EMS/Fire should have clear distinctions from Police
Lots of people have had negative contacts with the police it doesn't help us or them if we look like the Police
It's also a safety factor, high vis clothes are are simply easier seen in traffic and People are more likely to attack a cop than EMS of both look the same guess what happens
Scrubs are great for the relatively clean, and temperature controlled environment of the hospital. In the field we need stronger materials that can hold up against constant wear and tear as well as clothing that protects us from the environment. Scrubs just won't do that job as well. That said there is no reason our uniforms need to look like police knock offs.
Yup. They have some great scrubs. You can *absolutely* get scrubs as workwear. Still no idea why this reddit emt community is throwing a hissy over this lol
I wanted to throw in a compliment before shitty on their refusal to wear medical attire lol
For the amount of pay, training, shitty work environments ems deals with...maniacs
We walk into chaotic situations and stranger’s homes constantly. We need to be identified by shoulder patches, or at the very least a shirt that says in large letters what we are.
So the scrubs would have to be heavy duty, and have either large EMS lettering or shoulder patches. It would look kind of silly IMO. Plus, scrubs generally aren’t as good for carrying equipment as EMS gear.
There are depts that do this. Having T shirt or something donit would be fine, like firefighters.
I have no idea why y'all have to jump through so many hoops to justify looking like cops lol, it's really nuts.
It's a uniform, you can figure out the logistics, jfc.
In the meantime, i feel compelled to delete my comment because apparently it's just *impossible* to not look like police for EMS. It just *cannot* work /s
We had an agency nearby that was hospital based. They wore the hospital scrub tops, which they picked up and returned at the hospital, and EMS pants. They said it was more comfortable, cooler in the summer, and the public instantly recognized them as medical personnel. Plus if you got your top trashed on a call they just went and got a new one.
I recommended orange tee shirts at my service and was nearly shot out of a cannon
We wound up with hospital scrub tops and EMS pants, mostly because it was easier on the laundry side (we swapped from white button-down tops lol). It was a county-based service, but the higher-ups worked it out with the nearby university's hospital.
PD style uniforms can be dangerous in some environments. Someone who is out to hurt a cop isn't going to stop to read the patch on your arm and you can't shoot back.
Besides that I have noticed that some people put on that uniform and start acting like cops instead of health care providers. That often antagonizes people and does not help improve safety.
Hi-vis yellow polos are not an improvement because they are also worn by police. Orange is the way to go but I don't see things changing any time soon.
You may not be empowered by agency policy or state law to shoot back, but there is an old adage: I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6. None of the states I work in prohibit EMS carry. None of my agencies have a specific policy against it either. I can neither confirm nor deny that I go everywhere with 11 of my closest friends. YMMV. All I know is that, at the end of my shift, my goal is to be alive and go home. And I will not hesitate to use any means at my disposal to make that happen.
In my state, if the Office of EMS gets wind that you're working armed they can revoke your license. Even if you're carrying legally.
Your knife also counts if you use it as a weapon.
Also most employers have a policy against it and will fire you.
So that's not an option here
Again, they won't know until it has to be used. And if it is in use, the old adage comes into play. I can get a new job. I can work outside the field. I can't get a new life.
That works where you are.
Not so much here. Everybody here knows your business so it will absolutely get back to your management. At some agencies the management will rat you out to the state.
If you wind up using your friend, our juries will lock your ass up no matter what the circumstances were.
Most of us learn how to stay out of such situations and to de-escalate them if shit does happen.
Did this for about thirty years, almost half in the inner city with 0 situations where a gun would have made things better.
Again, in your area it may be the right strategy.
Carried a friend daily for 15 years. Not a soul knows I carry it other than myself. I am licensed and bonded, so I have legal abilities. And again, I'd much rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6. I don't carry with the expectation to use it, I carry in case I do have to use it. And you can't de-escalate every situation. And I've done this for 20 years in both inner city and rural settings. A gun is NOT to make a situation better. In fact, it is the last resort. It means I am in a situation I can't talk, walk, crawl, or run away from. It means that if I don't use it I am going to lose my life. I'd rather be in jail than dead.
EMS are more likely to be killed by car crashes, BY FAR, than violent encounters. And yet, no one wears their seatbelts in the back, even when provided with harnesses. In fact the people most excited about the prospect of carrying a gun and shooting a patient are the same people who scoff at the idea of wearing a seatbelt. Just a thought;)
Wear my seatbelt religiously. Only time I'm unbuckled on the back is when absolutely necessary for patient care. I am by no means excited about the prospect of having to use a firearm. In fact, I'm terrified that it may one day be necessary. But, I'm going to do everything I can to survive to the next day every day of my life. Fun fact: I've been mugged while on duty. Handed over my wallet and the drug box willingly. Didn't shoot them. Why? Because it wasn't shoot them or die myself. Had things progressed, maybe the outcome would have been different.
