:D Already been on a bunch of calls as a trainee as well as logging about 100 miles getting familiar with the rig and the area. Also been watching some of those training DVDs. There's a whole lot to think about when driving, even leaving out stretcher/stair chair handling. Too much potential civil and criminal liability if I screw up, so I'm taking great pains to be sure I know what I am doing before they start having me drive *to* the calls rather than back from the hospital.
Having a ton of fun with it, though. And fun to have flashy lights on the car that are there for a specific need/reason rather than "just in case of hazard/incident" lights. In addition to the green dash light I built, I also have amber eyebrow lights and trunk-mounted LEDs in the back, as well as a taillight/reverse light flasher. :D Sometimes we respond direct to the scene, so I really appreciate having a lot of lights and still being legal. And the lights in the back sure do get tailgaters off your ass in a hurry. ;)
Wow, that's kind of scary, considering how many volunteers are the only real coverage so many areas have. Here we have blue lights for vol fire and green lights for vol ambulance, but of course they are "courtesy lights"; we're bound by regular passenger vehicle road rules, rather than emergency vehicle rules. Now, squad leaders and paramedics, who often respond directly to the scene in their own vehicles, get to put red lights on their POVs and they are then classed as actual emergency vehicles, with all the permissions to drive on the wrong side of the road and so forth that any professional/official response vehicle would have.
I am looking forward to getting my own radio. If you check out my QRZ.com page, I put up a recording from my scanner of me telling dispatch we were back in quarters from our call the other day. :) Speaking of radios, when are you gonna upgrade to at least General class and get on HF? The sunspots are returning and there's a lot of cool DX to work. :D
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Having a ton of fun with it, though. And fun to have flashy lights on the car that are there for a specific need/reason rather than "just in case of hazard/incident" lights. In addition to the green dash light I built, I also have amber eyebrow lights and trunk-mounted LEDs in the back, as well as a taillight/reverse light flasher. :D Sometimes we respond direct to the scene, so I really appreciate having a lot of lights and still being legal. And the lights in the back sure do get tailgaters off your ass in a hurry. ;)
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I am looking forward to getting my own radio. If you check out my QRZ.com page, I put up a recording from my scanner of me telling dispatch we were back in quarters from our call the other day. :) Speaking of radios, when are you gonna upgrade to at least General class and get on HF? The sunspots are returning and there's a lot of cool DX to work. :D
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