joetnymedic

I was part of the crew who worked the split in Sleepy Hollow back in 2001 with Todd (Todd please sound off on this too). Where the split with the FD was amicible, as the split from the PD was later, Somers needs to look at a few things before they jump into the fire. First, you will have to pay for insurance, then Somers is going to have to support the ambulance until it really starts generating revenue. Until they do start generating cash, they are going to wind up being a line item on the budget, that budget money is going to have to come from somewhere. Then you are going to have to have funding in place for equipment, repairs, supplies. If I remember correctly, it was projected that the ambulance in the hollow wouldn't even start generating enough cash to hold it's head above water for somewhere between 2-5 years. Then you are going to have to do alot with billing. You are going to be placing alot on your volunteers. Who is going to actually do the billing? Are you going to directly hire an employee to handle billing? Are you going to hire a company? This stuff isn't free. Then you also have to justify the transport most of the time or you won't get paid for the call. You are going to have to have outright clesses so that the neccesary wording is there. Then, if you can't get insurance info on your patient right away, are you going to pay someone to go back to the hospital to get the proper billing information? Thats alot of responsibility to lay on a volunteer. Then you also run into staffing problems. Last I knew Westchester EMS was backup for Somers during the day, is that going to remain in effect? If you are going to run a true for pay service, you're going to need to make sure things are staffed 24/7/365. Maybe they did check into things, maybe they didn't. All I know is alot of work has to go into things and it is not going to be all peaches and cream for some time down the road. Good luck with your efforts however. Joe

Hi guys, not sure if any of you guys have been following the story of Bryan Stow. I was going to post this yesterday but I'm back at Yale again and had to wait for someone to bring my computer. Anyway, Bryan Stow is the medic from Cali who was at a Dodgers game and was beaten into a coma. Yesterday was a good day - LAPD caught and arrested one of the scumbags that did this to him. They are still looking for the second guy. I know the NY Post covered this also. Anyway. This is a link to the facebook page that is set up for him and it links to the articles on the arrest as well as another site called support for Bryan Stow. I am asking each and every one of you who reads this to please sign up on the pages and send a message to him, his family and his EMS family out there. His family and co-workers, etc do read the pages and post updates almost daily. Bryan Stow is one of us and he needs as many of us to stand with him and support both him, his family and co-workers thru this time. Nobody deserves to be going thru what he is going thru right now. To those of you that sign up for the pages, etc I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing so. While I haven't been out there since the end of 2002, I still feel a strong bond to my fellow EMSer's and will always support and be there for each and every one of them and you. Let's show those guys on the west coast that we here on the east coast care about our extended EMS family out there and support Bryan. Thanks again, Joe http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Our-prayers-are-with-Bryan-Stow/193247974046088

http://www.ems1.com/columnists/kelly-grayson/articles/1055941-Top-10-Ways-to-be-a-TV-Medic/

springfield, ma got hit twice. multiple builds damaged, pd doing building to building searches. fatality at a campground in brimfield from a building collapse. pretty bad up there. 911 as of an hour ago had over 100 calls backed up. hope the brothers and sisters working there stay safe

Seth, I've read up on the home patrol quite a bit. It's a great scanner especially if coupled with GPS. That said, just make sure you keep the database in the scanner up to date. Radio Reference is a good source for this. I actually saw a post from soeone that popped his new HP1 into his car and thought he was good to go but didn't hear what he thought he would. come to find out the database in the scanner was 7 months old and 4 months prior the department he wanted to monitor had changed freqs. So like I said, keep the database updated. I know the GRE portable version (PSR 800) does allow the entrance of freqs manually. I'm not sure if this is the caase with the HP1. Happy Scanning!!! Joe

Date: 5/30/11 Time: 2154hrs Location: I-95 SB @ Top of Exit 41 on Ramp Frequency: 453.800, 452.225, 462.975. CTSP Trunked Units Operating: West Haven & Orange FD, AMR, CT State PD Weather Conditions: Clear, warm Description Of Incident: tractor trailor vs car truck may have actually rolled right over the vehicle. 2 pinned. 1 DOA, 1 critical. Both West Haven and Orange FD worked the extrication. As of 0049hrs, CTSP Troop G reports M.E. O/S to claim the body, and affected lanes to be down for up to 2 more hours until investigation concluded. Reporters: Writer: joetnymedic

