Goose

I think you mean North Carolina, and that would be Wake County EMS. Also, good point that this wont save more lives...but for those we get back we may not be looking at survival only to be a veggie at the local nursing home but survival to the point where one can lead a relatively normal life.

I don't think it's a bad thing, but does anyone really pay much attention to it? I didn't even know it existed, let alone that i had a -2 rating lol.

Always had to do orientation tours of various lengths with an FTO. FTO would report back to a shift commander or Lt. Most places i've worked have generated paperwork about FTO tours, as well. Also, a few places i worked, the bosses would pop in on jobs give us a hand and then generate a field performance evaluation and review it with the reviewed employee at some point during the tour.

You do realize that the only thing that got this country out of the great depression was World War II. Much of the New Deal was ineffective...

Exactly. And the government cant even run the current social welfare programs properly. The only refreshing part of this bill is that many of the democrats just put a bullet in any hope of re-election in November (besides, this is all cyclical...midterm party majorities always flip flop).

JJB531 said that aspirin was not indicated in the first case and that oral glucose was not indicated in the second case...so i'm not really sure where you are going with the above.

JJB - any money that a program receives CICs / CLIs don't see any of it directly in the form a bonus or that sort. It goes to fund the program....at least i've never gotten a check of that sort. And yes, generally, instructor staff is an hourly position w/ a CIC as a staff/faculty position depending on the institution.

There was an all hands in brooklyn around 4 something and then shortly after that an all hands in the bronx...the tones from the notifications woke me up in the bus. Didn't hear anything about any members injured however, speedy recovery to the members hurt.

According to JEMS and PhillyFireNews.com a Pennsylvania Paramedic who responded to an EDP run was stabbed by the apparently suicidal patient and died at the hospital due to the injuries. Details are few and the name of the paramedic is being withheld at the moment, though we do know he/she worked for Bensalem EMS. Other than that, nothing else to report as of now. RIP to the member who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that others may live.

Yeah, yeah, i know...i know nothing. All the time i spent working in the city of poughkeepsie, dutchess and ulster counties are worthless. I'm going to go hang my head in shame because what i have to say from first hand experience in the field means nothing. If you wan't to call reality on the ground mud-slinging so be it. The city's loss, heart goes out to my former city EMS providers.

Can't say i agree. Bunch of good, seasoned, City providers will be moving on with this change. As a side bar MLSS has wanted this contract forever....we hated it when they opened up their station in the city limits and would consistently buff 911 jobs. I remember on occasion where a City FD Captain reamed the MLSS crew out for their buffing efforts. Obviously my loyalty lies with the Alamo holdovers (now TC) and it upsets me that they will either have to move on or go through another change of shirts...those that regularly work out of the city are loyal, dedicated, enthusiastic and have great working relationships with FD and PD. It's going to take time for things to re-formulated. Oh well, such is par for the course in Dutchess county

Sounds to me like Pittsburgh EMS did all it could...i think the issues lie with the county 911 center/EOC, the same dispatch center was involved in what led to 3 PD LODDs when they forgot to tell responding officers there were guns in the home...

I'm not sure that BEMS has the resources to enforce anything more than it enforces today. While it would be nice if the state took a larger role in oversight, it's probably wishful thinking given whats going on up in albany. ems-buff, i think you are referring to a CON

I guess you are going to have to accept it, because i made it, i stand by it and i believe that it would happen if there is a disaster. This isn't my illusion either - i've worked a number of systems and have friends and acquaintances who work across the county in varying provider capacities - AND they all have the same feelings. Forget me for a second and look at some of the comments here from some highly respect forum members, they have essentially verified my concerns (albeit a bit less bluntly). I never asserted we were a system living in the stone age, or we haven't made improvements over the years. My assertion is that we are not up to snuff today. It is 2010 and one (1) ambulance call taxes most EMS systems in this County. I acknowledged there were areas that are very well covered, but again, those are local solutions and when you look at the big picture we are still behind the 8 ball. Here are just a couple of fundamental issues this county has yet to hash out (which will be critical in a disaster senerio) 1) There is no centralized dispatch (while the new radio system has helped, there is still MUCH ground to cover) 2) There exists no response-time goal for life threatening emergencies (it is my belief that this is something that should be established and enforced at the county level) 3) There exist no economies of scale across the EMS system, in other words we have an over abundance of ambulances and not enough available providers to ever staff all of them ( i think there are something like 150 ambulances in Westchester compared to Pinellas County, Fl which has a similar population and operates with 54 ambulances) 4) Staffing - lets look at paramedics, most work two jobs and many work that second job within the county. Whats the problem? You have multiple agencies pulling from the same small pool of paramedics. I could go on, but i really don't have the time right now. The above are just some of my concerns and from where i stand, they are issues that should have been solved years ago. Again it's 2010 - how much longer are we going to play this game?

