I have a question , I have a friend going into the paramedic pre-core in Kalifornia, And needs to know if you can get an ambulance drivers license if she is on insulin.  Any help would be appreciated.

BenWa

I have a few friends who are diabetic (type 1) and have their emt-b certifications in MN. She should probably check with the company she wants to work for though, since it may vary.  She may also have to prove that she has kept her insulin and diabetes under control during any medical exam, so she may have to dig up past medical records.  

EMT certification isn't the question. It is about a driver's license. That seems to be a no-brainer.
Call DMV and ask them.
Not to be a dick but why post on here rather than just calling DMV ?


http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/ambu_drvr_cert.htm




http://www.dmv.ca.gov/forms/dl/dl51.htm

Unfortunately, the answer is no. If you go to the last link I posted just prior to this sentence and download the form, Item 3 under the heading of Physical Qualifications for Drivers says: history of diabetes.

she already talked to the dmv and they said "I don't know.  I have never had one before."  She will not know if she can get a drivers license in Ca until she is already in the pre-core.  She IS already a registered EMT-B.  She just does not know if she will get the drivers license which is needed to get into the actual Paramedic course.

Well, the person she talked to might not have known, but the website is very clear on the matter.

Quoted: she already talked to the dmv and they said "I don't know.  I have never had one before."  She will not know if she can get a drivers license in Ca until she is already in the pre-core.  She IS already a registered EMT-B.  She just does not know if she will get the drivers license which is needed to get into the actual Paramedic course.

Is she from MN ?
If so, why did she go to school in California ?

Woops, meant to edit my previous post instead of making two.

my ex-wife.  yes from Mn but left me and moved to California to be with her boyfriend.  Oh well.  Is an amulance concidered a comercial vehicle?  It seems California is the only state with this stipulation about insulin.

Well, yeah they are commercial vehicles. And, the form is the same one used for commercial vehicles.


The reason I asked is that MN has a very good reputation for their paramedics/paramedic education. Whereas, California has usually been considered so-so (by everyone but them).

i agree that MN has a good program.  I didn't know that Ca was only so-so.

Well, I have been out of that game for a couple years, so maybe it has changed. Probably has.
FWIW: I still work full time as an EMT-I but running EMS calls is not something I do nearly as much as I used to.

Thanks for the help.  Looks like she is screwed.  Is an ambulance a commercial vehicle everywhere?  She took the "ambulance opperations" class here and she said it is not concidered a commercial vehicle.  In MN all you need is a regular drivers license, in Ca you need a seperate license for the ambulance.  Is it that way in NV?

Don't know about any other states but in Indiana all we have to have is a regular Operator's license.  No Chauffeur, Public Passenger, CDL, etc needed.  "Ambulance driver's license" in your post threw me.....my bad.

In TX you don't need a special license.
Now if the ambulance is above a certain size, then you need whats called a Class B 'exempt' license. All that entails though is taking a written and driving test.

No, not that I know of, although I no longer drive ambulances in Nevada so don't take that as gospel. I am a firefighter and we do need a special endorsement on our license to drive fire trucks. The main thing about the endorsement is that we have taken the test for using air brakes. Obviously the truck is a lot bigger also. So, I am still driving "ambulances", but I have the "F" endorsement, so I don't know what someone working for a private company needs anymore. FWIW: I worked for a private ambulance company in Las Vegas for 7 years prior to getting on the FD and didn't need any kind of special license then. But that was 16 years ago now.
If it is important, I can easily find out if you need anything special. I know for a fact that the local private ambulance companies have had insulin dependent diabetics working for them FWIW.

I have worked as a paramedic in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, California (all pretty briefly), and Nevada.
The only place you needed an ambulance driver's license when I was working in those places was California. When I was working in California, it would have been about 1986 (I am getting really old). At that time, you could be an ambulance driver and not even be certified as an EMT. You would just drive and your partner would handle all the patient care. And, this was actually done frequently. There are tons of private ambulance services in the LA area that don't even want to run 911 calls: they do interfacility transports of patients that actually have insurnace (usually medicare). So, they arn't doing much emergency medicine: just driving people around to dialysis appointments and what have you.

Again, that was a long time ago, and things have probably changed since then.

Thanks for all the help everyone  It is not a big deal to me...I'm gonna be driving a squad

BenWa

An ambulance is not considered a commercial vehicle here in NV- as in it does NOT require a CDL.  A normal DL is sufficient, although we DID have to get an 'Ambulance Attendant' license when I was hired (a dozen years ago now).

That being said, I do know of at least half a dozen insulin dependent diabetics currently working here, so it must not be a disqualifier here in NV.

Leave it to CA....