eagle5473

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Posts posted by eagle5473

  1. Posted

    When we built our last ambulance i did some research, and found currently Australia has some of the most stringent ambulance specs going and has reduced provider deaths with the new designs they have came out with. Australia used to have many (type 1 and 3) ambulances, and is now almost exclusively type 2 with many differences forward facing seats and other occupant protection measures.

    aaron

  7. Posted

    I have to concur, that the cooling chairs are by far the best tool for rehab. Our team has been up and running for 4-5 years, and if you show up with 1 thing, it would be 5-6 cooling chairs. The fans tend to just get the nozzles clogged and then just spew water and get people wet.

    Part of the CT Region 5 rehab group our unit has

    10 Cooling chairs

    6 unit cooling vest system

    2 10x20 tents with sides

    1 10x10 tent

    Heating unit powered by propane

    Medical kits

    Masimo Rad 57 CO monitor

    Masimo rehab tags

    4 large coolers

    Rehab sector command kit

    3 Honda 2000 watt gensets

    3 cooling fans

    2 folding benches

    normal folding chairs

    1 portable tent privy

    granola bars

    1 ice machine at base

    3 folding shelter cots

    1 folding table

    3 water coolers

    and a bunch of other small stuff

    2011 ford F350 tow vehicle and 14 ft enclosed trailer

    Aaron Hodge

    Roxbury Ems

    CT Region 5 Rehab Team

    x129K and sfrd18 like this

  10. Posted

    As the time commitment has virtualy killed off most of the true Volunteer EMS agencies, The VFD's will follow in time.

    The answer will lie in a full county wide paid system supplemented by the few volunteers that are left.

    And this is NOT a Westchester issue, its a National issue.

    At least NY has a county form of Government, CT is a disaster when it comes to consolodaion and looking at county wide solutions.

    aaron

  11. Posted

    Provide a completly FREE EMT class for anyone in your district. We did this a few years ago with good results. You will get the wash outs, but you will also get a good group that will stay and join. They are volunteering too many times EMS services make it too hard to join and dont refund the cost of the class for a year or what ever. Pay there way for everything books, BP cuffs ect..

    aaron

  15. Posted

    Most of the views seem to be that Rehab is only needed for 2nd alarms or higher?

    I would contend that Rehab is an esential part of any initial call of structure fire. I would also tell you that by the numbers Rehab is MORE important than a FAST team. Can anyone tell me how many firfighters are killed from being trapped in a fire every year? and how many die of stress (heart/stroke ect)?

    If you looked at the numbers and I have. you would see that all this FAST trainning while important, maybe less important on a fire scene than a good rehab sector.

  17. Posted

    Just thought share a pleasant experience I recently had involving purchasing LED Lights.

    I have always been a fan of Whelen and have always purchased Whelen LED Lights. However, as everyone knows, these lights are quite expensive. I found a company that I am sure some people have heard of...Prestige Emergency Lights. These lights are much cheaper than Whelen lights and provide a nice alternative. I know there are a lot of companies out there making emergency LED lights but I feel for the price, Presitge is quite good. They offer grille lights, dash lights, four six and eight head sticks, a visor light, and a arrow stick. All of these are much cheaper than most companies. A nice feature is the color selection. These come in all colors and can have split patterns. No matter what pattern or color combination you chose, the cost is the same. All colors are in stock and ship quickly. I currently own two Blue/Clear PEL Dual Dash-deck LIN SLIM light. These lights are quite bright and look identical to the Whelen Slimlighter. The brightness of the lights might be a little less impressive than Whelen but most people do not even notice a difference. The lights have plenty of pattern to choose from via push button on the back of the unit. this light goes for $76.95 while a Whelen Slimlighter goes for close to $200! All lights come with a 6 year warranty. Recently I had a minor problem with one of my units so I returned it and received a replacement very quickly.

    The customer service is quite good. I have never waited more than an hour or two to have an email answered. Prestige also sells other brand lights such as Whelen, etc. You can create an sellers account with them as well.

    For people looking for lights, I strongly recommend considering Prestige.

    **Also, lights can be returned for a full refund within a certain time limit if you are not 100% satisfied...worth giving a try if you ask me!**

    Are they made in the US?

  20. Posted

    Can someone explaine to me why an Ambulance service VAC or Commercial can bill in NY, and a Fire based Ambulance can not?

    Also No Fault insurance is ONLY for your inj's not for the damge. And Yes it is becomming more common for FD's to bill for service at Auto accidents mostly for billable hazmat stuff, and extrication

  22. Posted · Edited by eagle5473

    Where to start. I am an auto appraiser for my real job, and get to see lots of bags deployed.

    The cover on the wheel now is a bad idea. When it first came out you only had steering wheel bag.

    With all the other bags in cars now the cover would give the rescuer a false sence of security and may lead them to over look undeployed bags in other tareas of the car.

    5-10-20 is the rule to teach and pass along. The most critical skill that MUST be passed along is to EXPOSE EVERYTHING before you cut.. I witnessed an Audi that was cut by a nearby FD that they did not do this and in fact cut thru the tube that expells the propellant from a side airbag canister in a C post. They have no clue at how close they came to cutting into the caniser (1-2 inches on both sides!!!)

    Air bags and their parts are everywhere

    -steering wheels

    - dash

    -side of front and rear seats

    -Head rails

    -A post and in the hinge post

    - Dash Knee air bags on alot of cars not just the old Kia Sportage anymore.

    -There are also airbags now on the big Motorcycles too

    - Ford is also toying with airbags to prevent pedestrian inj on the exterior as well.

    Other things to keep in mind are pre-tensoners for the seatbelts, and auto deploying roll over protection as well on convertables. Any we have not gotten to th eHybeds or electrics yet.

    Extrication has become increasingly complex and dangerous for the rescuer IF you do not keep up on new technologies you are going to get hurt. And trainning on 15 year old cars is NOT real world trainning anymore.

    Contact your local car dealer to see what is new in safey

    Aaron Hodge

    CLM92982, FiftyOnePride and SRS131EMTFF like this

  24. Posted

    CT has also gone to 100% epcr's we have been online with EMS Charts for over 2 years now. There is a learning curve to be sure and the reports do take a bit longer. The reports now after switch over are 10 times more accurate and have more good information in them then the old paper reports. The EPCR as mentioned before is a good send for billing, and for the mandatory reporting to state agencys and to gleen information from at the end of the year for our Service awards ect....

    If you dont like EPCR's I would suspect you should get to know them they are the future and the future is already here in many parts of the country.

    No 1 EPCR will fit every service

    I would say that almost 95% of the services on the western part of CT have gone with EMS Charts though