sympathomedic

I always have a couch for you, Dan. But NO DIP!

We had a couple at Empress. Like every other rig, we beat the living B-Jezus out of them for every inch of their lives. They took it like a champ- in particular when we drove one into a parking structure that was just a tad too low. We thanked them by not buying any more of them. Your post strikes a sore spot for me. Ambulances and motor home are the only two passenger carrying vehicles in the US with NO crash safety standards. No seat belt strength requirements. No rules on strength of the cot mount. You could build (the modular part) of an ambulance out of ice cream sticks and cardboard. If it had enough ceiling height and could be heated and cooled, it would be legal. Once you get 20 horizontal centimeters behind the seats, federal regulation ends. Do a search for "ambulance crash" on the image section of any search engine and see how ambulances dis-intigrate. Much of this come from here: http://objectivesafety.net/ A site dedicated to ambulance safety. Apparently OSHA considers ambulances to be vehicles, which they do not regulate. The Society of Automotive Engineers (The SAE you see on motor oil) makes standards for vehicles, but they consider ambulances as workplaces and don't regulate them. Sorry for the long winded answer, but like I said, it is a sore point for me. Last few years one local EMT dead and two severly injured in one car ambulance crashes.

Going back about 25 years there was a situation where a Hotzolah crew ended up at a fire in NYC right as a fireman was removed from the fire building in at least respriratory arrest if not full arrest. Personell on the ambulance placed an ET tube. At ED arrival the tube was revealed to be in the stomach. The fireman died. Much was made of this event- that (remember 25 years ago) Hotzolah was doing ALS while not a NYC credentialed agency. I recall Hotzolah said they had NY STATE credentials and that was good enough. That is all I recall, other than the polital friends of this group seemed to squash any attempt to get them disciplined for failure to place nice in the sandbox. All this is old information. I would think the information needed in the original post must be online somewhere.

We have similar issues on my job- the PD wants to ride the victim of a street assualt around to look for the perp- but he is hurt and being removed from you. One thing that has been absent from this thread is medical control. Use them. You making a decision however wise, carries way more weight if you can report/document "I spoke to Dr Smith at General Hospital and he asvised me to take this course of action". Also the doc may have his boss call the PD boss the next morning and make some kind of policy so you are not caught in the middle between law enforecment and medical care. Both of you want what is best.

Sorry- takes a freaking medic to misspell f-i-r-e h-o-u-s-e.

Kinda sorta: Somers Firrehouse Pasta Night, Oct 13. $10 adults all you can eat, spaghetti, penne, meatballs, ala vodka, al fredo and pesto sauces. Bread, salad, soft drinks and desert, too. SFH Route 202 near Heritage hills. I am the director of pastatology and I cook and check every batch. Anything else is an imposta. Come and carb up for the busy day of open houses. Bill

I truly don't want to put a negative spin on a happy occasion, but will these promotions create firefighter positions that will then be unfilled? I realize they need to fill the Lt and Capt spots. Just wondering if there will now be more OT for FF spots that are open. Course, OT for FF's is cheaper than OT for LT's and Captains. Any update on that item of closing companies?

So If I read this right, Dan yielded the right of way to a dead person?

With the new TZ bridge in the planning stages, perhaps a PD controlled trap door could be added to prevent this kind of stuff in the future?

Dan, you are just a few years too late for quitting the dip. Just sayin.

Two questions: 1. What is up with the YFD fireboat that has been on blocks at the New Rochelle Marina? I guess there is more than one? 2. If it had to happen, could a fireboat(s) pump INTO hydrants near the river and charge the mains that way? Do you need health dept approval for that, and if you do it, when all is fixed, how do you de-Hudson an entire city's water system? I figure a boat puts out an ungodly amount of pressure, but if you are pumping up a hill (like up to St Joes from the water front- think Vark St) you will keep bursting your hoses near the river as the boats put out the high pressure needed to get the water up a big hill.

I can't believe I am sounding like one of the old guys I usually make fun of, but two winters ago, a real bad one, there were A LOT of acorns the preceding autumn. Last fall, a mild winter, there were very few. I think it was 1994 the last real bad winter we had, and that fall, too, a TON of acorns. I just came back from western Maine, and there were quite a bunch of acorns falling.

