PFDRes47cue

Date: 3-18-2011 Time: 04:25 Location: Parking lot IAO Key Bank (Union St. / Elm St.) Frequency: St. Lawrence County Central Dispatch; Potsdam PD; Potsdam Rescue Dispatch; Potsdam FD Dispatch; Units Operating: Potsdam PD; Potsdam Vol. Rescue Squad; Potsdam FD Weather Conditions: Cold Description Of Incident: 27 y/o female who was walking in the parking lot walked into the path of a DPW front loader that was removing sand from the parking lot. One of the front loaders tires ran over the females stomach area. Pt was transport to Canton-Potsdam Hospital and then airlifted to Fletcher-Allen Hospital in Burlington, Vt. Pt was listed as critical but is now listed as being in "good condition." Reporters/Writer: PFDRes47cue Pt upgrade to "Good condition" on 3-23-2011...see article

Welcome aboard! I also agree with you when you say that there should be more time spent on the hands on practical skills. The solution is not to spend less time on the other stuff but to add more time to the class for the practical skills. When I got my EMT 3 years ago, I also noticed quite a few people who were not taking the class as seriously as they should have. Sad part is that it is probably safe to say that most of, if not all of them are not EMT-B's. I agree with you as well. I feel that it is very important for new EMT's and old to refresh. I personally am not a huge fan of EMT's only doing CME's to refresh. There are a lot of good CME credit courses/lectures out there and while being very good to attend, people need to do hands on and test their skills. A lot of people I have spoken with, feel that their instructors taught to rely on the medic. This is wrong! BLS before ALS. Luckily, my EMT instructor was very big on not relying on ALS unless needed. What made me respect him for this, was because he himself was a Paramedic and had been for much longer than I have been alive. It was also useful that I took my EMT class up at school in a place where ALS is no first on scene to every call and often times not intercepted with until the BLS crew is almost to the hospital. I also have a lot of good senior EMT's in my VAC that have been great leaders for me. I realized very early on (even before my EMT class) that BLS comes before ALS. I have also been blessed to work with some very high quality Paramedics who also push for BLS before ALS.

Look into getting a suction cup mounted wire antenna that goes on the inside edge of the front or rear windshield. They get very good reception and are very well hidden and unnoticeable.

Does anyone think that it may also be a result of EMT-B instructors pushing kids through the classes? (NOTE: THIS IS NOT A DIG ON EMT-B INSTRUCTORS!)

Fatal MVA Cleanup What exactly are they CLEANING of the engine compartment??? Was there really a fatal accident in a parking lot? (I know possible but....) Also, the only damage appears to be a broken windshield and air bag deployment... If you look through the pictures, the only damage appears to be a minor dent in the front corner panel and the windshield...maybe the fatality was due to their EMS skills....

Was talking with some people early today about Deputy Chiefs and realized I know very little when it comes to anything about Deputy Chiefs... I know a lot of departments have Deputy Chiefs, but a lot don't. I also know of some departments that used to have them then got rid of them. Some questions I have are: If the department give it Chief's cars, are the Deputy Chiefs (who use their POV's) given lights/sirens? Pros? Cons? Are they allowed to use lights/sirens? Are they Chiefs all year? Term? Or just when needed? How many Deputy Chiefs do departments have? Do they receive the same LOSAP points as Chiefs? Lights and sirens for all calls? Especially when Chiefs are responding as well... Are they voted on? Thanks, Madison

A scenario us mainlanders don't have to worry or think about to often...if ever... Fires still spreading from Hawaii volcano Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupts with greater fury Video: Hawaii Volcano's Stunning Eruption

OUTSTANDING!!!!

Bet a lot of people find this suitable for this topic... "I wish I had an answer to that, because I'm tired of answering that question." - Yogi Berra

Great points. I agree that ALS is often to heavily replied upon by BLS providers. But I do not think that the lack of ALS availability and the fact that a lot of BLS calls are going ALS is is anyone one level of cares fault. It is a combination of a lot of things. I know some EMT's that rely on ALS because of confidence/experience issues. I also know some ALS providers that make almost every call ALS for the same reason because they second guess themselves, or worry that perhaps they missed something, and the call could infact turn into an ALS call. And yes, Mount Pleasant does have nice proximity to hospitals...it is nice for a transport to take 3 minutes when you just jump on the parkway.

Agreed, this is a great discussion. I have always called in incidents that I have come across while transporting a pt to the ER. I have also always stopped while coming back from the ER and back in service when I have come across signs of distress. A lot of EMT-B students think that the material presented in the beginning of the course is "stupid" or "a waste of time." This is unfortunate because the information is very very very important to know and exercise properly. This is a topic for another thread and is by no means an attempt to "bash" any ALS providers. But I have noticed/heard of Paramedics riding calls that could go BLS and then having a true ALS call come in and no ALS be readily available. I also think this is due to a visible lack of confidence on the faces of new EMT's. ALS providers need to feel confident in the BLS providers and know that they are leaving the patient in good, capable hands.