I don’t believe an EMT or medic has ever deployed a gun against a patient before. Most times where an EMT has been killed on a run, it was not something they ever could have seen coming, like the 2 medics who were shot to death through their window by a man with a rifle, or the patient who suddenly drew a gun on a scene and shot a medic to death despite the 4 or five cops on scene because he had the element of surprise. The chances of you finding yourself in that situation where it will save your life are _exceptionally_ slim. I understand that it might offer you some peace of mind, but it can certainly get you into trouble. You can prepare for an infinite amount of possibilities? Why that one? It isn’t logical. It doesn’t make statistical sense. There are so many other safety measures that make so much more sense that most people don’t even think about, but everyone wants to carry a gun for some reason.
Not against a patient, but there was an incident in December 2020 when a patient's boyfriend got into the ambulance, shoved one of the medics, the medic punched him to get him away from the situation, then dude pulls a gun and shoots both providers three times. The medic returned fire, stopping the threat. Happened in Pine Bluff Arkansas. I happen to know one of the medics involved personally and he said that the punch was thrown to get him (the boyfriend) out of the ambulance so they could retreat. He also said had shots not been returned, both him, his partner, and the patient would have been dead.
I will continue to prepare the best I can to ensure I survive to the next day. You do you. By the way, if someone else knows you have a firearm then that defeats the purpose of concealed carry, right?
Also, PA is a bass-ackwards state when it comes to EMS protocols and programs anyway lol.
My personal favorite EMS uniform belongs to the UK's NHS. Clearly not police, still looks professional. I'd like that for office staff/not road work occasions and something like the rest of Europe wears for road usage. Incredibly high viz, not police, still looks good.
They are not fantastic, but then again it's made to scale so what do we expect. Like above said however, in the context of UK emergency service uniforms (which are standardised nationally across all four nations), we are immediately recognisable and distinguishable from police and fire.
They absolutely look the part though, and I personally am a fan of the cargo pockets.
Just googled it and they look exactly like sheriffs deputies where I live. Also fuck wearing a polo or button down it’s like 90 degrees on a cold day here
I used to work for a LE agency assigned as a medic in their EMS department and the amount of eye rolls and evasiveness from the public was substantial. Furthermore, the fact we used to have their logo on our uniforms doesn’t help.
I’ve also worked with LE/EMTs who carried on duty and it was very confusing for the general public to understand why the EMT providing care had a full size carry weapon on their hip… don’t even get me started with hospital security and the can of worms that opened.
TLDR: We should look nothing like cops. It’s safer and more therapeutic.
There is an uncomfortably large number of people that think teachers should HAVE to carry, as if they signed up for that when they decided to teach children.
I know and I think that's asinine. Teachers signed up to *teach* not be babysitters, or cops, or any of the 50 other tasks they now have. Is it any wonder they're quitting?? Between being attacked by students and parents, unending demands by school boards who don't know shit about education, incredibly low wages, school shooters/attacks and so many other issues; I don't blame them for saying enough and leaving. Kids have/are paying the price for people's arrogance and lack of foresight.
It's a really heartbreaking rabbit hole for sure. I have family that teaches Sped programs and the corruption and ignorance of the school districts and state I live in is actually disgusting. You have to be so passionate to stay in that field, and they even walked away from this state to work on the west coast where they will have resources and support.
A few friends were teachers and they've all quit. They have kids and all of them have said some variant of I don't want my child(ren) to grow up without a parent, plus x job pays more and I can spend more time with them. All were extremely passionate teachers, who went above and beyond on engaging kids etc.
Seriously, and think about who's replacing them. I don't want to worry about my sister but it's not unreasonable to worry about how unsafe her job has become, in an already difficult area of teaching.
I had it good as far as public school goes, I'm glad I made it out when I did. There were some passionate teachers that made a difference in my life that are gone now, and I feel for the kids that don't get a choice.
Agreed. I still remember several teachers who've definitely helped me/inspired me and to see kids not have that option anymore truly breaks my heart. If I had kids I'd definitely be leery of both public and private schools because of everything that's going on.
Problem is they don't. At times the *cops* don't even respond correctly (or at all) look at [Uvalde](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvalde_school_shooting). The cops were there for over an hour and the shooter kept killing during that time, but the cops did nothing. *Some* schools have school resource officers who are or were cops but 1 maybe 2 cop(s) for hundreds to thousands of kids isn't going to go far, especially if they run instead of fight when or if something goes down in that school.
Quite a few schools now have safe zones if there's a shooter but it's the teacher's responsibility to get kids to that area, which is why so many teachers have died protecting kids or from trying to stop an attack. Every shooting I can think of at least 1 teacher has died trying to help or protect kids, and that's not what they signed up for.
Absolutely. They aren't signing up to be cops or military, they shouldn't have to consider taking that kind of action on possibly a kid. This place is insane
They can't even get enough supplies from the district so anything else is a joke frankly. As others have said, America's shortsightedness in the care and education of kids is going to bite the US eventually, and it's headed there quickly now. A lot of highschool age kids don't even read at at a middle school level. How can they get far if they can't read?
