mikeinet

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.c...e-lives-on.html Watch the video... talk about some insane training! Paramedic training blindfolded!

http://wwnytv.net/72k/full-story.asp?uid=1...&area=home+page

http://www.malvernefd.com/home.html

did you get summoned or get the 'survey' to fill out?

just read this in NYT and was about to post it... step ahead! I thought it was a well written article - nice to see something like this hit the newspaper once in a while.

... probably be more of a scrape off in this situtation

152mph in yorktown near all that construction?? youuuu'reeee asskinnnggg for it if you dare that

maybe i'm missing something... but when did scanct take off channel 4? I was listening to it yesturday - - they also have under 'system update' that channel 4 should be operating better now?

I see this in a lot of construction zones... my question is who actually pays attention to them? Do people actually turn off their cell phones for a quarter mile of road???

was on tonight... anybody catch it? I could only watch from the middle... i wont lie - i was pretty lost as to what's going on and it was the first episode. Maybe I missed a lot in the first half.

No offense... but vol. fire depts are the exact same way... firefighters have gear to cover the jeans and tshirt :0) How often do you see a chief walking around in plain clothes at a 'lesser' fire call... or even in some sort of dept identifier (ie: polo...tshirt)... I absolutly agree.... but its public perception - EMS crews are smaller and yes you might have a jr or non-essential person running around during a call - but FDs are the same way, but FDs have bigger apparatus that present a different perception that it 'needs more people' and therefore its' ok for people to be running around.

I just got called for jury duty too... while it'd be fun n' all.. not sure if I can lose the time from work/everything else in life. be interesting to see if the vf or ems thing works.

That's interesting... Bravo level calls are generally non-life threatning... what was the reason to go with a medic on these? Up in onondaga we generally send bravo's as a priority 2 (code3 response, BLS only on dispatch)

Speaking from a basic level... In this senario, I'd wait it out - 5min vs 15min... flycar is your closest ALS facility. But, lets say the medic was 10min out and hospital is 15min out... medic gets on scene, gathers his/her equipment... gets to the pt... gets your report, begins to do their eval... begins to do their ALS interventions... how much time has passed? Was it worth the wait where you'll have to transport (15min eta to hospital) and then transfer care again... Where's the point where it's best to get the pt in their "final care provider" (hospital) and let them do the interventions and just take over? I know medics will always say ALS EMS interventions are just as good as hospital interventions... not debating that I know they are - but I feel there is a somewhat bias. At a hospital, you can do all you can as a medic, and much more. If you need a cat scan, you've got it - need an xray, just around the corner... It's one of those split second decisions depending the case IMHO. If you can be sure the patient won't flatline on you in the time it takes for the medic to get there (say in the severe asthma case) then wait up... but if you've got a pt that can't be shocked with the AED, waiting 5min for the medic, then having a 15min transport ahead of you... you need to look and really think the odds of getting that pt out of vib and whether its best to wait an extra 5min for the medic or just start for the hospital and pray the medic can catch up to you. You're pt is brain dead after a few minutes without air... think about what would be best for your pt knowing that every second counts. It's a tough call either way you look at it... really depends the situation and the circumstances. . . . What about traffic? Is it rush hour that you have to fight?? Much to consider. Don't forget too... if you're sitting there waiting for ALS... as a basic you can retake vitals... be doing CPR (if applicable)... giving o2... what else? Not much. Think about the pt's family sitting over your shoulder with them in arrest... screaming at you "why are you just sitting here?" - you're going to lose a lot of credibility with the family if they don't get the sense you're doing anything. . . . 'arn't you going to do something????' - then when your call goes to court and the family throws neglect... haaaaaaa, oh boy.

YEAH, WHEN YOUR HOUSE BURNS DOWN FASTER!! We're not talking about building a new McDonalds... GEESH.

It's all taken for granted. Look in any wealthy community (ok, that's bias, any community period)... you can be going lights and sirens and people wont give a hoot, they wont pull over. Why? Because they don't see a need to, they don't care... we're just a**holes driving around for the fun of it, right? BUT, If it's THEM that need the ambulance or fire dept... you better be breaking every damn law getting to the call or else you're going to be hearing from their lawyer. It's all taken for granted - the public has no idea what it's like to volunteer at an ambulance agency or fire dept... oh, go in and spend 20min, cool! How about spend 4 hours at a fire and be late to work... nah, that never happens. People are naive, it's the way society is unfortunately. And as said, until people realize how valuable what they have is... nothing will ever change. How to make this happen? That's really the question... education is the key as said, but how? Flyers are thrown in the mail all the time for donations, do half the people even open the envelope when they see who it's from? Also, for whatever reason, EMS is always looked down upon in comparison to a hospital. Pre-hospital care can make or break your life in many situations... but many people just think it's a meat wagon to get you to the hospital quicker, unless you're involved, you have no idea. It's sad really. Maybe one day it'll change.

