sueg

As an officer I just use the apparatus designation, such as, "Ladder 1 Responding." If we beat a chief officer, or there is no chief responding, I simply say, "Ladder 1 is on location, *initial scene size up*, establishing Main Street Command." I do this for two reasons: The first is that it really doesn't matter whether I call my officer designation with the rig or not. I know that I am capable of dealing with most calls, and the chiefs will recognize my voice on the radio. Secondly, sometimes the dispatcher gets a little confused, and inputs in the computer that TWO units are responding rather than just ONE. I've noticed this while doing the BFIRS that an extra chief car gets added when in fact that officer was on the first due apparatus (I'm calling you out, Captain!).
Plus, there's always the chance that there isn't an officer in the front seat. It may be a senior firefighter with no official designation. That firefighter is also capable of dealing with most calls, and smaller departments tend to rely on these senior firefighters when officers aren't around.
But, it's really up to your departments SOG/SOP or your personal preference. I understand some departments like or require it because it "officially" places a qualified individual on the scene, but at the same time it's not a necessary piece of information.

Isn't this just a clarification that the particular officer is responding on a specific piece of apparatus and not independently in a Dept. issued officers vehicle or POV?

Today, I had to move a member to the "Answered Final Alarm" group. I found out a friend, member of this forum, and EMTBravo advertiser/sponsor Ed Simione, AKA "Officer Ed", passed away after a long and difficult battle with cancer. Although I've never met Ed in person, we've maintained a friendship online and corresponded. We have had some common ground.
 
Ed was a retired Police Officer in Arizona, and also a volunteer firefighter. He worked as an officer in Narcotics Interdiction, and as a Narcotics Detective in the Phoenix area. In his retirement after an on the job injury, he operated an emergency lighting business, Dash Flash, which his mission was to provide emergency lighting to those who have to buy their own equipment at an affordable price . He has been an advertiser/sponsor of this site for several years, and has given EMTBravo members significant discounts on his products.  He was an advertiser on this site. Since there are so many fly by night LED light companies, He sent me some to demo so I could vet him. His products were solid. I gave the demos to friends who could use them, and they are holding up nicely in busy enviroments. I've spoken with his daughter, and her and his wife intend to keep the business going. He was also  an active member on this forum, logging in almost every day.
 
RIP, Ed. I'll continue my mission to help raise cancer awareness. Feel bad I didn't write you sooner. Thank you for all you've done for this forum. Condolences to Cheryl, his wife. Thoughts and prayers.
 
This was his last post, responding to a post I made about this site:

 
 
 
 

 
 
Of course they are not going to receive the same benefits as a municipal civil-service employee.  They will get workers compensation and whatever their agency provides insurance wise.  There's never going to be parity between commercial (or volunteer) EMS providers and municipal police/fire.  Police/fire LODI/LODD benefits are the result of legislation and collective bargaining agreements negotiated over years of such contracts.  Given that they're always trying to cut the benefits for the civil service workers, they're NEVER going to extend that level of coverage to the employee of a private corporation. 

The responsibility should be on the private service putting their personnel in that situation.  If they are not providing their employee with adequate protection, someone should be asking "what are we doing here"?
 
 If they want to put a commercial paramedic on a municipal SWAT team, there must be some sort of indemnification for the town/city/village.  If there isn't such an agreement, the town attorney or city counsel must not have been consulted.  They won't let you borrow a shovel without an agreement and details about liability and indemnification.
 
 

Although this article is written for military personnel,  it is quite applicable to the Fire and EMS service. It's an excellent article and read if I do say so myself. I think #6 is one of the most problematic to our local fire and EMS services, but the others hit the nail on the head as well.
 
 
http://taskandpurpose.com/8-symptoms-of-a-toxic-command-climate/
 

As I understand the situation, confirmed by EX-PGH and EX-TCNY employees. TC dissolved as a corporate entity under Chapter 7 bankruptcy and incorporated as Transcendent Transit I & II.  These corporations, in turn, ceased operations on Friday, 2/26/16, less than 36 hours after being formed.
 
