Editorial: State must reduce obstacles to EMTs

[x635 4,066]

Editorial: State must reduce obstacles to EMTs. Seriously?

 

Quote

 

Ever-increasing state training requirements are thinning the already strained ranks of emergency medical technicians and costing communities money.

 

 

http://www.pressrepublican.com/opinion/editorial-state-must-reduce-obstacles-to-emts/article_aec36fba-b564-5fa5-a2bd-c0c41d7a1020.html

[FireMedic049 597]

That was satire, right?

 

I know that it wasn't, but stuff like this is typical of where we are these days.  People expect a prompt, professional response from EMS when they or a loved one is experiencing a medical emergency, but they don't want to actually put up the money necessary to put that in place.

 

The problem isn't so much the increasing training requirements.  The problem is that too many are still trying to look at this in terms of what's convenient for the providers and not what's best for the patients.  EMS has progressed significantly over the past 4 decades in the care that we can bring to a patient's doorstep.  This increased capability necessitates increased training in order to effectively provide it.  We are no longer "ambulance drivers" scooping patients up and racing to the hospital.  We are now pre-hospital medical professionals bringing the ER to the patient, particularly at the Paramedic level of care.

 

If the requirements for providing this level of care have reached the point where the care can no longer be reliably provided by an all or largely volunteer staff, the solution is not to lobby the state to decrease the amount of medical training for providers.  The solution is to start treating EMS as the medical profession that it now is.

 

If that means a tax increase to do so, then suck it up buttercup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[somebuffyguy 190]

Did anyone else lose it when the author suggested returning to the days "When anyone with an interest in helping could ride in an ambulance." Seriously ???

[AFS1970 504]

I have said this about firefighter training also. While the hours have increased, which is generally positive, there has been little done to creatively fit the classes to a busy Volunteer's schedule. When I took my first EMT class 21 years ago (feels old to type that) the class was two nights a week with a few Saturdays. My FF1 & FF2 had similar schedules. More often than not they are planned around the departments regular drill night.

 

Now I have taken classes that were on Sunday mornings and provided food in the cost of the class. I have been in classes that were held once a week, which obviously takes longer to complete, but those have been the exception not the rule. If a topic can be done with a single instructor, could the class be taught multiple times with different students coming together for practicals and tests? I don't know the answer but decreasing the hours is probably not it.

 

The last things I will say is that we have to stop talking publicly about how big a burden it is before we talk internally about a solution. I can't prove it but have long felt that inadvertently we are psyching out potential new members by telling them how impossible it is before they even ask.

[NWFDMedic 58]

I think it's all a matter of perspective.  This article came from a paper in Plattsburgh.  Although they are still part of New York State, the climate of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and St. Lawrence counties is really like a different world than what we are familiar with in the Hudson Valley.  When I lived in Potsdam, you would never get a paramedic to your house and when you were lucky enough to get a level 3, it was a volunteer from one of the larger villages or towns that could be 30-40 miles from your home.  Northern New York is one of the most economically depressed areas in the country and they rely heavily on the volunteer services to provide fire and EMS.

 

If you look at Westchester or the Hudson Valley, you'd probably think this article is a joke.  We've come to expect paramedic care as the standard and we are even expecting a higher level of care and training from BLS providers.  With the decreasing availability of volunteers, communities are realizing that they have to spend dollars to maintain the level of service they expect.  Upstate, I would imagine that they'd be willing to take the trade-off of less training for more people able to respond, especially at the volunteer level.

 

With that being said, I took my first EMT class in 1993 in St. Lawrence County.  The class that they taught up there was 100% different than the EMT classes you would find in the Hudson Valley, even at that time.  They really focused on patient assessment and finding "true" emergencies because of the limited ALS resources in the area.  Where "contact ALS" is a staple in the discussion of patient care scenarios in the EMT class down here, they were teaching technicians to do a lot more before getting a volunteer from 3 (large) towns away up for a routine workup.  I'm not saying that it's right or wrong; it's what worked up there.

[Jybehofd 85]

the article is not looking at the big picture but blaming that nys going to more of a national standard is wrong and driving volunteers away...  maybe you should look at why volunteer numbers are going down.  i know in my old department, they lack the number of volunteers and thoses with the right training/experince in the department to fill the ranks of chief.  yes getting jrs in is good but keeping them is the trick, why do they leave the town? cost of livinig? work? yes some get jobs out of state, but a good chunk leave because they can't afford 2k a month for a room, and forget about them being able to purchase a house in the town. high 700k to a million.  i've heard of great ideas out side of ny where volunteer departments and agencies had homes, for single members they would pay the utilies equally and be responsible for responding to calls more then the average i believe, im not too sure.  i heard somewhere around 15% annually as a minium, im sure im wrong. but its something that would help and keep the members in town, and in the department and agencies. 

