firemoose827

I have one thing to add to this discussion, more of a QUESTION realy than an opinion...what about LEGAL ISSUES? Would a prosecuter and a judge be satisfied with the response from a witness of " Well its simple realy, Ive been doing EMS for 10 years now and I KNOW what a pt should like like when hypoglycemic." Or would they be more inclined to respect this answer, "Your honor, upon arrival I noticed immediately the signs of hypoglycemia and confirmed it with the Blood Glucose Monitor and proceeded to treat the pt according to NYS BLS Diabetic protocols." Just my thoughts on this topic which has been covered numerous times on this forum. Id rather back up my actions with clinical data than personal observations. BUT!!!!!!!! I also agree with everyone that the use of mechanical devices to obtain vital signs is getting out of hand. Its rediculous now-a-days to see this happening. I told a new EMT at work who was doing her ride time with us to go and assess the PT. She grabbed the PULSE OXIMETER and put it on the PT's finger and sat there and looked at me..................After the PT was delivered to the ED I pulled her aside and explained what a Pt Assessment was and that it had nothing to do with a Pulse Ox. On the other hand, at work I see experienced Medics throwing the automatic BP cuff on the pt and not grabbing one MANUALLY first....WHY?? Has everyone gotten that Lazy? I mean, I went to do a rig spec at work the other night and there were NO BP CUFFS in the jump bag, the medic simply said "Oh well we have the monitor anyway." Machines are here to AID us, and used to CONFIRM things...not DISCOVER them. Everyone must practice good pt assessment with just a few BASIC tools; Sight, Sound, Sensation, and smell. By the way, to answer the original question........yes, we all do the BLS Glucometer skill in our region. In order to participate you must receive Training from your medical director including a written test, than they will aprove/disaprove of your ability to perform the skill. It is used ONLY as an aid to the county ALS who sometimes takes 15-20 minutes to get to certain areas of our county, so if they have all of the info possible before they even arrive on scene they can just TREAT the pt upon arrival. I perform the skill routinely at work for my medic partner as well as spiking bags, applying the monitor, getting the drugs ready for administration, and securing IV's. And that is why I think it should be a BLS skill...while the ALS provider draws bloods and hooks up the line the EMT could be performing the BG check for the medic. Team Effort to arrive at a joint goal...get the pt to the hospital alive. Happy Halloween everyone!! Moose

I think GPS should come standard in all emergency vehicles now. People are always asking what they could do to help us out if anything...tell the emergency vehicle manufacturers to include the GPS or even the Onstar as part of the standard package for all emergency vehicles. You know....maps do work well also, if they were new to the area they should have looked over a map before they covered the race. Whenever I work a different station at my ambulance agency I hit the maps as soon as the rig is speced and look for all of the major hospitals, nursing homes, etc. But like they said, who knows if the response time would have helped this guy out or not. Its a shame...my best to the mans family.

Just a little help with the definition of "Freelancer" for you. Its when you do something you weren't told by an officer to do. I.E- responding to a call the PD were dispatched to without actually being toned out or directed by an officer to do so. Another example- arriving on scene of a working structure and deciding to vent the windows...without checking to see if the interior crew was in place and making an attack first. That is freelancing, the art of doing whatever you want without the proper authority to do so. Just trying to help, hope youre not mad. Have a great day. Moose

I will have to apologise here gang. When I first read the post I got frustrated because of whats going on here in our county with our medics. I have since re-read the post and now see it to be harmless bs between friends. We are just having problems with our medics not doing anything at all...just running to scenes only to follow behind, EVERY TIME, and never do anything...including diabetics and MI patients. Just frustrating. Also, ALS, I thought that way back when when I got my EMT-CC training ( a Loooooong time ago!) they told us that people in tachycardic rythms were unable to perfuse adequately? And yes, I too have no patience to try and remember the textbook stuff!! I just remember there being some sort of formula for blood volume, and the heart failing to re-fill adequately enough when beating too fast.

Thats my beef too x710....quality patient care. We have plenty of medics in their expensive fly cars drive to a lot of calls and just say "BLS it in...Ill follow you." And all of a sudden medics, who are technically STILL EMT's, have this terrible attitude. The "Stop being paranoid and leave me alone" or the bogus "Do your assesment and your pt care and youll be fine"... Guys, Im not trying to start a fight here, just pointing out that the whole point of patient care is to give the best care we can. Is a guy with a heart rate of 200 getting the adequate volume of blood pumped to his systems to adequately perfuse them? I would think that the heart isnt filling enough to adequately perfuse at 200 bpm, it wouldnt have enough time to completely fill up in between beats. I have been an EMT for 10 years, and a Critical Care Tech for three and Im tired of the ALS Vs. BLS argument...we are here for the patient to give them the best we can. We lost a brother....a PARAMEDIC was on scene and sent him BLS to the hospital...would it have hurt the medic to ride on the rig, put him on monitor, and try a few vagal techniques like asking him to "Bear down" as if he was taking a dump? In this case it wasnt the "paranoid EMT" who called for ALS, it was the medic who downgraded the call that ended up in the death of a firefighter. Where did the whole EMT Vs. Paramedic thing come from? A few cocky members? ANyone else agree? Or am I the only one brave enough to discuss it?

