My son's EMS is not required to be clean shaven. Most of his class is firefighters getting their EMT certifications and most sport facial hair. In fact, hardly any of the EMS is clean shaven; most sport mustaches, goatees, or short beards like my son had. It is a myth that the breathing aparatus has to fit to the skin – if that were true, think how many would be without those protections in nations where beards are the norm. This myth is perpetuated to enforce conformity. Wearers do have to be fit-tested to determine if the equipment fits and functions properly. He had already been fit-tested and put to work by the county EMS. This cockup was a requirement of the teacher for the community college EMT class which the county EMS had contracted.
This particular administrator was also pushing numerous other blockades in my son's path, including denying him clinical hours – even though he is already working 3 days a week in real patient settings with the county EMS as an apprentice in their organization. In fact, he's had five times the required "patient touches" and three times the clinical hours with the county than the community college class requires.
Then, there was the issue of his immunization records. Somehow, they've been lost between Missouri and North Carolina. Yet, my son has been through all of NC's grade levels in public school, meeting the immunization requirements at every level. Additionally, he had the test to see if he carried immunities and was found to be "partially immune" to both the MMR and chicken pox. However, because he was only "partially immune," she required him to be vaccinated again.
My son went into full blown anaphylaxis. I rushed him to the local urgent care where he was found to be covered in hives and his blood pressure dropped to 60 over 40 before he collapsed. They administered an epi pen shot as they watched his BP drop to 50 over 40 before it rebounded to 70 over 60. He was rushed from there in an ambulance to the ER and had to have another epi pen before they halted his anaphalaxis response. He was also prescribed powerful steroids on a step down regimine and strong allergy meds. He still hasn't shed all the swelling and bloating from it.
Then, to top it off, the person who ordered the near death of my child STILL WOULDN'T CLEAR HIM of those vaccination requirements. He finally got cleared, just this past week – the term began in January and ends in June. But, he got cleared because the county EMS administration overrode the officious bureaucrat who has been blocking him throughout this term.
Oh… and to the beard… When the woman saw his shaven face – in the presences of the county EMS supervisor and an administrator – she had the gall to respond with surprise and tell him he didn't have to shave it all off, after harassing him to do so for two fecking months! He trimmed it shorter three different times – after he'd been fit-tested with the county – and she'd tell him that wasn't good enough until he shaved it all off; then she said he hadn't had to do that. And no, he did not just misunderstand. I heard her myself over a vido conference call telling him he had to be "clean shaven" while his county EMS apprenticeship director, on the same call, was telling her he had already been fit tested and approved with his beard intact.
She also tried to make him cut his hair. Yes, his hair is down to the middle of hs back. But, he keeps it pulled back in knot or a braid all the time, whether he's at work or school; if he's away from home, his hair is pulled back. She was trying to require him to cut his hair but she had made no such requirement of the two white girls in the class with hair as long or longer than my son's.
My son was also not the only person this teacher has been harassing. In a class of more than 30 students, only two other students had similar encounters with her. One of them is American-LatinX and the other is a naturalized citizen. These three are the only not-white-enough students; the rest of their white classmates had no such difficulties. All three of the not-white-enough students are the ONLY ones who have yet to be able to get their clinical hours.
