FD828

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Posts posted by FD828

  3. Posted

      • Saturday, March 24, 2012

      • 3:00pm until 7:00pm

      [*]

      Join The Highland Rovers and Stamford Professional Fire Fighters L786 in support of our brother Chris Rosiak in his time of need at Tiernan's Bar & Restaurant (187 Main Street, Stamford, CT)

      Chris has helped others his entire career. A paramedic for over two decades, he has been a firefighter with the City of Stamford since 1995 and a registered nurse for the past four years. Chris has also been known to run marathons (5) to raise money for pediatric burn victims.

      Chris and his wife have boy/girl twins who will turn 3 in April. While planning for their birthday, he suddenly became the person who needed others’ help. Chris was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor called Stage III Anaplastic Astrocytoma (high-grade Glioma).

      A month later, Chris had the cancerous tumor surgically removed and he is now recuperating at Yale - New Haven Hospital and preparing for his chemo-radiation treatments.

      Chris plans to have long careers as a firefighter and nurse – two jobs he has enjoyed and been proud to have. But for now, he cannot work to help support his family.

      Cost: $50.00/person

      Gets you: 4 hours Open Bar / See The Highland Rovers / Ticket for door prize raffle.

      Even if you can't make it please consider buying a ticket to support a man who has spent his entire life supporting others in their time of need and you'll still be entered into the door prize raffle.

      Please purchase your ticket in advance.

    sueg likes this

  4. Posted

    Somebody asked, but yes St. Baldrick's is a charity organization 501c3 and donations are tax deductable. This is from their web site.

    My link for this event

    St. Baldrick's Foundation 1333 South Mayflower Avenue, Suite 400, Monrovia, CA 91016 USA | P: (888) 899-BALD (2253) | F: (626) 584-6374The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a non-profit 501 ©3 organization, IRS identification number 20-1173824. Donations made to the St. Baldrick's Foundation are tax deductible in the U.S.

  5. Posted

    Good evening to you all. I am posting this because it is such a good cause. Myself and a few other Stamford firefighters have joined up to help collect money for the St. Baldrick's Foundation which helps raise money for children with cancer. On March 8th, at Bradford's Grill & Tavern in Stamford, CT we will be having our heads shaved to help support these awesome children. Please take a moment, check out the link below. Please consider making a donation to help these children, all tax deductable of course! Thank you, be thankful for what you have and stay safe!

    Donnie

    St. Baldrick's Foundation

  7. Posted

    The IAFF is promoting Penn Foster College for online education. Don't know what degree programs they offer, but here is their info.

    Penn Foster College

    14300 N. Northsight Blvd., Suite 120

    Scottsdale, AZ 85260

    1-800-587-4450

  8. Posted

    Licensure vs certificate has no bearing on the perception of EMS as a career or just a job. It has zero bearing on our pay or our respect as profession. Its a semantics argument and nothing more. Guess what, doctors and nurses have to regularly recertify with their various boards through testing and continuing education. Instead of paying the state for our license and then some private group for their seal of a[[roval we just have to pay the state to retest us. I don't want someone stepping away for a few years and then being able to come back and work just because they've been paying their dues. We b**** constantly about the decrease in standards yet people would encourage something like this??

    Absolutely. That's why I said it would be up to the REMAC to be responsible for all working in their area through (hopefully higher standards then we presently have) whatever means. I would hope it would involve senarios and skills stations. And IMO I disagree that having it be a license as opposed to a certification does have a bearing on our profession. You think the pilot recert program is doing anything for the quality of EMS personnel working in this state? It is a joke. You sit for CME's and send it to the state and you get a new card. With the REMAC being responsible, you could ensure competent people working in the field.

    Goose likes this

  9. Posted

    Could you elaborate on how a licensure would be different from the current certification process?

    Like "Goose" said, you would pay a yearly fee for your license renewal and would not have to report any CME's to the STATE. However it would be the responsibility of the local REMAC's to set CME/skill requirements. They could do it on an annual, semi-annual or every 3 years as they currently do. But here are some benefits that I see. What if you wanted to take a couple years off to say persue another carrer path, say nursing or PA school? What happens now? You don't recertifiy and you loose your medic card. But if you could send a check every year, you wouldn't have to worry about loosing something you worked so hard to get. It would be up to each REMAC to certify each medic working in their perspective regions. Not to mention it would be income for the state. I pay $150/yr on my birthday to Connecticut for my license. $150yr x how many medics in NY? = $$$ for good old NY. If EMS was truly a career with the same pay/benefits/retirement as PD&FD, and you only had to work one job, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad to recert every 3 years. And isn't making it a license saying it is more proffessional? Don't nurse's get licensed? And no offense to RN's at all(Married to one, mother-n-law is another, most of my aunts are RN's), but I think what a medic does in the field in some terrible conditions is more then what an RN can do at an ER with all the proper lighting, security, an IV team, respiratory and an ER doctor all sitting there. But what is the average number of hours someone in EMS works in a week and at how many different jobs? Maybe that is what the state should be concentrating on doing. Make EMS a CAREER not a JOB.