Date: 5/29/11 Time: 3:34pm Location: Herbert St. Train Crossing Frequency: 462.975 / 154.340 Units Operating: Milford pd, AMR, Milford FD, MTA Weather Conditions: Clear & sunny Description Of Incident: Train vs car with several injuries Reporters: Writer: joetnymedic

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/05/25/2011-05-25_new_zealand_truck_driver_steven_mccormack_nearly_pops_after_getting_air_hose_lod.html seriously though, how would you treat this in the field?

i can see going with impaled object protocol but other than that i'd be at a loss. i did notice the unit for his lungs on the bed so i'm sure that at least one of his lungs collapsed. do needle decompression? i'm really at a loss here that's why i'm asking

vinny, sorry for your loss, may your dad rest in peace. that said, i read what seth and several others have posted about you here. you are a great guy and will those in ems, the fd and your father proud. i'd be happy to serve with you any day. joe

Hi All, I was just going thru some old stuff and came across an old poem/storie I wanted to share with each and every one of you. I'm sure you have all seen this one before, but I remembered it and liked it and wanted to share. Before I put it up for all to see, I just wanted to say to each and every one of you - Stay Safe out there. Joe When God made paramedics, He was into His sixth day of overtime. An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one." God said, "Have you read the specs on this order? A Paramedic has to be able to carry an injured person up a wet, grassy hill in the dark, dodge stray bullets to reach a dying child unarmed, enter homes the health inspector wouldn't touch, and not wrinkle his uniform." "He has to be able to lift three times his own weight. Crawl into wrecked cars with barely enough room to move, and console a grieving mother as he is doing CPR on a baby he knows will never breathe again." "He has to be in top mental condition at all times, running on no sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals, and he has to have six pairs of hands." The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way." "It's not the hands that are causing me problems," God replied. "It's the three pairs of eyes a medic has to have." "That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. God nodded. "One pair that sees open sores as he's drawing blood, always wondering if the patient is HIV positive." (When he already knows and wishes he'd taken that accounting job) "Another pair here in the side of his head for his partner's safety. And another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say, "You'll be alright ma'am when he knows it isn't so." "Lord," said the angel, touching His sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow." "I can't," God replied. "I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk out from behind a steering wheel without incident and feed a family of five on a private service paycheck." The angel circled the model of the Paramedic very slowly. "Can it think?" she asked. "You bet", God said. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses; recite drug calculations in it's sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop over terrain that any doctor would fear... and it still keeps it's sense of humor." "This medic also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how Paramedics were unable to locate a house quickly enough, allowing the person to die. A house that had no street sign, no house numbers, no phone to call back." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Paramedic. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told You that You were trying to put too much into this model." "That's not a leak," God replied, "It's a tear." "What's the tear for?" asked the angel. "It's for bottled up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save, for commitment to that hope that they will make a difference in a person's chance to survive, for life." "You're a genius!" said the angel. God looked somber. "I DIDN'T PUT IT THERE" He said. Author Unknown

here's an article from the LA Times from after the arrest http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/05/arrest-in-bryan-stow-beating-could-lead-to-two-other-suspects.html

Date: 5/20/11 Time: 1020 hrs Location: 345 Fan Hill Rd Frequency: 463.025 Med 2 SWE Units Operating: Monroe, AMR, Nelson EMS, Shelton ems Weather Conditions: overcast Description Of Incident: 11 students stricken by unknown fumes at Fawn Hollow Elementary School Reporters: joetnymedic Writer: joetnymedic

Seth, www.radioreference.com has a guy on there from uniden. a couple of weeks ago someone asked about a home patrol 2 and was told that the hp1 is so new, they haven't thought about replacing it. he did also say however that it is unidens policy that they do not discuss new models of scanners to be released until 3 months prior to their actual release. Just another FYI, someone was saying that connecticut freqs they were looking for weren't in the database and sure enough, the database in the hp1 was from 7 months ago and the frequency was changed 4 months ago. it was no big deal all that had to be done was go online and update the database. As with anything else though, when you get something new, it doesn't always mean right up to date, so my suggestion is to just update the database for the heck of it upon purchase. I also know that there is already a firmware update out there for the hp1 from uniden. as far as keeping units up to date, uniden has awesome support. they just released an update for the bc796 and that scanner has been off the market since what 2004?

at minimal maybe the radio frqs need to be changed? ya think-lol also are the CT Agencies involved equipped to handle communications now? Stamford Fire and EMS is digital encrypted I think Greenwich is 800. what does 60 and participating agencies have for interops? And communication is minor but also an important thing. if you can't communicate, you're screwed.

