RushTheBus

I didn't say that it had anything to do with it, I just said that it made me think of it.
But that being said, mutual aid EMS was requested yesterday (for standby in quarters), as well as the response of the EMS Mutual Aid Zone Coordinator. I was wondering if any of these procedures had been included in an "official" county mutual aid plan. Not to discredit the great work that OVAC does, but this might have also been a good opportunity to request an EMS task force, or at least more of a response than just 1 BLS and 1 ALS unit. I understand that this was not an active shooter, and it was just a report of a person with a gun in a school, but wouldn't we rather have these units responding and staging and available if needed than scrambling at the last minute when the situation escalates? Especially during the daytime when we know that coverage in Westchester County is oftentimes a struggle.
Full disclosure, I'm not trying to start a war here, or talk about what OVAC did/did not do right, just looking for some constructive discussion on the overall Mutual Aid plan, and Westchester's handling of potential MCI scenarios.

I didn't say that it had anything to do with it, I just said that it made me think of it.
But that being said, mutual aid EMS was requested yesterday (for standby in quarters), as well as the response of the EMS Mutual Aid Zone Coordinator. I was wondering if any of these procedures had been included in an "official" county mutual aid plan. Not to discredit the great work that OVAC does, but this might have also been a good opportunity to request an EMS task force, or at least more of a response than just 1 BLS and 1 ALS unit. I understand that this was not an active shooter, and it was just a report of a person with a gun in a school, but wouldn't we rather have these units responding and staging and available if needed than scrambling at the last minute when the situation escalates? Especially during the daytime when we know that coverage in Westchester County is oftentimes a struggle.
Full disclosure, I'm not trying to start a war here, or talk about what OVAC did/did not do right, just looking for some constructive discussion on the overall Mutual Aid plan, and Westchester's handling of potential MCI scenarios.

I could be wrong, but I don't believe there is an "official" NYS patch for EMTs or Paramedics. The blue tombstone, and the orange shoulder patch are certainly the most common, but I don't believe there is an official NYSDOH approved uniform patch.

Eastchester EMS - 2334 Calls, 2403 Patients

Eastchester EMS - 2334 Calls, 2403 Patients

Eastchester EMS - 2334 Calls, 2403 Patients

This is quite shocking, the whole situation. I'm asking myself "is this really happening?" It's surreal. ny10570 who we now know his name is Lenny Joyner, see his photo on the Denver news story, has been a regular productive member of this board for years. We know his political leanings, his compassion for others, his decency....yet most of us didn't know him personally.
I wish I had.
To those members here who had the honor of knowing him, condolences to you all. We all share in your grief.
For all of us here who care, who feel, please take care of yourselves now. Don't be tempted to grab the beers or anything else to drown the pain away.
Talk about it. Write about it. Share your feelings with those of us here who care for you and want you to be okay. That's what this site is about. A Fraternity of sorts. Times like these are the most testing for everybody. Talk about it at the firehouse, the precinct, the ambulance quarters.
Lenny got called home to God way too early, yet he obviously died doing what he wanted to be doing. Living his life the way he wanted it to be. Quite an adventurist it seems. I imagine he was quite ecstatic to reach that peak, to see that view, to be closer to his God.
Our board has another hero now. And his name is Lenny Joyner. God Rest In Peace.
Edit: Last name proper spelling.

