anyone here married to someone that is a EMS .. if so whats it like ?

EMS.... ah... you mean EMT/Paramedic? Something along those lines?

Feel free to pm me about it if you want.. or leave it in the forum.. I"m an EMT in Georgia, btw.
It's not exactly being  married to one, but it's kinda close. 

hehe lol .. yea i know what ya mean .. but whats the life style like ? what are your work weeks .. i know there not all the same .. but i mean .. do you do 24 hours on 24 off .. or 48 off ..... avage about what 40+ hours a week ? she just thinks i'm not gonna be able to handle her being gone all the time and what not .. shes like you have a hard enough time dealing with us not seeing each other now ( she lives an hour away .. its diffrent .. ) but i just wanted some in site .. so i can really see what its like .. i mean i'm gonna be a computer tec. ... (hopeing for a big compay at that ) so i'm going to be on call my self .. just i'll probly be a 8-5 kinda person (oh .shes in school for the emt/paramedic and shes talking about when shes done getting that getting here critical and the fire fighter .. guess she wants to be a jack of all trades )

Quote from: FearedGS500 on June 25, 2007, 07:06:33 PM
anyone here married to someone that is a EMS .. if so whats it like ?

i had dated one once, we had some weird dinner conversations lol

Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on June 27, 2007, 01:22:42 AM

Quote from: FearedGS500 on June 25, 2007, 07:06:33 PM
anyone here married to someone that is a EMS .. if so whats it like ?

i had dated one once, we had some weird dinner conversations lol

LOL I can see that. Think I've nearly made family members(especially the sister-in-law) lose their dinner.  She asked... 

Work week depends on the service. The one I work for does a 24 on, 48 off schedule, rain or shine, 365. Some places do a 12 hour shift, some an 8 hour. Some places will put you on call when you get off of a shift in case they need you on the next one.

And if there's a long-distance type transfer, it could be several hours after the end of shift before you can leave.

If she wants to be a  fire puppy!!!   then things are gonna be a bit more difficult, as she may be on call with a fire dept or rural 24/7 whenever she isn't working her normal shift.

I won't  you about it--it can be pretty difficult. Especially if there's a bad call(psychological trauma). Be prepared for her to change a bit(very very dark humour--it's a protective mechanism) once she starts working.

And be prepared for her to get close to whomever she is partnered up with--you don't risk your life with someone day in and day out and not get to know them pretty well.

Oh, and one last negative--the $$$ sucks unless you work overtime a lot, especially if she's stopping at EMT for awhile(paramedic is a much advanced level from EMT).

But the positives... you appreciate life more. You appreciate friendship more. You appreciate the time spent together a heckuva lot more. And if you work 24/48, you've got those two days off, guaranteed in most cases. The 24 hour shift is where you get the money--you automatically get some overtime pay.

But I'll ask my g/f what it's like living with one... she'll have a different perspective. I'll see if I can get her to post on here later.

Hi there,
This isn't Gofer - it's his girlfriend. Read your post, figured I might be able to offer some insight for you. I'm not married to an EMT, but I do live with one. Figured perhaps it was close enough?

As he mentioned in his post earlier, getting use to the shift is the hardest thing - the 24 hr shift is what I'm most used to...it sounds a little intimidating at first, but honestly, you can get used to it. It's the 48 hours off that are nice - two days with no work (unless on call, of course). Almost enviable at times.

The time spent together changes....makes you appreciate your time together more. Honestly, it makes you hate pagers a bit more, but hey, who likes those things anyway?

Sense of humour will probably changes, as mentioned previously. Becomes a bit darker, but don't worry, you'll probably change yours a bit too. Makes it easier to deal for both of you. Some of the dinner conversations will be a bit strange, a bit amusing, and occasionally, a bit hard to stomach, but it's worth it to hear about your other half's day and life. No two days will ever be the same, that's a guarantee.

It's hard to get used to a first, but it'll just become your way of life. "Normal" goes out the window, and occasionally you'll be eating spaghetti for breakfast because you want to eat dinner with her before she goes off to bed after a shift. So worth it though. Also, the uniform will be contaminated, so you have to adopt a sort of germophobic outlook on the "work stuff" and keep it separate/isolated a bit. Not hard. We have a separate (yeh, EMS- blue) laundry basket for his uniforms and wash them separately. As I said, not hard. Finding somewhere to keep the boots is more difficult, but maybe that's because we live in an apartment with limited space.

And the partners. They are generally all insane, but that's a good thing. The people I've met in EMS are all great sports and fiercely loyal/protective of their partners and coworkers. It's a method of survival I suppose. But nice. You'll probably meet many of them and like them. The kind of people you'd go out for a drink with  .

If you have any other questions or querries, I can do my best. Just leave them on here and I'll get them one way or another. Just one last word of warning. If you don't want to know about something, don't ask. If you've just eaten or are squeamish, don't ask about that funny smell attached to the uniform. Other than that, just keep in mind that the whole point of EMS is to save lives, and your other half has dedicated herself to it. That's worth any trouble adapting.

yea i have no problem addapting to anything . she knows what shes getting her self in to . ( here cousin and her husband are both emt's somewhere in texarakana ) so she knows what its like . thats when she desided thats what she wanted to do . dont blame her . for a while i wanted to be a State trooper for Texas .. but i like computers just a bit more . she just wants me to make sure i know what i'm getting my self in to .. i had a pretty good idea .. she was making it sound like shes never gonna be home and when she is shes probly going to be sleeping . i had already known what i was getting my self in to . i normaly dont get my self in so deep that i cant get out . i love the girl to death . so i'm pretty willing to do what it takes to do it . but yes . shes going to be a emt/peramadic then getting her crictical . but we will see  what happens .. but thanks for the info !!!