Goose

Uh...yeah...no. Sorry, but PD should be all over this like white on rice. Intox + bloodied rig + significant trauma to merit surgery = serious legal/police/criminal matter and should be investigated as such. This in-house "investigation" shouldn't cut it.

Yeah, i'll second that. Seems the county had enough cash to buy a horse farm and a country club - both of which must cost thousands to run and maintain. Likewise, i want to know if the county has the legal authority to establish ALS as a standard...and now simply deciding to no longer provide it. If this doesn’t get resolved in the next 60 or so days your going to start seeing the same insane 20+ minute response times WITHOUT any intervention (aside from maybe PD) and people will begin to unduly suffer.

I give a gold star to everyone that pulls over for me before they see my pretty lights in their rearview. There has got to be a product out there that will help give an audible warning in a more spherical pattern, no?

JPS, your announcement is not wholly accurate. The volunteer agencies still exist; there simply is no more paid backup element on the eastern half of the county. Now, whether or not the volunteer agencies step up to the challenge or can even meet this challenge is a different story. My biggest concerns are as follows: 1 - Now, "driver alone" isn't going to make the cut, will the volunteer agencies be able to handle the call volume? 2 - More and more EMTs are Paramedic dependent and they do exist in Putnam like everywhere else, how will this effect patient care? 3 - On the western side of the County, in particular, hospital transports are particularly lengthy. For those 30 or so percent of calls that go ALS, certain patients can be directly influenced with ALS intervention. I'm concerned that patient outcome is going to take a nose dive. It's a shameful and unfortunate outcome, for sure. At the County level, things are surely becoming more and more of a joke. However, i think that certain towns or even agencies will step up to the challenge and contract out their own ALS resources. How long that can be sustained on that level, I am not sure. Only time will tell.

Just to echo what JBE threw out there. I don't think it was a silly suggestion. In a perfect world we could all share this stuff as responders. Sadly, as we all know this isn't a perfect world. When i'm working i live by "what happens in the ambulance stays in the ambulance." If PD/FD swing by the station at a later time, I'm all about talking.

It's the government's responsibility to tell you smoking is bad, but no one has any right to effect control on you to stop smoking. It's not their concern or business. There is nothing flawed about being a free country, because we are just that. Obviously one has to respect another's right to life, thats part of the reason it's a free country. Again, does the smoking adversely effect their ability to render medical care? No. In the case of an FD smoking can effect a member's ability to preform his tasks.

I'm not a tobacco user, but you simply shouldn't be able to effect control on someone's life like this. People have the right to do just about anything they want. If they want to knock off a few years by being a smoker, thats their business. If you want to screw them, make them pay extra into their insurance coverage. The stink/smell is also negligible in my mind - it's not as if these people are blowing on you or rubbing their clothes in your face. If you smell it, who cares? You now know they are a smoker - which has no influence on their performance or competency as a health care provider. People really have to grow up or grow a pair. The cigarette smoking in the bays and butts are a completely different issue which the hospital can and should control. My biggest issue is that you set a very very poor presidence by doing this. First it starts with tobacco, then you merge into soda, sweets, maybe even coffee. Maybe the cafeteria should stop serving french fries, fried chicken and sloppy joes. Remember folks, this is a FREE COUNTRY, lets keep it that way.

I would much rather talk to my partner or a professional team than post stuff here. It's just not appropriate to do on an internet forum.

It's hit or miss in Dutchess (like every place). You have progressive town board members and volunteer leadership (all the career depts run EMS calls to the best of my knowledge, only have had the pleasure to work with the PFD and they are always very helpful and give great patient care prior to EMS arrival) like what we see here, or you have volunteer squads getting their ambulances out and then turfing BLS calls to the privates or trying to secure RMAs because they don't want to transport. Either way you cut it, Dutchess happens to be far more progressive than most areas in our region (look as far as the 911 Center). It can be refreshing and extremely frustrating.

Just switch from their O2 to yours, switching NRFMs is silly unless its broken

The area in which this occurred is a significant distance from Poughkeepsie. Even going code 3 your looking at a serious haul. Given the time of day this went out and the fact that i am personal friends with the ALS crew assigned, i can assure you that if the escort was requested by EMS it was completely justified. I find that people are far more likely to pull over for a police vehicle than an ambulance. I assure you that no one went "Mach 1" to Saints.

