bartman884

Another issue to look at is staffing. During my college days I was involved with the BLS service at SUNY Albany which provided 2 BLS ambulances and was staffed 24/7 while the dorms were open. Conversely when speaking to other collegiate agencies I found that many were not staffed during the daytime becuase they couldn't get the staffing during class times. Although we had a fairly ample stable budget from the university student association, training people to be crew chiefs or drivers took time and most of these people would end up being upperclasmen. For this reason scheduling coverage 24/7 between the 10 or so drivers and 12 or so crew chiefs was very difficult. In my opinion 3 of the best college EMS services to look at and get information from would be Harpurs Ferry at Binghamton, Five Quad at Albany and the University at Stony Brook's ambulance service. Speaking to other services at the NCEMSF conference can also get you some great information.

I believe that is a piece of equipment that is placed on the third rail and alerts if it is energized. I saw a similar piece of equipment being carried by DCFD down there.

That was an excellent story. Its great to see Im not the only one who finds these EMS calls to be absurd.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1VoP56bDptk&mode=related&search=

Mohawk Ambulance up in Albany has started using them. They are replacing a mixture of McCoy Miller and AEV E350 type IIs. The ones we got are also type II E350s... Overall they are alright. The original batch ordered had very limited space in the patient compartment and a fairly poor setup. There were also some issues that the lighting package was apparently not effective. I know the more recent deliveries have a better designed layout in the patient compartment and the lighting issue has been resolved. Other than the fact they look silly (AND THEY DO!) they seem to be alright. In the last year or so I am not aware of any major mechanical issues and they have balls... From what ive heard they are cheaper than the competition explaining why we got them but as I said. they dont seem too bad.

It must be gettin real messy down there. Im up in Albany a request was just put out for any department able to deploy to westchester county for 24-48 hours with a 4WD apparatus and pumps. Its gettin pretty sloppy up here to and the rain certainly isnt slowing down.

I remember being told that windows fogging up in the days before defrosters played a role. Not sure how accurate this actually is.

Up here (outside Albany) the dispatchers do daily announcements in the morning which include apparatus and hydrants OOS for each department. Helpful, and lends itself well to a smaller system (7 Departments in our town)

I would be surprised to hear of any EMS agency that doesnt have it. All 4 EMS agencies I work for have this channel programed in all mobile radios and my two volley corps also have .715 in their portables. Also my FD has this in all portables and mobiles. Its great for use as the NYS MCI channel since in my experience almost everyone has it. In Rockland we also have a rockland county mci channel which can be used for inter-agency communications (I dont know the frequency off hand) and Albany county is in the process of creating a county channel in the next few months.

I was refering to the Nanuet Restaurant, just south of the mall on middletown between orchard and church. They got the thin crust pizza so I would assume thats what x635 was refering to also.

The pizza is awesome and the owners are really great to. I've been a volly across the street at Nanuet Ambulance for years and I can't tell you how many times we've got a late job after ordering and they've stayed open late so we could pick up our food. If you've never been its definately worth a shot!

That is correct. The Albany Fire Department participated in a pilot program a few years ago for BLS Glucometers. After review the state Ok'ed it and left it up to regions to set up their own protocols. My BLS volly corps up in Albany has already begun carrying albuterol and is in the last stages of the process for obtaining glucometers. This is a great program because 1) The glucometers are free, almost any company will donate them to an EMS agency knowing they will have to buy all the calibration and test strips and 2) This is a great addition for patient care. This agency, a college based ambulance service, does not get automatic ALS and often has substantial response times so the ability to do finger sticks on known diabetics and drunks (not that we ever get those) is very useful. The one pain in the a** is like epi/albuterol everyone in the agency must be in-serviced before you can carry the glucometers and a sharps policy must be established.

http://www.carolinasfirepage.com Go to fire resources and FDNY maps

Rockland Paramedic Services have been doing this for awhile for in Rockland that I am aware of.

Our dues are $3 a year. Also we have sign duty to change the sign in front of our station and if you do not do it your week there is a $5 fine. Other than that no other fines, if you don't make 15% of calls you are subject to be removed from active status.