgently so that they can take over.

Choice 1 : After college.

alcohol and drug intoxication.

We go for the intervention of intoxication and we go to a bar. Our victim is very vegetable. Her friends think she got the rape drug in her drink. The victim has difficulty walking and we help her out of the bar. We decide to take her to the hospital.

Choice 1 : After college.