ONEEYEDMIC

That is why MT PLEASANT NEEDS IT'S OWN EMS SYSTEM. You can deal within the DEPT if there are problems. I worked for Transcare for a long time and I know there bosses. They do back stab and don't usually do the right thing. Haven't worked at EMPRESS in 10 years so I have no idea what the deal is. I don't think that they should change who works here as a MEDIC. Most of us are used to who is here and to change now will only bring us down some notches. Do like EASTCHESTER, SCARSDALE and other VAC's do and HIRE WITHIN. If I really wanted to get involved I would. Not sure how many bridges I want to burn. You have to be BLUNT in this business. I still have a passion for EMS just don't want to do it anymore.

WCDES636 your right it will never change. I don't like to say that I am buffy, but I do have a scanner in my room and never turn it off. I like to know what goes on around the COUNTY. I don't go to scene's and I don't go to work unless I get called in. Just like to listen. That is the extent of my BUFFINESS. I have heard and talked to many a dispatchers on the phone. Some are great and some are horrible. I think the horrible one's may be because they are busy or they think that the person they are talking too on the other end of the phone doesn't understand certain aspects of dispatching. VACGUY how am I unorthodox? I just say what is on my mind. Here is my problem. When Mt Pleasant started their MEDIC system I was the FIRST MEDIC in TOWN and the FIRST to do an ALS call. Of course growing up here I knew lots of people. When I started to work as a MEDIC I met many more VOLUNTEERS. Some I like and MOST I HATE. Sorry if I took all your fun away(you know who you are) but it was too better the TOWN. You may not like ALS till your family member needs it then you will understand how important it is. I know there is some ALS committee for MT PLEASANT not sure who is on it but it is not the people who know what the REAL DEAL is. Since I grew up in this TOWN, worked in this TOWN as a MEDIC and NOW work in this TOWN doing other things, I think that my input could be used. I have never once been asked my opinion. Maybe my opinion doesn't matter, but since I have been doing this for some time now and have seen many different systems it shouldn't hurt to listent to what I have to say. I KNOW THAT THE TRUTH HURTS and the people who are against a PAID SYSTEM are the ones that DON"T WANT TO ADMIT TO THE TRUTH.

Some people join VAC's because they get FREE membership to the LOCAL POOL. BS if you ask me. Let's just say that a person should not be corrected on DISPATCH techniques and or what they say on the radio. There are just certain people that like to cause problems because they think they have pull. That is all I am going to say. Typical VOLLEY BS. I think that if the COMMUNITY knew that there were other ways of doing EMS they may be opted to CHANGE. When I get to an EMS call I try and tell the PT and/or the family that we are waiting on a VOLUNTEER service and that is what the delay is. I try and tell them about how much quicker a paid service would be. And it would be quicker. ALOT quicker. Most people in this Community probably have no idea what the MEDIC does or how the MEDIC can DRASTICALLY change the outcome of their condition. Can you believe that there are/were people around that did not BELIEVE in ALS. I think that is still an issue although it is a little better. Medics in this town are put under a HUGE microscope. If something is done that the VOLLEYS don't like, that MEDIC could be removed from the system. Who gave them the right to decide who works here? The problem is the Companies who EMPLOY the medics listen to every little thing that a VOLLEY says because they are afraid of losing the CONTRACT. Why didn't HAWTHORNE just go with a TRANSCARE EMT? They had to be different and go with EMPRESS. Not that I care because at least they can get a crew out during the day now. Well sometimes they can. When is PVAC going to get on the ball and get a PAID EMT during the day? I would be happy to pay more taxes to know that I am going to get the best MEDICAL CARE when I needed it. Not waiting around for 15min for an ambulance to get there.

You hit it right on the head. They have too much power. GOD FORBID I say something to somebody on a call and it hurts their feelings. They tell their CAPT who will prob call my boss. Not that I care. I prob have more EMS experience than have of the people in the AMB Corps and if I see them doing something wrong I let them know it. Everyone should HAVE TO WORK in a BUSY system for 1 month around the clock and see how EMS is really done. It is not about bringing a clipboard into the house and getting Pedigree when someone is sick or hurt. It is not about TEXT book answers and assessments. Just because you can splint a fake HUMEROUS FX during an exam does not make you and expert on splinting FX's out in the field. EVERY PT is different that is why there is NO COMPLETE WRONG WAY TO TREAT A PT. I don't care if the MEDIC/EMT wears his/her pajamas on a call. The UNIFORM OR PATCH DOES MAKE THE MEDIC/EMT. It is their knowledge of what is going on with the PT that should make all the difference.

