Story of the Day 6/ 5/ 2013

My son is trying to become an EMT- an Emergency Medical Technician.
Those are the people who ride in the ambulances and do CPR on people who have collapsed while pumping gas, or who have had a stroke in their bathroom or who fell and can't get up.
Except Aaron is not going to become that kind of an EMT.

There are also the EMTs who do the nursing home runs.
Those are important, but not emergencies in the same way. That is because the patient has been seen and cared for by nursing staff before being transported to the hospital, or has been discharged and is being returned to the nursing home from the hospital.

But Aaron is also not going to be one of those.

And it is my fault

You see, Aaron got car sick when he did the fire department/ ambulance run practicum.
Twice.
They were called out twice and both times he almost upchucked on the patient, or on his shoes. I mean, Aaron's shoes.
Although he does well , normally, as a passenger in a car, riding in the ambulance while caring for a patient means riding backwards in a vehicle that is weaving in and out of traffic while constantly reading numbers from the equipment monitoring the patient.
So, my son became car sick, and this is my fault because he has Meneire's disease- which is a genetic condition.
And which causes motion sickness.
And since I am the parent who has it, it is my fault for giving it to him.

So, Aaron is hoping to become a staff EMT- the kind of person who runs around in the emergency room or in the hospital, as needed.

This lacks a few things.
It lacks the nice atmosphere of being a fire department EMT. That is because those professionals spend a lot of time at the fire house with their co-workers chatting, watching videos and using the exercise equipment.
Those EMTs get a lot of downtime and a lot of bonding with coworkers interspersed with high adrenaline runs.
It also lacks the easy workload of the nursing home runs.
Yes, there are plenty of patients transported this way, but the emergencies are limited and predictable.
This job also tends to pay better than the other options.

But a staff EMT position at a hospital does have a major advantage.
It does not make him puke on anyone's shoes.

In other words, for Aaron, this is a good career move.

Becoming an EMT requires attending an educational program.
That was it's own story, or it's own few stories.

A year ago, after deciding he wanted to become an EMT, Aaron was all excited.
He found a program just south of Indianapolis. We figured it was about 45 minutes, each way, if the traffic wasn't too bad.
And it started right after the Jewish holidays, in the fall.
This was perfect, because, when Aaron was looking, last summer, for an EMT training program, that was the only program that was commuting distance that he was not guaranteed to flunk.

You see, there are a mandatory number of training hours. He would be able to miss two classes and not fail, but the third.....
missing that third class meant an automatic fail.
And all of the other programs fell on at least three of the Jewish holy days.
So, when he found this somewhat-out-of-the-way program that started AFTER the fall holidays were over...it looked good, long drive or not.
Although, to be fair, it would mean a careful wardrobe adjustment.
Because that course was being taught in KKK and John Birch country.

My husband, who has spent 20 years working on the south side doesn't stop to fill his gas tank up, in that area, unless he has a ball cap over his kipah ( yarmulke) because he really likes not being lynched.

But, hey, we have several very nice baseball caps in the closet, so the "uniform " would not be a problem.

Aaron signed up, paid the $700 plus dollars, and ordered the textbook , so he could start reading it during the two months before the class started.

That is $700 plus dollars after the drug test, the police records test, the CPR certification class and test, and the electric heart stimulation course and test. In other words, we are well over $1,000 into this.....and we haven't even gotten to the equipment.

The Friday before it started, Aaron went on-line, and , lo and behold, they had added something.
Two Saturday "practicals".
Saturday.
He sent off emails: Were these practicals mandatory ? and was there an alternate date when he could come for that segment?

The answers were "No. " and "Yes", but, unfortunately in the reverse order.
So, the same day that he was supposed to start the program, he had to un-enroll.
And start looking for another program.

This time, he found a slightly less expensive program, only $670 dollars, and only 35 minutes away.
So, while all the other costs were the same, it was a little like getting $50 rebate on part of it.
Hey, I am trying to look at the glass as being half-full!

And the course was in a slightly friendlier area.
If I was black or Jewish , I wouldn't want to buy a house there, or send my kids to that school, but no one would lynch me.
They just might expect me to cut their grass or file their taxes and then politely dissappear.

Aaron checked the schedule and double checked it.
It didn't' have any Saturday practices.
He would miss two days for the holidays, but only two.
Now, he just had to stay well, either that or show up for class if he had pneumonia, mono or the plague.

And he already owned the book.

And we were working on getting his stethoscope.
A decent stethoscope can be purchase from a large number of places for around $20. Yes, there are fancy ones available for $150, but most EMTs find that one that costs $20 will do what hey need.
But those are the stethoscopes for people who can hear.
Aaron is deaf, and there are exactly two stethoscopes available that he can use.
The less expensive one is just under $600.
But we were working on it.

Things were looking good.

Then, after the class was already underway, the teacher altered the schedule.
She made a test on one of the days Aaron was missing for a Jewish holiday, and, "No", she told him, there was no make up.
He would be given a zero.

I should explain: In order to pass the course, you need to get an 80% or above. By missing that test, he would need to completely ace 4 other tests in order to pull his average up enough to pass.

I had Aaron email the teacher. Aaron explained that the test was for a large enough number of points that he was, again, asking if there would be an option to make it up.
"No."

So, with this added pressure, Aaron trudged through the semester.

Fortunately , he passed.

The class.

Now he has to pass the certification test.
The test is another $150 dollars.
And it is only offered on Saturday.
That is when the college he took the course at offered theirs. They offered it the Saturday after the class was over.
When the info was still fresh in everyone's minds.
Aaron, obviously, was not going to be able to test with the rest of the students.

He got a web address from the teacher and looked on-line to see where else the test was being offered.

As it turned out, it was offered at 4,721 places in Indiana.
Okay, more like 50.
And all were on a Saturday.

Except for one.

in Hobart, Indiana.

Hobart is 2 1/2 hours from Indianapolis. It is about as far away as you can get from Indianapolis and be in Indiana.

The test is being given at St. Mary's which is a high school in Hobart.
On a Sunday morning.
At 8 AM.

After thinking this over for 3 1/2 minutes, I decided that Aaron would drive up the night before, and stay in a hotel.

There were several factors involved in making this decision. The test costs $150 and if traffic was bad, there was a detour, or he got lost and wasn't there when it started, that was $150 down the toilet.
And we are talking about Aaron, my son who is very capable of getting lost, even with a GPS.

I figured, "How much can a hotel in Hobart cost?" Certainly, less than another $150.

When I looked, on-line, you would be amazed how many of the "local" hotels were in Illinois. Like I said, Hobart is about as far away as you can get from here and still be in Indiana.

I did find one hotel, right in Hobart.
I sent Aaron the photo.
I thought about calling them, but one look at the photo told me that it was probably a by-the-hour place, or by the month.

I am cheap, but not even I am that cheap.

Usually.