Playing Doctor: Quick Update-turned rant for a cause!

Exams start again next week. Again, I'm not ready, but I'm not panicking- I'll save that for a couple days before, as usual. I am 4 finals away from SUMMER and Alaska! and new apartment! and good things :)

Over the break, I'll be doing research with the Emergency Department/EMS at school, but I am not getting paid. Darn NJ recession and state school! So I applied for a job as an EMT (because clearly I have no other useful skills) for Robert Wood (my school's hospital) and Atlantic Health (Morristown Memorial). We'll see how that goes... I hate applying for jobs.

Speaking of EMT's... time for a rant about something I'm passionate about:

SAVE THE EMT TRAINING FUND!

Our delightful* governor, after being rescued by EMT's from a motor vehicle accident in which he was not seat-belted, decided to decimate the EMT training fund. His proposed budget for this year takes $4 million from it, leaving it with $400k. We supposedly use upwards of $3 million every year for training, so this is a problem. (And this money is not taxpayer money! It comes out of tickets from moving violations!) Classes will be run, but the state will no longer pay for them (they can be up to $800), and the type of people who VOLUNTEER THEIR PRECIOUS TIME are not those who can afford that.

*sarcasm, in case you didn't recognize it

So this is how it will go down:

no money = no volunteers = volly squads redistribute funds = can't pay the bills = lower level of care = squads go outta service = towns hire paid EMT's = higher taxes & bills for a formerly free service

Does that sound like a good plan, Mr. Corzine? Don't think so.

I, a registered Democrat, WILL vote Republican this year if I must!

I went to a rally in Morristown for this, and it was a pretty amazing experience- 60+ ambulances and 200-ish uniformed EMT's gathered in one spot. A great feeling. So proud to be part of this community.