roeems87

City of Yonkers Structure Fire 6/9/05 Date: 6/9/05 Time: approx 1500 Location: 39 Beaumont Circle (not 100% on number, at the corner of Roxbury Drive) Frequency: 484.7125 Units Operating: Engines 314, 311, 310, 307; Ladder 70, TL75; Rescue 1, Batt. 2. Additionally, Car 6, Safety batt, and Fire Investigation were on the scene. Description Of Incident: Small Structure fire on the ground level apartment, extinguished approximately 5-8 minutes later, before final units arrived on scene. Building is a 2 story OMD. Unknown how the fire began at this time. Also, Yonkers running other alarms and incidents (a bunch of 10-45s and a 10-87-elevator at the same time). Writer: roeems87 1500- Units above dispacted to possible 10-29 1502- 314, 70, 10-84, confirming 10-29. 1505- B2, 10-84, 10-29, checking 1506- B2 requests the Rescue 10-8 from this scene. 1508- B2 confirms fire is out, checking for extension (Units beginning to overhaul and clear) 1518- B2, 10-19 with L70, all others 10-8, final signal 10-29

The above is right, the simulcasting is done with just the voice dispatch, the tones are over the VHF. Just to clairfy everything in one post, Eastchester dispatch (fire and EMS) is done over the VHF frequency 154.34. Our operations are done over the UHF 453.675. Usually when there is a fire situation with the need for lots of people talking on fireground, the radios are switched to a talk-around on the UHF, so depending on where you are (mostly everywhere), you won't hear the fireground on an Eastchester Fire scene. The only people that will remain on the regular repeater UHF are the captains, chiefs, and EMS. Just to answer a question that was posed before about hearing Eastchester on different frequencies sometimes, often (due to our borders) we are sent with other agencies to parkway jobs. So if there is something with a multi-agency response (examples: Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle, Scarsdale), 60 will patch the freqencies together so that we can talk to eachother. Often times, they will dispatch them together as well, so you will hear a set of tones for all the agencies, then the dispatch for everyone at the same time. So if you are hearing Eastchester on other frequencies, that may be the case...

I noticed this a little while ago when people were suggesting the food thread that there was a thought that perhaps the forums were becoming too specific and often there are too many of them (to surf, to decide which to post your given topic in, etc.). I am wondering if anyone thought it is a good idea to condense some of them. An example: condense all the events/training into one forum called "Events and Training." The aparatus forums could probably be condensed too, and maybe even some of the other ones. Just an idea. Wonder what everyone else thinks...

I'm not exactly the expert on this stuff (far from it), but aren't all of Yonkers PD communications on digital radio? You shouldn't be getting overlap with county frequencies because they aren't digital. Not sure though...

Taking pictures in any MTA or Port Authority building, facility, station, anything is no allowed at all. The police will take whatever they need to feel comfortable that you were just doing that too. There are signs everywhere. I see people in Grand Central get in trouble all the time.

I just want to point out a little fact in the protocol. The time frame as the protocol stands now (for BLS, and note this has been changed in the last few years) is within TWO (2) hours of KNOWN onset of symptoms, you take to the nearest APPROPRIATE FACILITY. That does not mean the closest. Doctors will tell you (those involved in EMS and the protocols, if you have been to any of these conferences) that if you are within the window where getting tPA in less than 3 hours is possible, you should get them to that hospital as soon as possible. If that means traveling to NYC, and it's possible for you, then it's the best option for the patient. It sounds a little abstract because that's not the common practice, but maybe it should be. Time (as in minutes) is not really the issue here. Time (as in hours) is more important, and getting to the appropriate facility, for the best treatment is 100% necessary. On a side note, making stroke centers, like we have trauma centers is just a great idea. It's making a specialized facility for a specific medical issue available. Just like if trauma is too serious or not serious enough, you go to the closest hospital, stroke centers would be the same way. It's a good dynamic to have.

