Jybehofd

I didn't say that it had anything to do with it, I just said that it made me think of it.
But that being said, mutual aid EMS was requested yesterday (for standby in quarters), as well as the response of the EMS Mutual Aid Zone Coordinator. I was wondering if any of these procedures had been included in an "official" county mutual aid plan. Not to discredit the great work that OVAC does, but this might have also been a good opportunity to request an EMS task force, or at least more of a response than just 1 BLS and 1 ALS unit. I understand that this was not an active shooter, and it was just a report of a person with a gun in a school, but wouldn't we rather have these units responding and staging and available if needed than scrambling at the last minute when the situation escalates? Especially during the daytime when we know that coverage in Westchester County is oftentimes a struggle.
Full disclosure, I'm not trying to start a war here, or talk about what OVAC did/did not do right, just looking for some constructive discussion on the overall Mutual Aid plan, and Westchester's handling of potential MCI scenarios.

I feel interoperability interms of communications needs to be updated.. Effective communications is the key to successful operations

One EMT ? So what does he do, sit and wait for another EMT to show up ?

So, we're operating a PIAA and the medic requests the bird. As the bird comes in for the landing, a worker in a nearby building under construction, in an effort to see what the heck is going on, falls from the second floor. If I remember correctly, the bird came back for him after dropping off the first patient from the PIAA.

X635, Please look this way

You never saw it, it does not exist. " The flash of light you saw in the sky was not a UFO. Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus."

Bill... what a great historical note. I'm on the job in Eastchester 33+ years and never heard that story before.

It could but there are more fail safes now. New York VTS (vessel traffic system/control) keeps a very close eye on the traffic and now with the help of AIS (automated Identification system) maritime traffic is closely watch by ALL. Then on board are other safeties in place. Such as watch alarms, watch standards ( who and how manny officers are on the bridge). Usually in heavy traffic everyone is in the bridge. Besides the chief mate/first officer. Typically he/she is standing by the anchor at the ready for emergency release on the anchor brake The second officer is usually navigating or over looking the helmsman and working the throttles. Depending in the vessel and captain the two can switch do vice versa. And of course the captain will be up on the bridge with the pilot The Exxon Valdez. Well that's not practiced anymore but tankers used to have permission by VTS to cut the corner to save time and fuel.

Replying from my iPad. I would say the site works the same on my desktop computer and iPad, I have never noticed a difference. Hope this helps.

I think the money plays a pretty big role in it.
For example, what is a small ambulance corps to do that doesn't have enough volunteers to cover a call, but doesn't have the population or volume to pay for 2 paid EMTs every day?
I know the answer in that case is really consolidation, but until that happens, isn't it better to at least have 1 trained responder to assess and start treatment before the crew arrives than to have nothing, or farming the task off on another service (like PD)

Absolutely no difference, because you cannot tell just from what the caller told Dispatch whether the person who "fell" is really in cardiac arrest or just planking for fun; or the diff breather is a CHF patient about to drown or someone just having an anxiety attack; or the repeat AFA is really a structure fire or someone forgetting their code again; or the CO detector is a bad battery or the real deal until you physically get someone there to investigate and maybe pass the word back to the other responders. Which is why we try to get a full crew for both the ambulances and the apparatus as soon as possible so we can get there and do our job promptly with enough people to mitigate the situation whenever possible.
Unfortunately, some people do go by the intial Dispatch and think it is not worth their time to respond [AKA "not enough of a glory call"], or the trucks rush to be the first to respond without a sufficient crew to do so properly [AKA "Look at our great response time, but gosh, can't do a darn thing yet" or "Ooops, we took the wrong truck for the job" (or used the ambulance to get people there to helpbut do not have a crew to transport")]. Thank God for the core group of people who do take what we do seriously, and here's hoping it rubs off on the newer ones coming in down the line,

This is all because to many agencies have forgot the only reason for existing is the patient and not for the organization or the members.
ITS ALL ABOUT THE PATIENT!
I wish the State DOH would start to question agencies that have a pattern of failing to respond or major delays in responding as to why should they be allowed to maintain their C.O.N.

I don't believe it is common, widespread, public information when a person dies after a prolonged (two or three to mutual aid) response. Perhaps if there was more information on the relationship between dispatch, response and outcome it would prompt, if necessary, some changes.

Photo credit to WCPD SOD

There's no such thing as "half a crew". Either you have a crew or you don't. Paging for drivers, EMT's, or one of my favorites "attendant" is just compounding the delays. You should have to have a crew on duty (and I would argue that they have to be with the ambulance) so you can actually arrive in time to save a life.

If there has already been a 20 minute delay between the 911 call and the ambulance responding, turn the damn lights and siren off. You're no better than a pizza delivery guy at that point.

Yup trying to save the buck not a life

From the sleepy hollow vac Facebook page. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=322521171240211&id=130015527157444

Let's all pray for a quick recovery.

Exactly!
It evens happens in busier VAC's too. Then usually after the mutual aid musical chairs is finally settled, another call always comes in and the game is started again.

You don't want to see some of the times up here

My favorite is when two neighboring VAC's each have one EMT/driver on and get toned out and neither can get a full crew! Why not consolidate and rotate departments with a full crew? These two VAC's have a very low call volume so one full crew would be much more beneficial then two incomplete crews. The phrase "take it with the medic" is common place now.

And the 4 or so other VAC's in the same town(s) are doing the same. It would be much better to take those 2 one manned ambulances and CONSOLIDATE into 1 two manned unit so response times would be reasonable.
Each of these agencies is paying 1 EMT to do 1 or 2 calls in 12 hours. Most city ambulances are doing 8-12 calls in that time.
Big waste of $$$ and the response times still stink.

Yup trying to save the buck not a life

Monitoring Westchester County PD hearing new units
11-Adam, 11-Boy, 11-Charlie, Etc.

They are Mount Kisco PD now dispatched by WCPD.

It seems like Mount Kisco PD is getting closer to the Westchester County Police merger.

It doesn't matter what the IA Lt. was doing, he should be setting the example. If he was speeding then he should have stopped placed the keys on the roof hands on the dash, with all windows down. If he gave the patrol officer lip which it looks like he did then it looks like he got what he had coming. Really strange that were 4 other cats that cost by though.

The barracks is nice but it's not manned. They have an emergency call box at the front door Unless you catch them at shift change or they have someone in being questioned there. Out side of that only the 7-11 and mobile gas station are manned 24/7

true but you don't know how the patient is, from the bridge i would say maybe 30 to 45 mins to the time the ship was all fast alongside depending on traffic and if the tugs were ready to go.