Goose

Glad to see something productive come out of albany these days. Hope that its utilized to the fullest potential and it gets people to slow the hell down....ironic, one of my old partners responded to the Ambrose crash. On a similar note, any word out of albany on paramedics drawing labs for PD on DWIs?

I'm pretty sure that TC NYC 911 employees voted down the union, no? As for unionized EMS...i guess its nice in theory...but there just isn't currently a union, in my opinion, that would be worth whatever i pay in dues. Until i see something serious like the PBA or IAFF/UFA...just don't see it being worth it... Pittsburgh Paramedics have their Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics, Boston EMS seems to be covered by an EMS division of the PBA...these guys seem squared away...i just don't get the same feeling from organizations that exist locally.

I'm not sure how much flexibility dispatchers at fire control are given in westchester, if any. I believe that every department that is dispatched by them submits run and mutual aid assignments, how much politics and flexibility is built in to those directives is anyone's guess. I think thats where our problems lie...instead of just making everyone go to fire control for dispatching and have them determine the closest units.

Sounds like a pretty good way of working things to me.

Agree w/ Ny10570.

love those salary projections

Ironic, seeing how badly the FDNY needs the privates...after all, without them there would be massive holes in the system...

All of these "issues" could have been solved years ago if the county had the authority to mandate everyone go to 60 control dispatching. That would justify modernization of equipment, expansion of capabilities and proper staffing. Having you're own dispatching center just compounds the fragmentation and makes the problem worse in the long run. Westchester just doesn't seem to get it...we are so far behind the 8 ball as compared to the rest of the country (hell, even the tri-state area) it's only a matter of time before all of this blows up in our face...

i think in this respect we could learn something from new york city. However, because of the fractured nature of Westchester's EMS system...its going to ultimately be up to the local agencies (fire and EMS) to figure it out for themselves. now, the FDNY*EMS guys can clarify this, but from my 6 months in NYC they would declare these jobs MCIs and send a BLS bus, ALS bus and a conditions boss. If i'm not mistaken, as additional alarms were called for, additional ambulances were called in - i don't really recall how they determine the ratio of alarms to ambulances, but i do remember it being done pretty well.

Hope it happens. From the EMS side it's invaluable having all that information on a screen at you're fingertips and one of the things i thought NYC did well. On the fire side...i understand it's just as useful. Anyone know how comprehensive the somer/wems MDT system is?

Does 60 have the ability send jobs to an MDT?

Regardless of where you stand on the feasibility of solar ambulances or solar power, it's refreshing to see a progressive, forward moving agency.

Right, the 15 is an oximetry sensor. I think FD828 mentioned it as one tool, in addition to ambient air warning devices, to deal with CO emergencies....having the CO oximetry capability be it via a LP15 or a finger probe is crucial not only for treating patients but treating ourselves and fellow responders (ie: rehab/monitoring of firefighters).

That's a great book. I also recommend dosage calculations made incredibly easy . Other than that, i never came across a software program for drug math. I just spent hours working out problems with paper and pencil. Not sure if this will help you but i always think in terms of a 1000cc IV bag for infusions, made it easier for me to get the concentration of medication per cc. Also check out the PDF i attached, i found it through an EMS continuing education website i frequent...it helped me when i was in school. drugmath.pdf

FD828 is correct, the 15 has CO monitoring. I think you're thinking of capnography. I think someone mentioned earlier, but there are CO monitors that can simply clip on a finger and give you a CO reading on an incorporated LCD display - i just think they are pretty expensive though.

http://www.hvremsco....-%20w-cover.pdf From the Hudson Valley - Westchester Helicopter Committee, spells it all out pretty well i think. Thanks for the edit so that it was added as a pdf attachment helicopter. Something i forgot to mention when i wrote this earlier relates to who can request the aeromedical resource. I remember discussing this when i worked in areas where having a helicopter being put on standby and launched before the first EMS provider on scene was common. The committee states pretty clearly that an ALS provider make the judgement call, if he/she is unavailable or delayed BLS can make the call and if no EMS is available Fire or PD can make the call. That seems pretty straightforward, but lets say the setting is a fly car ALS system with a timely BLS and fire response. Job comes in for an MVA, everyone responds. Fire chief beats everyone (they tend to be the closest and most timely in their own response vehicle) to the scene and calls for AMS. While there is no EMS provider on scene, they are on their way, only a few minutes out. Right move or wrong move? Regional Air Medical Service Guidelines.pdf

I have also heard the same things and have some friends in their program now. I looked over some of their module materials and they appear to be pretty squared away. My only concern for them has been job placement - i really don't know how an online degree stacks up to a classroom one in the eyes of an employer. Personally, i know i really prefer a classroom setting...just seem to learn better that way.

too bad we don't have MDTs liked to 60 control in westchester...maybe one day

So the legal alchohol limit in this state is .08%. The perps postmortum blood work shows .13%. He's intoxicated, period. So the bottom line is, it's highly likely the guy had a few, thought he could drive and got spooked when PD approached his car. If I remember from college, the jocks are on a short leash outside of campus and any sort of run in with the law can lead to NCAA repercussions. Made a really dumb decision by tryin to run and an even dumber decision by not stopping when asked. Sadly, his poor decision making cost him his life.

Bingo. You can only enforce/ensure hours worked at you're respective agency. Every agency i've worked for have had said policies in place, but i've never seen any or heard of any agency busting chops over consecutive hours on duty at multiple agencies. It's just the sad nature of EMS in this area but the bills have to get paid.

Of course it's a staffing issue. It's always been a staffing issue. There simply are more ambulances in this county than 1) we need or 2) there is available staff to fill those buses.

Well put.

hahaha, talk about a serious photo bomb!

is that cheech?

Can someone possibly clarify what exactly the obligations of the mutual aid agreement are? I'm curious to know if an agency (ie: any agency that is signed onto this plan) is obligated to send a bus even if that would leave their primary response area without an ambulance. Stripping one's primary response area - which may be busy already - as some suggest, may have been a concern last night. I think we can all understand that and i think its a fair concern. I know many fire departments have pre existing plans in place for call back of members to staff reserve apparatus, do these departments strip their respective municipalities prior to called back members arriving or is a minimum contingent maintained until reserve apparatus can be staffed? Because i have no first hand knowledge of what occurred, i think this may serve as an interesting talking point. When i worked in dutchess county, one of the things they did extremely well was pre planning. I know this has always been a fire department thing (something that FDs seem to do fairly well, generally speaking) but if i recall properly there were established MCI levels within the county. Every level dictated the number of ALS & BLS and where they were coming from. Naturally as you went up in incident severity more resources were sent but always sent in and rearranged in such a way that no one particular area was left without ambulance to respond on normal call volume. It seems like establishing something similar to the dutchess system would avoid refusals and confusion in the future. Either way, glad to see everyone was safe and got treated but sad to see something like these become an issue...