Skooter92

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Posts posted by Skooter92

  1. Posted

    I suffered a moderate head injury, with a concussion and memory problems, from an ambulance accident where as the passenger my seatbelt was OOS. I went through the windshield, was rendered unconscious, and ended up going to a trauma center. Not fun; entirely avoidable. Not wearing a seatbelt, after almost twenty years in EMS, is stupid. I have NEVER seen a patient whose outcome was worsened or who was killed because of a seatbelt. Not once. The greater good is served by wearing them, period. If you choose not to wear either a motorcycle helmet or a seatbelt, then we as a society ought to have the option to opt out of covering your medical, disability or other expenses incurred by your refusal. Your right?....our right too.

  2. Posted

    The night of the I-287 job, I was dispatching for Empress down in Yonkers, when all of a sudden 60 Control pops up on Empress's frequency with the following (according to my failing memory):

    "60 Control to Empress Central, we have a report of a small airliner down north of I-287, multiple fires and patients on the ground. How many ambulances can you send me?"

    My dispatch partner and I looked at each other with an "oh sh$t" expression and then ended up sending multiple units, including the entire off-going BLS transport shift, and a supervisor, who ended up lost somewhere for four hours.

    Marty Gallagher was working 60 that night....I remember trying to get more info as the night went on, and how utterly collected he was as the radio traffic was so chaotic.

  8. Posted · Edited by Skooter92

    Izzy-you think YOU have difficulty understanding NY State's logic? Join the crowd. At a recent call audit, I along with some other folks sat and listened in amazement as one of the people who work in the REMSCO office explained that, as far as NY State was concerned, if I take a patient to an out-of-state trauma center, even if it's the closest "appropriate" facility for the patient, I haven't actually taken them to a trauma center because NEW YORK STATE HASN'T DESIGNATED/RECOGNIZED IT AS ONE. Never mind that the other state has-NY hasn't, therefore it's a PROTOCOL VIOLATION.

    So, do the right thing by the patient and you still may take it up the a$$ as far as NY is concerned.

  10. Posted

    Gotta agree with WAS.....I've called Medical Control many a time, gottten permission to leave the patient as-is, and then agreed with the doc on the time-and passed it on to LE as the official pronouncement time. Not everyone benefits from seeing the body thumped on and hauled to the ED, and many thank us for NOT doing so. Compassion is doing the right thing for the family according to the situation....and not every ED does such a great job taking care of the ones left behind.

  12. Posted

    I don't think that Greenwich is going encrypted; rather, they are going to a digital format that is currently not supported by any of the digital scanners available. Encryption is usually overkill in a digital system because the voice signal is already converted to a format that isn't easily usable-some scanners will allow you to receive Motorola APCO Project 25 Digital trunked radio systems operating at 3600/9600 baud, but for the most part other digital schemes are not receivable. It would be interesting to find out which system they are going to-anybody know about the bid?

  14. Posted

    Who cares who shows up-as long as they are timely, equipped, knowledgeable and act in a manner so as to convince all that they are there FOR THE PATIENT.

    If you don't fulfill the above, I don't care whether you are paid, volunteer, Martian or from Uranus.....

    You are NOT a professional.

    No further, no further on the thread, K, per the officer on scene.

  17. Posted

    CDMA is a more robust technology than iDen. It'll support somthing very similar to Direct Connect (already does in some areas/certain providers). It's just that Spint is continuing to market Iden-only phones to cutomers knowing full well the service is getting spotty plus knowing they'll have to acquire new equipment fairly soon to make the move over to CDMA. There are other service providers with multi-band phones (CDMA and GSM, for example), and Nextel has had multiband phones for a while. My objection is that they are rooking some poor bastard into thinking his nice new toy is gonna keep on working, and even though they say "Here come the multi-mode phones!", the Iden half is still going to work like cr@p.

  19. Posted

    Simply put-

    Nextel works off an antiquated iDen network that Sprint, after the merger, decided no longer to add onto or fully support in anticipation of migrating Nextel customers over to their CDMA system. Sprint fired Nextel's engineering department and farmed out network/tower repair to contractors with little experience in fixing iDen systems. The only experienced contractor around is ESS out of Elmsford, who maintains ConEd's private iDen network, but at this point it's like pointing a gun at a tsunami to get it to stop. Sprint isn't going to make any meaningful effort to fix the issues, just patch holes until all Nextel subscribers move over to CDMA.

    Nextel. (is really) Done.

  20. Posted

    Actually, if 46.26 was used for tones ONLY, and say, 46.14 was used to talk to 60, and maybe 46.42 was used by 60 to talk to units in the field, and other channels were used on the fireground......

    Oh, snap.

    PUTNAM COUNTY is doing something resembling that RIGHT NOW.

    Frickin' concept, huh?

    ANd if I hear ONE MORE department tone out some drill or social function while another department is going on an actual alarm......I'll fire one a' them North Korean missiles at their radio room.

    Really, now.

  21. Posted · Edited by Skooter92

    1) You are allowed to properly restrain a patient, properly being with soft restraints, face up, and without restricting their ability to breathe, for their or your protection. Done it buttloads of times over 19 years in EMS-never been sued.

    2) If you have to have a police officer restrain a patient with cuffs or flexcuffs, they MUST ride on the rigs-reason being, if the patient craps out, you will need them to provide the key/cutter for the restraints.

    3) I used to carry OC and a baton-and I wasn't trained to use either from ANY legal standpoint. Unless your agency allows you to carry, has training and guidelines in place to cover their use, and will indemnify you if you use them-don't carry them. I NEVER ended up having to use them, they gave a false sense of security, and I could have gone to prison for carrying/using them. In retrospect, NOT a wise choice.

    4) This is an excellent website concerning this subject. Go there, read it. DO NOT LISTEN TO THOSE WHO MERELY HAVE AN OPINION. Charly has done her homework. Charly Miller-Restraint

  22. Posted

    John-

    Who pi$$ed in your Wheaties......!

    Seriously, that was a hell of a post. "Lead, follow, or get out of the way" should replace the attitudes common to many fire/EMS (yes, I said EMS) organizations I know. Few take the time to make sure their mission comes first.

    And I think that is WRONG in every sense.

  23. Posted

    How about a good long time out for naughty behavior. Jail is just so icky.

    Seriously, I carry my DOH card only. Shield no, card yes.

    Never had a problem, never gotten a ticket, always treated courteously by all members of law enforcement. Heard other horror stories of folks with tins getting all kinds of abuse for trying to flash/use them.

    Just say no.

  24. Posted

    ny10570-

    A couple of years ago, a patient in the north end of the county was sent home on, I believe, a left ventricular-assist device while awaiting a heart transplant. The device malfunctioned, and the responding medic, while hand-cranking the device, called for Stat Flight. The patient was then flown directly to NYH in Manhattan.

    Never say never, my man!