Do yoy think that your officers and the officers of the other VAC's want to give up their BS position? NO. That is why it won't happen. They can't get along as it is now and you want them to try and get along in a TOWN wide EMS system. Since I was once involved in VOLUNTEER EMS I can say that territorial is not the word. I could never understand that. I thought that people were there to help other people. There is way too many POLITICS with VOLLIES. Just answer your page, get to your building and go to the call. Don't ask a million questions and by all means DO NOT QUESTION the dispatcher who dispatches you. VACGUY speaking from experience I think that MT PLEASANT should be a TOWN WIDE PAID SERVICE. Have a Central location that all the AMBULANCES are parked with a fully staffed crew 24/7. Of course you will need more than one crew but you get my point. There is no reason that a person should wait for and AMBULANCE at anytime but mostly after midnight because a crew has to get out of bed, call the police for the location, get dressed, drive to the ambulance corp, then wait for the rest of the crew to respond. You are looking at a 10 min response time right there. I have times to prove it if somebody wants to debate me. This isn't happening only on midnights either. I know that some of you out there are PRO VOLUNTEER but you have to realize that is just isn't feasable anymore. Your care and dedication has been noted. Time to find another HOBBY.

It depends on who's asking.

I heard that they they were going to level CERTAIN AREAS of WESTCHESTER. You know, the troubled area's like MT PLEASANT, NEW CASTLE, BRIARCLIFF, NORTH CASTLE, SCARSDALE, BRONXVILLE, POUND RIDGE, ETC.....

I don't think that I am invincible, I just don't always call things out. If I need too I may call another car via computer or Nextel and have them slowly roll over to my position. If of course I think it is necessary. We all become complacent during traffic stops. I have seen some bad tactics while on patrol with other DEPT's. I guess we think that "it will never happen to me". I think that it will happen to me that is why I do the certain things that I do. I think the time of day has lots to do with stops. During an 8-4 shift there lots of people around and the radio is usually busy. 4-12 can be crazy but then it starts to get dark which makes where to stop somebody different. Middies which I happen to do LOTS of there are not as many cars on the road and I use my judgement. If a car is swerving and I suspect ETOH involvement then I call for back up. If there are more than 2 people in the car I call for backup. I have to my advantage the NYSPIN response. I know where the car is registered. If it comes back to my town I could check to see if we have had any problems with that person. That will be my discretion for calling for backup or calling in the plate. I know that many things can happen. Maybe that Local person just got into a fight with his wife and he suspects that she called the police. Most criminals think that we know that they are criminals. That is why they run when we go to pull them over. Sometimes it is good POLICE WORK but sometimes it is DUMB LUCK.

I was the Medical Director at a Camp for 2-3 summers. Can't remember. Basically I sat in an air conditioned office and waited for somebody to come in with scratches and stuff like that. Had EPI pens for the campers with allergies and inhalers for those with Asthma. That was pretty much it. Easy, Easy MONEY.

If you watch any video's of COPS from the South or Midwest it seems they don't have tactics. They go right up the drivers side door and stand in front of it. They let people out of the car then back into the car. Most of the time they don't have backup but if you get that feeling, place them in the back of your car. At least it is secure. At night I usually only do Passanger side approach. I walk behind my car so I don't silhouette myself. usually scares the crap out of anyone in the car. Calling out your location is a good idea as well. With computers in the car now we forget. I know that unless I think I have something I don't bother the dispatcher with running the plate or the license since I have the info already. I use my gut and when that tells me that something might be wrong I call for backup.

I have thought about it. In all realistics, WMC is so much closer if something did happen that I know that I would wind up there. Just would hope they would do the best job on me.

