ny10570

While I agree that no life is worth property are you really prepared to operate aggressively when there is a life at risk if you do not operate with an aggressive mindset all of the time? I find its usually easier to slow down and back up than it is to hurry and catch up.

I've only read his blog, but he is passionate about mass transit and overall fairly complimentary towards metro north. His consistent gripe seems to be with their capital improvement choices which I tend to agree with (east side access being a big one). In his position as the commuter council chairman his job is to slam and criticize the agency. No different than the strap hangers group in the city.

Felony, drug, violent, or sexual based criminal convictions. Terminated with cause from another city agency. Falsifying your application. Failed drug screening or medical exam. Failed psych exam.

Here's a good blog post detailing the recent delays of the M8s from Jim Cameron, the MetroNorth Ct commuter council chairman.

FDNY issues a stab/ballistic resistant vest rated at III/IIA to all members who chose to get fitted. They are yours until you retire unless you grow out of it, get shot/stabbed, or lose it. NIJ has done test on vests of varying ages and condition and have found no significant degradation of protection as long as they're properly maintained. If its not fitted to you, why bother? Too small or too big and it won't fit properly, restrict movement, and be uncomfortable to the point where people won't wear them. If you aren't wearing it all the time why bother? I have yet to see a police officer shot in my own little world where the responding officers had a report of weapons involved. The last 3 EMS shootings I'm aware of were this MVA, a chest pain call, and one while the EMT was cleaning the truck. So just wearing it for the shootings and EDP calls isn't going to cut it. That being said my vest is neatly stored hanging in my locker. One of the few perks of every day EMS life is that the idiots who do most the shooting are happy to seem me show up. If one day the bad old days return where crews are robbed for their drugs and radios or people begin seeing us more as a threat than as life savers I'll reconsider.

Anyone with a breakdown of what went on inside?

Every day we ask for special treatment and perks because of what we do. Well it cuts both ways. When we screw up we get treated special as well.

Cogs I get why you feel you're being attacked. I really do. The threads you spend a lot of time on invariably wind up focusing on the differences between career and volunteer depts. There are a lot of flaws with the volunteer fire service, there's no denying it. Volunteers are the "better" option, not the ideal product. Once you recognize that you can focus on these problems and develop a better service.

Full Story "In other words, we were the typical cocky Americans no one wants around until they need help winning a war." After serving as an ambulance driver in WW1, the great depression, surviving over 3 years of internment in a Japanese civilian POW camp during WW2, and countless other milestones Frank Woodruff Buckles has passed away as the last surviving doughboy and one of 3 WW1 vets world wide.

Standards and requirement debates can go on forever, but I don't see how that applies here. I get the chiefs point that this is potentially more money spent on an inferior service however I don't see this as the place to draw that line. If the volunteers are not cutting it then get someone else to do the job. However as long as the community is relying on volunteers they must offer them the same protections. This is no different than workers comp for injuries. Someone else pointed out earlier, what about in combination depts? Two firefighters working together injure a civilian and are accused of negligence. The paid firefighter is indemnified and the volley isn't? There is no way to justify that. Concerns that lax oversight and diminished standards increase a municipalities risk are all valid, but how does hanging them out to dry fix the problem? The municipality is still on the hook for utilizing their services and not providing the proper oversight and training.

What is new is that these are going fleet wide from now on. All new RMPs will have a low frequency siren.

Auto narrative takes away one of the real perks of digital records. Substantially more space for a detailed and accurate narrative.

FDNY has been using a paper form that is scanned for digital storage for several years. By the end of the year assuming no major problems will be transitioned to an all electronic system. I am 100% in favor of this. The possibilities this opens up to improve research, QA/QI, continuity of care, etc are worth the learning curve.

While training someone to be a medic is harder than than training someone to use a gun, a tactical medic doesn't need to be a full paramedic. They need to be a trauma medic. A blind airway, hemostatic dressings, and tourniquets are your primary tools. Have your civilian medic parked at a staging area so you can maintain your opsec and keep the most useful tool to a downed officer, rapid transport, available

^^ What he said

I am no fan of Paul having worked with him in the Bronx, however that case had nothing to do with his driving ability. That story was more hype than substance. The child was "abandoned" in the Peds ER at the triage area. He was in a rush to get out of a late call and acted childishly in a confrontation with the triage nurse.

