NJMedic

Why is that? Is it better to have a career EMS provider covering 100% of the EMS jobs or a volunteer unit that only has three EMTs? I give Hurleysville credit at least they recognized the problem, albiet a little late. I have towns around me that daily hand over EMS assignments. And these are small towns, forty to fifty thousand people size towns with EMS volume approaching 1200 to 1500 incidents a year if not greater. I don't think I'm any volunteer. Here in NJ there are absolutely no regulations for volunteer EMS agencies. There are many stand up organizations who regulate themselves much better then some of the career agencies but there are a significant number of them that do what ever the want. To get a good handle on NJ's problems check this out: http://www.state.nj.us/health/ems/document...tudy_report.pdf

Several years ago I went to a pin job as a chief on a night like last night, froze my A** off. While waiting around for things to get going I found an area of relative warmth near the exhaust pipe of the Heavy Rescue. I felt lucky to find this small comfort until I felt my leg becoming uncomfortably warm. I looked down and found the heat of the exhaust had burned a hole in my polyester pants. Two lessons learned......don't wear polyester and always wear your turnouts! It would be nice to have a bus just for rehab, usually OEM can reach out to local bus companies who they have arrangements with to get a bus to an incident. You just have to remember to call early as it might take time in the middle of the night.

I thought you might have meant this show....

Another Opps Medical examiner arrives to find accident victim isn't dead SAN ANTONIO An investigator for the medical examiner's office arrived at a traffic accident to examine the victim's body and made a startling discovery: the woman wasn't dead. Trapped in a crumbled car early Sunday, the woman was draped in a yellow sheet, the typical procedure when someone is killed. But "on arrival, the medical examiner's investigator noted the victim appeared to be breathing and was trapped in the vehicle," said a statement issued by the Bexar County medical examiner's office. "EMS was called to the scene and took charge of the victim." Erica Nicole Smith, 23, was taken to the hospital in critical condition Sunday. She was the front passenger in a Honda Accord with two other people, when the Accord was struck by a vehicle that crossed the Loop 410 median and slammed into the Accord head-on. The driver of that vehicle, Jenny Ann Ybarra, 28, was charged with intoxication assault, said police spokesman Joe Rios. The driver of the Accord and the other passenger were treated and released from the hospital. Rios would not comment on the apparent mistake involving Smith. Randy Jenkins, the spokesman for Emergency Medical Services, said Sunday the incident is "under review." He did not immediately return a message left Monday morning. ________________________________________________________________________

I'll admitted Bonds has a crappy personality that has caused more people to dis-like him and has done nothing to help him in the court of popular opinion but what about Clemens and Pettite and all the other players named in the Mitchell Report? Should Clemens be barred from the H of F? Should his records be prefixed with an *?

Its the old adage..."You get what you pay for". This might sound very simple but the people of San Diego must be content with the level of fire protection because no one seems to care unless the latest wildfire roars up/down the hill. Here in NJ (and I imagine in NY also) people pay hugh tax bills and have no clue how good or how bad their emergency services providers are or if they will even show up. Ask the normal citizen if they would be willing to pony up an extra $100 a year in taxes to provide efficent and effective emergency services (police/fire/EMS) and they will say "No!" Ask that same guy when he is laid out having the big one and his town's EMS can't get out due to a lack of personnel or the same guy whose faced with a simple room and contents fire sees 2 guys show up on the first due engine and his house burns down because they couldn't mount an agressive interior attack if he now wants to fork over some cash he could'nt whip out his wallet fast enough. Remember that old Aamco commercial..."You can pay me now or you can pay me later" And I don't think Bush has anything to do with it. Build homes in the urban/wildland interface and prohibit controlled burns has alot to do with the wildland fire problem.