I guess I haven't been there in awhile. LOL

OK I just read some of this thread. I had a pretty serious accident in 1993 and went to WCMC at the time. I had just taken my EMT class and was riding with a LOCAL VAC at the time and I happened become friends with an ER DOC who I think is and AWESOME GUY. Anyway, I knew the seriousness of my injury and immediatley told the ER triage nurse who could see that it was serious. Dr. Larsen the attending that day and who I believe now runs the ER DEPT came out and recoginzed me and stayed with me the WHOLE time. He took me XRAY while and talked to me while I was being evaluated by other DR's in the ER. I remember the ER being crowded that day but he didn't forget about me. We became pretty good friends after that and the next year I became a MEDIC and I used to see him all the time. Never gave me hard time about using VALIUM, MORPHINE, ETC.... I would actually call him and tell him that I already gave it and he had no problem with that. I was pretty aggressive and he knew that I knew what I was doing. After I became a LEO, I ran into him in the ER and he brought up the day of my accident that was almost 10yrs prior. All DR's should have the kind of RAPPORT with their patients and their COLLEGUES. As a MEDIC I never liked going to that ER. Most of the NURSES were B*tches all the time and the ER DOC's changed. Plus the fact that you would have to give report to a STUDENT DOC sometimes then tell your story all over again to the RESIDENT or ER ATTENDING annoyed the crap out of me. Don't get me wrong, not all of the staff there are MEAN AND GRUMPY. Just some. I have stated though, GOD FORBID something happens to me while I am work, I want to be taken to JACOBI. I have been there only a few as a MEDIC, but I know that they know their stuff. I still have faith in WMC since I am about 20 seconds from there, I just wish they would get their sh*t together.

It is up too me because I am the LAW on the road. If there is an accident scene it is my job to make sure that first the patients are being taken care of followed by making sure that we can get traffic moving if it is possible. I don't need 8000 volunteers in their own cars blocking the roadway and getting in the way of traffic. I am sorry that you get offended by this but one time a VOLUNTEER FF got into one of our POLICE CARS and moved it on a scene. Because LEO was a VOLUNTEER FF he only yelled at the guy. I may have done something else like charge him with Unauthorized Use. What right did that person or any other person have to move a POLICE CAR? What if one day I moved a Fire Truck? I would proably be fired. So use your common sense and leave your cars at the FIRE HOUSE. Just for the record, I have also asked FF Drivers to move the ENGINES if they are blocking the roadway in a manner that I feel they don't need. I am not against Volunteer FF because my father and two brothers are Volunteers so it is not about that. It is about responding in POV's. BTW, I have a level of EMS and I will also chime in when they are doing something wrong on a call. We are not all about coffee and donuts like some of you think. LOL

Red lights should only be allowed in EMERGENCY VEHICLES. I don't think they should be in personal vehicles at all. 1 Reason is it could lead to problems with the owner doing stupid things with the lights on. I personally hate all BUFF lights. Green, Blue, Red, Orange or whatever. I think that they should all be banned.

If you have multiple FD stations then use different tones. I know that they do that in NEW RO or at least they did when I was doing EMS down there. Problem solved. Nobody has to bring their cars to the scene. I personally make people move their personal veh at scenes if they aren't in the middle of doing something. If they are in the middle, I tell them after the call not to bring their cars to the scene anymore. If they continue to to do that, then I will talk to an FD officer.

Here is the problem, nobody will get out of bed or stop what they are doing for a elderly person that fell but they will go crazy when they here a pin job, motorcycle accident, etc... That is why you saw so many people at the scene. Maybe it was on the border but the fact of the matter was people where there in there own cars or whatever. They should just tone out and let people respond to their DEPTS then find out the nature.

You can give all the kudos you want. It still doesn't change the fact that some of these agencies can't get a crew out after the PAID person leaves. Just go paid and we won't have to discuss this anymore.

Holy Crap.