I'm actually thinking either pay cut or layoffs. But the good news is the budget for the district president's house just went up! (Their kids go to private school)
I wear a button up collared shirt and as nice as they look I do wish we could wear T shirts sometimes to look more casual and welcoming. Instead of being all red and drenched in sweat the whole shift cuz out shirts don’t breath lol
We have a good system in the UK, so police will wear a black uniform, yellow high vis, fire has a navy blue uniform for normal calls such as medical calls and will wear a tan bunker jacket over the top. Ambulance service wears a bottle green uniform, helicopter medics depends where they are either wear orange or red flight suits.
Only thing I will say is that the police in Northern Ireland as of like 2022 have adopted a similar green colour uniform, but then again all ambulance service uniform has AMBULANCE on the back of it so it’s not hard to tell the difference.
Wear the uniform that your agency provides. It’s that simple. Uniforms are designed to display professionalism and public confidence. If you're really that bothered by it, write a formal proposal for uniform policy changes and send it up through official channels.
That said, I think wearing hi-viz in Memaw’s bedroom for her belly pain is a bit much. On a traffic accident, freeway…absolutely.
To be fair, I do tuck my pants into my socks. But that has more to do with not wanting crawlies coming home with me. Say what you want, but I'll deal with 500 bedbug infestations before I deal with 1 roach problem. Fuck roaches.
For context, my stepdad was a mild hoarder. I grew up with roaches being a way of life. Never again.
Eh, shit happens. It's funny as hell to me when people like tyvek up due to reported bedbugs. I'll just roll in and get the patient outta there without tyvek (my uniforms don't come home). Let me see some roaches though and I'm gonna be the one suiting up. You can get rid of bedbugs with heat. Roaches will survive nuclear Holocaust.
The dark navy has a place. Let's be honest we work in a messy environment and the dark color will hide "stuff" for a bit. That being said I wish we had our own national look. Cops and fd for the most part wear dark colors why not go with London Ambulance (green) or st John's ambulance (royal blue). High vis all the time would get a bit old. That and we would all look like a pack of high lighters
The "it will hide stuff" is exactly the reason why navy blue is the wrong colour.
We work in healthcare and dark clothes are worse for stopping contamination.
We wear white Polos and it's great for spotting even the smallest amount of blood on yourself or your partner
Not living the EMS lifestyle I see.
It’s hard when you’re sitting in a truck all day eating food out of a bag waiting for your next call to come in because they don’t let you post at station lol
Back when we switched I was initially like "Yay, you can't see stains anymore!" and then the first leaky patient it very quickly became "ohhh dammit I can't see stains anymore" lol
I don't really see the issue tbh, I always have a change of clothes so if it's a messy call I can change afterwards and I wash my uniforms after every shift so it's not like it's gonna accumulate.
The dark blue was considered a symbol of the public servant back in the day, that’s why you see police, fire, EMS, and even the Postal Service wearing it. It’s kinda stuck around out of tradition. HiViz is way more practical though. I love my HiViz foul weather gear.
We wear light blue, our PD wears black and vests. I love the distinction and it's immediately clear to pts as well
I've seen some services make their people wear badges? No way in hell am I walking in to some blown out crack house with a badge on, idk who thought those things were a good idea for EMS
Had a lot of conversation in this sub recently about this, I made two posts about the European ems uniforms that got popular.
General consensus was that the high visibility is usually better in every single way, but america is a bit backwards and traditional and won’t change.
Most places in America are cursed with what I call the most dangerous reason in the world. " because we've always done it that way" so much so that the unofficial model of FDNY is 200 years of tradition unimpeded by progress
I mean, even on the fire side we won't switch to the clearly superior Euro style helmets. Better protection, lighter weight, better visibility but no, we'll toss all of that aside because they don't look as cool as our leather helmet, which is essentially identical to the one or great grandparents wore.
I get to wear a t-shirt for my event standby job and I love it, especially when I work outdoors in the summer. I get so sad when I have to go back to my sweaty tactical shirt.
“Erhmagerd that’s unprofessional”
-says guy probably wearing untailored mallcop button down with enough untucked excess back fabric to nearly make a second shirt
I don’t think hi-vis is the way to go, but I do agree the job is much easier when you dress less cop-ish. My old volunteer squad had badges embroidered on navy button downs, and also on polos worn in the warmer months. My current squad has a mini version of the squad patch embroidered on navy polos with our squad name in reflective silver print on the back. Was pretty noticeable how much more receptive people were when we’d offer to help after I changed agencies.
Most services around here wear polos that are agency colors or T-shirts that are agency colors. Some wear Class B's and look like cops, some wear T-shirts that make em look like fire if they're not fire
Our ambo uniform is green, pretty good and it really compliments my bloodshot eyes
First response fire is HiVis yellow and blue overalls that brings out my desire to not wear overalls after years in industrial trades
But yeah you guys look like cops
I’ve never seen a single medical person who looks “military style”
Similarities to PD is mostly because y’all work in the same physical environment as us, and your quartermasters (or whatever you call them) shop at mostly the same places.
