Goose

Sounds great, now how about a press release about starting up the hiring process again?

Glad to see that they are trying to add a channel to the system. While i've never had a problem with the radios, i have always had a concern that the more agencies the county adds to it's primary dispatch rolodex the quicker the system would be maxed out in the instance of a major incident.

NY, don't get me wrong....im not a fan of someone taking a multi-year hiatus from a licensed medical profession, maintaing that license through fees, and then jumping right back into it. I don't know what provisions CT has established, but in my mind i would like to see paramedics in NY licensed with a yearly CME requirement. At the very least it makes life somewhat easier for providers and adds a bit more legitimacy to the profession (i also wouldn't be opposed to the state stiffening requirements if they decided to go with a licensed either...). Don't know if it can be done, how it could or would be done, just my thoughts.

While the fee is a bit astronomical, i think gamewell brought up a great point. Write it off on your taxes. While that may not be the most ideal solution it is better than nothing. Other than that, keep lobbying your elected representatives and try to get your respective agencies on board as well. On the bright side, at least you guys are licensed and don't have to deal with the bull associated with trying to square away a re-certification every three ears.

Parts of Dutchess have a funny philosophy..."when in doubt, fly em out."

I'm kind of confused as to what exactly is going on here. You're claiming it's a "paper" resource, but it's also part of a comprehensive plan of providing water supply in an area that is devoid of hydrants (referring to the first lines of your first post)? The animosity is evident, but it seems like some are firing at the hip...there is little doubt that there is a major problem in stamford. After all, it was less than a year ago that someones entire house burnt down to the ground due in large part to what i viewed as the inability of the volunteer department to provide the machinery, manpower, knowledge and leadership needed to suppress a house fire. In fact it was only a few weeks ago that some disturbing details about what is really going on in parts of northern stamford were made public knowledge.... I guess the only point i'm suggesting is that there are some far bigger fish to fry and it seems silly to try and stick it to SFRD because they have a hose wagon...

I'm not keen on any of these layoffs...but did anyone see the article on Friday in the local newspaper where a PD Captain made $550,000.00 in his last year of employment? Half a million dollars for a police captain, to me, is unfathomable. This wasn't some large metro PD we are talking about either. As long as crap like this goes on you can't expect the public and in turn those they elect to support a maintenance or increase staffing. At half a million, i think it's less civil/public service and more of a gravy train. The public displeasure is growing and as long as the civil service keeps up some of these games, i think they are essentially shooting themselves in the foot. I always say hate the game not the player, but not everyone views it the same way...

Critical Care BLS...it's a beautiful thing. Worked with a lot of the Alamo Putnam Medic greats and enjoyed every bit of it from 2006 until their exit. Got hired in late 2006....but due to administrative upheaval i got lost in the mix. Hit the streets of Poughkeepsie in May 2007 and worked until June of 2008 (i think i may have still been per diem actually). Loved working weekends and overnights (love the weekend diff), great people and awesome partners and great bosses when i worked...and the wonderful dispatch crew! Always enjoyed working with CPPD and PFD. Learned a heck of a lot out there. Hated those Vassar to Yale or Monti trips though! Was a good shop to work and i made some solid friends out of the deal.

I've heard some mumbling about this from time to time from a family member on the job, but it looks to me (at least from those pictures) that the medics in question are either fire department or police department members.

Putnam, i've heard, is also extremely strict with pistol permits especially full carry. If you don't have a legitimate reason (usually work related) forget it. You probably need to re-apply in Putnam as i am sure the Westchester is expired or one would need to be re-certified....but even then you don't live in Westchester so i'm not sure how that would work... Question for anyone that knows: do you need to actually own or intend to buy a firearm at the time you process your pistol permit? There are fields for the firearm information (maker, serial #, etc)...i don't intend to buy now but was thinking about filing for one..

It's far easier to receive one in Dutchess than it is in Westchester. To the best of my knowledge, it is still extremely difficult and restrictive and im sure investigation goes way beyond the FBI NICS. I know a guy i went to high school with collects firearms (a variety of rifles and handguns, some modern but mostly vintage 1911s and revolvers) with his father and if i'm not mistaken they may have actually had some county agency come out and inspect their home for safe firearm storage or reloading practices. I didn't really ask too many questions about that when he mentioned it to me briefly, probably should have.

Wasn't there a discussion some time ago (my memory of it is a bit foggy) about ambulances being called to DWI scenes so medics could draw blood for officers? My brain could be totally making this up, but i'm pretty sure there was an article relating to this and we discussed it. Either way, not a fan. At all. All for getting these people off the road, but lets leave the policing to the law enforcement professionals and the phlebotomy to the medical professionals. Couldn't they make a light duty position at the police station (probably wouldn't work for smaller departments, only medium to large sized ones) and have a medic just draw the blood once the guy gets to the station?

Thanks so much bro! Absolutely amazing. Just threw it up on the MacBook and my jaw dropped!

Awesome photos. I'd love to throw some of these up on my MacBook as wallpaper...happen to have any of these in 1280 x 800 resolution?

While they may not necessarily be busy areas...its probably best that each county have their own. I remember being stuck a standby up at that ulster forest fire a year or so back and they had their mobile command post there...if you had a regional truck, there would be nothing left for any incidents that occurred during that event. Besides...thats an absurd amount of territory for one vehicle to cover...

So it's FASNY that is blocking ambulances and fire trucks from using blue lights? Why would they care? How does a blue light on the back of an ambulance or pumper effect what a volunteer uses in their dash?

I dont get why it needs to be a law for emergency vehicles (other than radio cars, i know a law was signed for them) to use blue lights...dosen't the science prove that they are more effective at long distances?

Glad i don't live in coffman cove lol

ALS, I don't know the answers to your questions nor was I attempting to answer them. Just trying to clarify the announcement for a poster who was confused. I can only imagine that the mayor either requested cuts or said this is the budget work with. As chief I can only assume that he and whatever group he works with are the ones who chose to cut EMS response. How that saves money, I have no idea.

They chief is announcing the cut but he was faced with budget constraints from the mayor, so they killed off EMS response in an effort to save dollars.

I'm not sure anyone can make an accurate determination because the article dose not offer much in the way of data. The only thing we know is that fire calls dwarf in comparison to CFR runs, but thats no surprise. If PD is already responding to these runs and/or if EMS can keep the response times low, i don't see the problem not having the fire department. I really never saw it essential to have an engine respond to EMS calls anyhow, but i'm probably in the minority.

To the best of my knowledge, you can still buy medtronic products.

It's a double edged sword. They complain because they get run into the ground, but if they didn't have EMS how many runs would they be doing? Would they be facing layoffs? If the NYT wanted a real story they should go ride along with a NYC unit who is stuck in an ambulance, does 8 or more calls in 8 hours. Gets off work and goes to their second full/part time job because they cant survive on their current salary.

Can i get the last 10 minutes of my life back? I really don't feel bad for any of those guys.

I bet most hospital labs could test for it if they needed to. They can also test for it in urine apparently.