George, in reference to your last sentence, were you trying to say "able to function withOUT additional help from the TOE?" Our funds from the Town and Villages, while still extremely important to us, have dropped to about $20,000 per year. And because we are not a tax district, we really survive completely off of soft third party billing and donations from the community. We have been extremely lucky for the last 10 years to have partnered with the Community Fund who donates funds for us to be use towards our ambulance replacement program.
In terms of our operations, Eastchester VAC, as I've said before, offers numerous services to the community we serve, one of which being Eastchester EMS, primary EMS service to the Town of Eastchester and Villages of Bronxville and Tuckahoe. We have a paid Paramedic staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (sometimes double medics during storms, big incidents, etc.) who operates an ALS fly car. We also pay an EMT Monday thru Saturday, from 7am to 7pm, who is only to go on the ambulance if no volunteers are in house. Most days, this EMT has a pretty good gig and gets to sit around while the volunteers handle the system, other days, he or she becomes a vital aspect of our operations (if a volunteer is late for their shift, for the inevitable 2nd and 3rd call back-to-back in district that Eastchester is known for, etc.)
Again, as I've said before, our system isn't perfect by any means, but it's pretty effective. The volunteers don't have the luxury of relying on the paid staff to cover the calls like some other agencies. Eastchester's volunteers are still the primary force, and we're quite proud of that. What hurts our system is when we get called to Lockwood Avenue for the "sick", around the corner from Sound Shore, because TransCare was busy. I'm not saying that we never call mutual aid, because we do, but a paid service shouldn't be relying on ScarVac, or Eastchester, or TMAD. In my 10 years at EVAC, we've been called ONCE to Yonkers, and Empress threatened to fire the dispatcher for doing it, even though he knew it was the right call to make. (That's me ranting, and shouldn't be taken personally by anybody.)
I don't post often, but I read often, and I truly feel that the only way to making EMS in Westchester (and fire/PD) is to be open and talk about it, so please feel free to PM me if you want to continue the discussion.
Thanks,
Kevin

George, in reference to your last sentence, were you trying to say "able to function withOUT additional help from the TOE?" Our funds from the Town and Villages, while still extremely important to us, have dropped to about $20,000 per year. And because we are not a tax district, we really survive completely off of soft third party billing and donations from the community. We have been extremely lucky for the last 10 years to have partnered with the Community Fund who donates funds for us to be use towards our ambulance replacement program.
In terms of our operations, Eastchester VAC, as I've said before, offers numerous services to the community we serve, one of which being Eastchester EMS, primary EMS service to the Town of Eastchester and Villages of Bronxville and Tuckahoe. We have a paid Paramedic staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (sometimes double medics during storms, big incidents, etc.) who operates an ALS fly car. We also pay an EMT Monday thru Saturday, from 7am to 7pm, who is only to go on the ambulance if no volunteers are in house. Most days, this EMT has a pretty good gig and gets to sit around while the volunteers handle the system, other days, he or she becomes a vital aspect of our operations (if a volunteer is late for their shift, for the inevitable 2nd and 3rd call back-to-back in district that Eastchester is known for, etc.)
Again, as I've said before, our system isn't perfect by any means, but it's pretty effective. The volunteers don't have the luxury of relying on the paid staff to cover the calls like some other agencies. Eastchester's volunteers are still the primary force, and we're quite proud of that. What hurts our system is when we get called to Lockwood Avenue for the "sick", around the corner from Sound Shore, because TransCare was busy. I'm not saying that we never call mutual aid, because we do, but a paid service shouldn't be relying on ScarVac, or Eastchester, or TMAD. In my 10 years at EVAC, we've been called ONCE to Yonkers, and Empress threatened to fire the dispatcher for doing it, even though he knew it was the right call to make. (That's me ranting, and shouldn't be taken personally by anybody.)
I don't post often, but I read often, and I truly feel that the only way to making EMS in Westchester (and fire/PD) is to be open and talk about it, so please feel free to PM me if you want to continue the discussion.
Thanks,
Kevin

Eastchester VAC has been working the last couple of years on our branding strategy and the decision to keep or get rid of the term "VAC" is always up for discussion.
The way we look at it now is that the Eastchester Volunteer Amublance Corps Inc. is the parent company. EVAC provides various services to the community including CPR classes, blood drives, information sessions to various community groups, as well as Emergency Medical Services comprised of paid and volunteer EMT's and Paramedics. This service is called Eastchester EMS.
Who knows if this is right or not, and this could always change, but we're trying it out for now.