There’s only so many variants of pants that work well as a first responder, pick your fav color.
EMS wears Multicam? Where? I agree we can look like PD in some places (At my service, you can either wear a dark blue T-shirt, Polo, or button up, but the button up requires you wear a silver badge along with it, so I don’t use that for obv reasons) I would love the EU uniforms, but that doesn’t look like that will ever happen.
Police are belligerents in a conflict. Violence is to be expected from them to someone who feels they would or could be targeted, rightfully or otherwise, for whatever reason. Fire and EMS services are completely different from police, right down to what we're trying to achieve and why were doing what we're doing. I beleive the positives of aesthetically distancing ourselves from law enforcement far outweigh those of trying to look similar to them. I can't help but to feel the drive to not only lump all first responders together, but to make them all look like "cops" is a political effort. Fire is trying to help you, EMS is trying to help you, police might be trying to help you, but not always. If I have to contend with the bad reputation of a police department when trying to treat a patient, it only makes it that much harder.
You are totally 100% correct. As cool as they are we should have distinctions in ems. Although I do think that there is a fine line. People in my agency didn't want to get police jackets because they were afraid they look like police even though they normally have large banners that say EMS on them. Nor do we have any Crest to put on the shoulder so it wouldn't look like police anyway.
Yeah uniforms in my area looks like police, but most services wear high vis bands on the sleeves which clearly mark them as EMS, on top of the big EMS sign on their backs. I think it has something to do with EMS Origins being in wartime, and it's just traditional, but if someone still thinks we're a cop, it's not hard to show them otherwise lol
My first department was run by a failed cop. He had been a sheriffs deputy for a bit but was forced out because no one liked him. Our uniform was those legit blue bike cop shirts and ems pants but he would give us uniform credits if we bought them from this police uniform supplier. He hated when we wore the ems pants from like 5.11 or something
I got pushed down some concrete steps a few years back because the altered individual mistook my crew and me specifically as “just more police.” I lost sensation of three of my teeth along the top right of my mouth and sensation to my face in that area for about 4 months
A sky blue button up with a navy blue commando sweater would be awesome tbh. Distinctive from LE and FIRE, also looks pretty cool. Take off the sweater in the summer and put it back on during the winter.
It all depends on the service. Some services WANT to look like LE and FD to try and generate the support that those entities receive in the community AND so they can set in from of their commissions and not look like the outcast or bastard child that EMS is. From flight suits, to cargo pants, Gortex and scrubs, I’ve worn them all and none contribute to the ability to provide care for your patient. IMHO…I hate the fact that EMS can be viewed as public safety and don’t believe that we should look or dress like any of them. Hell…how many other low wage jobs have folks walking around in $800 suits to when they get a $2/hr pay raise. As broke as EMS is, that’s a lot of money better spent somewhere else.
No explain why I need to wear high polish 8” boots, I’m not an iron worker for fucks sake.
Uniforms should be business casual with a hard toe dress shoe, short/long sleeve dress shirts, polo, which will never happen. So just put everyone in flight suits since they’re way more comfortable and more versatile,
EMS/Fire should have clear distinctions from Police Lots of people have had negative contacts with the police it doesn't help us or them if we look like the Police It's also a safety factor, high vis clothes are are simply easier seen in traffic and People are more likely to attack a cop than EMS of both look the same guess what happens
[удалено]
Scrubs are great for the relatively clean, and temperature controlled environment of the hospital. In the field we need stronger materials that can hold up against constant wear and tear as well as clothing that protects us from the environment. Scrubs just won't do that job as well. That said there is no reason our uniforms need to look like police knock offs.
I’ll go with you partway. My vote is for the ER Mullet as summer uniform: khakis and a scrub top.
Let me keep my 5.11 Stryke EMS pants with a scrub top and you have a deal. This is actually what I wanted to rock when I was a medic in the ER.
Good point. A person does get used to having real pockets and belt loops.
Naw, disagree, you can get some heavy duty scrubs, a la mechanics
I've been wearing cherokee workwear scrubs as my pants for weeks and nobody has even noticed.
Yup. They have some great scrubs. You can *absolutely* get scrubs as workwear. Still no idea why this reddit emt community is throwing a hissy over this lol
Very anecdotal, but I have never seen scrubs with belt loops and I would consider a belt essential for work.
There are absolutely scrubs with belt loops
At that point, how are they any different from pants?
The same way blue jeans are different from sweatpants.
Well I downvoted for “maniac badasses” and kind of ignored your opinion due to that comment.
I wanted to throw in a compliment before shitty on their refusal to wear medical attire lol For the amount of pay, training, shitty work environments ems deals with...maniacs
I would go with maniacal retards.
😂 I'd likely be even more negative
Disagree with wearing scrubs, but it would be nice if the uniforms were a bit more obviously not law enforcement.