Anyone know of any CPR instructor courses being done sometime in the near future?

Thanks for the help everybody. If anyone has anything further please also post. I sent a few PMs to people who posted here, so please check and reply if you could. Thanks!

Depends on what you will be using it for. If you will be staying with the same agency, then you might want to go through them and ask them to get you one (offer to pay) with their name, and that it says EMT and your number on it. However, if you may not be in the same place all the time, maybe you want to get a more generic, NYS EMT one. I have a gold detective style (gold, looks like the sun on top--that's the best way to describe it--and the number on the bottom) badge like that. It has the NYS seal in the middle and says Emergency Medical Technician around the outside. My number is on the bottom. Some people would suggest that you shouldn't have gold unless you are an officer within an agency, but most people I know that have badges have this style. Take into consideration whatever other "bling bling" you have for your nice uniform. If it's gold, then go with the gold badge, if they are silver, go with silver. You might find yourself ordering more than just the badge if things don't match. Also, when going to order it (there are a few stores) be sure to have your EMT card with you and your driver's license. If you want to order from a company directly, they will most likely tell you that you need to go through the people you work for, otherwise they can't do it. They usually only work with clients that are agencies. Brother's (The Police Store) or that place in Armonk (I forget the name) are two places where you can order them from. They will ask to see ID and proof that you are the level of certification that you are ordering the badge for. You can also use a company like galls, but the selection is much less, but if you like something go for it. You can order those online or by phone/fax, but you have to send in an order form with proof of certification and ID as well. Hope that helps...

The way it is taught is so that good can be done regardless of the level of training. I agree with the changes in the non-professional rescuer CPR because of the way people react in a situation like that. Have you ever walked into a scene where someone is doing CPR (who has never done or seen it before) on someone who just collapsed in front of them. Two instances I can just throw out of examples show both ends of the spectrum. In both cases, the person doing it was scared to death. Maybe not scared, but certainly quite nervous, upset, whatever. In the first instance, the person doing CPR was indeed doing it in the right scenario, however not correctly (i.e. ratios were all off, the head wasn't tilted back enough). That said, the person was doing compressions and doing that correctly. That seems to be the skill most people can get down...partially because it's the only one that Rescue-Anne can adequately help you with. The head is 40 times the weight of the little plastic maniquin and that skill is something that not many people could ever get right their first time (and probably their only time, God-willing). The compressions he was doing I am sure were helping, but the time he wasted trying to get the breaths going, wasn't helping, and in the end, didn't result in any meaningful oxygen help anyway. The second scenario was someone who was doing CPR on somebody with a pulse...a slow one, but not a faint one--somsone who was partially conscious the whole time. This is not going to prove my point about doing compressions and no breaths (NOTE: I am not the advocate for this new type of CPR, just playing it's reasons.); however, it goes to show that the lay rescuer, when thrown into this situation of having to help is not always (if ever) calm enough to think through what they are doing. You would probably agree that most EMS training (at least CPR for example) is taught so that little thinking is really necessary--i.e. you see something, you treat that. The person is not breathing--rescue breathing; no pulse--CPR. For someone who sees situations like this rarely if ever, I truly do believe that teaching the skill as simply as possible to do the most good until help gets there (as long a hypothetical time as you can imagine) is the best idea. A couple things about your scenario, Wolf. First, imagine the state of mind of the wife and son of your man in cardiac arrest in the middle of the night. Go beyond that, imagine the state of mind of anyone calling 911 because they have someone in front of them in cardiac arrest, no less, a relative. If you can picture how that person is going to be, no matter how many times you reassure them and ease them to calm down, their ability to think straight and follow all your directions (or remember the directions they learned up to a year--or even many years--ago) is limited. To expect them (in that state of mind) to be able to complete a set of skills difficult for the un-practiced person without hampered judgement and emotions, is really tough--and reasonably so. That's why I believe "dumbing down" (for lack of a better phrase) the curriculum of community or heart-saver CPR is not a bad idea. Please also be aware that if this change applies to the professional level, I disagree. Those of us in the medical and emergency response fields should be expected to handle the skills because we would (theoretically for some) see this situation over and over again. The second point I would like to make about the hypothetical situation posed is that if that man has no pulse and no breathing for a 20 minute (minimum) response time he is dead regardless of how much CPR you did and how well you performed it. If a miracle happens and you are lucky enough to still have a shockable rhythm (or you drug him/her, or you pace, what have you) and you get the person back, they are going to be brain dead, or significantly brain damaged after 20 minutes regardless of how well you performed CPR. CPR will not get someone back, we all know that, it does an small part in keeping profusion throughout the body while it's not working for itself. More than the breaths and CPR itself, the most important part of your situation was the lack of a responding PD car or FD engine. Getting an AED (or more advanced care--than the lay rescuer) to the scene is the only thing that is going to save that person's life.

