Bnechis

Mt Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains & Yonkers are under federal court decrees (from the early 1980's) to hire the way we do. Its not a matter of home rule or AHJ choice.

It means 2 lists. Residence and nonresidence. If you score 100 on the 2nd list, they have to hire everyone who passed on list #1 before they get to you. Basically if there are enough people on the residence list, no one gets hired off the non. A friend got put on the 2nd list (different city, same setup) was 100+ on the list, proved he was a resident (his property was 1/2 in the city & 1/2 out) got moved up to 17.

I thought that people share their most intimate secrets with their escort....Remember Client #9.......

1) You have absolutely no expectation of privacy while in public. 2) The plates are the property of the State of NY and driving is a privilage not a right. While I have no problem with how this technology is being used. This statement was addressed by Ben Franklin: "Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security".

In a response area that is less than 2 square miles? In this case it looks like the political oversight understands that it is a lot of taxpayer money that does not need to be spent. And within 4-6 minutes they can get another one from: DFFD, AFD, IFD, GFD, YFD & YPD. We need to stop thinking in terms of "my little kingdom". Why do 58 fire depts all need to buy every little toy out there? How many extrications do many of these depts do? How good can they be if they do so few because of duplication of services?

BRAVO....right on target

Having just had to replace all of ours (due to expiration), the cost for 160 units is approx $41,000 (not including restock, training, etc.) and they expiration dates they are shipping direct for the drug co is 14-16 months

Its not so simple. It would be if there was only 1 PSAP....but... 60 Controls policy is if they don't speak with the caller, then they cant determine the priority, so everything goes. Big problem is getting both the loacal PSAP dispatchers and the cell 911's to transfer the call.

We have sent all 5, we also have a quint that can supply water, that is manned and does not responde on EMS calls. EMS has been able to clear units quickly, particularly when they know there is a potential fire & with the rig already on the road, its response time is generally not hurt. Yes, but we also have an obligation to provide what ever other service the municipality sets for us. If ones mission statement or municipal charter lists these services, then our obligation is to meet those goals. What about the combo depts in Westchester that have even fewer resources. If they only have 1 or 2 engines and they send it out on an EMS call, then what? NR does pay for EMS. What about the other communities? While somey would love to do no calls and get paid, do you think the community would be so supportive? A number of years ago there was a suggestion that since 68% of our calls were EMS (that number is lower now), if NRFD stopped going on EMS we could be cut by 68%. That would leave us with 2 engines, 1 ladder and a chief. It would mean the ellimination of 114 firefighters & officers. The NRPD would add 4 ESU units 24/7 to cover the EMS calls and they would only need 36 officers to do it, so the city would save the cost of 78 employees. I am a tax payer and if the 1st due were out on an EMS call, an AFA, a CO call or a 5 alarm fire, I'd be pretty pissed off if I needed them. Its not the kind of call they are on, its the fact that I pay for the service they should be available 24/7/365 for just me....right? How many taxpayers are unwilling to support emergecny services until they are dialing 911?

We dont have any policy like that. A lot of ER RN's there use to complain when EMS didn't start IV's on BLS Pt's or didn't get bloods (cause they would have to do it), so they dont want FF's doing "their job" but they also want EMS doing it....cant have your cake and eat it too.

And go where?

The combo exemption was for county property tax

So if no proof is required, anyone can just write down the name of the local VFD & not pay.......the whole idea was to get people to volunteer.

Generally liability includes a duty to act, once you set the standard of what that duty is (what you respond to), if you have resources available and you fail to use them, then you have failed to act. If you run out of resources you have limited liability because its not that you failed to act, you have delayed acting. Since state law clearly does not allow you to abandon a patient, even if BS. Your hands are tied. The best solution is to do a better job of triaging the calls.

How many engines are allowed on simultanious AFA, or CO calls or any other call? If 4 of 5 engines are already out on EMS calls (even if they are BS calls) and a call comes in for chest pain (particularly with an EMS delay) do you not send an engine because there may be a fire call? If the patient feels they did not get the service they are entitled too, how do you explain to a jury that we did not service them because someone else might call?

In many parts of the country the job is EMS with an occassional fire...dont like it...leave. In right to work states they will show you the door. Do we have members who do not like EMS calls...sure, we also have guys that dont like packing hose or mopping floors...get over it. We have been doing EMS as a regular part of our job for 31 years now. Only 5 of our members came on before that (& they are chiefs who don't respond on EMS calls anymore, but they are all EMT's and have been there). To everyone else... we were doing it before you took the job, so if you really dont want to do 60% of your job, I'm sure we can find someone else who does. We've been doing it since long before the calls went down, so I guess we are not justifying anything, just doing the right thing. What about MVFD, during the "busy years" they were EMT's & ran 2 ambulances, they no longer do either, & they have the same numbers, I wonder, do you think they would get more respect/help from the community if they did EMS? THis is not just an FD issue. Why does the ambulance my taxes pay for need to be tied up on these calls? Again this is a system wide problem, that no one has been able to solve, not just an FD issue. If the crews are not doing there job, then the leadership needs to deal with that. Someday it will bite them on the butt. Makes sense, I like the idea.