Think about this next time you think the threat of OSHA will convince your administration to change things. :angry: Plan to downplay Charleston fire probe revealed By Glenn Smith and Ron Menchaca The Post and Courier CHARLESTON, S.C. — Gov. Mark Sanford's office and state workplace officials consulted on a plan to minimize publicity surrounding the results of an investigation into Charleston's deadly Sofa Super Store fire, according to documents obtained by The Post and Courier through the Freedom of Information Act. An Aug. 24 e-mail from an official at the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration details a strategy to downplay the agency's investigative report into the June 18 blaze that killed nine firefighters. OSHA planned to release the report close to the Labor Day holiday weekend to "cut down on calls, questions andadditional stories" about the document, the e-mail stated. OSHA's Communications and Governmental Affairs Director Jim Knight sent the e-mail to agency administrator Dottie Ison to explain the strategy. Knight stated that he had spoken with the governor's office and "here's how they want us to handle the release" of the report: "No news conference. They want no fanfare," Knight wrote. "They want us to downplay this as much as possible." Knight explained that the report would be released to the media the following Thursday at 3 p.m. to reduce calls and follow-up coverage on the document. "Next day is Friday, and then we have a three-day holiday weekend to let this die down," he wrote. The e-mail gives no reason for why the state would want to limit media coverage of its own investigation. State officials on Thursday downplayed the involvement of the governor's office and tried to characterize the issue as a misunderstanding. Knight said it's not part of OSHA's mission to promote its work. "We don't do fanfare and news releases." OSHA pulled the plug on its plan the day before the report's scheduled release and didn't issue the document until Sept. 20. The report accused the Charleston Fire Department of willfully ignoring the safety of its firefighters during the sofa store blaze. OSHA slapped the city with a $9,325 fine, one of the largest fines ever imposed on a public agency in South Carolina. Won concessions Charleston officials challenged OSHA's findings and won concessions from the state agency in a settlement announced this week. The settlement reduced OSHA's fines by two-thirds to $3,160 and dropped the allegation that the fire department knowingly sent its people into harm's way. Michael Parrotta, president of the union-affiliated South Carolina Professional Firefighters Association, said the state's willingness to back down on violations and give the city more than a year to make some needed changes shows OSHA wasn't committed to change in Charleston. Knight's e-mail only confirms that, he said. "It's all politics," he said. "That's not the response we want from an agency that is supposed to be protecting not only firefighters but all the workers in South Carolina." Joel Sawyer, Sanford's press secretary, said the governor's office never suggested that the report be downplayed or gave OSHA a timetable for its release. Cabinet-level agencies often consult with the governor's office on events of high public interest. In this case, Sawyer said, Knight simply asked him for advice on whether or not to hold a news conference on the document's release. "Our advice was to handle this report on the violations just as you would handle any other report," Sawyer said. "That was the extent of our conversation." Knight agreed Thursday with Sawyer's account and said the governor's office provided no instructions on the release of the report. "Those instructions are mine," he said. "Looking back at it, it's not the best characterization of what the governor's office instructed. In my haste, I didn't do a good job of characterizing the conversation." Knight noted that the e-mail was intended for internal use only and that he would have been more careful in writing it had he known it would become public. Knight sent Sawyer a follow-up e-mail Aug. 29 informing him that the report would not be released the following day, as planned. No reason was given. Earlier that same day, The Post and Courier ran a story questioning the Charleston Fire Department's use of 100 percent polyester work uniforms, which have the potential to melt under high heat. The article quoted Knight's contention that the city's uniforms failed to comply with OSHA regulations. That set off a volley of words and letters, with Charleston Mayor Joe Riley disputing Knight's assertion. Knight said Thursday that the dispute had nothing to do with the report's delay. The hold-up was because OSHA's attorney went on vacation, he said.

How did this document become public knowledge? Was it part of a newspapers article or an official town press release. Sounds like th police chief is saying "Hey, you want to cut the PD budget this is what is going to happen". Looking at the photo of the chief on their website he looks old enough to retire rather then try to find a way to cut their budget and have police services suffer.

OSHA has a pretty decent primer on emergency response ot Meth Labs.... http://www.ohsonline.com/articles/45087/

I believe Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan runs a Frazer. IIRC it is decaled in an midified European color scheme.

Can someone is a few sentences explain the SWN to me, at least its purpose. Here in NJ were are using the National Interoperablility Channels for large (and not so large) multi agency incidents. Is the SWN a system that is unique to New York State?. FWIW I have never really heard great things about MA/Comm. Perhaps Motorola has better PR but our county went with a MA/Comm digital 800mhz trunked system a couple of years ago for county operations, specifically in my case Emergency Management and Haz Mat response. The digital system was less then stellar. Multiple areas with no coverage dispite engineering reports that said they would be. We finally went over to a analog and it works alot better. Maybe apples and oranges but thats my 2 cents.