Two things on the issue: The first I may be incorrect about, so please correct me if I am wrong, but just like many other CPR changes, the changes are only for NON-RESCUER CPR. Just like the NON-RESCUER (community, heart saver, what have you) changes made with the unconscious choking protocol stating chest compressions instead of abdominal thrusts. The changes that are being proposed are not for professional rescuers, only for people who would not be called upon to do CPR all that often. The rationale is simple, they can't screw up as much. The reason they teach chest compressions for choking now to the non-rescuer is so that it is the same technique and skill for everything they need to do for an unconscious person. The thought is that they can't hurt the person, both are perhaps (in theory) effective and there is less room for error for someone who may be acting as the good samaritan. They have dumbed it down for everyone's good. That would be my assumption on this reason for changing things without the breaths. There is a physiology issue to this though, that I would like to bring up. That's my second comment. From what I have heard about this, there is no problem with eliminating the breaths. Though the breathing provides additional oxygen and oxygenated blood (WHEN PERFORMED CORRECTLY--which may be difficult for a non-rescuer who does not do this all that often or at all, not someone who does it on a regular basis), there is no significant loss without it though. What I have learned about this is that there is enough oxygen in the blood that is already there that will be enough sustenance until more advanced care can be provided. The circulation and profusion of that blood (with the oxygen it has) is more important than adding more oxygen to it. This is the rationale, primarily I would assume, behind removing the breathing steps. Note, this change doesn't remove the rescue-breathing protocol (pulse, no breathing--need to keep the pulse, by keeping breaths going), just rescue breaths from the CPR protocol (no pulse, no breathing). Recall that CPR will not result in the spontaneous return of circulation (i.e. doing CPR will not get you a pulse). Thus, just as important as the oxygen is, the supplies to restart the heart in the first place are much more important. The need for oxygen is real, obviously, but the need for more advanced care is needed more than any additional oxygen is going to provide during non-rescuer CPR. I would venture to assume this doctor has proven that the oxygen intake is not much greater with the breathing part of CPR instated as with lacking it. Thus, similar to previous changes, I think it dumbs it down to the essential steps until better and more advanced care can get there.

Sorry, I didn't intend to be snippy... re-reading my post, I can definitely see how that would have come across. I was typing a stream of consciousness. Sorry about that CAM... Secondly, I went on talking about Empress because I thought that was what we were talking about for the most part in the post in the "BLS Fly-car" thread. Pudge, I guess, summed it all up then. As for that other company you reference, I dunno what it's called either. I haven't seen anything other than Empress and Emergicare (sp? still not sure). It could be another company that Empress owns as you suggested.

For example........???? The only other company I can think of is Emergicare (or however it's spelled) but that's the same company. Only other examples could possibly be that transports are being done by people calling for transports from other companies--e.g. Metrocare/Transcare or Westchester EMS. Other than that, what other companies are you talking about? What other ambulance services?

