dmc2007

Response videos are the best. Thank me for my service 
 

I don't think 911 dispatches respiratory therapists.
I have run 12 leads for free for friends, because going to their PMD = $50 copay. I didn't complain about it. Does that qualify for the example in the last sentence of your post?  I was acting as an EKG tech because the PMD office next door to the station would charge $50 insurance co-pay for the identical procedure.
If you want me to complain about having to take care of people, you will have to try harder. It is what I signed up for. It is what I do. Volly and paid for 30 years. 64 hours on a quiet week.
Maybe I am on the wrong site?

    I have to say I am saddened by the content of this thread.  Both my parents died in 2014, and both spent time in an Atria in Westchester- they did not die there, but both were moved by EMS during their stays.
It might seems obvious, but the thread makes me want to point out:  These facilities DO NOT MANUFACTURE OLD PEOPLE. These pt's are going to get old and frail no matter where they live. I would rather have a safe, carpeted monitored building with AN ELEVATOR, rather than dozens of folks in dozens of private homes, UNmonitored, UNreliebly medicated, falling and being on the floor for hours before being noticed.
    I ma pretty sure there is no age range excluded by your EMT class. There is no guarantee of exciting calls. I BET if we issued guns to the facility staff and told them to shoot anyone that falls, so every call came in as a gunshot, there would be no problem covering, and no complaining about it (well, other than pt's and families).
   As per an article in the NY Times a few years back, nationwide EMS call volume is up 247% in last 30 years.  More since then I bet.
  I have NEVER seen an EKG tech complain that a patient that needed an EKG was not sick enough for them. Never seen a RESPIRATORY therapist  complain that the lungs were not wheezy enough for them to give a treatment. Never had a PHLEBOTOMIST say that they were wasting time on drawing blood on a particular pt. It is ONLY the EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECH who feels that they are only there to serve pt's they feel are worthy.
    I am sorry, but things don't stay the same. The job is changing. The pt population is changing. Safer cars with airbags = fewer sexy trauma calls. Meds = a HUGE decrease in V-fib arrests.   Those same meds = a larger elderly population that just want to grow old in safety and comfort. Be nice, be professional: your job is to provide that.
  Or as one of my favorite movie lines, from Ghostbusters goes, " I am sure a person with your skills and qualifications would have not trouble finding  work in either the food service or housekeeping in industries."
sorry for the ad-
 

Not to beat a dead horse here, but this is where regionalization would help. The residents in this facility weren't beamed down from Mars, and while some may be from out of area, I'd wager (based on my experience talking to patients in these facilities) that most of them came from nearby communities. And, despite the jokes we've all made about gravity being stronger at these places, many of these residents used 911 services previously, so the net change in call volume to the system (on the regional or county level) on the whole probably isn't that great. If you have a regional system, you can easily shift resources to cover the relocation of these residents and their demand for services. Let us not forget that these are services that they have paid for, both in their lifetime as taxpayers and through the rent they pay to the facility, which in turn pays real estate and payroll taxes. 
 
As for the notion that these calls aren't serious, let us also not forget that falls are one of the leading causes of death and debilitation in the elderly, and can be a secondary symptom of a bigger problem. So while, yes, many of these patients require nothing more than help off the ground, they all need an assessment. Most of the time, these facilities don't have much medical staffing and, if they do, they aren't clinicians capable of making decisions without consulting a physician. Enter EMS. I'm not saying I enjoy going to these facilities at 3 AM after running all day, but the need for the service is there. 
 
As for the issue of the medic having to respond to every call, that seems like a failure of resource utilization that is indicative of a bigger problem. If the resource is limited, than an appropriate emd program should triage calls appropriately (as best you can given the often lackluster communication and clinical skills of the caller from these facilities). 

On the topic of offering to create a joint system with Pelham-that seems like a pretty clear indication that the contract is empress' to lose, no?  Either way that sounds like a great way to improve service to Pelham at the same time by consolidating systems-something Westchester (and mass too, among others) could use more of. 
 
The equipment section of the contract had a few interesting points. Granted, it's been a while since my NY card lapsed, and even longer since I actually spent any significant time volunteering there (and only at the Bls level), but the inclusion of video scopes and BiPAP capable vents was a surprise. Are a lot of services in Westchester moving to video scopes?  As for the vents, are medics in ny allowed to initiate them (either for incubated patients or as NIV)?  Or is that provision there for stat transfers out of SSMC/monte north?