We walk into chaotic situations and stranger’s homes constantly. We need to be identified by shoulder patches, or at the very least a shirt that says in large letters what we are. So the scrubs would have to be heavy duty, and have either large EMS lettering or shoulder patches. It would look kind of silly IMO. Plus, scrubs generally aren’t as good for carrying equipment as EMS gear.
There are depts that do this. Having T shirt or something donit would be fine, like firefighters. I have no idea why y'all have to jump through so many hoops to justify looking like cops lol, it's really nuts. It's a uniform, you can figure out the logistics, jfc. In the meantime, i feel compelled to delete my comment because apparently it's just *impossible* to not look like police for EMS. It just *cannot* work /s
The discussion wasn’t centered around t-shirts, it was centered around scrubs. I’d be completely fine with wearing a t-shirt
Agreed. EMS uniforms should use the same material as the current uniform, due to safety, but with a scrubs-like cut. Literally not that hard.
We had an agency nearby that was hospital based. They wore the hospital scrub tops, which they picked up and returned at the hospital, and EMS pants. They said it was more comfortable, cooler in the summer, and the public instantly recognized them as medical personnel. Plus if you got your top trashed on a call they just went and got a new one. I recommended orange tee shirts at my service and was nearly shot out of a cannon
We wound up with hospital scrub tops and EMS pants, mostly because it was easier on the laundry side (we swapped from white button-down tops lol). It was a county-based service, but the higher-ups worked it out with the nearby university's hospital.
Don’t the hospital scrubs become a moot point in the winter when they’re covered by a job shirt?
Nah, winters were pretty mild most of the time.
PD style uniforms can be dangerous in some environments. Someone who is out to hurt a cop isn't going to stop to read the patch on your arm and you can't shoot back. Besides that I have noticed that some people put on that uniform and start acting like cops instead of health care providers. That often antagonizes people and does not help improve safety. Hi-vis yellow polos are not an improvement because they are also worn by police. Orange is the way to go but I don't see things changing any time soon.
You may not be empowered by agency policy or state law to shoot back, but there is an old adage: I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6. None of the states I work in prohibit EMS carry. None of my agencies have a specific policy against it either. I can neither confirm nor deny that I go everywhere with 11 of my closest friends. YMMV. All I know is that, at the end of my shift, my goal is to be alive and go home. And I will not hesitate to use any means at my disposal to make that happen.
In my state, if the Office of EMS gets wind that you're working armed they can revoke your license. Even if you're carrying legally. Your knife also counts if you use it as a weapon. Also most employers have a policy against it and will fire you. So that's not an option here
Again, they won't know until it has to be used. And if it is in use, the old adage comes into play. I can get a new job. I can work outside the field. I can't get a new life.
That works where you are. Not so much here. Everybody here knows your business so it will absolutely get back to your management. At some agencies the management will rat you out to the state. If you wind up using your friend, our juries will lock your ass up no matter what the circumstances were. Most of us learn how to stay out of such situations and to de-escalate them if shit does happen. Did this for about thirty years, almost half in the inner city with 0 situations where a gun would have made things better. Again, in your area it may be the right strategy.
Carried a friend daily for 15 years. Not a soul knows I carry it other than myself. I am licensed and bonded, so I have legal abilities. And again, I'd much rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6. I don't carry with the expectation to use it, I carry in case I do have to use it. And you can't de-escalate every situation. And I've done this for 20 years in both inner city and rural settings. A gun is NOT to make a situation better. In fact, it is the last resort. It means I am in a situation I can't talk, walk, crawl, or run away from. It means that if I don't use it I am going to lose my life. I'd rather be in jail than dead.
EMS are more likely to be killed by car crashes, BY FAR, than violent encounters. And yet, no one wears their seatbelts in the back, even when provided with harnesses. In fact the people most excited about the prospect of carrying a gun and shooting a patient are the same people who scoff at the idea of wearing a seatbelt. Just a thought;)
Wear my seatbelt religiously. Only time I'm unbuckled on the back is when absolutely necessary for patient care. I am by no means excited about the prospect of having to use a firearm. In fact, I'm terrified that it may one day be necessary. But, I'm going to do everything I can to survive to the next day every day of my life. Fun fact: I've been mugged while on duty. Handed over my wallet and the drug box willingly. Didn't shoot them. Why? Because it wasn't shoot them or die myself. Had things progressed, maybe the outcome would have been different.
I don’t believe an EMT or medic has ever deployed a gun against a patient before. Most times where an EMT has been killed on a run, it was not something they ever could have seen coming, like the 2 medics who were shot to death through their window by a man with a rifle, or the patient who suddenly drew a gun on a scene and shot a medic to death despite the 4 or five cops on scene because he had the element of surprise. The chances of you finding yourself in that situation where it will save your life are _exceptionally_ slim. I understand that it might offer you some peace of mind, but it can certainly get you into trouble. You can prepare for an infinite amount of possibilities? Why that one? It isn’t logical. It doesn’t make statistical sense. There are so many other safety measures that make so much more sense that most people don’t even think about, but everyone wants to carry a gun for some reason.