    Goose likes this

  14. Posted

    The vote that allowed the VFD firefighters into SFRD was done to prevent guys from being laid off right at Christmas time. We were put between a rock and a hard place. So even though not everyone thought it was a good idea, nobody(well that's not exactly true) wanted to see the guys laid off.

    And IMHO, I feel the best way to get a compromise, and work together is if the VFD chiefs pull away from the mayor's plan. If they do that, and allow the SFRD Chiefs to sit and come up with a plan together, it might just work. If the BOR sees that (because they have stated they want us all working together, and I truly feel they don't like either plan) it just might go a long way. And I honestly think it has to be Belltown that leads the charge, because lets be honest. BFD is the only ones doing their jobs out of the VFD's. They are the only ones that have credibility showing that they are getting it done. Not saying that they wouldn't need help at some emergencies, just that they are answering the calls, turning out guys etc. But as long as the VFD's continue to back the mayor and his plan, there is no cooperative planning going on. Of course those that are intending on getting a new job out of the deal will railroad this in every possible way.

  15. Posted · Edited by FD828

    Cogs here is a quote from your post above #1739 "SFRD and the union was my way or the highway". Again, the UNION did not make the sweeping changes to your departments so STOP BLAMING THEM! We were faced with an altimatem just like your departments FROM THE CITY. Stop bashing the wrong people. It was NOT the UNION's idea to merge all the paid guys into SFRD.

    Just out of curiosity, how many times has (and I will just use BFD here) your department officially requested SFRD to attend one of their training nights, and of those times, how many have been refused by SFRD to attend?

  16. Posted

    I have read the "BP" and based on that I do have issues with it...there is nothing personal or anti-union about those issues either. Can these concerns be addressed? Well I would hope so, but it has been up to this point that the union has supported the "BP" as it is and NOT even acknowldeged that it may well need revision before it can be implemented. So we are left with a "my way or the highway" proposition about working with SFRD...again. Funny that argument about having "no say" is much the same one many in 786 have about the Mayor's plan. Let's get down to brass tacks here shall we? Both plans are wrong for Stamford as they are, on that can we at least agree? So if that's the case then both the career side and the volunteers side need to step up and say "whoa this ain't right...neither one of these plans are gonna work boys, time to go back to the drawing board". It's been awfully quiet out there save for a few lone voices in saying that. At what point will the members here, career and volunteer, who freely voice their concerns about BOTH plans on this forum step up and speak up? I and a few others already have publically and in our Department meetings...have any of you? If the union truly does have concerns about the "BP" or believes that a combined form of both plans may be better then now is the time to speak up and do something about it...after all it is ALL of our futures and that of the public we all serve that are at stake.

    Cogs

    The union can say anything it wants, THEY HAVE NO SAY IN WHAT HAPPENS. The union has no authority to implement anything. So your statement of "my way or the highway" is nothing but union bashing. The union has it's opinions sure, but no way to implement anything. It is the mayor and your chiefs that have to be willing to look at other plans.. The unon is an outside party looking in.

  17. Posted

    Well again, as you have stated, the "Brown Plan" needs a fair examination. Chief Brown has no say in how the VFD's are/would be funded, so I imagine that's why it wasn't included in his plan. And it was not the SFRD that decided to make sweeping changes to the VFD's and their funding. We were not in a great spot either when all of this happened and not all of us were for the changes. So if the city administration and the VFD's could fairly examine this plan and all the possible positive outcomes, you and everyone else involved might just find this plan to be better then you thought. What if the VFD's kept their funding, and worked out all those concerns? Would it be so bad for SFRD to be the paid staff in the combo houses? So the X-TOR chief couldn't control and hand pick who will work in his fire station, you would still have the paid staff the VFD's are looking for. There are provisions for training together, riding out with the career staff, and creating a pathway for those that would like to make ff a career choice.

    And who's to say that it can't be some combined form of the 2 plans? Oh wait that is 888 and the VFD's. Everyone forgets the fact that the union has no say in any of this. We can petition the BOR and the public, but having actual say and input? Nope. We have to accept whatever the final outcome is. There are so many questions and assertions about the union and the contract, yet never has the union been asked to speak or provide data for the BOR meetings.

  18. Posted

    And here is my reply from that other site:

    I can assure you that Mr.Gladstone does not speak for me. I do not believe the "Brown Plan" is a realisitc one and that's no secret, and I will not support it as it is. But it is my department as a whole that will decide if we would accept it should that be the plan that emerges. Many of us believe We, and that means the people of Belltown as well as the BFD, stand to lose far too much to simply agree to the terms of the "BP" without further scrutiny. The BP" can work for us only if it can ensure that our district is going to be better off than it is now...which as proposed I do not believe it will be. It is my belief that as a proud and productive department that has served our community well for 82 years, our membership and our neighbors together will do what is necessary to retain our right to continue serve that district. IMO liquidation as a department, by 786's hand, by SFRD's hand, by the City's hand and most assuredly at our own hand, is not an option that has merit in Belltown. Those among us who feel differently are free to move on.