That said, to the best of my knowledge (again, for transparency, I was the ALS Coordinator/QA & Safety Manager for TCML/Philadelphia), ALL TC assets have ceased to operate.  There are no functioning TC/TT divisions in NY, PA or MD.  
 
If I'm wrong, please comment with corrections.  Additionally, please (PLEASE!!) give all the ex-TC employees all the support you can!

 

New Rochelle canceled the contract over a month ago.  You mean nobody in NYS DOH BEMS or Putnam County thought to start developing a contingency plan for this?  Just in case?

That sounds like poor planning if you ask me.  Considering the state comes up with plans for bird flu, Ebola, earthquakes, tsunami, and all kinds of other doom and gloom scenarios, the writing has been on the wall for this for some time.

"Trying time for the Bureau staff"  Are you kidding me?  This is their JOB!!!  Considering how much meddling NYS does in the affairs of local governments and businesses, I'm surprised that BEMS wasns't monitoring this more closely.
 
 

Ummm.  Hmmmm.

I have said this about firefighter training also. While the hours have increased, which is generally positive, there has been little done to creatively fit the classes to a busy Volunteer's schedule. When I took my first EMT class 21 years ago (feels old to type that) the class was two nights a week with a few Saturdays. My FF1 & FF2 had similar schedules. More often than not they are planned around the departments regular drill night.
 
Now I have taken classes that were on Sunday mornings and provided food in the cost of the class. I have been in classes that were held once a week, which obviously takes longer to complete, but those have been the exception not the rule. If a topic can be done with a single instructor, could the class be taught multiple times with different students coming together for practicals and tests? I don't know the answer but decreasing the hours is probably not it.
 
The last things I will say is that we have to stop talking publicly about how big a burden it is before we talk internally about a solution. I can't prove it but have long felt that inadvertently we are psyching out potential new members by telling them how impossible it is before they even ask.

Did anyone else lose it when the author suggested returning to the days "When anyone with an interest in helping could ride in an ambulance." Seriously ???

That was satire, right?
 
I know that it wasn't, but stuff like this is typical of where we are these days.  People expect a prompt, professional response from EMS when they or a loved one is experiencing a medical emergency, but they don't want to actually put up the money necessary to put that in place.
 
The problem isn't so much the increasing training requirements.  The problem is that too many are still trying to look at this in terms of what's convenient for the providers and not what's best for the patients.  EMS has progressed significantly over the past 4 decades in the care that we can bring to a patient's doorstep.  This increased capability necessitates increased training in order to effectively provide it.  We are no longer "ambulance drivers" scooping patients up and racing to the hospital.  We are now pre-hospital medical professionals bringing the ER to the patient, particularly at the Paramedic level of care.
 
If the requirements for providing this level of care have reached the point where the care can no longer be reliably provided by an all or largely volunteer staff, the solution is not to lobby the state to decrease the amount of medical training for providers.  The solution is to start treating EMS as the medical profession that it now is.
 
If that means a tax increase to do so, then suck it up buttercup.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Editorial: State must reduce obstacles to EMTs. Seriously?
 
 
http://www.pressrepublican.com/opinion/editorial-state-must-reduce-obstacles-to-emts/article_aec36fba-b564-5fa5-a2bd-c0c41d7a1020.html

They can not move assets from one company to a new company when that original company declares bankruptcy. The bankruptcy courts will never allow this or everyone could just say we are bankrupt and move on to the next business. 
The did not claim chapter 12 reorganization they claimed chapter 7, which means they have no intention of staying in busines. All assets are now the property of NYS bankruptcy court due to the fact the company operates in many other states they will fall under other federal laws governing bankruptcy. 
The letter states the are hoping to keep the Hudson Valley and Maryland operations going. 
From what I heard this was already denied in NYC by the bankruptcy court.
As far more private ambulances coming into the 911 service it is not going to happen as a permanent thing. 
The city is in the process of hiring more EMT has a class currently of almost 180 in the academy now and just was ordered to hire 300 more EMTs to start the next class. 
Before anyone says they will just higher Transcare employees they can't, the must hire off of the prestablished civil service lists. 
The city already has gotten approval from city council and OMB to hire more EMTs and purchase 75 more ambulances immediately. 