On the topic of offering to create a joint system with Pelham-that seems like a pretty clear indication that the contract is empress' to lose, no?  Either way that sounds like a great way to improve service to Pelham at the same time by consolidating systems-something Westchester (and mass too, among others) could use more of. 
 
The equipment section of the contract had a few interesting points. Granted, it's been a while since my NY card lapsed, and even longer since I actually spent any significant time volunteering there (and only at the Bls level), but the inclusion of video scopes and BiPAP capable vents was a surprise. Are a lot of services in Westchester moving to video scopes?  As for the vents, are medics in ny allowed to initiate them (either for incubated patients or as NIV)?  Or is that provision there for stat transfers out of SSMC/monte north?

On the topic of offering to create a joint system with Pelham-that seems like a pretty clear indication that the contract is empress' to lose, no?  Either way that sounds like a great way to improve service to Pelham at the same time by consolidating systems-something Westchester (and mass too, among others) could use more of. 
 
The equipment section of the contract had a few interesting points. Granted, it's been a while since my NY card lapsed, and even longer since I actually spent any significant time volunteering there (and only at the Bls level), but the inclusion of video scopes and BiPAP capable vents was a surprise. Are a lot of services in Westchester moving to video scopes?  As for the vents, are medics in ny allowed to initiate them (either for incubated patients or as NIV)?  Or is that provision there for stat transfers out of SSMC/monte north?

Am I the only one who finds the fact that the article (and FDNY on the whole) refers to the transition from EMT or Paramedic to firefighter as a "Promotion" equally bothersome, if not more so, than the main subject of the article?

Being a jew myself I can speak freely. These individuals in almost EVERY aspect take advantage of the Earth. From the blatant violation of the sanctity of marriage to the flagrant misuse of the vehicle and traffic laws they just rape and pillage. I am so happy that I live in Putnam far from the filth that they call home in many towns in Orange and Rockland. I feel for all of you that must deal with these people with such a feel of entitlement. They use their supposed block voting to scare every single politician in to succumbing to their needs. We need someone with a set to just tell them to STFU get off welfare and stop playing games. All we need is a law stating that two people living together legally, and verified through surveillance, which I am sure we can get volunteers to do, shall not be the beneficiary of social services.
Rant Over

Why does it matter aside from maybe helping figure out what is wrong with the patient? Forget about how its just wrong to treat someone differently based upon a medical condition, what if they don't know they're carrying some disease. Everyone gets treated the same unless I suspect an infection requiring droplet precautions.
Moderator note: This was the very last post made by Lenny, before he left us for keeps. RIP.

Sounds like that they sent appropriate resources as they received updated from information from the PD units on scene. Also looks like the FD runs medic engines, so while it may have taken a few minutes to gather the transporting resources the victims were, i'm sure, being treated aggressively.
In all honesty, this is why 60 control needs to be the sole provider of dispatching and EMD resources for this entire county. I can't imagine the additional chaos decentralized communication would have added. Sad part is, it will take an event of this scale here to ever see that change happen.

I think if you looked at FDNY houses this is the rule rather than the exception. Many time you will hear them referred to as "their buff" in reality this is usually a physically or mentally handicapped individual who is a fire house fixture. Every house I've been assigned to has one or more. Some are more famous than others e.g. Engine 64. I learned not to feel sorry for them and see they could have an enjoyable life in spite of what life dealt them. It shows why this is the best job in the world--the people you work with.

This thread is fantastic.
First, everyone overreacts over what now appears to be a miscommunication.
Then, the proposed solutions basically include harassing the toll-takers, because let's be real, we all know they are the ones making the policies. (Let's not do something drastic like make legitimate contact with the powers that be and explain why this is a bad policy.)
Then if that doesn't work, we advocate just blowing through the toll plazas. No big deal there, so a DOT worker or two gets blasted. No harm, no foul. Or maybe just destroy some DOT equipment.
Just brilliant. Let's keep these good ideas coming!

Pelham Manor is covered by Empress Ambulance (with an ALS fly car and transporting ambulances sent in as needed). New Rochelle is covered by Transcare with 2.5 ALS Trucks (2 24 hour and 1 12 hour). The Village of Larchmont and the Town of Mamaroneck are covered by Larchmont VAC, while the Village of Mamaroneck is covered by Mamaroneck EMS. The last two have 24/7 ALS staffing through the Town of Mamaroneck Ambulance District.
An ALS intercept system would be a downgrade from the current system, as all of the areas you mentioned except Pelham presently have dedicated ALS transporting ambulances. You're talking about transport times here of 10-15 minutes max, often less.

