IT TOOK LIKE FOREVER, BUT FINALLY I'M A CERTIFIED EMT IN TEXAS!!!!
F!@#$!!!!!!....
It took almost 5 months and cost me almost $400 in total fees (The National Registry, application fee, and FBI fingerprint background check, and faxing my paperwork to N.Y. State EMS and to texas, CPR recertifaction, phone calls). Sometimes I feel I might as well take the whole EMT course over again. Then after waiting like forever, I called texas EMS like 1,000 times to check the status of my application. It seems like the people that I needed to talk too were never there. When I told this to the oprator, she give a website so that I can check the status of my application (Why didn't they tell me this the first time?). When I checked the site, it was no longer active. F!@##$%!!!!
I called serveral EMT companies in the el paso area to ask if they were actively hiring. One company told me (or claimed) they would of hired me right there if I had my texas certfication. I had told them that my application was still pending and then I told them of all of my troubles. Then I was refered to the CORRECT SITE to check my status. I found out that my application went through as of 01/24/09 along with my license # and expiration date. If my theory is correct my certification is probley in the mail.
I understand that the Texas health department is trying to make sure that only certified people are EMTs, and paramedics but they need to be a little bit more orgainized espeically if you're appliying from out of state. The main reason why the out-of-state reciprocity took so long was that I had to fax a "Out of State Verification Form" to New York State EMS, which had to fill out the form and then fax it back to Texas. Couldn't Texas department of health do that themselves? You are PAYING $126 for the application (minus the fingerprint fee) They should be able to do that themselves and I bet the process would happen a little bit faster. Then people like me wouldn't spend time worrying, "Did NY recieve the fax? Did the Fax get lost? Do I have to send it again?"ect.
I'm glad I'm a patient person otherwise I would of been stressed out. I hope that it's not too late for me to get a job the way that the ecomony is going. I wasn't surpised because I read my runes and they did point out that there was going to be delays...