Hey all. A lot of good points have been made, and Im concerned about the fact we are STILL arguing about a topic like this one in light of what happened to our brothers in Boston...THAT should be the end of this post. No matter how much Alcohol you drink it has an effect on your bodies systems, including motor response. It delays your reactions and judgements. I dont care who you are, how long you have been drinking, or how much you "think" you can drink safely. You drink, dont get on that truck with me, you'll be gettin off faster than you got on. Please be safe everyone... Moose

Congratulations!! Best of luck to you, keep training every day, listen and learn from your seniors and officers, and never let your head get any bigger than it is now! Good Luck Firefighter. Moose

Hey Tim. I work with GIS maps and I am currently making haz-mat preplans with this software called ArcGIS Desktop. It isnt cheap at all, but if you check with your county government they might already have it and would let your dept use it. It takes satelite imagery and allows you to make maps, and display certain data. Like with my haz-mat map I have placed buffers around each location to mark the evacuation distances if a spill should occur, and I have marked the hot, warm, and cold zones, located possible sites suitable for command posts and staging areas and much more. Let me look something up for you, and Ill send you a PM hopefully with some usefull info. Hope this helps. Moose

Its an interesting idea, make the "World Series" actually include the WORLD. Change our World Series to another name like National Championships or something, than have the top teams from all over the world compete in a true "World Series" strictly for standing only, no monetary award or anything, just status. That would be interesting.... Great Idea. Lets get some more input on this Im curious to see what everyone would think.

Hey everyone, sorry to keep beating a dead horse with my repetitive questions about computers, but Im a brother in need here and I just cant grasp computers!! Before last week my home computer had no internet so I was only able to visit the site either at work or at the firehouse. We just recently signed up for internet and got it hooked up. I got home from work the other night, logged on to EMTBravo and started cruising through like I usually do. However....I found a topic I wanted to reply too and when I went to reply, it gave me some "Error Occured" message and shut the computer down!! At first I thought it was EMTBravos way of telling me "Shut Up" for now!!!! I tried it again and it did the same thing, it only does it when I try to reply to a topic and it always asks if I want to send an "Error Report" to microsoft. I always click "Send Report" but it always keeps happening. So Im stuck in the same boat as before...but WORSE! I can see whats going on but cant reply. Anyone have any ideas whats going on? This happen to anyone else before? Anyone want to strangle me yet!? Any advice?(Other than throw out the computer) Thanks all for continuing to listen to me complain. Moose

Too many people take others' opinions as a way to start fights instead of what they realy are...their opinions. Relax. What I was mentioning was to NOT have the sub-category started for games. We already have "The Lounge" and another topic called "Media Share", I believe either one is suitable to post games and talk about them. I play games all the time to relieve stress and get away from things every once in a while but I dont come to this site to look for them. I come here to listen to my respected brothers/sisters talk about current issues pertaining to fire/ems/police concerns. I would just hate to see it turn into a site that talks about everything BUT emergency services. Long story short (I know, TOO LATE!) lets just keep it to the "Lounge" for now instead of starting another category, I believe the administrators have enough to deal with as it is. Sorry if I offended anyone. Moose

Not for nothing, but this is a Fire/EMS/Police web site and lately its been everything else BUT related issues. Dont get me wrong, Im a gamer who loves to play games but there are other sites to promote games. If we keep making sub-categories there will be more non-fire/ems/police related ones. I come here to learn what I can. Just my 2-cents. On a lighter note, anyone know of gaming web sites??? Thanks Moose

At first I had subscribed to both publications, but I found that Firehouse is more geared toward buff stuff, like incident descriptions and stuff. Not too many firefighting informational articles. Fire Engineering has more of that, more articles pertaining to practicing and modifying old techniques as well as teaching new ones. I have been a Fire Engineering subscriber for going on 15 years now and think it is a decent publication full of knowledge from experienced members of the service from all over the world. It may not be the best magazine out there but it delivers a lot of information. They have lost some of its content but I think every magazine goes through ups and downs as it loses and gains contributing writers. Hope this helps your decision!! Moose

OK, a couple of things with this post...WITHOUT starting arguments. Crash is right, the adrenaline kicks in and you get hurried "blurts" that dont make sense and when you attempt to clarify it with the unit they are already gone from the radio. Which brings me to my second point for ALS, I personally would prefer to call for the dispatchers attention first, make sure I have it than give my message clearly. Ex: "Unit 51 to dispatch"...."Dispatch on 51"...."show 51 on scene, requesting second alarm." As opposed to grabbing the mic and blurting "51 on scene, second alarm." and chancing that the dispatcher never even heard me. Chances are, you blurt the message and continue with your job and dont hear the dispatcher saying "Unit calling, repeat last." THAT to me ties up the radio more with senseless chatter and confusion. Just my opinion though. Third point...Im confused. We are all on this site to promote working together, and the brotherhood, and watching each others backs and yet I have read from at least TWO people to worry about yourself before others? I believe the original poster has a valid concern here. We should be worried about the moron who responds code 3 to an Alpha response because if that idiot gets in an accident and hurts, or KILLS someone only to find out he was enroute to a little old lady who needs her catheter changed.....that to me is another one of those "Black Eyes" I always read about on this site. We should be worried about this topic. Im not worried about calling on scene early with the sirens still careening in the background....as some have already pointed out the "Q" takes some time to roll down, and some departments have SOP's that require you to call on scene down the road so that the IC can position you, and with some traffic you could very well be blowing the siren right up to the door to get through the rubberneckers. But the whole issue with not caring what others do....should we re-think that attitude? Shouldnt we try to better educate someone who responds recklessly without due regard for others? Good post, brings up a lot of good topics for discussion.