Is this the same rule of thumb or law when you know you are going to a confirmed emergency and you come across someone. For example, if I am responding to a cardiac arrest and then get updated by PD on scene that it is a full code and CPR is in progress, but I get flagged down for someone on a bike path who skinned his/her knee, I will held responsible and charged with abandonment for continuing onto the full code ad not stopping to apply a piece of gauze and some tape? Or if you have a call for a stroke where symptoms began to occur say 30 minutes prior to the dispatch. You do not have much more of the left in the "Golden Hours" and while responding to get flagged down for a general malaise. If I stopped for the tummy ache and the stroke patient misses out on the "Golden Hour", the family of the stroke patient has no legal leverage on me? What about if I am transporting a patient to the ER and while doing so I come across an MVA or man down on the side of the road and no emergency personnel is on scene. Do I legally have to do anything other than report it? This is good to know. Thanks.

Yes, Fire/EMS are completely different in terms of leadership and how the scenes are run. As a EMS Lieutenant, I do see and agree with you that most of the work EMS Line Officers do is not related to medical training. However, in terms of ordering supplies, I have found that better supplies are ordered when the person doing the ordering personally understands the equipment and can relate its use to real life situations. That being said (and a minor point), I also still feel that is is important for EMS Line Officers to be medically trained. Besides the paperwork, and the mystery oil (which is everywhere!), and settling the (way to frequent) cat fights, anther important aspect is leadership/expertise in the back of the ambulance and on scene. Yes, radio communications, and scene management are very important, but it is also beneficial when on top of doing those things, the Line Officers are showing medical expertise to there members. I am a big believer of "If you are going to ask others to do things, make sure you can do them yourself." Asking EMT's to take calls and get my VAC's buses out is an easier task for me when they see me and the other Line Officers doing the same thing. (Disclaimer: This post is not related to my personal organizations, and ideas stated are my own. "Line Officers" is being used as a generic term, not one referring to the Line Officers of my FD's or VAC.)

I see exactly what you are saying. I did not quite understand the post I quoted. It made it seem like the focus of the sentence was having these things to gain access to the scene. I do agree that Chiefs need he radios, etc to be able to communicate properly but keep in mind that there are lots of FD's and counties that do not operate on the multiple frequencies and they get the job done fine with one radio. Of course things vary from place to place and FD to FD. I would hope that the departments that require their Chief's to use their own POV's are reimbursing for gas (especially when the Chief's are as active as the ones I deal with on a daily basis.) I am not positive that it is covered all the time. Stay safe as well.

I probably care just as much as everyone else. But it would definitely give me something to do and probably a laugh while I browse this site and laugh at some of the posts that have been written in which the poster would have made better use of his/her time by "sitting on the couch and staring at the wall." Not saying your post is pointless but, you really care how much other people care? I can almost say that there is about a one in a million chance that I will make a phone call because come to think of it I really do not care at all, and "sitting on the couch and staring at the wall" would probably infact be a better use of my time. But, if it turns out that this group is not legit and they sneak onto the scene of an incident and cause harm to fire or ems personnel, I sure will wish I had called and potentially uncovered some details that could have put an end to the group and avoided the unfortunate incident. Thanks for clearing that up. And I agree, I also highly doubt it they are legit...

Nice find...

An amazing story rises from the tragedy... Survivor pulled from Japan rubble after 8 days

I never saw a DC with light/siren until recently. I was sitting at a red light and saw a car come through the intersection (through the red light). the car had red dash lights and a siren (both of which were on). The care was a POV and was unmarked with the exception of a small half plate that I noticed under the front license plate. It read, "Deputy Chief" in big letters and the name of the department in small letters. My department uses a DC when all Chiefs are out of town (perhaps attending a conference). This is a past Chief... And, I don't think many places need more Chiefs . More firefighter is a different story.

I have found that your are not alone in thinking that. However, volunteer departments have them as well.

I also feel they should be allowed the perqs (within reason). As for your last sentence/point...What happens when the average member (firefighter) is 4 minutes away and has no dept vehicle, radio, or id? All good points Grumpy

Slightly off topic but..... What are the benefits of departments issuing vehicles to Chief's? Are there benefits or is it more of a "we have the money so why not" thing? There are a lot of departments that do not have Chiefs vehicles and the Chiefs use there personally owned vehicles. Departments seem to run/operate equally well with or without department issued Chief's vehicles.

Wouldn't driving he vehicle to work also technically be using the vehicle for monetary gain? I mean you are not losing gas money and while the vehicle is sitting in a lot all day, you are experiencing monetary gain at work.

There website says that they do EMS. I noticed that some of their costs are for air way management supplies, splints, oxygen, etc. I am curious to know who their medical director is. Also are they Part-800 compliant? I might place a call and see who I speak with...

I would really like to find out if this is a legit organization. If so, I am interested to know exactly what they do, how they get dispatched or requested, there equipment, there officials (Chief, Captain, etc), by-laws. If they are not legitimate, I find is very scary that they are making it inside the fire line so easily. With all the nut jobs out there today, I personal want to be able to trust every person inside the tape and trust that they are all there for a legitimate reason. When I searched the forums for NYRRT, three threads came up. One thread about 9-11 included NYRRT. Apparently one member of this site was affiliated with NYRRT-1 in Albany...not sure if this is the same thing. If so, perhaps the member can provide us with some insight.

Thats some smack. Glad to see the PO's were unharmed.