Pelham Manor is covered by Empress Ambulance (with an ALS fly car and transporting ambulances sent in as needed). New Rochelle is covered by Transcare with 2.5 ALS Trucks (2 24 hour and 1 12 hour). The Village of Larchmont and the Town of Mamaroneck are covered by Larchmont VAC, while the Village of Mamaroneck is covered by Mamaroneck EMS. The last two have 24/7 ALS staffing through the Town of Mamaroneck Ambulance District.
An ALS intercept system would be a downgrade from the current system, as all of the areas you mentioned except Pelham presently have dedicated ALS transporting ambulances. You're talking about transport times here of 10-15 minutes max, often less.

Volunteer or paid shouldn't make a difference. Guess what-the citizens in your district probably don't know and definitely don't care whether the crew responding to THEIR emergency is paid or volunteer-they expect and deserve the same level of service no matter where they are. Do all assists need to end with transport by ambulance to the hospital? Probably not, but until any medical concerns are ruled out, the call should be handled by a crew that's trained to identify possible the red flags that indicate something bigger is going on or that an injury has ocurred, as well as to stabilize and properly move an injured person.
If an EMS system doesn't feel like dealing with falls, which are the number one cause of injury death and trauma-related hospital admissions in the elderly (source: http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/adultfalls.html), then its time to revamp said system.
That being said, if a particular individual, or the family of an individual, keep calling for preventable falls that end up being non-medical, there is a bigger issue of finding a more suitable living environment for that individual that needs to be dealt with.

From the EMS point of view...
I've freelanced a grand total of one time...I was en route to a large scale incident, in uniform and as requested by our command staff, when I came across a MVA that would have represented a small-scale MCI had all but one patient not refused. After talking to the command staff, I secured my POV away from the scene and offered assistance. Given that our area was already strapped from the prior incident, the extra help was needed and appreciated.
That being said, freelancing without permission tends to be a major problem in major incidents. While we roster in house crews and don't have to deal with the issue of toning and hoping for a crew to assemble, we do have people responding to calls without permission, particularly those big calls that wouldn't have an issue garnering a response in other areas. Having responded to calls on the duty crew where this has happened, I'd say it's problematic. It creates needless chaos on scene and increases the workload for the IC, whoever that may be. If I was part of the command staff, I'd add consequences for it. I don't think I'd last very long in the command staff of a volunteer agency in this areas...

I'll add mine.. I will have to give alittle backround thou..
2011 has sucked for me.. Losing both my parents in a 6 month span, losing a dog, the day I buried my father, to losing a very great girl from the stress of it all, to even now figuring out how a 25 year old can save his parents house from foreclosure. Alot huh...lol
With all this that has been going on, I've thought about quiting EMS, maybe even serving the public all together. Then I realized that, I have been helping people people since I was 16. Countless hours of giving, spending time away from those I loved especially the one's who just recently passed. Did I really want to give up all that time now they the two people who felt most safe around me when they got sick were gone.. I thought long and hard about it. Then two calls came by me that made me think wow.. This was my parents telling me to keep going..
Everyone who know me outside this forum know I have guity over my fathers stroke.. I still to this day say to myself, what if I didnt work that overnight before, and wasnt so tried.. maybe I could of seen signs before it was to late, and it was irreversible, but anyways it was a call I was on where the person had the big one in terms of strokes.. Me, and my ALS partner just worked so insync. That we got him back, and I could help but think to myself. I could save my own father, but I made a difference in someone else's life so that they can have theirs.. Thinking like that made me happy, that even thou I didnt get to save my own fayhers life. I got a chance to save someones elses to make them smile..
The second call, reminded me of my mother.. The call came in as CPR in progress. We get there to find a vent, in PEA.. ( strangely enough the same rhythm my mother was in the first time she went into arrest) We worked on the person, got them back to a NSR. Even I was shocked.. Then I said to myself.. This is my mother telling me, your good at what you do. Dont give up on your dream job, just because you missed me.. So even thou I have had a real shity year. There is some good that comes out of it.. Making a difference in someones life is sometimes better then a paycheck, when your faith needs alittle restoring.
I will close by repeating a saying Bill Rosthchild ( sympatheticmedic) told me while when my fathers death was recently new. He said " EMS is a thankless job, Its even hard when the world expect you to bring clam, and understand to a scene when you, yourself's world had no meaning, and is spiraling out of control, but if you are a true professional, You can adapt and overcome"
Thank you bill, truer words have never been spoken my friend..