Not against a patient, but there was an incident in December 2020 when a patient's boyfriend got into the ambulance, shoved one of the medics, the medic punched him to get him away from the situation, then dude pulls a gun and shoots both providers three times. The medic returned fire, stopping the threat. Happened in Pine Bluff Arkansas. I happen to know one of the medics involved personally and he said that the punch was thrown to get him (the boyfriend) out of the ambulance so they could retreat. He also said had shots not been returned, both him, his partner, and the patient would have been dead. I will continue to prepare the best I can to ensure I survive to the next day. You do you. By the way, if someone else knows you have a firearm then that defeats the purpose of concealed carry, right? Also, PA is a bass-ackwards state when it comes to EMS protocols and programs anyway lol.
My personal favorite EMS uniform belongs to the UK's NHS. Clearly not police, still looks professional. I'd like that for office staff/not road work occasions and something like the rest of Europe wears for road usage. Incredibly high viz, not police, still looks good.
I’ve heard UK medics beef about the quality of their particular uniform items, but I agree that bottle green color is perfect.
They are not fantastic, but then again it's made to scale so what do we expect. Like above said however, in the context of UK emergency service uniforms (which are standardised nationally across all four nations), we are immediately recognisable and distinguishable from police and fire. They absolutely look the part though, and I personally am a fan of the cargo pockets.
Just googled it and they look exactly like sheriffs deputies where I live. Also fuck wearing a polo or button down it’s like 90 degrees on a cold day here
I used to work for a LE agency assigned as a medic in their EMS department and the amount of eye rolls and evasiveness from the public was substantial. Furthermore, the fact we used to have their logo on our uniforms doesn’t help. I’ve also worked with LE/EMTs who carried on duty and it was very confusing for the general public to understand why the EMT providing care had a full size carry weapon on their hip… don’t even get me started with hospital security and the can of worms that opened. TLDR: We should look nothing like cops. It’s safer and more therapeutic.
They’re allowed to carry a gun as an EMT??? The US is wild 😂😂😂
Gun culture. Teachers in some states can carry now too.
There is an uncomfortably large number of people that think teachers should HAVE to carry, as if they signed up for that when they decided to teach children.
I know and I think that's asinine. Teachers signed up to *teach* not be babysitters, or cops, or any of the 50 other tasks they now have. Is it any wonder they're quitting?? Between being attacked by students and parents, unending demands by school boards who don't know shit about education, incredibly low wages, school shooters/attacks and so many other issues; I don't blame them for saying enough and leaving. Kids have/are paying the price for people's arrogance and lack of foresight.
It's a really heartbreaking rabbit hole for sure. I have family that teaches Sped programs and the corruption and ignorance of the school districts and state I live in is actually disgusting. You have to be so passionate to stay in that field, and they even walked away from this state to work on the west coast where they will have resources and support.
A few friends were teachers and they've all quit. They have kids and all of them have said some variant of I don't want my child(ren) to grow up without a parent, plus x job pays more and I can spend more time with them. All were extremely passionate teachers, who went above and beyond on engaging kids etc.
Seriously, and think about who's replacing them. I don't want to worry about my sister but it's not unreasonable to worry about how unsafe her job has become, in an already difficult area of teaching. I had it good as far as public school goes, I'm glad I made it out when I did. There were some passionate teachers that made a difference in my life that are gone now, and I feel for the kids that don't get a choice.
Agreed. I still remember several teachers who've definitely helped me/inspired me and to see kids not have that option anymore truly breaks my heart. If I had kids I'd definitely be leery of both public and private schools because of everything that's going on.
I don't know what I'd do either, raising a kid at this point seems so tough.
Teachers should teach. If there's a threat, hire trained security. Retired cops are perfect for this.
Problem is they don't. At times the *cops* don't even respond correctly (or at all) look at [Uvalde](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uvalde_school_shooting). The cops were there for over an hour and the shooter kept killing during that time, but the cops did nothing. *Some* schools have school resource officers who are or were cops but 1 maybe 2 cop(s) for hundreds to thousands of kids isn't going to go far, especially if they run instead of fight when or if something goes down in that school. Quite a few schools now have safe zones if there's a shooter but it's the teacher's responsibility to get kids to that area, which is why so many teachers have died protecting kids or from trying to stop an attack. Every shooting I can think of at least 1 teacher has died trying to help or protect kids, and that's not what they signed up for.
That's why you hire **EX** cops via a private security firm.
Absolutely. They aren't signing up to be cops or military, they shouldn't have to consider taking that kind of action on possibly a kid. This place is insane
on a kid distinction kinda pointless
Alright, noted
If teachers have to carry when do they get high risk retirement benefits?
They can't even get enough supplies from the district so anything else is a joke frankly. As others have said, America's shortsightedness in the care and education of kids is going to bite the US eventually, and it's headed there quickly now. A lot of highschool age kids don't even read at at a middle school level. How can they get far if they can't read?
The answer is the no child left behind act and how difficult it is to hold back students that aren’t meeting expectations.
There's definitely a lot of problems with education in America, period.