The French EMS is very different then what you will find here in the US. They tend to march to the beat of their own drummer. Thsi isn't really news. Once the details of the accident became public ten years ago every trauma surgeon is the US said it was the French system of treating on the scene that did her in. Of course the French deny that least they be seen as the ones that killed Princess Diana. The practice of the SAMU (Paris EMS) is to sit on the scene and stabilze patients and not rush them to the hospitals. Most French ambulances are staff with a physician and carry equipment that only a physician can use. Is might work for a medical patient but the only real way to stabilze a significant trauma patient is in surgery and that level of physician intervention does not normally happen on the ambulances. I bet her agaitation was more hypoxia then anything else or at the very least AMS secondary to hypovolemia.

Courtesy of EMSResponder.com MRSA: Recommendations and Resources In light of increasing national concern and media coverage over the spread of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), EMSResponder.com has compiled a list of online resources, the latest news coverage and the following advice for EMS personnel: As MRSA continues to spread across the country, EMS personnel are encouraged to pay close attention to patients with open sores or wounds. Victims often include patients of health care facilities, high school athletes, rescue personnel and elementary school students. Some health officials are calling this spread of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) an epidemic, but careful hygiene may contain it. The public is advised to simply wash hands frequently with soap or an alcohol-based sanitizer, keep cuts and scrapes covered with a bandage and avoid sharing towels or other items. Health care providers should be especially diligent about wearing gloves and washing their hands after patient contact, and continue to use universal precautions, says Dr. Robert Bass, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Systems (MIEMSS). "Other than the use of gloves and masks, there's really nothing else we can suggest," he said. Bass added that particular attention should be taken if EMS personnel observe sores, boils or other injuries on their patients. Wounds should be covered. EMS agencies may also be able to improve their procedures and compliance for disinfecting vehicles and equipment, as outlined in this month's EMS Magazine cover article, Bug Patrol. MRSA and the Workplace: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/mrsa/ MRSA and Health Care Settings: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa.html MRSA and non-hospital health care settings: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_multidrugFAQ.html MRSA in the Ambulance: http://emergency-medicine.jwatch.org/cgi/c...07/608/1?q=etoc and in one of my local newspapers today..... "Superbug" myth gets squashed, Experts: MRSA risk real but overblown Home News Tribune Online 11/19/07 By CLEM FIORENTINO STAFF WRITER Part tragedy, part hype and part hysteria, the "Saga of the Superbug" appears to be history. It's still out there and warrants our attention, but the infection known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that reared its ugly head earlier this autumn, including in several Central Jersey schools, seems to be under control. In fact, health-care professionals insist that it was never out of control.The story of the mutating infection, long associated with health-care facilities (Healthcare-Associated MRSA) where it attacks people with reduced immune systems, earlier this autumn took on a life of its own. This time, it told of an insidious, egregiously aggressive, nigh-invincible strain of Community-Associated MRSA — soon dubbed "The Superbug" — and parents, children, school officials and journalists were told to quake in its wake. But how and why did the story get so dramatic? "Most of us in the field are still scratching our heads about that," said Dr. Melvin Weinstein, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. "This has been a problem that we have been dealing with for years. But this year, the cases were given more publicity." It all started with a featured article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, based on data from the Centers of Disease Control data for 2005 that estimated the total number of cases from Community-Associated MRSA in the United States. Soon thereafter two schoolchildren — from Virginia and Brooklyn, N.Y. — died. "It got very badly out of hand," said Kathy Horn, director of Infection-Control Services at Hunterdon Medical Center in Raritan Township. "It was the way the press presented it. First, there was the journal article, and then there was a child who died." A perception takes hold Then came the perception that we were dealing with an all-powerful invasive strain of the bacteria that could not be controlled with any regimen of antibiotics or, as reported on last Sunday's "60 Minutes' on CBS, that the bacteria had mutated to the point where one — and only one — antibiotic had any effect whatsoever. "That's not true at all," Weinstein said. "There are at least two and often four oral antibiotics that will be effective, and there are several antibiotics that could be given intravenously. Patients who became seriously ill were in the minority and were relatively easily treated." Dr. Robert W. Tolan Jr., chief of the division of Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at The Children's Hospital at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick, agreed. "For years I've been seeing patients with MRSA," he said. "Typically, it is breaks in the skin that give the infection a toehold. When it gets into a family, we don't know if it will bounce around the house or if it's a one-time deal." He, too, reassures everyone that there are plenty of options. "There are lots of choices for treatment," he said. "What it requires and what ER docs have come to understand is that you need to treat these patients differently than had been the case in the past," Weinstein said. "Sometimes, if you simply do an incision and drainage, and you use topical cleansing agents, patients do just as well without antibiotic." Hand-washing is most important, Horn added. "Use normal good hygiene," she said. "Don't share towels. Clean pieces of equipment that people get sweaty and perhaps get cuts from. Shower before going into pools and whirlpools. Wash your hands, because it is spread by touching. And be sure to keep open wounds clean and dry." "Smart little suckers' Conventional hygiene is, in most cases, enough to prevent these infections, Weinstein said. "I would not encourage the general public to be washing themselves down with antibacterial soaps three or four times a week." Weinstein warned. "We're all colonized by bacteria, all over our skin. They're smart little suckers. In a matter of a few years, the bugs become resistant" to the soap. School officials throughout the area are still on guard, but many are breathing a sigh of relief. "I haven't heard of any new cases. It was a one-time-only," said Eva Nagy, president of the board of education in Franklin, where one case was reported. "We live in a tense society. This virus is not uncommon, but the fact that it has happened in some of the schools means everyone is paying attention." Contracted outside school In Piscataway, administrators believe that the two reported cases in their school district were contracted outside of school. District officials sent a notice home to parents to educate them about staph infections and preventative guidelines. And in Westfield, the Board of Education on Tuesday will review a summary of the district's health curriculum, including steps the district has taken to inform students and parents about recent concerns regarding MRSA. Statewide, too, officials are downplaying the incidents. "Lots of reports were staph infections, but not MRSA," said Tom Slater, a spokesman for the state Department of Health. "To qualify as an outbreak, two or more cases must be reported in one facility (where people don't live together) over a two-week period." That will trigger an investigation, Slater said, "but not every investigation results in an outbreak."