I don't think the bulk of the comments were to say that the volunteer FF's are inherently not as good as career staff, but rather, that the unified command infrastructure and training in place in the FDNY system allowed those on scene to operate much more coherently and effectively. You can't argue that, Westchester units, with our mix of many different systems, lack of interoperability and response plans, and lack of unified command, would have faired as well.

This is a ridiculous blanket statement, and this along with comparing the Muslim brotherhood to the vast majority of Muslims shows that you have only a vague and/or slanted understanding of Islam.
Look, I agree that the rules are the rules and that no one, regardless of their religious practices, should be exempt from rules that are designed simply to keep them safe. Its obvious that head coverings of the kind at issue here would be dangerous on a number of rides in the park as they could become caught in tracks, etc. And I agree that the event organizers, having been informed of these rules, didn't do a very good job of communicating this to event goers ahead of time. You'll get no argument from me that this is largely to blame for this incident occurring in the first place. But I also know from accounts of people who were there (and no one has mentioned this possibility so far) that the park rangers involved in the initial altercation didn't do a very good job of diffusing the situation. It's mentioned in one of the articles cited here that they pushed some of the women who confronted them which, unless they truly felt threatened (and come on, seriously?), just seems like a really bad idea. Putting your hands on a woman in a confrontational way in front of her husband or any male relative would surely escalate any situation regardless of the religious persuasions of those involved. Oh and by the way, those rangers are totally fine.
Long and short? I'm saying that there's blame to be placed pretty equally on both sides of this situation. And chalking this up as some kind of anti-American Islamic riot or an attempt to impose Sharia law in the US is just completely absurd. It was the unfortunate result of poor planning and poor communication, nothing more. This could have happened with a Jewish group, a Sikh group, or anyone else who's religious beliefs happened to conflict in any way with park rules. Making this out to be the fault of Muslim "animals" trying to take over our country as many of you have just makes you sound like close-minded buffoons. Sorry, but it's the truth. Should we blindly adopt some of their more out-dated (and little-followed) views as our own without questioning them? Absolutely not. But should we, by the same token, write off all their beliefs as "savage" and demand that they give them up without first questioning that logic? Absolutely not. A little cultural sensitivity isn't the same as being stupidly "PC" and a little worldly education goes a long way in averting this kind of incident.
Bring on the hate, I know it's coming.

Today (6/10/2011) was Fleet Demo Day at Playland. Here are some of my pictures. If you enjoy my photos please comment of give me a rep, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

I can't believe people are shocked at the Henry family being pissed at this. Lose a child and see how reasonable you become. The family is pissed and will always be pissed. Their kid did something stupid and got himself killed. This wasn't a malicious or pre-meditated attack on Officer Hess. So the family has to come to grips with that. They have no villain or clear reason to hold on to and explain the loss of their child. Any number of things happen differently that night, Officer Hess never has to kill anyone, he never gets his leg broken, and DJ goes home alive.
Wait, so we're expecting the Henry family to essentially say, "Thanks for shooting my son and saving us the stress and burden of a wrongful death suit in the event that he might have stuck and killed someone that night."
The DOJ will eventually exonerate Aaron of wrong doing, he should enjoy his award, and we should write off the Henry's claims as irrational and the result of emotional trauma.

This morning, the Rye Little League had their annual parade to kickoff the season. As usual, RFD, RPD and PCRRBEMS were there.




















I'll post some videos latter.
If you like my photos, please comment or give me a rep. It would be greatly appreciated.

Where in the definition of "Volunteer" does it say lack responsibility? It seems to me to be the ever growing "attitude" within volunteers. Whether it is a new mandate for training , or a change in operations for better overall function of your home dept. It seems to me that the "excuse" of "I'm a volunteer, why should I have to take OSHA," or "I'm a volunteer why should I have to be at my ambulance when I am rostering that time." The last time I checked when I became a volunteer at the age of 16, I joined because it was something I enjoyed doing and wanted to help. Just because you don't receive any type of monetary payments does not mean you cant uphold yourself to the same standards as everyone else. I for one feel that without changing that outlook, volunteers will be a rapidly dying breed. Now for those that don't me, and may think I am "voly bashing" get your facts straight. I have been in my dept for 10 years, and put as many hours as any other active voly. I have not forgotten where I came from, and continue to provide the service and have the attitude as of a volunteer just as I would at work. The main objective of this topic is to answer the following ques. and agree or disagree with the above statement, (Because I am a volunteer I don't have to uphold responsibility.) Is this attitude moral oriented? Is it something that can be changed? If so how?