helicopper

Well said! Sadly people don't distinguish the difference between being against war (this one or any other) but still supporting our servicemen and women who are doing their job protecting all of us and our way of life.

After being t-boned by a 93 year-old who drove out of a shopping center and into the side of my car many moons ago, I thought the same thing about elderly drivers - and still do. HOWEVER, I gotta say that NOBODY knows how (or cares to) drive safely and legally anymore. Teens, soccer moms, joe commuters, elderly, men, women, boys, girls, those undecided... it just doesn't matter. Yield is a foreign concept, signals are optional, speed limits only apply in the left lane, the shoulder is an extra lane, if there is room between me and the guy in front of me we left it open for you, stop signs mean slow down and the list goes on. Driver's Ed, road tests, written tests, and renewal of licenses should be more comprehensive to make sure people actually LEARN the rules of the road. Sheesh!

They're flying a Bell 407 also so it's probably about the same size: 160-180 gallons or thereabouts.

Not in New York State. The State Police provide aviation services for the state including the forest rangers and Department of Environmental Conservation. DEC used to have their own aircraft but many years ago all the avation services were folded into the SP. The NYPD and now WCPD also provide this capability locally.

Actually there is a statement in the BES annual report that states 1,822 patients received ALS intervention in 2006!

The actual text of GML 122-B regarding ambulance service:

It is disgusting that the donut story was printed in the Journal News, complete with photos, but there's been no mention of the impending loss of ALS. A few comments and thoughts... I know of no law that compels or requires a municipality to provide any level of EMS. It merely states that a municipality may provide EMS... (General Municipal Law Section 122-B.) However, since Putnam did provide ALS and is now discontinuing that service, there may be an argument that they created a standard that they're now not meeting. Perhaps a legal type can weigh in on this argument. The only problem is I don't think you can bring suit against the county unless you suffered a loss as a result of the County's actions/inactions. According to the 2006 Annual Report from the Putnam County Bureau of Emergency Service, the ALS provider responded to 4400 calls last year. There is no breakdown of ALS or BLS but you can bet that about 1100 people had some level of ALS intervention. Next year that could mean 1100 people with more pain, longer hospital stays, worse outcomes, and even more mortality as a result of the Legislature's flawed logic. As for Empire State canceling the contract, I don't fault them for cutting their losses and running. I do blame them for agreeing to do the work at a loss and grossly misrepresenting the costs of the service they provide. Any EMS provider in this day and age who low-balls bids for the sake of landing a contract and hoping that they break even or turn a profit is out of their freakin' mind! Hospitals are closing, burn centers are closing, and the Medicare and HMO reimbursements are continuing to decline - what makes them think they're going to do better??? If you're a volunteer, resident, or even just a concerned neighbor who drives through Putnam, it is time to start educating your constituents, friends and neighbors, that come 10/1, the level of care is going to drop in Putnam County! This is not a slam on the BLS crews, simply a way of making it sound more ominous to the uninformed. People need to know about this and how it may affect them. I'm all for a countywide ALS service but the BS politics and budget antics every year has to stop. Putnam County should create a countywide ambulance district for the purpose of providing advanced life support. This district should appear SEPARATELY and DISTINCTLY on your tax bill (mucht he same way a fire district does) so you know that it is only $5.00 per person and you KNOW that the money is only going to the ALS program. It is very inexpensive insurance and even at $10 per person, less than a dollar a month, you could probably have FIVE medic units covering the county to further reduce response times. A true EMS professional should be hired to administer it who is accountable to the PUBLIC and beholden to noone (yeah, lots of luck on this one I know!). Medics should be employees of the ALS district to give them more security and stability, too! As a stand-alone district, the ALS funds can't be diverted to golf courses or horse farms either! Unless a VAC or FD EMS agency coughs up some of their own money to support BLS transport service, this service should be ALS ONLY! There is no reason why taxpayers in Putnam Valley or Philipstown should be subsidizing BLS ambulances in Brewster and Mahopac when they can't get a crew out. What happened to the Putnam County EMS Council? Though they carry no authority to make demands of the County, they certainly have a voice that should be resounding right about now? Where is the Bureau of Emergency Services to highlight how valuable ALS is? Why aren't we hearing more about this? Finally, if anyone would like to share info (not details and nothing identifiable) about a call that they're familiar with that benefited from ALS, I'd like to incorporate such anecdotes in my letters to the County Executive and Legislators. You know almost 20 years ago I (along with several others) lobbied the Legislature in the hopes that they might start providing ALS in the County and I'm starting to get a terrible feeling of deja vu!