Thanks JJB531.

I think you're misunderstanding what i wrote. This is what i said: "It's all been studied...and guess what, we do things so a** backward its embarrassing. God forbid there is a moderately sized disaster, people will unnecessarily die. Hell, i don't want to even think about all the people that have suffered irrevocably because the vollies couldn't get out." I stated that in the event of a disaster people will UNNECESSARILY die, when i say unnecessarily i'm inferring that people will die due to the inability of this county to field the resources and personal necessary to deal with said disaster. So, sure people may die from a disaster sized event itself but there will be additional death/injury because most of this county cant properly respond to a basic aided-case (and fire alarm for that matter)...if we can't handle the ordinary how can we expect to handle the unexpected?

Disaster is a disaster i suppose, the semantics are irrelevant. Figure something along the lines of the hudson landing, plane down in a residential neighborhood, natural disaster, a steam or other vapor leak from indian point...you can really insert whatever you want.

Remember, we live in a bubble. There is no centralized tracking of response times. If 60 control dispatched an agency they have data on that agency, if they don't dispatch you then they don't have any data. Period. The county has no authority over local municipalities - thats the biggest problem. If it was legal - you would have three public safety agencies : Westchester Fire, Westchester EMS an Westchester PD and we would never have to split hairs over this stupidity. It's all been studied...and guess what, we do things so a** backward its embarrassing. God forbid there is a moderately sized disaster, people will unnecessarily die. Hell, i don't want to even think about all the people that have suffered irrevocably because the vollies couldn't get out.

If county control released info for the agencies they dispatched and all mutual aid requests they coordinated.....my, oh my!

Of course volunteers are going to be excited to go on jobs...thats because they aren't answering every call. If they were stuck in a bus for 12 hours running from job to job then got off their A job to B job it in another bus for 8 or 12 hours, the whole glitz thing would wear off really quick. That said, just because my coworkers and i draw a paycheck doesn't mean we are not willing to help others or not compassionate to our patients. I really don't know how you figure that career providers are less compassionate. How do you measure that? I mean, you could argue that i am more compassionate than many volunteers because my call received to arrival time is an average of 5-7 minutes, or maybe i'm more compassionate because i don't roll over and turn the pager off? What boils my blood is stuff that we are talking about right now. The disparity in service is inexcusable - but what is worse than that is the public hasn't the faintest clue. It's the old bait in switch if you ask me, and it makes me want to vomit. If LOSAP, lobsters and butter sauce, fancy jackets, a stipend per call or town pool passes is keeping you in EMS...you don't deserve to be here.

It boils down to this: career staffing gets you both speed and consistency. Sure, it's all about the patient, but IF the patient was really so important to everyone...wouldn't every agency get out the door in a reasonable amount of time? Wouldn't volunteer organizations move to mitigate staffing and response time issues? One would think. There are a number of things effecting EMS today, but something i've heard time and time again in all the systems i've worked is that it's the volunteers who are holding us back. Surely, it's not the sole issue, but it is a large part of the issue. All too often, i have to agree with this sentiment.

Going well? LOL

Just a few points of interest... Preemption is an internationally accepted norm, it actually predates the existence of this country. Bush wasn't my favorite President, but in terms of North Korea - he actually got inspectors back into the country. Clinton's approach was to throw more carrots their way...8 years of carrot throwing will probably take a quarter century to reverse. But, even more generally, NK (in terms of the regime) is just struggling to be relevant....all their pomp and circumstance is posturing. The problem with Obama is that he's just like President Carter when it comes to foreign policy and politicking. I'm not a warmonger by any stretcher of the imagination, but all he wants to do is talk, talk and talk. Talking alone doesn't work. You need a combination of talking, strong sanctions and military posturing to get things done. I suppose it's ok though...Obama will go rally the masses in Europe and apologize for all our ills. What's kind of hilarious about it all, is that Europe is probably the biggest fermenter for terrorism in this century. They will never admit it, but many european countries are exponentially more racist and xenophobic than the United States has or will ever be....and thats where terrorism is born. Look at France with the Algerians, Germany with the Turks, the Nordic countries etc.

Seriously, all the liberal hooligans who like to sit back and comment how they would save the world should sit back and read this.

Typical liberal response. I'm a bit surprised that you didn't include the fact that it was Bush's fault.