helicopper

Very well said! I agree with you and Robert Benz wholeheartedly.

First off, this is a tragic incident and my condolences go out to the families and peers of the auxiliary PO's. Is NYC out of its collective mind? How do they continue to put APO's out on the streets and in the subways in the same exact uniform as regular PO's without a weapon and with only 40 hours of peace officer training? Does the training tell them to pursue an armed suspect? I sure hope not - maybe the training doesn't tell them NOT to chase them clearly enough. I always thought they were supposed to be eyes and ears for the regular PO's - not attempt to apprehend violent suspects. At the very least, they should change the uniforms so they're not mistaken for real cops anymore. Of course, the City probably enjoys having people think they have more cops on the street than they do since they're all dressed alike and most people couldn't tell the difference between a PO and a door man. And you have to wonder just how bad the service was to pi$$ the guy off enough to shoot a waiter 15 times! Sheesh... It will be interesting to see what they find out about his motive.

It's not the volts that kill ya, it's the amps. How many amps is it? Enough to push a train!!! Now shut up!!!

It dawned on me recently that this year will mark the twenty year anniversary of my paramedic class at White Plains Hospital. Does anyone know of or have contact with any of the other alumni of this program? I would be very interested in finding out where everyone is two decades later! On a related note, this month is also the 10th anniversary of the start of the Cortlandt Regional Paramedics! Congratulations to all those in the first paramedic course held at Butterfield Hospital and those who started that system a decade ago!

This sounds like material for an entirely new thread... I remember one crew coming out to their ambulance for an early morning call and finding the cab filled, floor to ceiling, with inflated rubber gloves! There was a trail of them half way to the job. If we do start another thread on the subject, let's just be sure the statute of limitations has expired! As for the '82 medic class, you guys are celebrating a quarter century this year - not too shabby. Does anyone have any idea how many from either the '82 or '87 classes are still working as medics or still in the area? Or for you '82 guys, still alive!

Date: 03/13/07 Time: Approximately 2115 Location: 7th Avenue and 135th Street, Manhattan Frequency: Numerous NYPD Units Operating: Level 1 Mobilization, NYPD Pct, Task Force, DD, ESU, Aviation Description Of Incident: On-duty police officer shot twice in chest, transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in serious but stable condition. Suspect shot also - transported to Harlem Hospital in critical condition where he is currently in surgery. Scene still active at this time. Writer: Chris192 Sources: Fox5NY, WNBC news, SOD Radio.

Who are you calling old? LOL! I knew I was old when I was talking to a class of recruits at the academy about something from the 1980's and the whole class started laughing because one of the recruits wasn't even BORN yet!!! Sheesh! He was just 21 but still, that's just wrong!!!

Gotta love suburbans!!! Bet it didn't need a whole lot of body work either! I bet Expeditions are much the same way. It was either March 1st or 10th - something like that. The first few months were doubled up with an RPS medic - gotta have someone to ask questions, it would have been even more scary otherwise! Anyone know how many of the original "first class all the way" Butterfield bunch are still involved in the system?

Third party billing = an insurance company, workers comp, etc. Someone other than the patient. Soft billing = sending a bill to John Q. Citizen but not following up on it for payment (like using a collection agency). I think the issue arises if you bill insurance companies but do not send a bill to a patient who has no insurance. That's right Mr. Mayor, we're sorry you don't have any insurance but the law requires that we send you a bill. I think you're also on very thin ice if you make known that you don't have to pay a bill. It's one thing not to pursue collection but another to say don't worry, Mr. Mayor, you don't have to pay for the $500. ambulance ride you just got. Just remember us at budget time (yeah, right). If Medicare finds out that you're not billing equally they're going to stop paying you - period! That could be the loss of a lot of revenue. Keep it on the up and up. Send EVERYONE a bill for the appropriate service(s). Let them figure out for themselves that you don't aggressively pursue collection!