Doc, can you provide a link to the post ?

You mean you didn't have the format memorized or installed on your computer as a shortcut??? Boy am I disappointed!!!!

When we received the call for Somers in April, we had to call NYPD for mutual aid because our cargo hook (that the bambi-bucket connects to) was at the manufacturer for a mandatory inspection (figures doesn't it?). Anyway, the NYPD did several drops with their Bell 412 and bambi-bucket to help the ground operation while we downlinked live video to the ICP from our aircraft. As for training with FD's, I'm not aware that any formal training is required for an FD to utilize us or the bucket. They just have to have a bigger than normal brush fire and/or access problems (like the fire in Ward Pound Ridge reservation a couple of years ago) and ask for us. Our unit is planning some outreach training to educate people on our existence and capabilities so you can expect to hear more about that this fall. Hope that helps...

You know the sad part? Five thousand people will complain about the donuts and 50 will complain about the loss of ALS so they'll restore the donuts and still not fund the ALS! Or more typical of this backward county, they won't fund either and there will be no ALS for the unconscious hypoglycemics at the Senior Centers! Truly pathetic!

TJ Hooker? You're dating yourself a little bit here, RWC!!! We don't even need to use the rope, the new helicopter has a shiny new hoist just itchin' to be used. Thanks for the laugh!!!

The only thing missed in that timeline is the Breathalyzer test for the astronauts at 4:30 PM. Must really be a sight to behold - one of these days I'm going to have to make it a point to see one in person!

They ought to hire you as the PR guy!!! Maybe do a little recruitment on the side, who knows?!?!?!

What's MUTUAL about it? When Yorktown first started and they were the only ALS in that part of the County didn't they decline intercept requests because there was no mutual in the aid? Now at least, they can get Somers or Cortlandt or Putnam (for now) as a mutual aid resource. I wouldn't blame any of the Westchester providers if they refuse to do intercepts for Putnam BLS - why should Westchester's resources and tax dollars also support Putnam County when Putnam doesn't even care enough to do the right thing. Would anyone else be willing to attend the next several Putnam Legislature meetings to voice their discontent? As a Putnam taxpayer I will certainly be contacting my legislator and I hope everyone else does too!

Yes, for patrol services Cortlandt is the only town that utilizes the County PD and that is to augment the State Police. Lewisboro, North Salem and Pound Ridge used the County Police decades ago - before the merger between Parkway PD and the Sheriffs Office - but that died off in the late 70's or early 80's. 27C is the Cortandt car - we don't have a 27H (yet!).

Absolutely disgraceful. What exactly are my putnam taxes going for? Response times in putnam were already bad enough but at least you'd have a medic (most of the time) to bridge the gap until a transport unit gets there. If the County won't step up and do the right thing now it falls on the eleven EMS agencies in the county to do the right thing and I'm sure that will result in eleven different proposals. Please, anyone with info, keep us posted as this develops!

I agree with ALS. I think training and safety should stand on its own and be a catch-all - especially since some training and safety issues may overlap more than one discipline. I also think the idea for a "Training Opportunties" forum is a great idea. One stop shopping where everyone can post course announcements.

TOYBUFF is exactly right. The Special Response Team is the County PD's SWAT and is already available to any jurisdiction in the County. They work and train with other SWAT teams, the bigger PD's and the smaller PD's - it all depends on the situation. Yonkers and Mt. Vernon have done joint operations with the SRT when executing multiple warrants and local jobs that don't have a team have used them. So as far as supplemental resources go, this is one where coordination, training, and interagency cooperation does actually exist! Members do have primary assignments in other units, the SRT is an on-call resource except for training days which are scheduled throughout the year. The County's ESU was never a tactical unit - it's focus was always on the rescue side - and seeing it disbanded was a major disappointment for me. Unfortunately, the reality was (and still is) that as other agencies developed their own capabilities for extrication and rescue, the ESU became a duplication of resources and unlike so many duplicative resources that exist around the County, this one was cut. Seth, I share your frustration about having 2500 cops in the county working for 45 different agencies but if you thought regionalizing the fire service or EMS was hard - this might take the cake! It will never happen - too many local and special interest groups (including a great many of the PD's) that would never support the concept.