    Cogs

    Correct me if I am wrong, but wouldn't Belltown under the "BP" stay exactly the same as it is now? Belltown is all volunteer and is responding to all of their calls. They are staffing the station 24/7 with volunteers, training regularly and are bring in more members then they can handle. So I am a little confused on "the people of Belltown as well as the BFD, stand to lose far too much to simply agree to the terms of the "BP"". What exactly are you losing? You don't have paid ff's now so you wouldn't lose them. The "BP" basically leaves BFD to remain all volunteer and continue to respond as such. I just don't see what the down side is for Belltown. If I were a BFD member I would want to distance myself as far away from the other departments as possible.

  19. Posted

    if you'd like to waste an hour and forty-eight minuets of your life you can watch the meeting from last night here:

    http://cityofstamfor...d=2&clip_id=854

    "Chief" Whittbread hit the nail on the head with his presentation. His comments said it all. It truly stated what this whole thing is about. Control. He made the statement that they would be able to "CONTROL" the paid firefighters that work for the new VFD where they cannot CONTROL the SFRD career ff's. He also said that they would be in CHARGE/COMMAND of all calls that SFRD responds to in their district. Besides some of the misinformation (volunteers wouldn't be able to ride out on SFRD engines even if they are sitting right there in the station, there is no room for career ff's to live at the stations - for example) he really let the public know what this is all about. VFD's in CONTROL and if they don't get their way, they WILL NOT allow SFRD in their stations and force more hard decisions about public safety and money spending instead of working together. For all our sakes I hope the public and the BOR were paying attention. And they say it's the union and career ff's that are causing all the problems? Perhaps it is the "Chiefs" and not the firefighters(from both sides) at all!

    So my original question still stands, if after all is said and done, if the BOR/public choose to have 1 fire department with 1 chief, will the VFD's accept this decision and work with SFRD in the name of public safety? Or will they exercise their right to sue and use the TOR judgement and cost the taxpayers more money? SFRD will have to accept whatever the final outcome is, how about it VFD's?

    16fire5 likes this

  20. Posted

    Here's the deal from my personal perspective. Niether plan adequately supports the volunteer sector and as such I am a vocal..maybe the most vocal...proponent for the development of a third cooperatively developed option that realistically addresses the needs of, perfrormance of, and costs of each sector and then integrates them wholly and in a mutually beneficial, representative and cost effective fashion to best serve the community we are all charged with protecting.

    The 40 additional SFRD personnel scenario was to illustrate what the bare minimum hypothetical costs of SFRD providing full citywide coverage might be, and how those same funds could be used to support and enhance the volunteer sector (in conjunction with the full integration of both sectors) in a more effective way.

    Cogs

    The only problem here is the statement of "40 ADDITIONAL SFRD personnel" this is very misleading - There is NO additional personnel being added under the "Brown" plan so there would be NO INCREASE in cost for the SFRD operations. The same number of SFRD guys working today would be working then. The Chief would just be relocating where guys/apparatus are stationed. 52 ff's now, 52 ff's then. SFRD is currently sending a full response for all calls in the North District, so basically other then where the appartatus and ff's are located, the day to day operations would be the same. The only way there would be a cost increase is if the VFD's refuse to accept this plan if approved and refuse to allow the SFRD to utilize their stations to better serve and protect the residents of THEIR community that they so strongly claim they are there for. That IMO would be short sighted and childish at best. This is about our safety as firefighters and the safety of the public. SFRD will have to accept whatever the final outcome/plan is wether we agree with it or not. Will the VFD's?

    The VFD's want and need paid personnel they just don't want SFRD.

  22. Posted

    Personally I don't give a rats a** what term is used to desribe FFs who willing choose to serve their community in addition to holding down other employment as their primary source of income. And as far as misleading the public goes, in everuy case I'm aware of it is open and common knowledge that the "volunteers" serving the community recieve "pay" by the citizens. To the best of my knowledge no community has raised an objection to the use of the term volunteer nor have they complained about being misled in any way, shape or form. I suppose the consternation expressed here by some over the use of the term volunteer is in the same league as that espoused by volunteers who bristle at the use of the term "professional" to descirbe all career FFs. In the end it is service to the community that matters and all who underatke to provide that service, be they career, or volunteer, professional or hobbyist, share the same goal to protect and serve the community. It is truly a shame that so much interferes with that basic fact and everyone suffers for it.

    Stay Safe

    Cogs

    I have to respectfully disagree on this one. IMO most residents have absolutely no idea who or what department responded to their emergency let alone if they were career, volunteer, or paid per call. I don't think the average citizen has any idea wether or not the volunteers are receiving compensation of any kind. I am not saying that if they knew they would have an issue with it, I am just saying they don't know. They see a BRT show up and ff's take care of whatever the emergency is period.