PFDRes47cue

I think it is a lack country wide... I agree that it is bad in Westchester especially however some agencies are doing things to make the EMS system work. Other agencies paid or vollie should switch up their ways and see if new efforts prove better.

Whatever it takes to get the patient the care he/she needs and to get them to the hospital. I don't think it matters whether the provider receives a check of some amount (low in EMS field) every week or what ever the pay period be.

There has got to be some reason why there are so many vollie agencies in the county...something must be working or must have worked in the past or something. I would sure like to think about all the people who have been helped by the vollies!

Agreed with that. I know that I travel the bridge enough to say that I would not mind clinging to the fence lol. Hopefully it will also help slow down the jumper rate.

Great looking rigs. Freightliner cab right? Best of luck with it!

Will this also include agencies not dispatched by 60 control???

One reason was to make it so he people who were leaving work to cover the calls could not have to do that so often. It more so served as a threat to some of the less active members than a serious topic of discussion. Starting the day after the possibility was brought up...what do you know some less active members started keeping the board covered.

Awesome looking truck! Best of luck with it!

Awesome looking truck! Best of luck with it.

Great site! Thanks for sharing.

What terrible and sad news. By far my favorite captain. I hope his sons and his family find the strength to overcome this. R.I.P. Phil

Just curious as to who people think will win the Superbowl? I for one am pulling for the Saints. Not because I am a Saints fan but because I think New Orleans deserves the honor.

I am not saying it never happens. But most of the time other agencies take our calls because we are having them cover us for a PVAC function, stuck at a fire scene for extended periods of time, or spending that day at a car accident such as the terrible Taconic incident. Now, that is just an example. For the record we did not have another call while at the Taconic incident, but we did have 1 full crew standing by in quarters to man our third bus if such an incident arose. But of course, every once in a while we can not get a bus out. I believe last year we were mutual aided less than 10 times. Even though not even getting mutual aided once is the goal and the only acceptable breakdown but for 980 some odd calls I get over it. I also believe 2 of the mutual aided calls came when we had that freak ice storm on a sunday in december when we had 16 calls in 2 hours. 60 control contacted us for our 4th bus (which we don't have) for a mutual aid on the parkway which we could not provide. But it happens, every agency gets overloaded at least once a year.

Great game!!!

Great looking rigs. I especially like the Quint! Best of luck with them.

Awesome looking rigs. Should be a great fit for OFD. Best of luck with them!

I don't have any good ideas but wanted to say congratulations on getting married. May you both have a very happy and healthy life together!

Congrats Irvington, great looking rig! Can't wait to see it on the street. Best of luck with it!!!

Excellent post! Drink on.

I agree with you and hopefully you do get the most professional and competent crew possible 24/7. However, I more so hope you never need the bus. I do agree that when people call 911 they believe something is wrong. But is something always wrong? To them maybe but to others? If i never get hurt then one day sprain my ankle...I to will think something is wrong. But I will not consider calling 911. As for the pt waiting at the door. I do not think anybody wants those calls. But I accept them with open arms if it makes the pt more comfortable. What really gets me is when they pt asks if they can have a quick smoke or make some calls or have a suitcase packed. It more so makes me laugh then get po'ed. I did not mean to make the impression that I think people call 911 just to get out of bed and to get us out of bed. I simply meant that I bet if people stepped back for 5 minutes instead of spending the 5 minutes complaining and getting worked up..they may realize they could have handled the situation themselves. Either way...they call we come. We try to get there ASAP. Sometimes it takes a little longer. All that matters is that we drop our lives, get to the bus, get to the scene, and get the pt to the hospital and are ready for the next call. Key word in you post s MOST. I agree with you. However MOST people also do not complain and actually appreciate us.

