Ga-Lin

Atmospheric meters or blood gas meters

I don't know of any agency that only runs EMS and is not assoc. with a fire dept that carries gas meters.

I'm not sure what the law is in my town but being an emergency responder, EMS not a FF, I know the importance of clearing the hydrant. Carrying shovels on the truck if fine but I know that time wasted may mean the difference in saving a home vs the foundation. After clearing a path out to my road that's the first thing I clear, then I go back and dig the cars out. Oh yeah, I guess I do have some added motivation....the hydrant is right in front of MY house!

I think the reason it doesn't transfer readily to EMS is safety. You were probably discouraged in your EMT class not to wear your steph around your neck. Yeah, I know most people do, myself included but I don't walk into a scene like that. I'll carry it or have it in my pocket until I know whats going on at the scene. Same thing with ID badges in most commercial sevices. They issue clipon type holders or if they do have around the neck holders they are of a break away type. If you ask most PD officers who might be required to wear ties they also are of a break away type. Dealing with EDP's, drug addicts, or just anxious people or trauma patients who , due to shock, are confused and somtimes are combative who might grab onto you. Also getting yourself caught on a side mirror while operating at an MVA. Current standards make wearing a reflective vest with break away funtionality. If I understand correctly the strap that we are talking about has no such feture. Also, firefighters wear thier radios under their turnout gear, I don't see you doing this (wearing it under your coat, & what about summer) I've always worn a batbelt. When you are in quarters you can lose the weight and take it off. Italso allowed me to carry numerous other stuff that I needed to keep on my person or things that I wanted right at hand.

In theroy this is how it can/is supposed to work, however I don't know of any medic program that would give you credit for "time served" in lower level classes. I don't even think nor have I heard of anyone even allowing credit from CFR to EMT. Most EMT programs require you to attend all sessions, even, sometimes, if they where the ones who gave you your CFR course. Lastly, it seems the long way around to the final goal of becomeing a medic with, yes, some redundancy and probably double the class time alone. Plus if you are counting on state reimbursement to help pay because you belong to an EMS agency you should know that there is/will be a restriction or at least a reduction in $ if classes are taken to close to one another. if you're sure that this is the carrear for you make the jump and take the medic class, if you're new (my definition of this is not having gone through at least 1 refresher) take the time to experience EMS, the time here in patient contact time aid you in class and will not be wasted. Good Luck

Stay strong, get well soon

Totally agree.Take a look at my post on this topic #10 on 1 Feb & #12 a few hours later.

Heroin (the female of Hero) was originally developed to combat morphine addiction which was rampant among two surprising groups in the 1800's, MD's and wait for it ......housewifes.

I gotta agree with you Bill, Ya gotta get them when they are young. Starting in kinderkarten. I used to be a Boy scout Cubmaster and I would always find ways to work in the warnings of addiction, Tobacco, Alcohol, Drugs didn't matter. I would tell the old story about the Indian boy and the rattlesnake. We all, as a community, school, scouts, church/temple, home, where ever the kids are, need to constantly reinforce this theme that addiction is both bad & very easy. As our children get older you need to modify the approach. Teens really aren't affected by death, that is to say, they don't think much about it, however this age group are really fearful of disfigument. My own kids (at the time) came back from HS telling me about a presentation in their health class. The teacher gave a presentation telling them not to worry, not everyone is killed or dies from drunk driving. He then displayed a number of before and after pictures. A really pretty girl...Later scarred and severly disfigured (face) from an accident. A young man in his HS football uniform along with a caption on how he was just accepted to a top 10 school to play football on a scolarship.....Later on crutches with only on leg the caption here was "he just wanted one more for the road" you get the picture. On the topic of those already addicted.... give it to them, make drugs legal. That is to say, if you register as an admitted addict in a national data base, you can just come in and get your needles, drugs etc. If they truly want help fine, otherwise.... Hell, I'd even change the rehab centers into state sponsored shooting galleries. I can gaurentee that within a few years new addiction #'s will decrease. Other benifits, decrease in crime rates and other quality of life crimes since addicts won't have to steal or pan handle in order to support their habit, related health issues due to impure drugs, sharing neddles and speading blood bourne pathogens & spesis due to dirty needles will decrease. Elimination of drug cartels and their related violence. The saving of BILLIONS of $ that we are hemmoraging in fighting this losing battle of trying to enforce drug laws. Goverenmental & law enforcement corruption gone. I gotta tell you that I truly believe that Colorado & Washington have the right idea. I read sometime ago that Portugal did this and this was their outcome.