JJB531 brings up a valid point. A large majority of volunteer organizations rely on the same 6, 10, or 15 people to handle the call volume. While this helps to feed the numbers game, it doesn't help to address the larger and looming problem at hand. The biggest problem with many agencies is their general lack of experience. Having someone who's written a PCR once or twice from an agency who does 300 calls a year QA/QI paperwork doesn't fly. Leadership can fall victim to similar problems as well. I can recall the worst instance I've witnessed quite clearly. I was at the ER consulting w/ my partner while writing paperwork and about 5 people in shorts and flip flops jumped out of the back of an ambulance and wheeled in an individual who was expired for the better part of the day. The crew was comprised of 2 or 3 EMTs who had just graduated and a one or two observers. They got the call to the residence, never bothered to preform an assessment on the guy, threw him in the truck and took off. Intercepted with our medics, one jumped in the back - the crew was doing CPR the whole time, the goes to throw a tube in and the guy's jaw wouldn't budge, goes to his hands and they are clamped. Medic tells everyone to stop, calls the ER and explains that they are coming in with a DOA. Now an entire grieving family has to make the treck to the ER. At the end of it all, nothing was done to offer these individuals remediation and there still on the road today.

You really can't make this stuff up. What a joke.

Alamo is 110% in the RIGHT. Whens the last time Beekman's ambulance got out?

The same thing happens in Dutchess... ...and probably across the entire great State of New York so, lets not play pretend here, i think its more of a "volunteer-isim" issue than a so called "Westchester-isim"

I dunno about any particular SOP, but i have heard vollie trucks waiting 2 and 3 minutes after they have a driver and EMT, waiting for an attendant. Kinda silly if you ask me :X

I never said a 100% paid solution is the answer. I said look towards consolidations so we don't have 5 VACs serving a 5 x 5 mile chunk of land AND look at hiring personnel to mitigate your manpower issues. I'm speaking of the larger issue, not this particular section of Westchester.

Congratulations and welcome!

Sounds nice, but i'm not a supporter. I think VACs should be looking very seriously toward the future. Consolidation and bringing in paid personnel is the answer.

So I’m just curious to see if anyone has any updates on the new public safety building and future home of Station 2? Must say the building looks pretty darn nice from the street, and i haven't seen much activity inside, with the exception of the spiffy new sign that was installed on the front lawn. It's my understanding that along w/ the PD, FD administrative offices will be moved to Main St. as well. Also heard that they will be hosting EMT classes out of there as well. Any truth to this? Also, heard the other day that the training on Engine 3 is nearing completion and getting ready to be put into service. So when’s the big day? Anyhow, i can say that I’m glad to see Station 2 get a new home and best of luck with the new truck and facilities. I appreciate the stellar hard work you guys do out there!

Yeah, and i'm superman. Nice to see someone finally holding Hotzolah responsible for their actions.

Ok, first thing first. Why can't VACs take heat just like every other agency in the EMS world? Are you immune to the same criticisms i am because your a volunteer? If anything, i should be the one bitching because i'm, more often than not, held to a much higher standard and some of you people get away with murder. As far as your stretchers, i suggest you roll your people out in how to properly lift, my partner and i wrestled a 550pd guy onto our stretcher 2 weeks ago with little problem and no injuries. If you're getting a "stipend" your not volunteering. Plain and simple. People need to stop trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public. There is no middle ground. You either make it work as volunteers or you go fully paid, plain and simple. If you need to wave $100 bills in front of membership's face to muster a crew, you surely don't desrve to call yourself volunteer...or a paid professional. Sound's like you've got some serious problems on your plate, pal.

This is screaming for a third party. Whatever the issue is in Mt Pleasant it clearly needs a fresh, professional, objective look. Volunteering for years in the same 1x1 mile town simply doesn't give you the exposure nor the experience to bring an agency forward. In a single 12 hour shift i take in more calls than some agencies do in a week. The standard of care for 2007 is a reasonable response time (no, 15 minutes doesn't make the cut), competent BLS care and then competent ALS intervention. If you cannot guarantee that to your residents you might as well throw in the towel. And my previous question still stands: If a paid crew takes in a call, do they get the "thank you" cards and what happens to any donation money?

E3 and Ladder 1 took in the MVA last night as well.

So you've got paid EMTs that are not members, but the resident's wouldn't know because they are wearing your uniforms. Thats deceit if you ask me. Let's be honest with our citizens. What about those thank you cards or small donations (for calls handled by the paid crew), where do they go?