Sad to hear. I hope he has a speedy recovery and is back on the Cornelia Marie soon! Thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

I agree with you and saying that the important thing is getting the bus to the scene and too the hospital. But if run correctly, there should be no problem of having that happen especially at night. If it does happen what is the chance that instead of complaining to the paid medic...the pt just got into the car and drove or had a family member drive them to the hospital. Most problem with EMS response can be fixed by not using EMS as a taxi and driving yourself. Especially if you are in an area that is surround by hospital. many of which are within 5 minutes. I know that the goal is to get the bus out and to transport the pt in a timely manner which luckily my agency does the majority of the time. But if time does matter that much to the pt whether personally or pertaining to the nature of illness, then drive yourself. It does not take a genius to know that if you decide to call 911 (in most of Westchester) and not drive your self right a way, you are choosing to add on extra time. There is no other way that people can think that calling 911 and then having them dispatch an agency paid or vol. will be quicker than driving themselves (if this is possible or safe). Ultimately I feel that if your going to knowingly add extra time bye calling 911 and then taking time to complain about it and work yourself up then skip it altogether and drive yourself. I do not care whether it is vol. or paid. It is not a discussion of that. No matter who comes, 911 adds time which is avoidable if the situation is not serious enough which most of the time is how it is. Whenever you add someone else in to something you need done, you are adding time needed for development. MOST LIKELY (not all the time) is the pt is stable enough to complain and work themselves up, they can get to the hospital on their own. IF there family members are around and complaining, then they can definitely load the person in to the car for the 3 minute ride to the hospital. Of course, elderly people will have trouble with this which is understandable. the same is true for handicap people and people who because of the emergency situation have become so nervous or anxious, can not safely operate a car. By calling 911 you are risking waiting a little more time for the benefit of being in the hands of trained personnel who can help you, make your more comfortable or just hold your hand. I completely understand that it must be annoying to have to explain the reasons you listed to pt's or family members. I am sorry that right now you are in an area where this happens maybe even frequently. I do not think Medics should be responsible for explaining this to pt's. It is wrong. If agencies constantly take a long time to get to scene and pt's are always complaining...why is it vol. where they live. I am sure that most people would take the extra 5 mins or so for the bus to get to their house or work over paying however much their taxes would increase to support a paid agency. It is also possible that since while they are waiting for a bus, they are experiencing an "emergency" to some level. they most likely are panicking or stressed out which science shows and make things seem longer than they actually are which could cause people to complain. I do not know how common this is but it is def. a possibility. Hopefully where you work that is having the response time problem right now, it is just a phase that the agency is experiencing right now. chances are it will not be that way for ever.

DaRock98, I am pretty sure your EMS program is not the only one with this problem. I can only speak for PVAC with this info. At PVAC we have set night crews for Sunday through Thursday nights. The night crews cover from 7PM to 7AM Friday and saturday nights rotate to the other night crews on a five week basis. Meaning, Sunday crew will do Sunday night as well as Friday and Saturday, the next week, Monday crew will do Monday as well as Friday and Saturday. During the day, we have a duty board on our website, that members when around can sign up and be on duty. Otherwise during the day who ever is around goes. One way that we make sure members sign up is to have an hour per month requirement. For us, an adult member (18+) has to pull 24 hours a month. These can be during the day or on a night crew. For junior corps members, there is a 12 hour per month limit. These can only be during the daytime since JC members can not ride at night. Recently we just started a new method of getting the duty board covered. We have set up a calling list. Each officer has been assigned 5 members. Every two weeks we place a call to our assigned members and help them find times to sign up during. This list also helps us to see who will be coming to meetings/drills. Hope this helps...

AGREED! People will always bash though.

Should departments have rules on who can and can not be on the FASTeam? The reason I ask is because I do not like the idea of someone being on FASTeam just because they spent three days and got the NYS FAST Cert. I mean you can have an 18 year old kid who just joined the department and in his first month took Firefighter 1 w/ Survival and then FAST. Now he is standing outside of burning building while the interior crews are relying on him to help out if God forbid there is a problem. The 18 may or may not have any fire experience and if he has experience it is probably mainly exterior with little or no interior experience. Is it right for neighboring towns to call for a M/A FASTeam and get a bunch of inexperienced firefighters who happened to have three days to spare?