cross your fingers

A bit of closure on my not so great day (see March 26th) a few weeks ago. It's not like many of you will care, but it is a big deal to us, and that's what this blog is about, so ... onward.

Danny's been working with Southwest Ambulance about a year now. Last year, he was in GCC's Paramedic Academy. He did great, however when it came to the in-the-field part, he just didn't have the experience necessary and didn't pass. They told him to work another year, then apply again, which would mean starting in August 07. Meanwhile, Southwest Ambulance opened their own academy in February. Danny didn't apply because first of all, he didn't find out about it in time, secondly, the schooling is out in Mesa.

So his one-year mark came in March and all of a sudden, we find out he doesn't have driving status any more on the ambulance! They pulled his new driving record, and said it wasn't acceptable. Well my dear husband has had his share of tickets in the past, but he hasn't had anything added to his record for the past two years, so if anything, his record should have been better at this year mark. When he talked to his supervisors, we found that they didn't know much, that this decision had come from the corporate offices. It was possibly Danny may lose his job. Or it was possible that he'd just lose driving status until his record got better. Either way, there were a lot of questions--why was his driving record OK a year ago, but not now?

It turns out he actually slipped through the cracks a year ago and should never have been allowed to drive. =( He still would have been hired, just put on "attending" status instead of "driving". So, what now? It turns out that the Southwest Paramedic Academy didn't get full in February, so they decided to postpone the start date until late May. Which means, Danny could apply and go to Southwest's Academy, getting paid for it as well. Since he's not allowed to get overtime while in school, they up his hourly pay. However, it's just for 40 hours a week, so not much. But the 40 hours a week in the academy rate is better than what he'd be getting as an "attending", since there are limited rides available to non-drivers.

To Summarize, he's applying for the Academy as we speak, and would start and finish much earlier than planned. If he gets in, his driving status won't matter, since students don't work and paramedics don't drive. The only bad thing is the drive. It's about an hour and a half to two-hour commute with the traffic, so that's rough on study and family time, wear and tear on the car, gas $, etc. If he can carpool, that would be awesome, saving money and giving him a chance to study on the way.

He takes the test as I type this. I'm sure he'll do fine. And hopefully, this will end up being a great solution to a problem that we totally didn't see coming. Pretty much a blessing in disguise. Let's hope!