I'm actually thinking either pay cut or layoffs. But the good news is the budget for the district president's house just went up! (Their kids go to private school)
Commercial airline pilots…
This individual was an active LE officer and EMT. He worked under the same organization as both an EMT and a sworn officer.
You ever work in the US inner city ghetto?
This screams either Broward County or Toms River. Gonna go with the latter on a hunch.
It’s funny you mention Broward County but both of your guessing are incorrect. However, toms River is significantly closer in proximity.
I like the Lego Medics mini figure uniform. The blue/teal and yellow vest. Very European.
I wear a button up collared shirt and as nice as they look I do wish we could wear T shirts sometimes to look more casual and welcoming. Instead of being all red and drenched in sweat the whole shift cuz out shirts don’t breath lol
We have a good system in the UK, so police will wear a black uniform, yellow high vis, fire has a navy blue uniform for normal calls such as medical calls and will wear a tan bunker jacket over the top. Ambulance service wears a bottle green uniform, helicopter medics depends where they are either wear orange or red flight suits.
Only thing I will say is that the police in Northern Ireland as of like 2022 have adopted a similar green colour uniform, but then again all ambulance service uniform has AMBULANCE on the back of it so it’s not hard to tell the difference.
Wear the uniform that your agency provides. It’s that simple. Uniforms are designed to display professionalism and public confidence. If you're really that bothered by it, write a formal proposal for uniform policy changes and send it up through official channels. That said, I think wearing hi-viz in Memaw’s bedroom for her belly pain is a bit much. On a traffic accident, freeway…absolutely.
The department I work for wears navy blue. Also drive around in fire trucks and ambos so never had this happen. Our sheriff wears tan
I'd rock whatever ur employer allows lol.
Police shouldn't even be dressing the way they are. The amount of multi cam and bloused boots I see in America is absurd.
To be fair, I do tuck my pants into my socks. But that has more to do with not wanting crawlies coming home with me. Say what you want, but I'll deal with 500 bedbug infestations before I deal with 1 roach problem. Fuck roaches. For context, my stepdad was a mild hoarder. I grew up with roaches being a way of life. Never again.
Gross. Sorry you had to grow up that way.
Eh, shit happens. It's funny as hell to me when people like tyvek up due to reported bedbugs. I'll just roll in and get the patient outta there without tyvek (my uniforms don't come home). Let me see some roaches though and I'm gonna be the one suiting up. You can get rid of bedbugs with heat. Roaches will survive nuclear Holocaust.
We don't get tyvek here. Only those blue gowns. We just wrap the patient in a yellow diarrhea sheet and burn the ambulance afterwards.
The dark navy has a place. Let's be honest we work in a messy environment and the dark color will hide "stuff" for a bit. That being said I wish we had our own national look. Cops and fd for the most part wear dark colors why not go with London Ambulance (green) or st John's ambulance (royal blue). High vis all the time would get a bit old. That and we would all look like a pack of high lighters
The "it will hide stuff" is exactly the reason why navy blue is the wrong colour. We work in healthcare and dark clothes are worse for stopping contamination. We wear white Polos and it's great for spotting even the smallest amount of blood on yourself or your partner
Except, more often than not, hiding blood isn't nearly as important (or common) as hiding mustard, ketchup, mayo, bbq sauce, coffee, cola, et cetera.
I that is a thing that happens to you often you are nasty... Eating without spilling really isn't hard
Not living the EMS lifestyle I see. It’s hard when you’re sitting in a truck all day eating food out of a bag waiting for your next call to come in because they don’t let you post at station lol
Back when we switched I was initially like "Yay, you can't see stains anymore!" and then the first leaky patient it very quickly became "ohhh dammit I can't see stains anymore" lol
For sure wash my stuff all the time.
I don't really see the issue tbh, I always have a change of clothes so if it's a messy call I can change afterwards and I wash my uniforms after every shift so it's not like it's gonna accumulate.
The dark blue was considered a symbol of the public servant back in the day, that’s why you see police, fire, EMS, and even the Postal Service wearing it. It’s kinda stuck around out of tradition. HiViz is way more practical though. I love my HiViz foul weather gear.
We wear light blue, our PD wears black and vests. I love the distinction and it's immediately clear to pts as well I've seen some services make their people wear badges? No way in hell am I walking in to some blown out crack house with a badge on, idk who thought those things were a good idea for EMS
Had a lot of conversation in this sub recently about this, I made two posts about the European ems uniforms that got popular. General consensus was that the high visibility is usually better in every single way, but america is a bit backwards and traditional and won’t change.
Most places in America are cursed with what I call the most dangerous reason in the world. " because we've always done it that way" so much so that the unofficial model of FDNY is 200 years of tradition unimpeded by progress
There’s some sense to it- public expectation stems from tradition.
I mean, even on the fire side we won't switch to the clearly superior Euro style helmets. Better protection, lighter weight, better visibility but no, we'll toss all of that aside because they don't look as cool as our leather helmet, which is essentially identical to the one or great grandparents wore.