Rumor has it that NYS DOH EMS has suspended or revolked Chester's operating certificate.

I think there is such a law but only applies to muncipalities with population of over 1 million. like NYC. Not applicable here.

An interesting point that brings up a couple of issues. This would put them, as a community emergency service, advocating to the public in their town not to call the universially recognized & countywide accepted emergency number. I wonder how that would go over with their peers in the EMS community in the county. The other issue is, who would they call for ALS services if needed. MLSS is now their compition for town service. I think, if called, MLSS would respond. But would they call ? There is no law, rule or regulation, that I know of, which compeles them to do so, except for the moral/ethical reason of ensuring the best level of care posible for the emergency encountered. would they call another agency from a county away ?Another issue is that according to section 3012 subsection f of Article 30 of the Public Health Care Law the operating certificate may be ....."revoked, suspended, limited, or annuled by the dept. (of health, NYS)...."had discontinued operations for a period in excess of one month.... ,following a hearing. Such proceedings "may be initiated by any person, corparation, association, or public officer" If the have PO'd their own town board and it sounds like they have, the town can so petition. Unfortunatly, they have brought this on themselves. It's also, unfortunatly, going to be interesting to see what develops. If anyone in that agency is listening, it might not be to late to save yourselves, but you've got your work cut out for yourselves with some serious damage control and a** kissing to your town board. Or you can listen to others who might be advising you to go a more strong route and fight it out in the arena of public opinion. BIG MISTAKE ! If even a little of what has become public is true.

I must admit that I'm a third service advocate myself. However, every option has it's own benifits & draw backs. A municpally run third service whether it's a seperate EMS division or attached to the FD or PD is expensive. Most municpalities outside of large urban centers like NYC or county based systems don't have the tax base to pay for the support of such systems. Volunteer systems/agencies have the unique benifit of being cheap (yeah I know "You get what you pay for"). The most costly expense, manpower, is not very high, even shoud they need, as many do, to pay for daytime coverage. The main weakness in many volunteer systems is of course administration & leadship. Generally, members of volunteer systems are, as we know, good well meaning people. The problem is that many don't know or understand how to run a business (for lack of a better term it's not a dirty word). My personal opinion is that the whole voting in your leadership doesn't really work well. Either those elected know what they are doing and one of a few things happen. 1.) they keep getting re-elected and keep the position for, what sometimes feels like, eons. This leads to, unless they are exceptionally gifted & open minded, either stagnation or eventual collapse due to the lack of preparation of a replacement when they eventually go to that big VAC in the sky or to that other place in the oppisite direction. 2.) They get voted out because they are running things to well, you know enforceing rules etc. or just because someone has more friends than they do. One term of mismanagement or bad leadership can undo years of progress which might also lead to collapse. Of course the worse case senario is election of someone who turns criminal, no one in these agencies starts off that way, who is just smart or stupid enough (depending on your own point of view) to believe they can get away with skiming off funds. I just read today that two individuals were arrested in connection with a $30,000 loss from acct's from an American Legion in Ellenville. Vigilance is the price we must all continuiously pay to prevent this from happening. I don't hold commercial services as all together evil. Most people working for them usually got their start or are still volunteers themselves. They just want to earn a living, as I have, doing something they really enjoy. Because of this I have not "worked" a day in my life and am much happer than most "9-5er's". They are however a carrot vs stick option for most municipalities. I think I better cut this rant off now. Sorry folks I didn't really mean to go on this long, obviously EMS is near & dear to my heart.

I believe the building belongs to the town (which I've heard the town PD has been licking their chops for). The ambulnces and other equipment belong to the VAC or their creditors to help pay off any debt ( a figure of $100,000 was mentioned somewhere) they might have. I also think there is some kind of law or regulation concerning the distribution, back to the community, any funds left over after the disolution of a 501 © (3) not for profit which Chester VAC is.

And a corrupt &/or mismanaged volunteer system is sooo much better?

