Path to become an EMT/Rescue diver?

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diamondman

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Connecticut
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I'm looking to switch careers from art into diving. Both careers are for the love not the money. Struggling is nothing new. I do have student loans so I was hoping to find a 2 year college program so I can defer my loans while I train.

I have my OW and am currently buying my full rig in order to continue my training. I am starting my Buoyancy 1 class next month. I plan to continue classes until I advance to an expert level. I would like to focus into a specialty after that. I guess that's where my question lies. I'm not positive what direction I will go but I'm thinking about EMT/Rescue Diver. Throughout college I was a lifeguard on Tybee Beach, GA and loved rescue swimming.

I have been looking at several programs but I'm not sure what path would work the best. I like the Marine Diving Technician program from Santa Barbara City College because they seem to offer several options including commercial diving, recreational diving, ROV training and hyperbaric medicine. I'm not sure if this would be a good school for rescue diving.

What type of training should I look for? Should I look for a paramedic program first and just continue diving? Or go into the hyperbaric medicine path and continue my diving? Is their any programs out their that focus on rescue diving?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...
 
The good thing about becoming a paramedic first would be that you'd be able to find employment, even if there are no diving jobs available...
 
My suggestion is to focus on paramedicine and enjoy diving in the meantime. Once you get some experience built up as a diver, you can try to incorporate the 2. Unfortunately, there aren't many rescue diver jobs. There just isn't that great a need for it. Even in hyperbarics, most of what you'll do is wound care related, not dive related. Dive related just doesn't happen that often and doesn't justify spending the money to staff a chamber. BTW, I'm a nurse and have looked at chamber work. In Panama City, they treat less than a dozen divers a year.
 
I noticed that all the hyperbaric jobs were for wound care.

Thanks for the advise. I'll look a little farther into the paramedic route.
 
There's a national shortage of paramedics. If possible, go to Lee COunty Florida. It's right on the Gulf Of Mexico and pay is good and housing looks reasonable. I was looking into trying to go there, but being established already and having a family, Florida would be tough for me. I second the becoming a Paramedic first. Try for a municipal position first as they have better pay and benefits than a private company. I would love to get into that myself, however due to my county's merit system, starting over anywhere would be such a cut in pay it would be hard on us financially.
 
I agree, a municipal based service is the way to go, if possible. If not, hospital based services are also pretty good to work for. Private services (what I work for) tend to have lower pay, and if the private service you're working for doesn't have a 911 contract, then you're stuck doing hospital-to-hospital transfers all day, and that's boring as hell!

It's definitely not hard to find a job as a paramedic...many places offer relocation bonuses, and contract bonuses (if you agree to work for them for a certain amount of time).
 
If you have any questions about becoming a paramedic, feel free to PM me...
 
I'm looking to switch careers from art into diving. Both careers are for the love not the money. Struggling is nothing new. I do have student loans so I was hoping to find a 2 year college program so I can defer my loans while I train.
. . . I'm thinking about EMT/Rescue Diver. Throughout college I was a lifeguard on Tybee Beach, GA and loved rescue swimming.

I have been looking at several programs but I'm not sure what path would work the best. I like the Marine Diving Technician program from Santa Barbara City College because they seem to offer several options including commercial diving, recreational diving, ROV training and hyperbaric medicine. I'm not sure if this would be a good school for rescue diving.
...

Welcome to our world. . . people who step in to help and not just stand and watch. Rescue diver training is an easy first step in training effort. It will prepare your mind set in working within your capabilities. This can be worked into any of your other training because almost everyone will be taking it on weekends or evenings to fit within another job.

A big step up will be training as an Emergency Medical Technician. . . At the end of this training, less than a year, you will be tested and state or National standards will let you work for most ambulance companies. . . Add a couple of years of experience and more study, and you can test for the EMT-Paramedic ( a gold patch) here the job openings will let you move almost anywhere and find work. Some of my friends reach the Paramedic level, then cross train as registered Nurses. . . all of them work in hospitals as ER nurses, or critical care nurses, even better pay.

As for training for diving jobs, all of us would like that, but the applicants are many and the jobs are few. For those lucky few, we all envy you. As for Hyperbaric medicine, this is primarily a function for MD's who will choose a nurse, or EMT, or EMT- Paramedic to work with the patient.

In my state, EMT training is through the Vo-Tech schools. And, after that completion, most work as EMT's while they study for the Paramedic level with some of the larger hospitals.
 
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