On this website there are aparatus lists. I am not sure how the engines and ladders got there numbers, but as for the supervisor cars, they are all based on their assigned numbers as stated above. Every FD has a 3 digit ID number, then 1-9 of whatever they would like to define each car. Besides that, EMS agencies all start with a two digit number. What's odd is that they are defined as 4 digits though. For example, Eastchester EMS is Dept. 5700, our vehicles are 57B1, B2, B4, M1, then all the officers start with 11-19 (5711, 5712, and so on). In some places the members have their own identifiers starting at 5720, 5721, blah blah blah. Those numbers all start at 50 and move up alphabetically in a list. The only numbers less than 50 seem to be the paid servies, i.e. Empress, Metrocare/Transcare, New Rochelle, Westchester Medics, Yorktown Medics (Empress), etc. So that's what I know about it, not much really.

I wouldn't know for sure, but unless the feces is really hitting the propeller (think about it for a minute if you have to), I don't think Empress for example would ever request mutual aid. They would have a patient wait longer if they had to. I know I have heard of many things where perhaps they don't have an ALS bus available, but they do have a TAC bus in service, they can send something that may be "chest pain" and might very well be an MI, BLS just to get an ambulance there and transporting, perhaps that's not really that bad an idea when ALS in the area is extended (even if it were coming mutual aid, it may still take more time). Besides that though, the reason I think, even beyond the money aspect--though the two are definitely and inseparably linked--is they want to maintain the contract. If Empress began requesting M/A during busy times in Yonkers, all another company has to do is prove to the City of Yonkers they can handle the volume better at the same cost or even better and they have the contract. The issue here, to be frank, is not primarily patient care in the personal sense; it's really patient care in the broader sense of providing the service as best as possible to the most amount of people. If that means the bus which is being used much more on the west side of Yonkers takes 15 minutes longer to get to Pelham for the ankle injury, than so be it. If it means an MI in Pelham, that might raise a few eyebrows, but the same logic stands: greatest good for the greatest amount. It's the best policy to run these types of organizations, especially with the volume many of them handle. HOWEVER: take New Rochelle for example. 30A1 and 30A2 get flooded on many an occassion. Two buses to cover that entire city are limited at best. There are times where I have come form Eastchester and run 2-3 jobs in a row in New Rochelle. We don't have as much a problem where we can have a second crew ok for our district, but NR never hesitates for M/A. They are run by Sound Shore/Transcare if I'm not mistaken, I don't know the full story there, but they seem to have an often different policy on this. Part of that is also that they are dispatched out of 60-Control, following a certain degree of County-Wide M/A policies as well. Either scenario works to provide a service as best as possible. It could be said that New Rochelle has a better ability to get M/A with the surrounding communities, Yonkers is kind of on it's own bordering the river, so it's a little harder that way, but the policies of the differing companies running them also seem to be different.

Yeah, to be perfectly honest, when I was making my post I wasn't even considering the smaller scale decon stuff like spills (small) and MVAs with chemicals and stuff. I was thinking more on the large scale, things we have to "be prepared" for because we "never know" what is coming next or where that will be. Along those lines, that is why I would venture a suggestion that this would be a Decontamination team, or the hospital should have a terrorism or MCI team that would go into effect when it became necessary. Having the local FDs responsible for it could be a problem if they are tied up already. That logic also works on the small scale though. VFD and other Pleasantville FDs are not exactly big with multiple apparatus that can be operating many calls at once by themselves. If they are already committed to the incident itself (whether just a car accident or a small spill, or the terrorist incident), they cannot divert themselves to prepare the hospital. God knows the hospital is the last thing on the mind of FD (and it probably should be) when there is any kind of incident. The closest thing to worrying about healthcare for them is EMS. Unfortunately, they are the ones that have to worry when it comes time to get to the ER about what may or may not be ready for them. Granted, perhaps some decon may already be done when something is a hot zone on a scene, but the issue still stands that some outside team should be ready to prepare WMC outside of just the FD. For all I know, there could already be a plan like this in effect, but it's another small step to getting prepared for whatever the hospital may face. Having the capabilities to handle all types of illnesses, injuries, and situations are what makes a hospital a good hospital. It's what puts them on the map. Westchester should be able to be ready for this kind of stuff in the best way possible...