Let me see if I understand this... If Ambulance X can't get a crew out - Empire's medic unit (ambulance) will transport the patient effectively taking a medic unit out of service for a BLS call. If a second call comes in that medic unit's district, the adjoining medic unit will be dispatched. If this is all correct - please correct me if I'm wrong - we lose TWO medic units (or 50% of the ALS service) because Ambulance X can't get their crew out the door. If the first medic unit was in-service after the BLS call, they would respond to the next call in their area. On the other side of the County do they still take a medic unit out of service on BLS calls when the ambulance can only get out with a driver? How is this acceptable? Why is the County subsidizing inefficient ambulance service like this? Does Ambulance X have to reimburse the County for this coverage?

Really good points! The system will never develop since the County is yielding to the interests and in many cases whims of every agency in the County - good, bad and indifferent! If the County drew a line in the sand and said this is the standard - you meet it or we will - many agencies would rise to the occasion and others would have to be supplemented (or replaced) by the County. Oh well, at least then we'd have a consistent system in the County. As for the response time reduction of 6 minutes - that's nice but what was the response time before this improvement? If it was 20-25 minutes, that still leaves room for alot of improvement!

Alright, as incentive to getting Seth to get promoted from a walker to a cane I propose a contest: Dude, pimp my cane! Everyone get a cane and paint it/outfit it with as many Hartsdale FD colors, lights, decals, logos, etc. as you can. Post a picture of it here and we'll all vote for the best five (like American Idol, not!). Then Seth can pick his favorite and use it (or them) during his recuperation! Note, the cane must not be equipped with so many batteries or warning devices to render it heavier than a Yugo!

Alpha, you're so right. The public has no idea. They think that they dial 911 and William Shatner answers, narrates a 15 second response and then paramedics and FFs are banging on the door. Or they think that since their taxes are so high that they must be receiving topnotch services! As for staying outside with any patient in this weather - put the person on a board, load them into the ambulance to keep them warm and transfer them when and if an volly rig arrives. To keep someone outside (or stay outside yourself) is crazy - but if these are the same medics who need company to "ride in with an ALS call" I guess I shouldn't be surprised!

Unless it is an arrest or a major trauma (in which case there's almost never a shortage of volunteers), there is no reason to go to mutual aid because he/she "preferred more help in the back". What a bunch of nonsense - there are systems all over the world where a crew of TWO responds on an ambulance and the medic rides with ALS patients by him/her self. To call for mutual aid for "company" is a gross waste of resources!

That's been the Putnam way for as long as I can remember. They only remember that Putnam goes west of the Taconic (and sometimes not even that far) around election time! Figures that the west side has been fixing their system with paid EMT's for seven years and the County only just caught up. It is a disgrace that they also have to pay for EMT's on the east side too.

While I agree that there is nothing in that article that describes the crime of manslaughter - we're missing something there - the cold reality is that in NY you're going to be accused of not operating with "due regard" anytime you get into an accident with an emergency vehicle. It's really like being guilty until proven innocent.

Thanks for the hypertensive crisis! Geez, I hope I don't need a medic - they might be the EMT on a BLS call in @#)(*$%)?>. As pathetic as this is, the thing that I really don't understand is why the MEDIC is out of service in an ALS unit while the EMT is playing volly-sitter???? If the ambulance is used as the fly-car on the overnights, why the heck can't he still respond alone during the day? That makes even less sense than the rest of the system! Whaddya mean if the medic is comfortable you respond to the scene? You mean the medic can't be by himself in the back while the EMT drives? Don't even get me started on that! What is he going to do - wait half an hour while a crew of three is assembled to accompany him to the hospital? ALS - you're so right! It has been very well known that the system is Putnam is failing for years. They've tried recruitment videos, sharing EMT's, running special training programs to accommodate the varied schedules of people who ultimately don't have time to respond to calls anyway and now this. As a Putnam County taxpayer, I'd have more respect for the County administration if they said, hey everyone, we're going to establish a COUNTY EMS SYSTEM and your taxes are going to go up by less than $200.00 per year and we're going to guarantee (within reason, obviously) that you receive an ambulance within X number of minutes and a paramedic on appropriate calls in less than Y minutes. It beats the heck out of paying for golf courses and horse farms. Vollies could continue to exist and if they get out first, fine. But if they're not on the road in a prescribed amount of time, the county ambulance is coming. As for stepping on toes, tough - if you can't do the job right you shouldn't be able to prevent someone else from doing it!