I thought of the same thing Remember585, but with cutting through the wall you have to remember one thing...is the downed firefighter right there? Will you cut into him/her in the process? We learned this in our FAST training, and I know it will only work if youre extricating to a tower bucket, its difficult to stay on the ladder and get them out the window. The other option is as you mentioned with the belay line. Set up a 3-1 pulley system on another ladder placed ABOVE the working ladder and have the ground crews hoist them out and set them on the ground. Use handcuff knots on the FF or tie around the FF's pack harness. Excellent prop, looks cheap enough to make and is easily disassembled for storage. Probably could be used for wall breach too, anyone have a supply list or plan for it? Moose

I like the "Lever Style" better myself. You dont need to look at the console to switch gears, you know where they are. As far as manual or standard transmissions are concerned in the fire dept I rather have manual. I can drive standard transmissions but I have trouble with the double clutch...and at 3AM when youre trying to get to a worker with entrapment, its easier for those of us who dont drive standards everyday to just jump in and throw it in drive. I know the standards last longer and dont require as much maintenance as the manuals but its just easier to drive, and you would get more drivers qualified. In my dept we have a few professional drivers who do it for a living and they are the ones who pretty much specced all of our trucks with standards. Its easy for them, but not for the rest of us. Needless to say we have very FEW qualified drivers. Just my opinion, so please, all of you die hard drivers out there dont jump on me!! Moose

Happy Belated Birthday! Sorry so late, hope you had a great weekend. Moose

Its a good idea that helps with the selection and placement of ladders. You can color code them to the size, and than it makes it easier to guide the tip of the ladder to the sill in the dark. Anything that makes the job easier at 2 AM during the raging blizzard is OK by me! It also helps with the ID of the owner...we have color designations for our equip for each dept, this way we know the blue rings belong to dept 1, the yellow belong to dept 2, etc etc.

Im not biased or sexist or racist...If you can do the job then do it. I have seen quite a few male firefighters who couldnt lift a 300 lb victim either, but we dont drum them out of the dept. I have seen muscle bound idiots grab that same 300 lb victim and toss them around like a rag doll; yet tell them to run the friction loss numbers for 2 1/2" hose through a 200' stretch at 80 psi to figure out if an adjustable fog nozzle is getting the required gpm's to function normally?????? This is a TEAM job people, and we should ALL be working together regardless of race, color, creed, national origin or SEX. Theres more to firefighting than humping hose or dragging victims out a second story window onto a portable ladder...There are other jobs that need to be done that are AS IMPORTANT on a fire/emergency scene that never get the credit they deserve. Quite frankly, if a lot of these "behind the scenes" jobs are not done at fire scenes than the glory seekers cant be photographed dragging their unconcious victims out the window. We need to think and act more as a team...not individuals pitted against each other in the battle of the sexes. Most of us are too busy worried about training, equipment, and the people we serve to be worried about what sex or color the person next to us are. It doesnt matter WHO is next to me, as long as they STAY next to me.

Hey, congratulations guys! I cant tell you how much good a response team at a college helps. My ambulance service works closely with the S.M.R.T (Student Medical Response Team) here at our SUNY. They are great EMS providers, and some go above and beyond, always comforting the pt for us and riding along to the ER in our rig to help us out. They respond to all calls on campus with security to check it out, and if a rig is needed they call us, but most of the time its just drunk college kids who need to sleep it off.....by the way, be prepared for THAT!!! You guys will probably have a lot of drunk calls. Best of luck to you guys, and hopefully all works out well for you in the future! Moose

This was mailed to me and I thought I would share it. http://us.f632.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLette...can=1&Idx=1

Hi...My name is moose....I am computer illiterate!!! How do I close this topic? I will try to figure out how to post the commercial. Its a Budweiser commercial dedicated to 9/11, it was aired on the first anniversary and never aired again. Its an awesome tribute, and there is NO ADVERTISEMENT for the beer itself...very tasteful commercial. ( oops, did I say tasteful? Not the beer, the commercial!) Moose

Absolutely!! Lets call it "Bigest Loser, Emergency Services Edition", we drink together, therefore we lose together!! By the way, I am both Firefighter EMT so I always just include EMS also. Stay In Shape (round) Moose

Donate them to the creation of a show called "The Biggest Loser, Firefighter Edition" so that all of us with the classic "Beer Belley" can finaly loose a few pounds. Carefull with your responses........!!!!! Moose