I'd like to know who was responsible for planning this entire project with the new building, the new ED, the new helicopter pad, etc etc etc. The campus is huge, there is no shortage of room, there is no shortage of ability to organize things. To top it off, it's the biggest, central hospital in Westchester County, building new facilities should simply be the best and easiest and most modern possible. It really is a piss-poor job of planning and execution for the key hospital in the area. Am I wrong or are there just too many things wrong with this whole thing, from money to absolute horrible layout and organization.

Be careful not to infer that the doctors aren't taking a hit with the loss of money up there. That hospital is going out of business in the near future, that is a reality, unless a serious amount of money pumped in, and the nurses are not the only ones suffering. Granted they are, and for the most part, nurses are the backbone of hospital staffs, but doctors are losing out too, as are secondary staff (i.e. everyone other than the medical staff) and techs and stuff like that. If you need an example of the doctors being screwed, take a look at the ER and what's going on down there. What, did 6 of them have to leave? I know Haydock is running WPER now, and I saw at least two other WMC doctors there doing shifts, but I think at least 6-7 of them left... The hospital has lots of financial problems, no one said the bump in the road was the largest of them. It was put here because it is a concern to EMS when they are bringing in patients. Last time I checked, the person boarded and collared after crashing into a tree at 70mph could care less about the financial crisis, and cares a whole lot more about the huge bump--and sharp pains--he just got unnecessarily as his ambulance pulls into the ED. Whatever the issue, HazMat, bumps, nurses' salaries, ER docs, the hospital needs to solve the problems. If it is to function as the Level 1, premier hospital in Westchester County, it needs to be the best. It's far from that, and unfortunately, very inadequately prepared for many situations, some of which could be very bad: from terrorism to having no nurses on staff for an overnight in the ICU. True, the bump hardly seems an issue, but it is one of many that show the lack of impressiveness that a hospital such as Westchester should have.

Yeah, that's not going anywhere, that's not the real helipad. The real helipad is on the other side of the parking lot, adjacent to where the ER ambulance entrance is. The older looking helicopter is not in operation, it's just display to look cool at the level 1 trauma center with the real helicopters. The helicopters right now--from what I understand--are still operating from the old helipad near the old ER entrance... Not sure about that though, someone who goes up there more often might be able to confirm.

From what I hear, they are still in the process of putting up more permanent signs for the trauma center, helipad, new hospital, and various other moved departments and parking lots. For now (and an absurd amout of months) we still get those temporary red signs that say "EMERGENCY" and expect that you know how to get to that sign in the first place. In any event, drive towards the new building, then the big helicopter (the one not going anywhere) and you are at least in the right ball park.

That's fine that you are a part of it, but suppose the incident was in your district to begin with, you won't be able to assist with the containment and set-up with the hospitals, I am sure your resources will already be stretched at the scene itself. The hospital needs a more comprehensive, wide-spread, and county plan in place for such an incident. Don't kid yourself, WMC is the first Level1 Trauma Center outside of NYC, something big happens, they will get patients. Something big could happen anywhere in the Hudson Valley, nearby CT, and parts of NYC and Westchester MC will get an overflow of patients involved that may need decon. This is a serious issue. When constructing an entirely new department, of this hospitals caliber, in this day and age, the lack of any set up for this more extensive that rubbermaid containers from Home Depot is not acceptable. Something needs to be put in place, larger, more organized, and everyone needs to know how it works. We never know when it may be used: it could be tomorrow, it could be an hour from now, it could be 5 years from now, it could be never. In any case, these improvements need to be made NOW.

