RNMedic08

I will see them Friday Jim and I will give them your best........If anyone is interested in getting a real live Christmas tree they have many selections to choose from.....Barb even makes beautiful wreaths as well.... Unfortunately in our line of work there are those calls where we have a connection with the victims and that drives home how unpredictable life is..... To all have a safe, Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving....

I know this family very very well......she was my daughter's principal at St.Joseph's School in Millbrook....They are an awesome family and it breaks my heart to see their loss. Thankfully there were no injuries.......They have a great Christmas tree farm and ever year we go there after Thanksgiving pick out our tree tag it and return in 2 weeks to cut it down and bring it home...... I know this year not only will I be going there to pick out my tree but also to see what it is Barb and Joe need to help get thru the Holidays.....

I wonder if it had anything to do with 2 calls last Friday night into Saturday, where they sent a BLS bus to Greenhaven for a "possible stroke" apparently the staff at SFH had issues when they realized the blood sugar was 24, the patient did not have a line and came in BLS not ALS.....then later that same shift another call from Greenhaven for chest pain and again a BLS unit responded asked for an intercept from another agency gave route of travel as 216 and Beekman Rd ( problem is they run parallel and do not cross) after much back and forth between the requested ALS intercept and County it was determined that they had not yet left the facility..........maybe they should call themselves Hudson Valley EMS and not Paramedics.........

Ok there is no perfect EMS service although there many who think they walk on water......I work for Alamo and I always give the exact location I am responding from the best way not to get caught with your pants down is to be honest,let me tell you as a street medic it is very frustrating when I have to go mutual aid to Beacon for a P-4 and then to hear a P-1 or P-2 drop and our backfill unit isn't close enough and we have to roll a call to another agency...that pisses me off but it's best for the patient. Everyone is bashing Alamo but recently I have heard alot of East Fishkil calls requesting their ALS provider and they roll calls because they don't have a unit or they are racing across the bridge.....I also heard some crazy nonsense this past Saturday night with Hudson Valley Paramedics. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it wrong to have the word Paramedic on your rig when you are a BLS unit, Alamo took that off their units because not all crews are ALS units but in fact BLS......we call out Alamo Medic # XYZ or Alamo ambulance # XYZ so that county knows what is responding..... Providing BLS crews on calls like " possible stroke" and blsing this in to SFH hospital to find out the BS was 24.. and that is directly from staff at SFH....later in the morning they requested an ALS intercept for chest pain at Greenhaven, they gave there location as 216 and Beekman Road...now you tell me how that is possible when they run parallel, the medic unit responding to the intercept is now really pissed because they know that can't be and the unit is not answering county. why because not all their units have dutchess county frequencies I'm told...when everything is straightened out the truth is they haven't left the facility.....I thought intercept meant the requesting unit was heading towards the help?????????? I went into EMS to help, no matter what patch I wear. I continue with the same goal and I think for the good of the residents of Dutchess county a better solution needs to be found because not any 1 provider can meet evryone's needs.......but again that is just my 2 cents.......

The device I was referring to was the cooler like machine that keeps the IV fluids at a certain temperature so that the patient could be placed in a hypothermic state in cardiac arrest. I have to look for the info from VS to better explain this.

This topic was covered at Vital Signs 2008 this past month. I attended this particular conference and it gave alot of valuable information regarding Induced Hypothermia in cardiac arrest patients. As we all know what begins in the field needs to be aggressively followed thru at the ED. At this point all we can do without the device is apply ice packs to help bring down the core body temperature. This was my first time at Vital Signs and I really enjoyed the topics that I had an oppurtunity to sit in......the after conference activities were also very interesting and provided alot of networking.

Well with my agency I routinely go to Vassar and St. Francis. I know the staff pretty well in both places since I had to do my clinical rotations in both ER's. For cardiac, pediatric and general medical calls I prefer Vassar the staff there try hard to be attentive even when they are pressed with an extremely busy day. St's is good for trauma and psyche, they also are friendly and helpful. To say St. Luke's is by far my least favorite place to go would be stetching it.......unless you wear a certain uniform you could stand forever waiting not for a bed assignment but just plain and simple acknowledgement that I am standing there.....to get them to answer the county radio to give report again is often futile.......as a RN I am appalled at their apparent lack of teamwork when a EMS unit arrives....my former partner threatened to put duct tape over my mouth one busy night when we arrived with CPR in progress and was made to wait while they gave the last bed to another unit from another agency with a non threatening emergency. Putnam Hospital is OK, Sharon and Kingston with my limited contact was fine. WCMC is OK, Mt Vermin sucks, hope wherever you decide you can enlighten the ER staff to the role of EMS and hope you enjoy your new re entry into ED life......best wishes

I went on an unknown medical call in the City of Poughkeepsie at a hotel. When we puled up to the scene the limo driver told me not leave my bus there because the Bride was coming out in a few minutes........needless to say my medical emergency took precedence, 10 minutes later coming out with my patient that had a syncopal episode, had fallen and had a concussion and was pregnant my partner along with City fire walked past the wedding party ........boy did we get such looks becase we were inconviencing them.........

