velcroMedic1987

As bad as this sounds I have faith that Sleepy Hollow's loss will be another department's big gain and this guy will land on his feet maybe someplace not so sleepy.

There is another aspect to this which has nothing to do with the candidate's military service. He is related to a town official. Lately many municipalities have enacted very strict anti-nepotism laws. Those that have not done so yet, will soon feel the pressure to. I can see board members, although I would not agree with it, passing over a candidate who while qualified was related to an official simply to appear that they do not support nepotism. This is almost the same thing as the politically correct crowd, who will go to great pains to appear to not do something that they really were never doing in the first place.

I don't think EDP is a pejorative or derogatory term either. Especially when you consider how the term came about. Also, like velcroMedic said, what is the alternative term? "mentally ill person" that isn't accurate as there are people who display emotional disturbance because of medical conditions (TBI, brain tumors etc) or developmental disabilities or extreme stress that don't meet the criteria to be termed "mentally ill."
As far as why emergency services personnel are hesitant to seek help, I think it has a lot more to do with the very real negative consequences on the job (i.e. desk duty, rubber gun squad, forced retirement, problems when taking psych evals for other jobs down the line). I'm not sure how to fix the issues with this though.
To the broader issue of an ineffective mental health system, there is an answer to that, just not one anyone wants to hear (increased use of hospitializations and institutionalizations of severely or dangerously ill persons)

It wouldn't be that much different if he died of cancer or a heart attack. His fame as an actor and comedian is what's driving most of the attention and over time it will subside and eventually almost everyone will just forget. Just like they forget other tragedies and even events like 9/11. It's just human nature.
As for the term "emotionally disturbed person", why is that wrong or hurtful. It's an accurate description used to characterize people's behavior and/or symptoms. What's the alternative? Is this just a "PC" response?

HIPPA generally does not apply to law enforcement and medical examiners. HIPPA is not as broad as many people believe, it actually covers very little information. On top of that, some states have very broad public disclosure laws that mandate much of this information is public.

Why doesn't City Hall leave the decision making to people who have a clue about policing and let the members of the NYPD do their jobs and then stand behind them an support them? I know that's just an insane notion though, right?

It fits so they clearly took measurements. I always laugh when they get to the house with the new toy only to find out that it doesn't fit.
Then all of a sudden the firehouse renovatIon (or replacement) becomes a big issue. "We can't leave the new truck out in the elements without a 275,000 square foot, three story, nine bay, state of the art house to put it in".
LOL

Pretty soon they will need to update that with "2014, got rid of the worst PCR software system EVER". (EMSCharts).
But as usual I digress. The origianal post was 'Peekskill Fire Protection Jeopardized by EMS".
I think jeapordized is a strong word. Maybe "compromised', 'weakened'. But I bet others would say, "Peekskill citizens get enhanced service for their FD dollar with the only FD in Westchester to perform ALS." I bet a look at the number of fires versus the number of lives saved by the fire medics would support the second one.
If COP fire protection is negatively affected by EMS, why then is not ALL fire protection done by FD's that commit ANY resources to EMS also negatively affected?
The answer is that it is part of the job of serving the public. It is like saying that responses to car fires endanger the protection of structures. When was the last time anyone "saved" a burning car?

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

Not just the PD frequencies. FCC regulations require you to be licensed to transmit on any public safety frequency. But as someone said, they will sell you anything and the real crime of it is that people will program your radios with frequencies without ever asking to see a license. Just show me the money.
And self programmable radios make it almost impossible to deal with. There's no middleman anymore like the companies that sell/program radios.

News 12 this afternoon and again this evening with three different reporters reported that Rye boarders New Rochelle. Since both are city's one can only assume that Harrison, Mamaroneck village & Town and Larchmont have been eliminated.
Its a good thing that news 12 is as local as local news gets.
http://westchester.news12.com/news/i-95-ramp-to-i-287-reopened-after-fatal-crash-in-rye-1.8989131

The Baofengs are quickly becoming popular among hams due to their $39 price tag. It is indeed a dual band portable capable of receiving and transmitting on not only ham bands, but also public safety bands. As was stated before, one does not need to be a licensed ham to purchase one, or any other radio - Motorola, Vertex Standard, etc. for that matter.
Transmitting on a frequency that you are not authorized to so is a big no-no, but the responsibility lies with the radio operator to comply with FCC rules.
- Adam, KD2AYV.

The Baofeng radios are actually dual band VHF high and UHF band commercial transceivers that are capable of transmitting and receiving on public service frequencies and amateur radio (ham) frequencies within these bands. They are used by many ham radio operators due to their low cost. I am a licensed ham radio operator and own and operate one of these radios on the ham bands. Unfortunately, you are not required to be a licensed ham operator to purchase any radio. These radios being used by VAC members are not covered under the agency's FCC license and because they are capable of receiving public service frequencies, they are subject to the NYS scanner laws for mobile use unless you hold a valid amateur radio license. Lets hope that the unlicensed individuals that have these radios only use them for monitoring and not transmitting where they shouldn't. I am also a volunteer fire officer and a VAC member and only use agency issued portables and not the Baofeng for public service purposes.

According to some friends that were among the "first" medics in Cortlandt, the Town and hospital collaborated to start the program and there was an ALS advisory board that included Peekskill and Buchanan. The initial CON application was for the Town of Cortlandt, City of Peekskill, and Village of Buchanan. I'm told that the very first draft application was for the entire town including Croton but they objected so it was changed to the above. Peekskill was involved from the very start but didn't contribute very much to start the program.
The City became more involved after the system was up and running for a couple of years and added the 39 medics via the FD.
The initial paramedics all had the costs of the training paid by the program in exchange for their service as medics. None of the initial medics were paid. There were about 20 of them and they precepted with medics from Rockland Paramedic Services so they could get some experience with the supervision of a veteran medic.

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

So it is closer to 50% of the agencies in the county are paying people for coverage.
If they did an analysis and staffed according to volume and response times instead of antiquated, arbitrary jurisdictional boundaries, there would probably be a great improvement in the level of service provided with no increase in costs.
If an agency pays for one EMT and can't get the second crewmember, they're really just pissing away money.
Too bad there is no oversight in EMS. NYS BEMS is a toothless tiger and the regional EMS councils don't do anything.

So it is closer to 50% of the agencies in the county are paying people for coverage.
If they did an analysis and staffed according to volume and response times instead of antiquated, arbitrary jurisdictional boundaries, there would probably be a great improvement in the level of service provided with no increase in costs.
If an agency pays for one EMT and can't get the second crewmember, they're really just pissing away money.
Too bad there is no oversight in EMS. NYS BEMS is a toothless tiger and the regional EMS councils don't do anything.

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

We were dumb too but there were no video cameras or YouTube!

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.

What if? What if? What if?
You can "what if" things to death and the bottom line always seems to be we respond to the call we have. We don't decline to respond so we can remain available for the call that we MAY get.
What if Engines 131 and 134 are on another FIRE call when your hypothetical structure fire comes in across town? Does it matter that the call is EMS or FIRE? It shouldn't. It's still our customer calling for help.