Most rides to the hospital where I am tend to be no lights. Even if it is an ALS call, many medics will know the patient is stable and there is no need to haul "rear end" to get to the hospital three minutes quicker. Like Pudge said, I'll use them on the parkways. In addition to that, when we're looking for a quick turnaround (another call to follow) or the patient is in a lot of pain (still BLS) I would use lights to get there a little bit quicker. Otherwise, no reason to rush or to alert people around you that anything is the matter.

I'd like to disagree. I think White Plains is one of the most professional EDs around. As unhappy as the nurse may be to see your patient (whether critical or BS) they are 99.9% of the time on the ball. They ask you what you have (or which phone call you were) as you come through the door and walk towards them, and they are never one to make you sit and wait. WPER has been quite busy since United closed and they were always a busy ER. When they say they are on diversion, you try 100% to respect that, because they must be overflowing like all hell and have zero beds upstairs. Any time you go in there, they are busy, but they still find a place to put your patient within a few minutes. At other hospitals (like for example that thing in Bronxville, no names of course), you could stand there for 20 minutes before you even get acknowledged by someone to triage your patient. And after that, you always get "well you're going to have to wait" and stand there for over a half hour to get a bed. 9/10 I am done with paperwork and still have to wait to get a bed. After that, you look at the inservice time and it's 45 minutes after you got to the hospital, that's unacceptable. That never happens at White Plains. They are a good ER. On a side note, they never complain about restocking the ambulance either... Can't wait for the 2 floor ER, should be great.

While you may be right, that may be difficult, I don't think it's a hard arguement to make that he didn't do his job. He may have dispatched some units promptly, but his job is two-fold... The caller and the dispatching. You can't tell me he did his job fully and to the best of his ability, if he did, this wouldn't be an issue. The way he handled his job was unacceptable, and therefore, he didn't do it. Besides that, what about other important questions, getting information on the injuries, the exact location of the accident, other people involved, giving EMD or other instructions over the phone, if he just said "help will get there," and hung up, he couldn't have done that... End rant...

I think I have a few things to say about this one. First of all, how in God's name could that not have an effect on the response time to that scene. If they got units rolling on the first 911 call instead of taking 3, or perhaps if the dispatcher provided some help over the phone (i.e. EMD or just something to do) before a different dispatcher answered the 3rd call. I don't know the original condition of the guy, obviously it wasn't good, but I can't help but imagine that perhaps things could have been different if that 5 minutes or dispatcher could have made the difference. Secondly that guy should be ashamed of himself. To lose just 15 days pay is absolutely not enough punishment for someone who is (in my opinion) a disgrace to people who call themselves public servants. He's a police officer for God's sake. I don't care how many motorcycle accidents he's seen or 911 calls he's answered that are all the same (and indeed could probably be prevented), but you check your feelings at the door--all the time, with any kind of emergency services. It's the only way to get through a tour where the "stuff" hits the fan and you absolutely cannot spend time thinking about it. For him, perhaps if he left his feelings (being angry, depressed, having a bad day, or whatever) at the door, that kid would have been alive, or the kid who called would know that the help he called did everything he could in that situation to help and save his friend. If for whatever reason he was not capable of doing his job to the best of his ability, you've got to do something about that. That person cannot be answering 911 calls. He didn't answer the phone once and do it, he did it twice. Which leads me to believe he did it before and after that call as well. Suppose that guy didn't call the third time and his friend died on the scene because help took too long to get there--even if he would have died anyway. Doesn't this cop have a conscience? You have to believe that people calling 911 are in no state of mind to deal with someone who is repulsive and not helpful, they need all the help that they can get. He failed in his job as a 911 call-taker, a 911 dispatcher, a police officer, and (as drastic as this sounds) a person. You can't do this type of job if you don't have the heart and mind for it. You have to be able to see, care for, and help people at their worst--all the time, no matter what is going on in your life. For whatever period it takes--your shift, your call, whatever--the only person it's not about is you. He failed at that.