23 years ago today, marks the first attack on the World Trade Center. A van full of explosives was driven down into the lower parking garage, in an attempt to bring one tower down into the other. Thank God this did not happen.  But it did kill 6 people and injure thousands. NEVER FORGET!

Let's get to the bottom line. An individual who did not meet the physical standards of the FDNY was nonetheless graduated and placed into service. That individual, ten days into their career, has suffered a significant and no doubt career ending injury. This individual will now be on medical leave which will eventually become permanent disability leave and the taxpayer will support this individual for the the rest of their life. This was a line of duty injury to a person who could not meet the physical requirements of the job but was, for the sake of diversity, allowed to advance.

Why does this just have to be an "unfortunate coincedence" and not the predictible result that comes from lowering (or ignoring) performance standards in order to achieve a diverse workforce regardless of fitness/ability to actually do the job?

Today we remember the horrific events of Sept. 11, 2001 and the lives lost. As a firefighter I share in the sadness and anger of the families of the 343 FDNY members who were murdered. RIP fellas. But there is another part of the story I remember too. With all the grief and anger still felt and with first responders paying a heavy price now for the time spent working at Ground Zero we sometimes overlook the fact that our FDNY brothers, along with the NYPD and PAPD saved over 10,000 people that day, TEN THOUSAND. The heroism and dedication of all of these men and women knows no bounds and the sacrifices, of both the living and of those lost, were not in vain. To all of them I say THANK YOU.

God Bless all of them and God Bless America!!

Never Forget

Posted these on another site and they're just as appropriate here.....

You don't need to collect a paycheck to act professionally....NEVER, EVER settle for being anything other than the best you can be!!
Career, volunteer or anything in between, if you're in the fire service it doesn't get any clearer that this....

Look at this fascist cop in his militarized uniform, clearly violating this little girl's rights from the top of his armored tank. I don't see any reasonable explanation why law enforcement needs access to these battlefield vehicles...
Wait, what's that? He's rescuing this girl from her apartment because a murder suspect has barricaded himself in another unit within the building? Oh. Nevermind then.
Incident is still ongoing, LAPD SWAT still evacuating apartment units.

Photo Credit to Stu Mundel, KCAL/KCBS Helicopter Reporter
Twitter.com/StringerLA

Haven't heard that, but I have heard key information (it's hidden under the mat) or other security measures broadcast in an age when we have so many other options. At some point while it may not be part of HIPAA, the privacy of any individual will likely be cause for civil suit given that there are so many reliable options to minimize public broadcasting of information.

Under HIPAA its not an issue, but as a general "safety" issue it may cause problems

Not to go off topic but there are two basic types of intercom systems:
Analog: where you have 1 button for each apartment. This is the one where you can press all the buttons in a downward sliding button and someone will usually open the door (old PD trick).
The system you reference is a telephone entry system, This requires a code and when entered, uses a preprogrammed number to contact the tenants’ phone. Often you will find a code to call 911, the police or fire departments in the directory. If you enter that code and the system calls 911, when the operator answers, have them dial 9. That is the most often code used to open the door.
If not then the master key (halligan) may have to be used.

www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/privacyrule
By the way, radio communications are specifically exempt from HIPAA

Easy way for the FD to solve this. We advised buildings when they went to this that the 1st call we get there was going to be expensive if they did not install a Knox Box.
Then the 1st call you use Battalion Chief Halligan's key and you are in. The next day the building owner either:
a) orders a knox box or
calls the FD to complain and is told: "See a above"
If they pick "b" we repeat the process.
No building has repeated this a 3rd time.
That no longer works on many of the new systems. There is a 6 or 7 digit "code" for each apt. or you have to scroll to each name press and wait, before you can select another name. In a big building that could take 10+ minutes.

When you dispatch an EMS call and specify the age, sex, and condition of the patient, and the last name of the residence on the radio all in the same transmission, couldn't that be considered violating the patient's privacy?