I got to agree with you on this one. No commercial service is going to post a unit anywhere to sit and do nothing. It's lost revenue. Unless the contract/agreement (doubt that it's an agreement, (to loose) specifies a dedicated unit which is going to have to be paid for. The other interesting thing that I read in the posted article from the Chronical News, stated, according to the new town supervisor, that the cost to the citizens of Chester will be the same, covered by insurance, with no other outlay from patients. Weelllll I gotta tell ya, commercial services both want & will pursue the 20% copay that insurance/medicare/medicaid doesn't pay. (unless there is something else in this contract) While VAC's send out copay bills they are more likly to write off these debts if not received. It's a long hard road with commercial sevices which frequently means payment plans or collection agencies. Again, we'll just have to sit back & see how this all plays out.

Not true. According to NYS DOH EMS if you are an EMT-I service you are considered an advanced agency and, yes, you do need an EMT-I on the call/Ambulance when you respond. As far as I know (despite being an EMS insider but being on the outside of the agency & not being a resident of that town) They lost alot of the members who wanted to go EMT-I, pushed thru the change within their agency and then, overtime, left. New members coming in didn't really want to go thru the extra training, not having many EMT-I's left meant that many calls were dropped. As I stated in a previous post they rebounded, after about a year or more of legal manuvering & are now an example of an effecient well run agency.

As a non resident I don't believe you have any standing to say anything. It's likly that you wouldn't even be permitted to attend a Town of Chester meeting. And pardon me for saying, but it sounds like you have a real hard *n for this MLSS and an unrelistic/unsupported/unsupportable belief in CVAC simply because they happen to be a VAC! Please! Remember Corona VAC in Queens. I say lets wait and see how this develops. Maybe the leadership really knows what they are doing and didn't banrupt the organization. Anything is possible.

Yes I did know. All you say is absolutly true They are, for all I can see, a top EMS agency, now. I always see ads in the paper offering CPR & first aid classes to their community. As you mentioned MLSS was INVITED in by the then town supervisor. He did this after a rather long peiod of time of NWVAC not being able to ans their calls due to problems with riding membership. After a, again, long period of trying to work with them he did the only thing a responsible official could do, he called in someone who would take care off his citizens. It wasn't until AFTER this happened that NWVAC reorganized, restructed & yes retaliated, making him out to be the bad guy. He was indeed defeated & voted out of office in the next election. I can't help but to appalud his courage, He had to know that it was going to cost him. Today NWVAC, an outstanding organization, is a model for others to follow and an example of what can be done. It's just a shame that the events had to go the way they did in order to bring it to pass.

MLSS is a private company in the business of makeing money. While they might not be overly friendly to the volunteer system neither are they the out & out enemy either. They are a large employer of people in the Hudson Valley who, by all accounts, are good and fair to their employees most of he time), benifits etc (pay could be a little bit better but they are in the range of other commercial services within the region). It has been my experience that most VACs are certainly capable of screwing things up on their own without outside interference. Case in point NWVAC and more recently, Corona VAC in Queens

Just heard/saw on the TV last night that the US Treasury (IRS) will be exempt VFF from complying with the ACA (Obamacare).

NYC back in the day was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

NYS states that there must be a certified EMT with the patient at all times. Nothing specific about crew responding to a call all together. if they did that at least half of really rural VAC would be put out of business.

The point I think we all are mising is that there is a severe internal problem within this agency. This individual was a crew chief, working committee member, has been in & around the agency since he was 15, 5-6 years and was the youth squad advisor. Anyone remember the end scene in the movie Philidelphia, when the jury is in the room discussing the case? Why do you still have a problem with someone that you have had & should have been grooming for the past 5-6 years, why promote a problem child to crew chief and why in Gods name do you put someone that you are having, supposedly, long standing control issues with in charge of your farm system, your youth squad, who is suppose to serve as a mentor & role model for these kids. I just don't get it, someone want to explain it to me......Like I'm a 3 year old.

It was 11 AM. I'm pressuming they've been there a while (probablly not since 7AM but still). Even so, you're at the bay, coat with your own scope in the pocket. I REALLY understand about the head.... from painfiul experience there is nothing worse on this earth than being out on the H'way at the MVA in the wet AND cold with a full bladder. Two minutes is a long time when crew is there and the call is for a kid seizeing. Like we said I don't see them taking alot of time getting out they should have been puting a little hustle in it and if they didn't.... I'm just saying