OK I only drive the ladder trucks in my agency when there are no firemen around to do it, but somehow I eneded up with an owners manual once. Reffering to an older 100 foot Sutphen tower, there were 60 gallons of hydo fluid. No clue as to what pressure it ran at, but there was a guage for such things, I just don't remember what it ran at, since as long as it ran, it ran and I didn't care much beyone that. The platform was rated I believe at 800 lbs WITHOUT the waterway in use, and 600 with. Interesting rule was that only ONE of the two master streams, when using a straight tip, could be aimed above horizontal- I guess if you were to have two big firemen up there, and they both pointed the nozzels upward to get better range, then that was too much downward weight on the boom. Our new tower has no such rule. You checked the fluid by opening the fill. There was a can shaped strainer that set into the tank, built into the hole. The hydro fluid was supposed to be right at the botton of the strainer- about 8 inches. If you could see the bottom of the strainer, it was out of the fluid, and more was needed. There is also a lifting eye on the boom, which I think might have had a 400lb limit. Remember the hydo system has to run the stabilizers as well as the boom, so lots of fluid. Sorry I don't know more- you kind of made me see, once again, how little I know about what I am doing when it comes to the Nomex side of things. Bill

I am admitting compu-cluelessness and cannot figure out how to do this, and no I don't do pay-pal or any of that stuff. Can someone provide a real address where I can send a "GASP!" actual, written out, paper check?

The article never said RMA, so I am not sure. Could he have been turfed to BLS and died in an ED? It never gave a date of occurance, so if it is getting to court now, it may be years oldr and the lawyer is just trying to get some free ink. Not that the date is a defence- bad medicine doesn't heal with time.

Wow, that tiny print at the bottom of page 3 says a lot. In NY, no one has a duty to act, regardless of cert level or license, unless they are part of an agency and response! So all that BS about having EMT stickers on your car puts you at risk if you do not stop at an MVA was just that... BS. Who knew? Well, I guess the guy with the tiny font printer knew, but I sure as hell didn't. Thanks folks. I am a tiny bit smarter now.

#1 I am not a lwyer. My dad ius and he gives me EMS law stuff he comes across, and I read lot. First, act within your scope of practice. Then imagine a scenario of you in front of a jury trying to justify why you did NOT act, while a lawyer points out why you should have, and see who would win. I bet the jury would say an EMT on a scene of an injury should act. You asked if the FD is liable if "they have an .... hold c-spine" If "they" are not a credentialed agency, 'they" should prabably act within 'their" scope of practice and spread kitty litter and light flares etc. and not do stuff they are not credentailed to do. Just sayin'. Sadly it should be noted your FD likey has insurance to cover the legal action if a victiim decides it is all your fault for the crick in his neck after he wrapped his car around a tree. An individual care giver does likely does NOT have insurance. I don't. I have been sued twice and have not had to write any checks. There is a legal term, I think called "caveat superior" (My HS latin teacher would croak!) that says that if you are working for someone and do what they tell you, then HE is on the hook for what you do. He may DENY telling you to do it in that situation! There are many FF PD and EMS folks who have become lawyers or investigate for thise that are. Maybe they will comment on this thread? I read recently of a Calif. case of a two car group of office workers. The lead car crashed and burned. The 2nd car folks got out and rescued someone from car 1, and paralized them while doing it. The vicitm sued the citizen savior, who invoked the good sam law as defense. The court ruled for the victim, saying good sam was for first aid givers, and that yanking the driver out of the buring car was a rescue, and therfore not covered.

I am sooo not a fire guy, so feel free to break my chops on this. Would it be unreasonable to stop allowing the building of structures that if on fire, would be beyond the capacity of the local FD? It would mean only small structures in small towns, and larger structures in large towns. I know there are buildings in my town that we simply could not be expected to handle with what we have. I think the big new Trump buildings in NR and other huge buildings in WP are beyond the capacity of their protecting agencies. If a developer felt the need put such a concentration of fire load in a single spot to better fatten his bank account, he would need to subsidize the FD in perpetuity. Not a tax break, a tax add-on for the cost of added fire suppression capacity. Some will say that large fires are what mutual aid is for. I agree. Based on history, a large fire in a single home in my town needs 2-4 MA dept's to fight it. That is fine and that is what MA IS for. Is MA for building a sprawling 250 bed nursing home full of folks that could not walk out on a warm sunny clear day with NO fire? In an area with NO hydrants? The FD is part of a Town's infrastructure. If the infrastructure cannot support a large structure, be it sewage, water, EMS or fire, than perhaps we ( or more accurately you), the folks who whether paid or volly have stood up and said, "I will handle the fires around here" need to stand up and say, "I'm real good, but I am not 7 floors X 200 X 200 OMD good. Lets make it three story clusters with sprinklers. That we can handle" What do you guys think of that? I await my lessons.

