I wasn’t kidding. This post was serious. Dead serious. There comes a point where you start looking at your paycheck and start realizing that you are actually getting PAID LESS TO TEACH than if you simply took an hourly job. I make more money at my entry level position at a donor bank than I do on an ambulance or teaching. When it is time to clock out I simply go home and play with my daughter instead of making a thousand phone calls, doing lesson plans, grading papers, and writing tests off the clock. Its freaking madness.

I do like teaching, but I nearly bankrupted my family doing it. It just shouldn’t be that hard. Bottom line: I have zero stress, work less, and make more money. The only thing that kept me going was this whole one-man-mission to make EMS care better…it was nuts. No one really cares about quality. The void I created was filled instantly. I had trouble getting out of the way fast enough.

What I plan on doing is this right here. I have 15 years of stories and experience to share. You will be reading it right here. It is fun to look back, and I will be writing my memoirs one post at a time. When I get settled into my new job, Copy Code Three will start up again. That’s where I will record other people’s stories. This is where you will read my stories. And of course the podcasting with Chris and the gang will continue. I also do online classes with Greg over at EMSBootCamp, so I get my fill now and then. I am not dead. I have just reinvented myself. I am happier. My daughter is happier. My wife is happier. And somehow, people still manage to get those little AHA cards without me around.

I’ve been fortunate to have some terrific instructors, and I’m fortunate to have a few classmates who care as much as I do. But I know that it’s a rarity and I’ve seen it in the field.

And it sucks.

Please don’t quit. We need you.

If it’s not the lazy students, it’s the AHA criteria for selecting new instructors: “As long as you’ve got a brainstem and an index finger to press the PLAY button, you too can teach ACLS!”

I’m lucky in that I’ve gained a clientele who expects just what you try to do in your classes – more than what AHA requires. They’re tired of quickie, cookie-cutter, bare minimum courses, and the keep coming back to mine.

Come on down to Louisiana. We need good AHA instructors and EMS instructors.

Not that my opinion counts for anything, but I do applaud you for maintaining your integrity in the face of so much dimwittery.

I also read your background as to what you are trying to do with the Code 3. Admirable, if the people who weren’t going to trek to your mike weren’t heavily weighted toward the Star of My Own Show variety. Maybe you can search for the stories; the ones who need to tell it the most are often the ones who aren’t clamoring for the mike on karaoke night. Good luck!