While this may not provide a definitive list of resources, it should be able to give people a head start on what might be out there and where to go for more answers.

NYPD sees air recon as a lower priority mission. I don't remember the details, but every FDNY medic class gets a lecture on aviation's capabilities and requirements for a medivac or rescue. Essentially if they can get in the air, they'll do so for a rescue or MOS medevac. Other missions have stricter safety guidelines.

Other than chevrons everything we've done to emergency vehicles in the past 10 years has gone against the research as to how to make our scenes safer. Ghost lettering does nothing to inhibit safety. Both studies I've read regarding chevrons addressed night conditions only, so go nuts with the ghost decals.

Like Chris said, different airframes have different capabilities. While the pilot may have declined hovering his bird 20 ft from a cliff face in high wind gusts, it does not necessarily mean they're unable to fly. Just unable to fly that particular mission.

Entrapment is relative. Had a guy wriggle himself out of a flattened car he flipped and the opening wasn't more than 10" tall. Had a stuck occupied elevator where the occupant didn't know there was a latch on the sliding door. MVA RMAed and the stuck elevator went to the ER. Caller says I can't get out...they're trapped.

Since when can we follow the facility docs orders? In NYC there's a whole procedure for following direction from a non-FDNY OLMC physician. I know in Westchester orders come from the physician at your destination hospital. If thats the case, anything the originating facility doc writes is just a waste of paper.

That all depends on your environment and the citizens inhabiting that environment. I'm a fan chemical restraint when use appropriately. I'd rather worry about R on T or some rare and obscure drug interaction than the patient harming myself, my partner, a police officer, or themselves. Versed, Haldol, and Ketamine are all used frequently around the world with little adverse reaction. Hell, as soon as we reach the ER with that EDP or drug induced psychosis that we spend so much energy trying to physically restrain the first thing the MD usually does is order up the old Haldol/Ativan cocktail. My 2 cents about nasal drug administration, it sucks. It works great on paper and with compliant patients. I've used it with great success to sedate for pacing on a diabetic with zero IV access. Also used it for Narcan on a cyanotic heroin OD. Just pinched his lips, waited for the inhale and bingo right to the turbinates. Now take a comabtive EDP who will likely try and bit anything you put near his mouth. So, you're not getting the best access to the nose. If they're severely congested you're drug isn't going anywhere. Squirt something up your nose, and your first reaction is to blow it back out. EDPs do the same thing. More of your drug winds up on your hand and running down their face. If you can control the head well enough to put your hand next to their mouth then you can control the arm well enough for an IM injection.

Roll, I like your thought process, but you're missing some key facts. These are warriors in training. However these cadets have not been through extreme exposure training like that of the SEALs, at least not yet they were Freshman. They were dressed lightly as this was supposed to an afternoon of physical exertion. They were stuck exposed to the elements for at least 7 1/2 hours. None of the articles mention when their day started, but the FD got on scene at 6:30 and aviation was there at 2am. The two were smart enough to tie off on a ledge so they weren't just hanging there, but they were exposed to freezing temps and high winds for hours. An experienced soldier would have a hard time functioning at that point. An 18 y/o just out of H.S. would absolutely be hypothermic, have zero dexterity and be unable to follow simple commands. To me this eliminates climbing back up with them unless its truly a last resort. Going down, definitely more viable, but how far are we talking? If none of my ropes can make it top to bottom I do not want to be engineering an anchor on an 18" ledge that I'm sharing with two hypothermic and potentially AMS cadets. If aviation feels they can perform the grab, have at it. If not, then we can resort to climbing. Here's the NY Times article with interviews from the flight crew.

This came up, and SEMAC has spent a lot of time discussing this in their meetings. In short, the state legislature has circumvented the state and regional boards and legislated an addition to our scope of practice. So any paramedic with a current card is legally allowed to do this. That paramedic is also allowed to refuse to perform the blood draw and cannot be compelled to do any more than what their agency requires. This will also require the patients expressed consent to perform the blood draw. If the patient is not agreeable to the draw or is otherwise unable to communicate that they want you to draw the blood you are not to draw the blood. If you would like any more info on the this from SEMAC it is all right here in the minutes. By the way they are transcripts of the meetings, painfully long and boring. Good luck.