Danger

The other day I was discussing with somebody how perhaps St. Francis in Poughkeepsie should become a Level 1 and Kingston Hospital and/or Vassar Brothers go to Level 2.

Well, that is where I can imagine some confusion. Alamo's GM I guess would be technically 81-1, but it is highly unlikely he'd ever come on as that. More likely you'd hear the Duty Supervisor as 81-9 at a large scale event or 81-89 when acting as a Medic. BVAC's Captain (top rank) is 82-1. A fire and EMS agency, such as East Fishkill or Pleasant Valley would have 39-8 or 56-8 as their EMS chief or rescue captain, respectively. In Arlington or Lagrange, 32-8 and 32-7 and 47-8 are career EMS directors. Our EMS captain is 32-C7 technically, but he's a low profile kinda guy.

I agree, the badge does not make the medic

I disagree. When volunteers show up in Van Halen t-shirts and ripped jeans, they can be the best EMTs in the world, but when the Medic shows up in a uniform, a badge and a monitor, they take him as the word of God...And rightfully so, for looking, being and acting professional.

When towns stop letting nursing homes call commercial agencies direct, they're going to find that Sally Taxpayer isn't going to have an ambulance anymore because it's going to be on it's 10th "minor bleeding from a stent site" call of the day. Another rumor bouncing around the firehouse gossip world is that the person who requested MLSS direct works for MLSS. IMHO it should be your choice to call who you like, especially in this instance, as typically commercial services provide a free transport for employees and besides, who wouldn't want to be taken care of by their brothers.

Interesting. I wonder how would this effect nursing homes, who often call direct for "emergencies".

Hahahaha, Robby Redlights! I know you all miss him up there at City 911!

To expand on what has already been said: 14 Dutchess County Emergency Control 31 Amenia 32 Arlington 33 City of Beacon 34 Beekman 35 Chelsea 36 Dover 37 Dutchess Junction 38 East Clinton 39 East Fishkill 41 Fairview 42 Village of Fishkill Protection Engine 43 Glenham 44 Hillside 45 Hughsonville 46 Hyde Park 47 LaGrange 48 Milan 49 Millbrook 51 Millerton 52 New Hackensack 53 New Hamburg 54 Pawling 55 Pine Plains 56 Pleasant Valley 57 City of Poughkeepsie 58 Red Hook 59 Rhinebeck 61 Rhinecliff 62 Rombout 63 Roosevelt 64 Staatsburg 65 Stanford 66 Tivoli 67 UnionVale 68 Wappingers 69 Wassaic 71 West Clinton 81 - Alamo 82 - Beacon VAC 84 - NDP There are a few others such as IBM Emergency Control (97 I believe) and Castle Point VA (95) 1-6 - Chief Officer 7-8 - EMS Officer 9-10 - Shift Command (Commercial EMS Supervisor, Career Fire Duty Lt.) 11-19 - Engine 21-29 - Engine/Tanker 31-39 is a tanker/tender 41-49 would technically be ladder, but only 45 and 46 tend to get used. 51-59 is rescues. Supposed to be light rescues are low 50s, heavy rescue 55+. 61-69 are utility/specialty vehicles (brush trucks, utilities, mechanics, squads etc...) 70s are BLS Ambulances. The County wants to try a new system where ALS ambulances are 79, 78, 77 etc counting down. Hence Pawling 54-79. 81-89 are Medic Units, either a fly car (Fire or commercial EMS) or on board a Fire Dept. ambulance. I know that East Fishkill 39-81 is a hose truck/pumper, Union Vale 67-81 is Lazy Lay, hose reel truck. 91-99 are specialty "vehicles" Certain 90s are specific positions, including Safety Officer, Fire Prevention Officer, MTO, other duty Lts. I agree that this has to be one of the easier systems around. Anyone can easily surmise what type of apparatus is responding and from which agency.

Uh, we do. SOPs state what constitutes a Code 3 (Lights and Sirens) and what is a Code 1 (cold) repsonse. Calls like CO, pump outs, fluids in the road, minor mulch/outdoor fires with no exposures, etc. go Code 1. Logically, blue lights can only be used on Code 3 alarms.

I'm wholly unfamiliar with Medevac. So there is a 24 hour crew who sits in a station waiting to be called?

What make is that? And thats gotta be PS...

Agreed, I know a few cops who pay for the same reason.

I almost spit out my coffee at the Deli when I saw the big headline "EMTs GONE WILD!!" Things aren't the way they used to be, you just can't get away with this kind of stuff anymore. A black eye for a field that already gets no respect.

I just meant that in all my days of internet buff-ery I hadn't seen a Transcare flycar before.

Hey, our PL Customs are great, and the stair chair is stored in an exterior compartment...

I've been hearing that pretty frequently lately. Although, I never knew Transcare did fly car medics.

Instead of running in to those issues, you need to have dedicated 911 buses. Look at Alamo's Town of Wappinger ambulance vs. Transcare's. The whole point of doing a county wide service, to me, is to stop with the txpt BS and get ambulances in service for sick people paying a lot of taxes. Keep the units on the county system for 911 calls and if a call comes in direct to company dispatch or for some other reason, have a way to deactivate the ambulance. Hopefully by a means of pushing a button rather than clogging up the radio even further.

Sounds like it must have been a rough childhood.

I know Dutchess is doing one.

I feel bad for the people who work there. I have a feeling pretty soon this company will be heading to the "Defunct Agencies" thread.

The idea of the two towns sharing 3 ambulances seems pretty logical. As far as a BLS first response, perhaps the town (provided that they fund the Volunteer Fire Department) should put some pressure on the VFD to get a crew out on scene. Over here in my direction, FDs without ambulances like New Hamburg, New Hackensack and Hughsonville do a fine job of getting a BLS flycar and some often needed manpower on the scene to assist the commercial agency.

Here in Arlington, a few people here and there complain about the fire tax being a little high, but when you see something like this, you realize that it's a small price to pay for a highly trained system with 3 (or 4) BLS ambulances and a minimum of three (and sometimes as many as six) on duty medics. Maybe things like this should be the beginning of a wake up call to commercial EMS and towns alike: no more $125,000 contracts. Start paying enough to support having a pull-for-transport-proof ALS ambulance with a 15 minute backfill capability and start paying EMTs $15/hr. Either that, or start a municipal system. I think it was x635, though I'm not sure, who observed that towns would never contract out the parks or public works department but they'll throw out the health and safety of their citizens for peanuts.

The moral of the story is that this is what happens when you let Eddie Griffin act. His performances were always a trainwreck, now a car wreck also.

Beautiful. I love the ALFs. Best of luck.

I really don't think its that bad at all for a first attempt. I remember spending hours as a kid repainting and striping Road Champs and Matchboxes. Give it another go with the knowledge you have now.