The way that I read ALS's post, he's only saying that there is no reason for the school district to buy the students clothes and I agree. It isn't just about what you wear, it's also about how you wear it. Pull your d*mn pants up so your underwear isn't hanging out and you're within the "code". The Peekskill code isn't mandating uniforms it is saying wear appropriate clothes that fit while you're in school and I have no problem with that! You can dress like a thug or a slut after school all you want. Uniformity or at least standards of dress does actually reduce some instances of violence - not just gang violence by prohibiting "colors" but by reducing robberies and larcenies when I just have to have your 100 dollar Nikes or when I just gotta have that big ol' chain. Yonkers and NYC went to uniforms in a lot of schools years ago and didn't buy them for anyone. Private and parochial schools have had uniform requirements for years and never provided uniforms. No, dress codes aren't the sole solution but they can help the school district by giving them some standards to apply when dealing with problem students. As for a court challenge, schools have been there, done that, and got the t-shirt (pun intended). Courts have given schools the authority to create dress codes and/or uniforms so I don't think there's a big issue there.

Are you saying that there is a NEW response time standard that is less than 12 minutes or are you saying that 12 minutes is the new standard because some FD's have medics on their engines? If 12 minutes is the new standard, we're about 4 (or more) minutes behind the times! 12 minutes may be fine for 75% of the calls but the 1 in 4 that needs rapid intervention is screwed. As for the FD/medic subject, that is NOT (with one or two notable exceptions) the norm locally and can hardly be held as the benchmark for service. JTF, you're right there are alot of volunteers in a lot of places that are doing the best they can. The problem is, and this is NO reflection on any of the dedicated volunteers anywhere, that all too often their best is not good enough to sustain a system. Municipalities continue to try to do EMS cheap - not WELL or RIGHT but cheap - and commercial services have a bottom line despite their catchy slogans or advertising. So, no matter who is providing the service there are problems and not a whole lot of answers. I, for one, would like to see EMS become a real issue and have intelligent people with no axes to grind and no ulterior motives develop a proposal for a real EMS system in our area. Wouldn't it be nice to have some job security? pay commensurate with your training and experience? not have to explain to the bank or credit card company why you've changed jobs 6 times in the last 6 years because municipal contracts keep changing hands? As you aptly point out, it is time for a real system, be it countwide, regional or some other model that will appease most of the people involved. A lot of people need to get off their high horses and recognize that as much as the spirit of volunteering is noble, it may not be viable for all communities in 2007. Here endeth the rant!

Interestingly enough, NY State Troopers do not wear shields (aka badges) on their uniforms. They are issued shields but as you can see, they don't resemble any other. They're so different, that troopers working in NYC were issued NYPD style detective shields so they would be more readily identifiable. Badges may have served as "identification" years ago but today if you don't have an ID card to go with it the badge will immediately be suspect. Too many ways to procure fake ones (like the guy in Yonkers arrested a few years ago for selling fake badges) or real ones without any authorization (Galls, etc.).

OK, I gotta ask... What "rights" are being trampled? I see no mention of smoking or smoke breaks anywhere in the Constitution or Bill of Rights so exactly what "right" is being abused by this regulation? As a non-smoker am I entitled to leave my work station every hour for 5-10 minutes for a non-smoke break, too? As for your smoking not affecting anyone but you - is that really true? We've already got the posts about the lingering smell, etc. Doesn't the healthcare industry incur greater expenses because of smoking? Is that cost passed on to ALL users of the system with increased fees, premiums, etc. or just the smokers? My guess is that it is passed on to all the users so your smoking does affect me and everyone else. To think that your actions on this planet don't affect anyone else is probably far from the truth. Our actions (or inactions) definitely impact others - smoking is only one example. If you want to smoke on your time, in your home or vehicle, that's fine. But your employer (especially in healthcare) most certainly can restrict your actions and conduct while they're paying you and you're on their property. Wasn't there a thread not long ago about FD's prohibiting smoking on-duty and off-duty? Just a dissenting view...

Date: 08/03/07 Time: 0817 AM Location: Runway 16 at Westchester County Airport Frequency: 46.26, 122.95, 155.310 Units Operating: WCPD, Airport Operations and Fire Rescue, Purchase FD, Port Chester FD, Armonk FD, Harrison EMS, Armonk EMS, PCRRB EMS Description Of Incident: Twin engine aircraft with landing gear problem - performed gear-up landing without incident. No injuries, no fire, no problem (unless you have to pay for the repairs!). Writer: Chris192 (OS) I'm sure the media will be painting a much more dramatic picture but these pilots followed their emergency procedures and put it down right on the center-line of the runway at minimum airspeed to limit the damage to the aircraft. So, it was really a non-event event.

Maybe they should have bought Fords instead of the Hummers! And so it begins...