helicopper

Yes, the "my insurance company/cell phone company told me I need a police report" calls. What a joy! The responsibility is for the operator to report the accident to DMV - not to the police. The only requirement for police to report/investigate accidents are found in the Vehicle and Traffic Law (below). There's no mention of insurance or cell phone companies in the statute. Many departments choose to take reports on property damage accidents but that is more of a public service than anything else.

One media snapshot said something about a cable snapping and swinging around injuring several riders and amputating the feet of this girl. Horrible accident!

The difference is uniformed workers being issued badges and other identification items by their employers and EMT's and medics buying their own badges for the sake of "having a badge". Uniformed workers who are issued badges by their employers obviously have to wear them. A volly going to a call in civilian clothes does not need a gold detective shield swinging from his neck. Also remember - shields/badges are NOT identification. Produce one and you'll surely be asked to produce the corresponding photo identification card from your agency - hopefully with the shield number on it also. If you don't have one of those, the badge is really meaningless. And if troopers don't need to wear badges/shields, surely nobody else on earth needs too!!!

Many cars today have crash data recorders that can provide a lot of detailed information leading up to a crash. For hire vehicles (taxis, limos, etc.) are often equipped with cameras now that catch the moments leading up to an accident and even the accident itself. I find it interesting that the civilian was cited for failure to yield when the ambulance blew through the red light without even slowing down. The passenger even said "red light" to the driver right before the crash, too. I'm glad everyone is OK and I'm sure that the lawyers and insurance companies will do battle over this for some time. As for the recurring theme about emergency vehicle accidents - there is always going to be a presumption that the emergency vehicle is at fault because we're supposed to "know better" and in NY use "due regard" for everyone else. There have been tons of threads about our driving recently - this only serves to reinforce that the more lights, sirens, horns, bells and whistles we put on emergency vehicles the more we expect civilians to see us and hear us. Sadly, that's far from reality!

The thoughts and prayers of our entire department are with your families (home and FD)! Godspeed and rest in peace.

If it's the Greenville that I'm thinking of they cover a big portion of I-84 near Port Jervis and the PA state line so this truck is a really smart move! Beats dropping flares every 20 minutes with tractor trailers buzzing by at 70 MPH!

There was a topic a while back about a photographer being arrested for taking photos at a scene but this is an on-duty paramedic now facing the loss of his certification/license for taking pictures at a scene and posting them online. Do any agencies around here have policies on the use of cameras (cell phone or otherwise) by on-duty personnel? Should we?

I remember those days. Their position was that not picking up the garbage in NYC creates a bigger crisis and public health emergency than the provision of EMS. I don't think it is as big an issue in NYC now that the FD is running EMS but the lack of parity, employment protections, etc. is still a problem for the industry as a whole.

I don't think the topic is too early. Even as we speak there may be an FD responding to a similar structure for a fire and they would undoubtedly like to know what caused the tragedy in Charleston. Stepjam is not implying that we're done grieving or that it is more important to reconstruct the events to avoid a repeat tragedy. To separate the two issues, he created a new topic for this discussion. I think we can all grieve and take steps to reduce the likelihood that this happens again. It's always tough to learn from fatal mistakes or situations like this but unfortunately it is a reality in our business.

A lot of assumptions are being made and relying on a newspaper article for clarity is really not the answer. Some very valid points are being raised here and it points to the years of experience that people on this board do have. 636, I agree with your perspective that "if they call, you send" but in this case I think you're handcuffing the EMS crew. What is the EMS crew supposed to do if the person is "under the responsiblity of the facility" and COBRA applies? If you were a police dispatcher would you send units to the lobby of the precinct because someone didn't want to wait for the desk officer to address their issue. What about a 911 call from a jail or correctional facility? EMS isn't going to get in there without the concurrence of Corrections. A private ambulance wouldn't be better off than a 911 ambulance going to the hospital ER. Sounds like at least one of the dispatchers did refer the person to police at the hospital. They apparently didn't avail themselves of that resource. Could communications have been better - based upon the article, perhaps. But the responsibility lies squarely with the "accredited" medical facility where this woman died while waiting for treatment. Protocols for such situations should DEFINITELY be in place so you know what to do when a call comes in from a facility like this. It will be interesting to follow the outcome of this case and the likely health department investigation about the hospitals actions/inactions.

That's a really good question!!! Depends on where you stand, I guess. Westchester County just bailed them out of major financial difficulty but they still profess to be a private hospital. The County tries to assert some oversight control but I don't know that they have the authority to stop the hospital. Clear as mud, eh?

I think "taxis" (marked vehicles for hire) are regulated by locals while "livery" vehicles (town cars, limos, etc.) are regulated by the County. If I remember correctly you could be operating a "livery" and not fall under anyone's jurisdiction so the County stepped up to work with the NYC TLC and get some reciprocity and regulation. Westchester limos used to get brutalized by the TLC enforcement agents in the city because they didn't have an oversight agency and authorization to operate in the city. As for fire and EMS being under a similar umbrella agency, as has already been said - they're their own "government" and unless someone starts hauling tea to the harbor, nothing is ever going to change. What percentage of the population actually votes for their fire commissioners - 10? 20? I'm not sure fire districts even have to put their budgets up for a vote like schools do (please correct me if I'm wrong) but most people are content to put their heads in the sand and ignore emergency services (until they need them). And I'm not picking on the FD - having 45 PD's and dozens of PSAP's in the County doesn't make all that much sense either!