Not only did the restaurant NOT pick up my bill, they gave me the VICTIMS bill!! OK kidding, but no they did not get the tab. Based on my consumption Hx, it could have been a bank breaker for them. I have forgotten how to quote previous posts, but that guy a few posts back is right- the on -duty LVAC medic got the obstruction out with the magills after he looked, I looked and he looked again. That occured after we got pulses back with CPR and back blows. My guess is that dieing kind of relaxed his airway which allowed our CPR and attempts at BVM'ing to get in enough air to quicken and strengthen his heart rate and contraction. Being a medic, I am always skeptical of pre-arrival "saves", so I am even skeptical of mine. I know I felt for a pulse and found none, and there was ZERO respiratory effort. With CPR we got a pulse quite fast, and during the "analyze" of the AED no shock was indicated, so in retrospect, I bet he had cardiac activity, but due to hypoxia it was slow and weak and we just did not/could not detect it. If you are in doubt of a pulse, then you gotta get to work, and that is what we did. I have seen CPR stopped in many cases of "hey I gotta pulse!" only to find out it was, well, wishful thinking. Was this a true arrest save? not sure. Was it a life save, yea, I think it was because if no action was taken during the response, the pt would have progressed further down the road to death, in all likelyhood past the point of no return. Since he had stopped breathing before I even got to him, the Grim Reaper must have gotten a decent head start on EMS. But in the end, we prevailed. I'd name the on duty guy, but I don't know how he'd feel about it. He gets a lot of credit too.

Ya shoulda ducked, Marc! Long term, he ended up paying the price on that one.

By an occasional EMTBravo poster, too!! Do ya get a rep point for a save?

I am NOT a Mohegan guy, but I work closely with them as a Yorktown medic. A change in the composition of the Fire District Board of Commissioners brought about a new, (or old) philosophy of putting the paid staff back on the fire engines to run EMS calls. I do not know the fate of the actual utility vehicles, some of which were pretty old.

I am probably re-stating things I have said before. I was fully opposed to my job (Empress) going Union, (IAEP Local 20). I worked hard against it. We have been Union for about 12 years now. I am not in love with the Union, but I feel things are better with it. I have been a steward, Chief Steward and VP, though now just a steward. Yes my folks pay dues, but we work hard to give them value. The Local Union guys get no money or perks, we just get reimbursed for what we spend- mailing, phone, printer ink, mileage etc. We average just ONE arbitration case a year- not contract arbitration, but employee termination appeals. Our work place is very stable- we have EMT's and medics on the job for decades. Our benefits are pretty good, and our company and Union are constantly adding staff and upgrading gear. The starting salary needs work, but guess what? We are about to begin contract negotiations, as ours ends 12/31/12. If it came for a re-vote, I would vote yes for the Union. When I work with a new guy, they frequently say that they were attracted to this job by the fact it is Union. Anything involving humans will not be perfect. I think this is the better road. Bill

I am curious: A year or so ago there was a layoff threat, and the company targeted was the ladder on Fortfield/Forthill (I can never keep those two straight). That was a two company station, so there would still be a crew in the hood. With this event, it is not only different companies, but both are engines, and both are single company stations. Though 303 shares the house with B1 which is also on the list. I know there has been a change in commisoner and chief since the last layoff threat. Does anyone know why the major change in type and location of companies to be closed?

In terms of call volume: Empress Yonkers about 17,000/year. Empress total= about 70,000/year, NOT including the VAC's they provide EMT's for: Hawthorne, Peekskill, Mohegan. As I recall, Mt Vernon is good for about 6000 calls/year. Larchmont and Mamaroneck are about 1200/year EACH. EVAC about 3500/year. Empress does have an observer program, or at least I think we still may. HIPPA changed the landscape a tad. That may also cloud up your chances of gathering research data. Side note: I saw an article about the mis-application of HIPPA. It said the office that receives HIPPA complaints had gotten 26,000 complaints. only NINE were complaints about violations, the other 26,000 were complaints about people mis-applying the law to wrongfully block access to info. Anyhow, if you can give me a little info about what you want, maybe I can speak to a boss at Empress for you.