I was a uniden only guy till I bought my radio shack pro-106 (gre psr 500) the radio is great. Home patrol is also a good radio, m what I was reading there may be a problem with battery charging with it, which I am sure uniden will correct. I don't ever charge my batteries in my radio anyway. The PSR seems like a great radio, all that needs to be done is to keep the database the radio has in its card current off of radio reference or some other scanner site. Just an FYI Radio Shack is also promoting this scanner and may already have it on sale as the pro-18. I myself like scanners you can program on the fly which while a small challenge, I can still do with a pro-106 the psr 800 is too reliant on systems in it's database so if you want to listen to something that's not in it, you may have an issue. It's also too mp3ish for me. but for someone who doesn't know that much about scanners or a complete newbie, the psr-800 is great. Joe

what i don't get is they say they have 5 million people tuned in to watch the show. you have 5 million people tuned into fox every saturday night and you cancel to put on re-runs??? how do those people or even a portion of them leaving because they dont like the show that's on bring in more money to the network? less people obviously equals less money. but then again, I guess i'm probably wrong.

Hey guys, my son was just showing me this. As you all know in EMS, you get sent to calls where a person has been pepper sprayed or tasered. Do you know what happens if the papper spray doesn't work on a suspect and then they get tasered? They catch fire. David had Mythbusters on and sure enough this was one of the things on the show. They pepper sprayed the dummy then tasered it. sure enough, the excess spray that hit the "skin" and clothing caught fire. Hit to be on that job.... but then again i always hated doing a burn victim. the smell sucks. joe

Got a cool post from New York City Fire Department aka FDNY on Facebook just now. 24 promotions for EMS today - what a way to start of EMS week huh? Better yet for those of you around the city tonight, take a look at the Empire State Building - It'll be lit up in yellow, white and blue in honor - nice and congradulations.

I found this story posted on radioreference.com. While I think the documents in question could have been disposed of in a more tactful manner. The blogger does have the right to post the story. However that said, I think the posting of the actual documents on the net was pretty irresponsible on the bloggers part. Any other opinions out there? http://animalnewyork.com/2011/05/the-nypd-needs-to-do-a-better-job-of-destroying-their-terrorism-prevention-plans/

Happy EMS week all!!! Stay Safe!!! Joe

Date: 5/11/2011 Time: 1401 Location: IAO 71 Weybosset St Frequency: 854.4875 Units Operating: Car 33, Emergency 1, Car 36, Sq 1, Sq 2, NHPD, AMR, and other units from NHFD Weather Conditions: slight rain Description Of Incident: 55 year old male 50 feet down embankment plus 15 ft drop onto a cliff with entrapment. Vehicle had to be stablized and approached from up top on Weybosset and from bottom at 341 Smith Ave. Vehicle was secured by FD then pt was extricated and removed to the ambulance. Pt was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital full trauma protocol. Pt was CAOX4 and talking with the crew but did not remember the crash. Reporters: joetnymedic Writer: joetnymedic

http://www.ems1.com/ems-oddities/articles/1043866-NH-man-found-guilty-of-impersonating-responder/

hey guys, i'm currently running a feed on radio reference of a couple of local departments in my area. i'm using my pro-106 digital scanner to keep it up and running and i dont want to kill it. nothing i have is trunked or digital so i dont need anything fancy. i can do this with an old 20 channel programable. i do need a base unit however as it runs 24/7. so does anyone have an old base cheap? please dropme a line joetnymedic@aol.com thanks, joe

yeah i buy soome of my new stuff from there. that's ok. i actually dug up an old pro-528 that i used to let my son use. while it's not a base, I'm going to use it till I can find one. There was no way I was gonna kill my digital for a feed I provide for free. the funny thing is the amount of people asking me to put CSP online. but from all the horror stories I've heard, it's just not happening. lol