They do not have any land for parking. Most dont know it, but the ER driveway, is a city owned street

The primary problem is spinal compression and that was documented in a US Army Study that was done at Ft. Sam Huston. The real issue is not the "short boards" its which one. Rick Kendrick (inventor of the KED) "improved" upon the short backboard, by stiching a canvus around wood slats and "testing" it on a VW behind the fire station. 1) He was comparing the KED to a short backboard, which has never been tested to determine if it "works" to immobilize the spine. 2) The KED is easier to place, but the only testing that was done was to see if it worked compared to the short board. A few years after he sold the KED, I spoke with him at an EMS convention where he was helping SKEDCO promote the Oregon Spine Splint (OSS) which was designed after 20 years of looking at the good & bad points of the KED. The OSS was also tested in that ARMY study. and afterwards they issued it national stock numbers for all US & NATO units. The ARMY study included a full xray comparrison of units with step by step x-rays during extrication (nice to be able to do a study with dozens of x-ray exposure). When I've compared different units, KED, ZED, OSS, Sherman Short Board, Kansas Board, XP1 and a bunch of others that I cant remember the names of, some work, some dont...the OSS is by far the best. THe KED has been around about 40 years and in NYS, too many EMS leaders are stuck on it. How many instructors are willing to show other equipment? Compare the two side by side.

SSMC did some work about a year or so (holding beds in what use to be staff areas, they were relocated). MVH has been planning for a long time, until all the money vanished, now lots of questions have been asked and rumor is they may have found the missing $$$. We shall see.

Always leaves a good impression when you walk the patient with an ankle injury..............

Its important that the guy riding in the back gets where he is going quickly....hurry up and wait (forever)

S Section 44.4 Blue and green lights. (a)(1) One or more blue lights or combination blue and red lights or combination blue, red and white lights may be affixed to a police vehicle, provided that such blue light or lights shall be displayed on a police vehicle for rear projection only. I have come up with a theory. When on EMTBravo no mater what the question is the thread will always turn into a blue light issue. Seth, maybe there should be a section called "everything you always wanted to know about blue lights".

1) Just because you have never had a "problem" does not mean it is legal. 2) Just because others maybe doing something illegal, does not mean it it ok for you to do it to. (the old, if everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it too) 3) I don't see the point in lots of regulations but they are still there 4) If your car gets hit & you get sued for an "illegal" light you may loss more than just your car.

How about after a fire?.......Maybe its too dangerous to let them drive back from a fire/ While the Globe has a reputation of attacking BFD and BFD has a reputation for being a very agressive fire dept. It also has a very poor record when it comes to many issues (maintenance, hiring, promotions, drinking &/or drugs onduty and DUI/DWI in dept vehicles to name the ones that have been out in the press). The biggest question that has yet to be answered is why would the BFD and its union not insist on having a vehicle preventitive maintenance program? Why would they have no certified mechanics? Why did 50% of the rigs tested after this incident need to be placed out of service? And the emergency inspection program suspended because they had run out of spare rigs and it would have shut down companies? The lawyers are circling for the kill on this one, and there are lots of potential targets.

We had to develop policies because too many EMS crews wanted "to be nice" to the fire crews and let them go even on calls where they were needed. While you may be "capable" that does not mean its the right thing to do. Having extra hands does cut time on the call. And didn't the patient pay for the hire level of service, that you feel is not needed because you are capable? One of the reasons we had to develop policies was after pt's deteriorated after EMS got there but had yet to complete an assessment and didn't realize the pt was critical. 1) If you do the math, which the media never does, you'd see that BFD's numbers are up, subtract the number of EMS calls and they are still higher than they were before they did EMS. 2) In my depts case, 21 years ago we were doing 3,600 calls per year, now we are over 8,000 and we started doing EMS 30+ years ago. Our EMS % has been dropping while everything else has gone up. 3) we dont justify based on call volume (our City Manager could care less) we justify based on NFPA, ISO, ICMA standards which address the number of firefighters and the response time/distance to respond to those calls. If you reduce the fire response your rating goes up and your property owners will pay for the increased insurance 6-12 times more than the cost for the fire dept. In fact our total number of fire & hazard calls (not counting our EMS calls) is greater now than the total call volume with EMS was 20 years ago.