velcroMedic1987

Gotta wonder what happened.  This isn't the usual MV drama.

16 hours ago, v85 said:

I'm guessing it is because of the meds but that must be a NYC protocol thing. EMTs have atropine of organophosphate poisoning and nerve agent response in the Hudson Valley region, and I heard something about (rectal) Valium in the collaborative protocols as an assistive medication in refractory seizures

 

So  not to much differnce there

Sorry but rectal valium should remain an in-hospital treatment.  There's no way I'm doing that, especially on a haz-mat job.

17 hours ago, SOUSGT said:

Please see my earlier comments on bridging radios. In it looks like in the current situation an emergency services boat on the Hudson would need:

1 Westchester trunk radio

1 Westchester UHF fire ground radio (or the ability to scan this frequency and the trunked)

1 Rockland County Trunked radio

1 NYPD radio

1 NYFD radio

1 Marine radio

And just for giggles and grins a WCPD radio.

Did I cover all the bases?

(Does the helicopter out of NJ have any of the above?)

Putnam Fire

Orange Fire

Putnam Sherriff's

Orange Sherriff's

As you can see this is a lot of hardware and a lot to pay attention to when involved in an emergency.

You don't need different radios for all of that. 

You need VHF-high band (which includes the marine band), UHF, and 700 and/or 800.   3, possibly 4 radios. 

17 hours ago, SOUSGT said:

 

The one Hall of Fame that no one wants to be inducted to! May the inductees be few! 

Agreed!

Stupid.  Just plain stupid.

If there's no policy, they didn't do anything wrong.  If there is a policy and a photo of turnout gear violates it, well, that's pretty extreme.

9 hours ago, FFEMT84 said:

How can an agency just say we are     suspending service with no back up in place ? It sounds illegal to me 

Illegal?  What law is being broken? 

Can you describe what conduct is illegal if they do go through with this?

There's a Fallen Firefighters Memorial.  That's the hall of fame for the fire service.

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2016 at 11:30 AM, x635 said:

 

In this case, it really didn't have anything to do with it. It came down to a complete lack of coordination of resources and interagency communication failures.

Why do you think it came down to a lack of coordination and interagency communications failures?  Because everybody does it on their own and has their own little fiefdom.

This is a rerun of the same discussion over the years.  Nothing is going to change so long as we have these little empires and emperors running things.

This is nothing new.  The county uses budget lines to balance budgets all the time.

They have done the same thing in just about every department.  Three lines in Public Safety isn't really that much.

Of course, Astorino's son in law still has his job there so...

More toys when we can't properly staff apparatus or ambulances in most of the municipalities in Westchester.  I doubt it's better elsewhere in the region.

Seems like a colossal waste of time and money for little return on the investment.

What's the plan for using that?  Can it be trailered elsewhere for mutual aid?

So the town is actually investigating options for EMS.  They should be commended for that!  Most towns rely on the provider, whether VAC, VFD, commercial, mixed, or whatever, and provide no insight or guidance whatsoever.  Let's face it, any municipal service should have oversight, even EMS.

Love the cooperation.  Just wondering how they coordinated the effort.  Anyone know how they communicated and coordinated?

Funny, when I read this and the accompanying article, I didn't think politics = politicians.  I read that as politics = the BS and drama that is internal company/department politics. 

Perceptions vary. 

15 hours ago, x635 said:

It's great that Paramedics are being trained to be on a SWAT team or Active Shooter response, as it brings medical care to those who need it immediately in a very dangerous situation.

 

My only issue is non-Civil Service Paramedics who work for private companies. If they get shot and injured, or god forbid, killed, they do not get the same benefits as a firefighter or police officer who is injured or killed in the line of duty. If they have a family, that family is not provided for like they would if he/she was in civil service.

 

If private service Paramedics are going to be part of tactical teams, is there any way to give them some sort of LODI or LODD benefit that is parity with FF's and LEO's?

 

Am I wrong?

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.

If you're looking for a job, CFR isn't going to help much.  EMT is really the minimum standard for EMS training in most professions. 

If you're just looking for additional training to help you in an emergency, CFR isn't bad.

It really does depend on what is motivating you to pursue EMS training in the first place and how you'll apply it. 

They've been talking about demolishing Ruth Taylor for years so I bet that's a part of it. 

Where's the money coming for this?  Is it tax money - yet again - for the public benefit corporation?  