This was in I think Todays paper. I think that it brings up some good points. I know that Westchester does not have that many bridges and most of us don't even cover them, I thought it was a good article. As I posted in another forum, the Chesapeak Bay Bridge/Tunnel has cut outs on the side of the road for DV's, Traffic stops, and whatever. Maybe if the redo the Tappan Zee they should think of that. Law and bridge design limit police enforcement on Tappan Zee Bridge By CAREN HALBFINGER THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: July 4, 2007) State police are limited both by design and by state law in what they can do to crack down on speeders and unsafe drivers on the Tappan Zee Bridge. Motorists who drive regularly across the bridge have been talking about the need for stepped-up enforcement of speeding and unsafe driving on the bridge since a fatal accident Sunday. The crash occurred after a 19-year-old driver, who police say was speeding and driving recklessly, hit a southbound tractor-trailer and careened through the barrier into the northbound lanes. Debris from the truck and the barrier was strewn across all seven lanes of the bridge, closing it for nine hours. "Of all the times I've commuted on this bridge, I can honestly say I only saw a traffic cop one time, and that was Sunday around 2 p.m,'' said Jorge Fernandez, 25, a mortgage salesman from Queens. "Coincidently enough, there were two cars racing each other, weaving in an out of the dense traffic, and the cop didn't even attempt to stop them. Bottom line is, we need more traffic enforcement, whether it be stationing more traffic officers on both sides of the bridge, or installing several cameras that can track one's speed, with a penalty of a harsh fine." There is no state law that allows police to use cameras to enforce vehicle and traffic laws and mail tickets to vehicle owners, as Fernandez and other bridge commuters have suggested. To catch speeders or reckless drivers on the Tappan Zee Bridge, state troopers must see them and ticket them in person. While other states, such as Texas and California, are starting to test the use of cameras to catch and penalize speeders, New York has no plans to do so. Any change would require action by the state Legislature, said state police Sgt. Kern Swoboda. New York City is able to ticket the owners of vehicles that run red lights by imposing civil penalties, he said. But just because you don't see lights flashing and cars pulled over, don't think police aren't patrolling - and enforcing - traffic on the bridge. Police never pull over motorists on the bridge because it has no shoulders, said state police Capt. Evelyn Mallard, zone commander for troopers patrolling the bridge. "It would create more of a hazard to pull people over on the bridge than the hazard they're creating,'' she said. "There is enforcement out there, but you'll never see someone stopped on the bridge. It's unsafe. You may see them stopped on either end of the bridge.'' The lack of shoulders also makes getting to the scene of an accident, such as Sunday's fatal crash, that much more difficult, she said. That's why she has emphasized the need for shoulders on a new or rehabilitated bridge in meetings about the future of the Tappan Zee Bridge. Improving traffic safety and enforcement would be taken into account in designing a new bridge, according to Mike Anderson, who is leading the Tappan Zee Bridge/I-287 environmental study team. Improvements would include lanes that would be a foot wider, with an extra 2 feet on either side of the barrier, and lane-width shoulders, he said. "Our design is going to be predicated on the latest highway standards,'' Anderson said. "Whether a rehabilitated bridge can meet those design standards remains to be seen, but that will be our goal. In a replacement bridge, all those requirements will be met.'' Even when there are shoulders, though, police and emergency vehicles sometimes have to dodge motorists who are using them, illegally, to try to get around bottlenecks. Heading to the scene of the Sunday crash from Orange County, Mallard said she had to weave in and out of the shoulder because motorists were blocking her access and riding her tail. "There were definitely a few four-letter words coming out of my mouth,'' she said. "When traffic is backed up, the worst thing you can do is go on the shoulder. To go on the shoulder prolongs the response time, which prolongs the time you will be sitting there, stuck in traffic. Get out of the way and let us do our jobs.'' While this fatal crash captured a lot of attention, Mallard said speeding isn't a common problem on the bridge. "Most of the time the bridge is so backed up you can't go that fast,'' she said. "I don't think speeding and weaving there is any different than in any other stretch; it's not a huge problem.''

I just started to read it and I hope to finish it this week in NC. My buddy has served with them many times and I looked into taken some courses down there.

I do the same with my business cards. I write on the front and back "FOR POLICE BUSINESS ONLY" or something like that. PBA cards only go out to a chosen few.

Great idea letting us decide what Charity to put our points in.

The reason I post on here is not to get points. I generally try and post about topics that I may know about. I think that everyone should be able to say what is on their mind whether it is good or bad. I understand not trying to be mean to other people, but if they don't know what they are talking about then they need to hear it. I am very opinionated and like to say what is on my mind and I think that we should be able to do that without having our behinds slapped for doing it. Usually before I hit submit I do think what I wrote and and always reread my posts to make sure that I don't sound like an a**. So basically what I write is what I would say to anybody to their faces. I guess honesty is the best policy although it sometimes gets me into trouble. LPfire19 great post. I guess that is where I am going with this.

When I was down in SC and Savannagh, GA on Vaca a couple of years back, I looked into the EMS systems. SC was an AWESOME COUNTY WIDE system. GA was off the hook. My buddy and I stopped in to look into their flight program and the Director of Operations gave me an interview right then. He told me that I would almost definitely be a flight medic down there with my RESUME from NY. Too bad the pay was so low. I know that the cost of living is cheap but that was a crazy salary. I always wished that their was COUNTY WIDE PD like they do in NASSAU AND SUFFOLK. Keep some of the small town DEPT's and let us all have the opportunity to travel this great COUNTY. Would be nice. I agree that it can never happen because of all the Politicians and bosses on some of these jobs would not want to give up their positions.