Oh sure, in an ambulance everyone is going to stop. In a fire engine, they're just going to go blazing past! (like the pun?)

Freakin' hysterical!!! Why doesn't the mayor buy some goats - make a roving petting zoo and charge for little rug rats to pet the things as they eat the grass. The city will actually generate a profit and the grass gets "cut" without any union violations because goats had that job description long before there were any DPW's. Plan B = pave over the grass and paint it green. Didn't NYC do that in the 70's or 80's? Plan C = fill all the tanks on the apparatus with grass killer and go "water the lawn" as a civic service. Dirt doesn't need mowing. This shouldn't even be an issue for us - FF are FF. We expect them to be experts on firefighting, rescue, EMS, haz-mat, WMD, collapse, confined area, OSHA, extrication, code enforcement (this is not a complete list, I'm just making the point) but think they have "down time" to do yard work? I completely understand the need for fiscal responsibility and tightening the municipal budget belt but maybe they should look at all the employees on the city payroll who don't actually do anything but hide in an office or cubicle all day.

This is just part of the usual MVPD cycle - they hire ten and six jump ship for other jobs... They'll never really increase their staffing as long as they pay what they pay and treat their guys the way they do.

Wait 'til we get our roto-ray installed!

40 in the left lane is one of my pet peeves - if these rolling roadblocks just MOVED OVER then the lunatics that want to do 90 or more could just zip down the left lane to get bagged by ONEEYEMEDIC and others! They wouldn't have to weave around and almost kill the people minding their business. Oh well...

Just to point out another possible perspective... If the municipality hires you and their contract provides you with medical insurance for life (quite a benefit in this day and age) do they have the right to limit their exposure by prohibiting you from using a known carcinogen that also causes or exacerbates a range of other healthcare problems? If you want to smoke, you can - just not in their employ.

A while ago there was an interesting thread about everyone's favorite "stupid driver tricks". The motoring public by and large is moronic but the absolute worst is the NYC "weekend" driver who only pulls their car out of the NYC parking garage to cruise upstate for a scenic tour - usually in the left lane of the TSP at 40 MPH. If you make the sirens louder, they'll only make the cars more soundproof so what's the point. We should all carry a big bag of marbles and just pelt them as we pass!!! The dings will be more annoying than a ticket or earful of crap anyway...

From what I've heard the NRPD dive team does train regularly. You'd have to ask one of them exactly how much though. They've arranged training with our aviation unit and have completed some basic stuff but I don't believe they've actually done and water insertions yet.

Except in this scenario this is a family member - not the patient. Ambulances are not public transportation - they are usually privately owned and used strictly for emergency medical services and transportation. As much as they may seem like taxis much of the time, they are not "public transportation". You can't flag one down and say take me to the train station. I would check with the DOH EMS Bureau - I seem to remember a regulation from a while back that specifically prohibited transportation of animals in an ambulance - other than the two legged variety. Difficult situation - I can understand your confusion about it!

Except InterSTATE 495 - go figure!!!

Rockland continues to be proactive and tries another new technique in the field. Interesting article - best of luck to RPS and their patients!

A while back EMTBravo posted that there were 733 verified members (I assume that this number has gone up some). There are a total of 5690 total members. My question is (and verified members will have to speculate with me since non-verified members can't post) why are there so many members but so few verified members? Don't the other 4900 members have questions, comments, input, ideas, etc.? Come on, get verified and join the discussions. I don't think I can handle too many more sideways storm trooper posts!

I don't know if you're referring to paid or volunteer departments but in most civil service departments (police or fire), there is a progressive discipline program where an offender is counseled (verbally), counseled (writing), loss of accrued time, suspension, dismissal. A single severe infraction may result in a more serious disposition and a pattern of seemingly insignificant infractions may result in a higher level of discipline than for the same infraction by someone for the first time. For example, a single positive drug test may result in suspension/dismissal and if you're late for your shift all the time you may also be subject to more severe punishment than if you're late once due to 5" hoses being stretched across Route 9. Much of this is controlled by contracts or other labor agreements and/or civil service rules and regulations and may vary somewhat agency to agency. If you're referring to a volunteer department there should be some disciplinary procedure either in by-laws or policies and procedures. You can't take away accrued time in a voluntary agency so other than counseling there really isn't much besides suspension/dismissal. Does it work? That's really up to the person affected. If someone wants to learn from the disciplinary process then YES it does work. If someone just takes their suspension and does the same nonsense again, it doesn't work. It also helps if the agency treats everyone equally and takes action when somebody screws up regardless of who they are. Favoritism can be a big issue in voluntary agencies.