Have they paid back the millions of tax dollars that the County gave them during their bailouts over the years?

Puuulleeeasseee!  The Journal News articles from the 80's "Where You Live Could Cost Your Life" could be republished today with little change.  Except that paramedics will now be sitting with the patient waiting for an ambulance.

11 hours ago, CaptainCharisma said:

 

For the same reason they bought us hot sticks.

When did they buy you hot sticks?  I thought they didn't want us messing with them and actually recalled them all?

Date: 020516
Time: 0827
Location: IFO 40 Worth Street, NY
Units: 4th Alarm Equivalent plus 10-60 SOC response

NYPD Level 1 Mobilization plus division units, ESU, Crime Scene Unit, Traffic

Con Edison with Electric, Gas, Steam, Transmission Ops, Emergency response group, emergency management, PublicAffairs,

Environment Health and Safety

NYCEM

NYC Dept of Buildings

NYC DEP

US Coast Guard

Department of Labor

OSHA

NYC Medical Examiner

Description: Approximately 560 foot crawler crane toppled over in windy conditions crushing one car, killing the occupant. FD BC-1 reported all hands shortly after arrival and Division 1 transmitted the 10-60 and 3rd Alarm shortly after arriving. Rescue medics pronounced occupant in crushed vehicle and transported one red tag patient (possibly downgraded to orange). NYPD level 1 mobilization for crowd/traffic control. Multiple street closures in area.

Concussion caused rupture to gas main, oil filled 345,000 volt electric feeder, and water main. Gas main shut down and Con Ed working to control feeder leak but it is located under the crane. About 5000 gallons of oil released into manholes and other underground structures.

DEP shut down water main controlling the water leak.

US Coast Guard has contractors patrolling river to insure oil is not reaching the river.

NYC interagency meetings scheduled for tomorrow and mayor will hold another press conference at 1330.

I don't think anyone would doubt that getting out of the station quicker may improve your outcome. Of course there were/are plenty of times that calls have come in and our volunteer station happened to have a complement of personnel and we're on the road within the time it takes to suit up.

I'm just asking, but are there really that many more burned out hulks in the volunteer districts than in the paid districts? Oh, let me answer, NO.

So, as usual, it's about the money. $3 Billion in NYS about $140B nationally. That could be a lot of jobs. Provided the public is willing to pay.

A more timely response with more properly trained personnel is SAFER and will undoubtedly be more effective/efficient.

Are you seriously going to base success on the number of burned out hulks in an urban environment? That's absurd! There are plenty of success stories but I've seen plenty of inground pools where houses once stood but I'm not casting stones like that.

Is it really $3B annually in NYS or is that the worst possible scenario where there is no use of existing assets or combination departments? If there's a savings of $2.5B in insurance costs does that make it more palatable? Is the cost of apples really comparable to bananas?

I agree it is about the money but that's true on both the paid and volunteer side.

The volunteer model is not perfect but it continues to work

Many would argue that it doesn't work consistently in all areas.

Next time a request is made to build a care facility in your town/village, those that approve the plan should require provisions for EMS that do not rely on or otherwise burden their existing EMS structure, rather than accepting a one time donation of money toward a new ambulance, which is often the case. That solution wears off faster than a coat of wax on the shiny new bus.

But the short term leaders see the shiny new ambulances and don't consider the long term impact of the project.

Completely out of control! It is an epedemic of people making money (Atria) and abusing the 911 system along with it. No less than 4 times a day to them in one town and 4 times a day in the next town coupled with another in the next and the flycar is basically assigned to them. Regardless, of whether they can be billed it is ridiculous! Especially in the evenings and weekends when there is less staff. All of these "assisted living" complexes should be required to have at least one and maybe two persons ON DUTY 24/7 for LIFT ASSISTS. Is it really an insurance issue or rather a lazy issue? People can be trained rather easily in how to lift a patient off the floor.

It is time for the VOLUNTEERS to be respected rather than abused! Perhaps doubling the fee to the nursing home should be investigated for lift assist calls. That would stop the abuse in its tracks. Something should be done before there are no 911 ambulances availabe for true emergencies.

How about the EMS PROFESSION to be respected rather than abused? It shouldn't matter whether you're collecting a paycheck or volunteering. The system is broken and there is nobody on a high level doing much of anything about it.

I HATE when people seek special consideration because they're volunteers. Either be an EMS PROFESSIONAL (paid or not) or rethink your choice of avocation.