Is the fire "director" even part of the field staff or is that an administrative person who was on the scene? In NJ the position of Director is a political appointment of a civilain. For the most part one of the retired chiefs gets the position but the mayor can appoint whoever he feels like. This is the first time I have ever heard of a problem, in Newark that is.

http://www.vmfd.org/dept_stations.asp Remember.....Google is your friend!

I don't believe any department in New Jersey ever had one of these units. Something like this would stick in my memory.

Some days fast, some days slow if at all. Doesn't matter the connection type or IP.

Miami Dade has EMS motocycles as does Pittsburgh. Daytona Beach had or has a couple. Nantucket, MA I believe uses a Harley. See.... http://emsresponder.com/article/article.js...p;siteSection=1 http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/ems/html/...al_events_.html

NYC EMS did you Cushmans back in the '80's. Search around and you might find a picture on the web.

You have never been to my house. My two sons, 8 and 4.5, have pretty much destroyed every one they've gotten. They know better then to touch Daddy's toys.

That engine is done in the colors of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Pitt County to be exact. see www.ecu.edu

I agree you don't need to wear turnouts for every MVA but if the patient is trapped and extrication is in progress there is no reason why EMS should be as well protected as the firefighters (or ESU, not that they wear any gear) that are doing the rescue work. How many times do you see and fence of turnouts around a car doiing extrication only to see a EMT or medic pop out of the vehicle wearing shirt sleeves. The NJ EMS Task Force (State-wide Special Ops) uses Morning Pride USAR gear, same specs as FDNJ EMS just a different color trim. I find them comfortable

My department here in NJ has had tactical paramedics for close to twenty years. Our county SWAT (actually called SORT...Special Operations Response Team) is made up of officers from municipal and county departments in Middlesex County. Training sessions are held twice a month. We train with the officers and dress in the same uniforms. We have PT standards that have to be meet and although we are not armed we usually qualify with an assortment of weapons. Even then we need to know how to render the weapons safe in the event we are treating an officer. We get several jobs a month, mostly no knock warrents. This is from the County Prosecutor's web site..... The Middlesex County Special Operations Response Team is financially funded and trained by the Prosecutor's Office and manned primarily by police officers from the County's Municipal Police Departments. The Team possesses the skills necessary for successful hostage recovery: tactical maneuvering, communications, weapon use and negotiation techniques. Some other local NJ agencies with tactical EMS units include..... University Hospital EMS, Newark, NJ http://www.uh-ems.org/ert.html Bergen County PD/Hackensack Univ Medical Center http://www.humc.com/mobileicu/emergresponse.shtml Somerset County, NJ SWAT Team http://www.scpo.net/scert.htm

Great job. Lenox Hill Hospital? I wonder how he got there. Not exactly the closest hospital to JFK. BTW I'd like to see this device.

Hey JC Were you are Exchange Place last Sunday? I might have some shots of you. BMC