this whole situation is really interesting. I'm somewhat amazed by the price tag for 1 24hr paramedic... wonder what a further cost break down would look like for that type of figure... not saying it's off, just personally curious. 21 minutes is rather insane for a paramedic response... for a place like New Castle... NWMC is all of 20min tops to the farthest areas responding to the hospital... heak, WMC is 20min from certain locations. When you need ALS, you use the closest resource... the system's is designed so that the paramedic's the closest, but EMTs should not be sitting at a scene waiting for a medic that's 20min away when a hospital may be 10min away... start for the hospital, if the medic can meet you half way, good... if not, get your butt to the hospital. If new castle is to get their own fly car, obviously Westchester EMS's response time will go down since they don't have to respond to Westchester. The question is though... is having a paramedic closer by a better option - or is changing protocols and doing things such as getting to a hospital faster the first step? Is your call a "stay and play" or a "load and go" call???? If your pt is unstable and you know als is far out... get them to a point where you can get them on a stretcher, and go. Don't do your evaluation in the pt's home if you can get them into your rig, get them in the bus and start your driver driving while you do your assessment. Either way - I’m not for or against this... I just think a lot of issues are to be raised that might not be looked into because it's new castle (nothing against new castle) and the money's in the budget and can be spent if it needs to be.

I really didn't think it was that hard... (no I didn't get 100% either) - the main thing I'd say to concentrate on is CPR - know your ratios, steps to follow, what comes before what... but id say that's a majority of the test (not like 80% but you know) and just go through your book and if there's questions in your book.

Date: Feb 03, 2006 Time: Approx 1100 Location: Phillips Hairstyling Institute, 709 E Genesee St, Syracuse NY Frequency: multiple Units Operating: Syracuse FD, Syracuse PD, Rural/Metro, Syracuse University Ambulance, Waves Ambulance, other mutual aid (?) Description Of Incident: Gas Boiler leaked gas throughout school's heating system - multiple pts reporting symptoms - 37 pts transported (22 w/ minor symptoms via syracuse city bus to University Hospital -- 15pts w/ serious symptoms via ambulance). Rural/Metro MCI trailer activated Writer: mikeinet

Congrats, good work! You'll notice in the college environment when you do things "in the open" that are noticed by a lot of people as you did.. you'll quickly gain respect and people will be like "oh wow, we need them!" - This is exactly what you needed! *NOW* you have background to go to administrators, student union, etc. and ask for funding and support - cite this as evidance. Was there a newspaper article written? (School newspaper?) KEEP THIS! See if you can get evidance for that 40min response... this is all stuff to build your case to get you guys more support. Once you have the support - run with it! Trust me! Good job and congrats!

Radnor: The hotel was quite a good time last year... all i can say, well, remember

I went last year... I have to say the weekend was a blast, but the actual conferences were kinda dull - the main events were very cool though... but the breakout conferences were disappointing.

I have to agree with mfc and most of the other people here - we're all on the same team! whether i'm a firefighter on a parkway trying to cut someone out of a car... or if I'm the EMT waiting for the FD to cut my pt out of the car... we are all o n - t h e - s a m e - t e a m! With regard to call volume: it depends your area. Look at OVAC for example... where I ride up at school (Syracuse University) we cover *just* the university and surrounding area and we do ~1,500 calls a year... I'd hardly say we have a 1mile district. All ambulance work is 100% volunteer - we have crews in quarters 1700-0800 and pagers otherwise... many times we have a rig on the road less than 1 minute after the call is taken, but during the day sometimes its hard...so we have our full time supervisor take the calls if nobody's around - we found a problem, and made a solution. With regard to the paid - I do agree that if a town's VAC cannot serve its community the way it should (decent response time - 3-4min on life threatening critical calls - more for the general illness I have the flu) then a paid solution needs to be found as its' the only way to provide proper care... this isn't saying a town isn't good and needs to pay someone - its' saying the dynamics of an area don't allow for a fully volunteer service... that's the way most of Westchester is - a lot of 8-5 jobs, many in NYC, commuters, people who can't sit around all day and ride the bus back and forth between the hospital. There's NOTHING wrong in my opinion getting a paid EMT during the day and then being vol. at night... if that's what you have to do in order to provide proper patient care - DO IT. If your district is too wide-spread and it takes 10min for a crew member to get to the station, have them sleep in quarters! Do what you have to do to provide proper care! We're not here to argue paid or not paid is better, can save more lives, can perform better procedures... we're here to HELP PATIENTS. When someone calls 911 - we're there to help them; We all carry the exact same card as has been stated. When the 911 system finally comes together to realize this, the world will change. Back to Syracuse... we work very closely with Rural/Metro (Paid City Service) - they are our ALS provider, and we drop calls to them when we don't have an available rig, or are unable to staff a rig. We all know each other, work well together (well, for the most part lol) and can trust one another during a rough call. Few months ago did a full arrest, paramedic from the city jumped on my rig, he jumped in doing his stuff, had me assist when necessary with ALS interventions... there was never a quarrel about "he's paid, he's done this more" - it was straight "we're all here to help this guy" - he trusted me that I knew what I was doing with regard to the care I was proving and wasn't staring over my shoulder the whole time - he did what he had to do - - THAT IS WHAT EMS IS ABOUT... not "i've done this more, get away and let me do it." Wake up everybody! Nobody goes through EMT class to "suck at what they do" - nobody wakes up at 2am to run to the ambulance to save someone's life because "they don't have anything better to do" - anywhere you go, an emergency services worker has a pride and dedication to their job (paid or unpaid) - its this that makes the difference, not the pay check at the end of the day. anyway, i'm ranting and done.