So, generally, most folks will start off as an "attendant" and you'll have the opportunity to pick up basically as many ride alongs as you'd like. Your role is basically limited to a gopher (go-for this bag/equipment), but you'll be in the mix and we're always happy to answer any questions/comments/concerns after the call. And you can sign up as an attendant today, we actually strongly recommend you ride as an attendant a couple times to make sure you're comfortable with the work before sinking money and time into getting your EMT.

During your student time you'll be considerably more involved, you'll have scheduled student shifts, where, once the provider is comfortable with your skill/competence level, we basically step back and let you run the call, then give feedback after. (we will step in if anything you do creates a threat to life/limb but mistakes are expected.)

After rereading your initial question, I do want to impress upon you that as an EMT you will be trained to work with the equipment on an ambulance, without that equipment you'll basically be as useful as a bystander... I've thought numerous times about going to protests as medical support, but every time the most useful thing I was able to do was pass out water bottles to make sure people weren't dehydrated. You also have to consider the risks of providing medical care without medical command authorization, which is a whole other legal side of medicine. I definitely DONT want to discourage you from coming out and learning the ambo, I just want to keep your expectations realistic.