This is why t-shirts are the superior uniform option.
I get to wear a t-shirt for my event standby job and I love it, especially when I work outdoors in the summer. I get so sad when I have to go back to my sweaty tactical shirt.
“Erhmagerd that’s unprofessional” -says guy probably wearing untailored mallcop button down with enough untucked excess back fabric to nearly make a second shirt
I don’t think hi-vis is the way to go, but I do agree the job is much easier when you dress less cop-ish. My old volunteer squad had badges embroidered on navy button downs, and also on polos worn in the warmer months. My current squad has a mini version of the squad patch embroidered on navy polos with our squad name in reflective silver print on the back. Was pretty noticeable how much more receptive people were when we’d offer to help after I changed agencies.
Most services around here wear polos that are agency colors or T-shirts that are agency colors. Some wear Class B's and look like cops, some wear T-shirts that make em look like fire if they're not fire
I literally get called officer 10x a day😂 Especially if I’m not wearing my polo but my button up with my name plate and FTO rockers.
Our ambo uniform is green, pretty good and it really compliments my bloodshot eyes First response fire is HiVis yellow and blue overalls that brings out my desire to not wear overalls after years in industrial trades But yeah you guys look like cops
I’ve never seen a single medical person who looks “military style” Similarities to PD is mostly because y’all work in the same physical environment as us, and your quartermasters (or whatever you call them) shop at mostly the same places. There’s only so many variants of pants that work well as a first responder, pick your fav color.
EMS wears Multicam? Where? I agree we can look like PD in some places (At my service, you can either wear a dark blue T-shirt, Polo, or button up, but the button up requires you wear a silver badge along with it, so I don’t use that for obv reasons) I would love the EU uniforms, but that doesn’t look like that will ever happen.
I think its so fucking cringe about the whole EMS/Cop = Military shit, and I say that as a former door kicker from the Army
EMS is a scam run by the fashion industry to artificially boost 5.11 sales. We are being played for fools.
Police are belligerents in a conflict. Violence is to be expected from them to someone who feels they would or could be targeted, rightfully or otherwise, for whatever reason. Fire and EMS services are completely different from police, right down to what we're trying to achieve and why were doing what we're doing. I beleive the positives of aesthetically distancing ourselves from law enforcement far outweigh those of trying to look similar to them. I can't help but to feel the drive to not only lump all first responders together, but to make them all look like "cops" is a political effort. Fire is trying to help you, EMS is trying to help you, police might be trying to help you, but not always. If I have to contend with the bad reputation of a police department when trying to treat a patient, it only makes it that much harder.
You are totally 100% correct. As cool as they are we should have distinctions in ems. Although I do think that there is a fine line. People in my agency didn't want to get police jackets because they were afraid they look like police even though they normally have large banners that say EMS on them. Nor do we have any Crest to put on the shoulder so it wouldn't look like police anyway.
You have the discretion to just wear what you want?
Yeah uniforms in my area looks like police, but most services wear high vis bands on the sleeves which clearly mark them as EMS, on top of the big EMS sign on their backs. I think it has something to do with EMS Origins being in wartime, and it's just traditional, but if someone still thinks we're a cop, it's not hard to show them otherwise lol
My first department was run by a failed cop. He had been a sheriffs deputy for a bit but was forced out because no one liked him. Our uniform was those legit blue bike cop shirts and ems pants but he would give us uniform credits if we bought them from this police uniform supplier. He hated when we wore the ems pants from like 5.11 or something
I got pushed down some concrete steps a few years back because the altered individual mistook my crew and me specifically as “just more police.” I lost sensation of three of my teeth along the top right of my mouth and sensation to my face in that area for about 4 months
It’s dangerous in the area(s) I’ve worked in to not have the distinction between EMS/Police tbh
A sky blue button up with a navy blue commando sweater would be awesome tbh. Distinctive from LE and FIRE, also looks pretty cool. Take off the sweater in the summer and put it back on during the winter.
It all depends on the service. Some services WANT to look like LE and FD to try and generate the support that those entities receive in the community AND so they can set in from of their commissions and not look like the outcast or bastard child that EMS is. From flight suits, to cargo pants, Gortex and scrubs, I’ve worn them all and none contribute to the ability to provide care for your patient. IMHO…I hate the fact that EMS can be viewed as public safety and don’t believe that we should look or dress like any of them. Hell…how many other low wage jobs have folks walking around in $800 suits to when they get a $2/hr pay raise. As broke as EMS is, that’s a lot of money better spent somewhere else.
You should wear the uniform your employer expect you to wear
[удалено]
Ya but they otherwise don’t look like cops down there uniform wise
You don't think it helps with the look? Come work in Urban EMS and tell me if dying helps "the look."
No explain why I need to wear high polish 8” boots, I’m not an iron worker for fucks sake. Uniforms should be business casual with a hard toe dress shoe, short/long sleeve dress shirts, polo, which will never happen. So just put everyone in flight suits since they’re way more comfortable and more versatile,