Turbo congrats on the beautiful bundle of joy, nice to see AFD has added pink to their shirts..........LOL...can't wait to see her in person hanging around Station 3............best wishes to you and Mom..........once again a job well done by "Turbo"...........

Congrats to New Windsor for such an accomplishment. Mike I knew you would do great things after passing the Medic program at DCC......Good luck and be safe.....maybe I'll see you one night at St. Luke's when we both are working.

Hi my name is Lisa also known as "Pumps" or the "S--t magnet". I am an RN at VA Hudson Valley Castle Point Campus in Dutchess County during the week and on friday nights my uniform changes and I am a Paramedic for a commercial Agency here in Dutchess County serving the Town of Fishkill, as well as Chelsea, Rombout, Beacon, Glenham, Pleasant Valley, Millbrook, Roosevelt, Fairview and the City Of Poughkeepsie Fire Districts.

Hey Turbo how's things at my favorite company.......how I miss doing my paramedic ride time at AFD station 3 !!!! Be safe.

Congrats Craig it's well deserved

Actually I believe the quote came from Rodney King in 1992 with the riots in Los Angeles California.

It is!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was just giving my thoughts since I do know alot of the Dutchess County division Medic's and EMT's by name that work for Transcare. I was commenting on their professionalism, compassion and caring attitude of the crews that I have dealt with on almost a daily basis.

Transcare currently has the contract at my facility in Dutchess County. They do 99.9 % of all prescheduled ALS and BLS transports. They wanted us to call them direct for ASAP or emergent ALS transports however they very rarely had the available resources and instead we call Dutchess County 911 directly. The crews I dealt with were friendly, caring, compassionate, dressed appropriately and looked professional. Unfortunately you could see the huge difference between their Dutchess employees and their NYC employees. I wish Transcare all the best in Putnam but it seems whatever agency goes in with good intentions to make things work is at the mercy of the system down there.

If Castle Point VAFD was requested by Beacon and toned out they would have responded, since that did not occur they remained fully manned in their quarters.

You know it really is easy for everyone to Monday morning quarterback the Medic and FF's on scene decision to launch a bird. I am sure they did what was in the best interest of the patient based on MOI, and assessment findings. In the short time I have been a Medic I've learned that everyone has something to say and that no matter what you do someone will always disagree or better yet question your judgement and competence because they can do it better !!!!!! As a Medic I recently had a MVA on Rte 82 in Fishkill in the Rombout Fire District, originally the call sounded benign enough on initial dispatch, while enroute to the scene I was updated by County that Rombout was requesting me to expedite to the scene for seroius head trauma and that a "bird " was being requested to go on standby. The victim took a direct hit on the drivers side with significant intrusion into the drivers compartment. About 1-2 minutes later I arrived on scene, quickly assessed my patient who was still in the vehicle, he was conscious but definitely + AMS, had + LOC, long bone deformity and bleeding from bilateral forearms, I looked up and across the vehicle to the IC and requested the bird. Less than 12 minutes later the bird was at the LZ. I would have preferred a Level 1 trauma center however do to weather conditions changing down in Westchester the 2 Flight Medics eleced to fly him to St's. If not for the quick actions of the Rombout FF's on scene the time from the accident to a Trauma center would have taken more than 20 minutes. I made it my point to thank the FF's at the LZ and asked to extend my thanks to all those on scene as I was now OOS for decon and needed to get to St's. with my paperwork and restock. I think we forget at times that WE and I mean WE are a team of individuals with certain skill sets and that together we are a Team.....as a wise man once said to me "There is no I in teamwork."

Reliable sources have stated that Transcare has lifted the ban of not working for another company. It would be in their best interest to do this because their NYC crews they pull up to cover have a hard time finding there way around Dutchess County.

Castle Point FD also responds to all medical emergencies on campus. This includes the in-patient medical unit, nursing home units, the urgent room and any other patient care areas. They also respond to Castle Land Daycare and private residence's housed on the grounds. They have an agency code and do fill out PCR's. The facility code at Castle Point is 136. All Firefighters are EMT-B's. They will and have gone mutual aid to the community and in fact were more than likely the first full crew responding to 2 recent fires in the Chelsea area. They are truly an asset to not only the Veterans they serve but to the Dutchess County community. Bottom line is utilize the resources available and swallow your pride and politics when it comes to doing the right thing to better serve YOUR community.