By DANI MARLETTE and MARK FLOYD
MedfordNews.com (Oregon)
CORVALLIS, Oregon — The United States may be changing rapidly demographically, but if you suffer an injury or illness that requires treatment by an emergency medical technician, the odds are that nine out of 10 times that EMT will be white. That figure puzzles educators and training evaluators - especially in light of new studies that point out that minority EMTs have high job satisfaction and experience strong salary equity, according to Darlene Russ-Eft, an associate professor of education at Oregon State University.
“This has been an area of concern, especially since EMT services are generally based within the community,” Russ-Eft pointed out. “What that means is that in minority communities, it frequently is not minorities who are providing first-response care in their community. That doesn’t necessarily affect the quality of care, but it is a missed opportunity to provide high-paying, high-satisfaction jobs to minorities in those communities.”
Most emergency medical technicians also are male, according to Russ-Eft, who is part of a team working with the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on a long-term study of EMTs. The only education faculty member on the team, Russ-Eft presented her findings on EMT demographics and job satisfaction this weekend at the international meeting of the Academy of Human Resource Development in Columbus, Ohio.
Full Story: http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=328072&cp=10996