 

taking steps backward and reducing the standard of care to less then what it is today is not the answer. making classes more flexible could help too.  

[SOUSGT 357]

On ‎2‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 2:00 PM, AFS1970 said:

I have said this about firefighter training also. While the hours have increased, which is generally positive, there has been little done to creatively fit the classes to a busy Volunteer's schedule. When I took my first EMT class 21 years ago (feels old to type that) the class was two nights a week with a few Saturdays. My FF1 & FF2 had similar schedules. More often than not they are planned around the departments regular drill night.

 

Now I have taken classes that were on Sunday mornings and provided food in the cost of the class. I have been in classes that were held once a week, which obviously takes longer to complete, but those have been the exception not the rule. If a topic can be done with a single instructor, could the class be taught multiple times with different students coming together for practicals and tests? I don't know the answer but decreasing the hours is probably not it.

 

The last things I will say is that we have to stop talking publicly about how big a burden it is before we talk internally about a solution. I can't prove it but have long felt that inadvertently we are psyching out potential new members by telling them how impossible it is before they even ask.

I hole heartedly agree. From personal experience  I found that training is not friendly to those who work shift work or the clock. Granted that this may be a small part of the pool of candidates but is still a factor.

I took my original EMT training in high school. It was a 40 hour class back then (Yes I'm that old and have a very low EMT number). After my initial training found it increasing difficult to keep my self current working the clock. My employer would not excuse me for half a day on a Saturday for the skills session or an exam. This means I had to use vacation time and sometimes that was denied do to workload. Some instructors understood and others were not so forgiving as they were bound by regulations. Its funny that for a field that demands 24 hour service, you have to work 9-5 Monday to Friday in order to get training, that is on the fire side as well as EMT. It became almost impossible to retain certification so I let mine laps.

I don't know if this have changed since I lapsed but it seems as the programs are becoming more and more intense, there is less and less leeway. 

[SOUSGT 357]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 8:15 PM, FireMedic049 said:

That was satire, right?

 

I know that it wasn't, but stuff like this is typical of where we are these days.  People expect a prompt, professional response from EMS when they or a loved one is experiencing a medical emergency, but they don't want to actually put up the money necessary to put that in place.

 

The problem isn't so much the increasing training requirements.  The problem is that too many are still trying to look at this in terms of what's convenient for the providers and not what's best for the patients.  EMS has progressed significantly over the past 4 decades in the care that we can bring to a patient's doorstep.  This increased capability necessitates increased training in order to effectively provide it.  We are no longer "ambulance drivers" scooping patients up and racing to the hospital.  We are now pre-hospital medical professionals bringing the ER to the patient, particularly at the Paramedic level of care.

 

If the requirements for providing this level of care have reached the point where the care can no longer be reliably provided by an all or largely volunteer staff, the solution is not to lobby the state to decrease the amount of medical training for providers.  The solution is to start treating EMS as the medical profession that it now is.

 

If that means a tax increase to do so, then suck it up buttercup.

 

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 8:15 PM, FireMedic049 said:

It seems like raising taxes is the universal answer to everything.  Throw more money at the problem and it will go away. That appears to be the motto of the school boards in Westchester. The cost of taxes in NY is one of the largest reason for people moving to another state.  The people of Westchester are paying the highest property taxes in the country. Its causing many to have to work two jobs or move farther away. I would like to see you to suck up 20k a year in property taxes and then cheerfully agree to more.   

 

 

 

 

[FireMedic049 597]

3 hours ago, SOUSGT said:

 

It seems like raising taxes is the universal answer to everything.  Throw more money at the problem and it will go away. That appears to be the motto of the school boards in Westchester. The cost of taxes in NY is one of the largest reason for people moving to another state.  The people of Westchester are paying the highest property taxes in the country. Its causing many to have to work two jobs or move farther away. I would like to see you to suck up 20k a year in property taxes and then cheerfully agree to more.   

 

Well, the reality is that underfunding is at the heart of some problems.  So, there's not much you can do to fix those problems if you don't put up the money.

 

In this case, the "problem" appears to be that the all volunteer ambulance services are having a hard time maintaining adequate membership to reliably respond to their calls.  This isn't a new or unique situation.  Many other places have faced this exact problem and have pretty much solved it.

 

Their solution wasn't to lobby for lower training standards.  Instead they started hiring people to staff the units on a consistent basis allowing them to maintain or improve the level of service they provide.

 

I can certainly understand the reluctance to increased taxes if one is already paying $20K in property taxes.  However, it's kind of ridiculous to already be paying that much, yet not have adequate public safety services.