Dobbs Ferry Ambulance corps fighting shortage of personnel

[x635 4,066]

Dobbs Ferry Ambulance corps fighting shortage of personnel:

http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/031...dobbscorps.html

[Guest DFFD227]

As a resident of Dobbs Ferry, I know this situation all too well. I am actually thinking about joining very soon. And maybe The people Of Dobbs Ferry have read this article, and they will start volunteering.

[FF402 133]

I think this isn't just a problem in Dobbs Ferry. It's a problem all overthe country and in Westchester.

[RWC130 594]

I am sure Empress would love to sign up Dobbs Ferry with a

contract for daytime BLS unit.

It's really sad to hear. Everywhere in EMS and FIRE the call volume goes up and the membership goes down or even worse... Your dedicated members get burned out.

Personally, I see no problem augmenting your VAC with paid personnel or contract EMS provider. Admitting your having aproblem and not covering it up is a big step.

Focus on what we do and why we do it. The PATIENT who someday could be YOU or a family member. The loss of time in the 10-15 minutes paging a crew that is not coming can make a difference.

Now add to that the 5-15 minutes more of the mutual aid agency coming in. Look at that, now were up 20 or 30 minutes. While mutual aid is covering your calls who will cover a call in there own district? Are you burning them out?

You have to look at the BIG picture here. I've been on both ends of this. The EMS responder and the concerned family member / friend waiting for the Ambulance.

Delay in arrival of EMS is never good thing.

[RWC130 594]

County EMS????

[Guest alsfirefighter]

County EMS?? Never, in my opinion. They couldn't run the medical center. They can't even organize Fire Department matters. Plus the system I'm in, at its core works just fine and I would guarantee you still would run into response time problems if it were a county system, not to mention the amount of money the private's would pour into politicial lobbying to get it turned down. To me privitization of EMS is part of the problem, when it comes down to it, money is money and when your a company, you want profit, you could care less about dumping it back into equipment and such. EMS won't be forced to change until the people want it to change!

[Remember585 815]

In my eyes, there are four forms of EMS.

ALS - Advanced Life Support

BLS - Basic Life Support

RMA - Refusal of Medical Assistance

DWI/TAC - Deal With It / Take A Cab

Is it me, or is EMS getting abused like crazy?

Whatever happened to "sucking it up?" People are calling for EMS nowadays for things that used to be treated by Dr. Mom.

We need to start lobbying for an "If it ain't broken, bleeding or totally messed up" law, where those who don't really need EMS can call a cab at a reduced rate, payable by Medicaid or Private Insurance.

Call Volume DOWN - EMS Provides HAPPY.

Just some thoughts..... :roll:

[Guest alsfirefighter]

You mean calling 911 from a hospital at 1:45 am and waiting in the parking lot with a foot injury because you want to go to another hospital isn't a justified use of 911?

[mikerabbit 2]

You are correct with the abuse of the system. Unfortantlly while an ALS unit is trasnporting a "DWI/TAC" to the ED, somebody may really have a medical emergency where ALS intervention can make a difference. On more than one occasion I have responded to a different jurisdiction because their hometown unit was tied up on nonsence. I usually get the commet why are you here from ***EMS and what took so long?

Mike

[fac911 33]

Start paying EMT's !

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Mikerabbit,

Not to cause a additional arguement but as a side note, intoxication is a medical problem.

We as EMS providers cannot complain about non-emergent, resourcing wasting calls because we are the problem behind it. There isn't enough public education within EMS!

[x635 4,066]

I agree with ALSFF that public education is a problem. One step towards better public EMS education is during EMS week, we should go out there and do similar activities such as go to the schools, host health fairs, etc. It's also a very fine line, as we don't want the public to ever question whether or not they should call us.

Unfortunetly, despite all the education we may give the public, 911, the way medicine works for urban areas, and sometimes others, is that we are first line health care. Whether or not we are volunteer or paid should not make a difference, but sometimes it does. BS calls do burn us both out, but you are their to do a job, and people depend on you to do it regardless of the call, and, oh yeah, TREAT them like a human being. Every job has its BS, and EMS is no exception. Unfortunetly, one side of this equation can select calls they want to go on, and most of the times the exciting calls at a good hour win out. With the issue of tying up buses, your system should be designed to handle that (Priority Dispatch, Enough buses, Quick Turnarounds,Good Crews). This is one of those things why we need to start more political lobbying, but I'm not going to get into that issue now.

As for Intoxication is a medical problem.The main reason for that is you have to rule out other causes that it may mimic intoxication, such as a diabetic emergency, stroke, seizure, poisoning, etc. However, when the mayor has developers coming to town, and he orders PD to "clean them up", it not only falls in and overloads EMS, but also the ER's. Having worked in an ER, the intoxicated patients often tax your resources night after night. This is not an only an EMS issue, but a social service issue as well.

[mikerabbit 2]

ALS...sorry i was refering to the previous post "DWI" = "deal with it". The people who call 911 for a stubbed toe.

Mike

[Guest x901]

in South Carolina & other southern states, if u abuse the system for non emergency calls.... you get billed for PD, FD, EMS, 911 Dispatcher response & the EMS TXP, ER visit, etc. If that was instituted here we wouldn't be going on stubbed toe runs. Public Education is the way to go.....