I should probably know this but will ask anyway... Does the UHF link allow you transmit and receive to 60 on the designated UHF channel or do you tranmsit on UHF and receive on 46.26 - or some combination thereof? And is it simplex or duplex?

Thanks Party - you took the words right off my fingertips. Either you bill for service or you do not - there can be no special "consideration" of "MOS" or anyone else for that matter. If you don't bill everyone, you'll get nothing (and like it!). As for pursuing collection, how aggressive to be is your decision but I think insurance requires at least one letter attempting to collect to avoid being in conflict with billing requirements. I wouldn't publicize arrangements whereby anyone can call you to "take care of a bill" - I don't think an insurance company would be to pleased to learn about it! x635, what about when your tax supported EMS agency responds to and provides service to a non-town resident? Shouldn't they receive a bill? They're not paying for the service via tax subsidies but they're adding to the operating expenses. So, if you're going to bill them - you bill everyone! It may be crummy but that's the insurance industry. On the flip side, suppose you're a taxpayer in an area where EMS is tax subsidized but when you call for an ambulance they can't respond and you get a mutual aid rig. Can you request a rebate on your taxes since you didn't receive the service you're paying for? With the penny pinching politicians pulling purse strings - try to say that three times fast!!! - and the miserable insurance reimbursement rates, the need to receive tax $$ and bill insurance companies is an unfortunate reality. You're right - don't give your home address or phone number. Many records, including medical records can be accessed - especially for legal action - and if you're in law enforcement you don't want the defense attorney to have your home address and phone number when they receive medical records relating to a criminal case!

If you look at the report referenced above, of the five states whose rules were surveyed only NY did not have uniform statewide standards for this. This is why we're so messed up - everyone sets their own standards. Some high, some low, some don't address it at all. I'm not pointing at just the fire service either - disparate service is provided by all emergency services, police, fire and EMS.

Great questions Ecky! One more question - how many have LOSAP programs that require responses to calls for eligibility? Does this mean you have 40 people showing up at a wires down call or people continuing to respond after an "under control" (read 10-20) is broadcast so they can get their points?

Label it? Did ya really have to label your patient's stab wounds? <------ STAB WOUND suture here! The ER musta loved that!!!

If they're doing their job right they're not buffing! If a supervisor shows up it should be for one of a few reasons: 1. To assist a crew with a critical patient, 2. To evaluate the performance of his/her personnel, 3. To be a liaison to other agencies so the ambulance crew(s) can focus on patient care, 4. To establish an EMS Branch at a larger more complex incident or coordinate the activities of more than one EMS unit, 5. As an element of a QI/QA program (reading the PCR after the fact may not adequately convey the scene or patient). "301" definitely understood this and I agree with all the other comments on here that he was an excellent leader and manager - in addition being a great medic! When an ambulance can't get out the door with a complete crew, there is no reason for an officer/supervisor to show up with another vehicle but in real systems there is a definite role for a field supervisor. If the ambulance can't get a full crew the supervisor or officer should probably be doing interviews or working on recruitment and retention instead of "buffing" jobs!

I'm pretty sure you're right - there was definitely an AA Ambulance covering Yonkers in the 80's and their rigs were red and gray. Don't recall an AAA though.

The law in NY gives a police department one year to have a new police officer trained but the overwhelming majority don't do it - as was said in that article there's way too much liability. If they're carrying a gun they must complete a departmental qualification course and training on Article 35 (Penal Law - dealing with the use of force) but that's about it. Jobs will often hire a couple of weeks or even a couple of months before the academy starts but they're not usually allowed on the street. They use that time for in-house training, orientations, etc. It is pretty scary to think that the cop responding to a crime in progress has just a couple of hours of training!