Richard B the EMT

To do what we do, you don't have to be crazy, but it helps! At least it wasn't like the surgeon who was supposed to amputate a gangrenous left leg, but mistakenly amputated the patient's right leg. On discovering the mistake, they kept the patient under anesthesia and amputated the correct leg. The patient sued, but lost the case, as he didn't have a leg to stand on! (FYI, my dad was a diabetic BK Amputee, and he liked that joke.)

Don't get me wrong: I DO watch TV, BROADCAST TV, not cable or Satellite.

Condolences to her family, friends, and the extended professional family.

Over the years, I've been accused of being a "Whacker", but this goes even beyond my wildest.

comments on shows like this make me feel better about possibly being the last American NOT watching cable or satellite TV.

We're too small a segment of viewers. They won't listen to us, except if we say we'll boycot the products they offer in their commercials...

Shamanwolf, what geographic area are you? Also, with that type name, are you "Native American", or "First Nations"? PM me if you don't want to tell the entire city, as the rest usually understand. (PS: In our teens, I used to date a Dene Navajo, who, due to being adopted, didn't know her ancestry until she was in her mid 40s)

It is with regret I report of the death of FDNY EMS Command Captain William Olsen, retired, from the effects of "World Trade Center Cough". Captain Olsen, known by some as "Captain Black Cloud", due to never a tour when he was the "Tour Commander" having less than 2 Multi-Casualty Incidents, had been one of my supervisors at the NYC Health and Hospital Corporation EMS' Communications Bureau, prior to the FDNY merger.

We used to have heavy discussions and dissections on "Trauma"s errors, and plot twists.

Congrats, Shamanwolf

I am at a loss as to why the link is not working. Might I suggest simply going to Youtube, and looking up "Street Heroes by Farooq Muhammad"?

I'm not really into "Rap" music (I'm more a "Folkie"), but I endorse the message in my friend's video https://youtube.com/watch?v=Z7JqiAqcyi Happy EMS Week, even if you're in a country that doesn't observe it.

A letter is an excellent idea. The EMS crews will always appreciate such letters. Not knowing which jurisdiction you're in, Caduceus, if the EMS station you visited is a municipal agency, like my own FDNY EMS is, send a complimentary letter about the visit to the Mayor. As to sending cookies or cake, I now have to be a buzz-kill. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, many departments have taken a position, to gifts such as these, as potential danger to the crews. The crews are being told to decline such items, due to suspicion they could be poisoned. That would be an agency position, not necessarily that of the individual crews, or myself (I'm a "Chocoholic").

I still have my "turnout" coats, both of the orange ones from the NYC HHC EMS (one being the version with the zipper held in by Velcro), and the blue one first issued by the FDNY after the merger. I'm still using both.

Perhaps we should dispense with badmouthing products?

I'm not that much of a drinker, but the few brands of beers I've had, I've tasted stronger ginger ales than Rolling Rock beer.

30 hours in front of a computer screen for a class, versus 30 hours worth of classroom time? I think it would balance out, if allowing the student to take the 30 hours at the student's convenience. Also, no time spent commuting, or the costs of that commuting. However, telecommuting can be lonely.

Was that Courageous Cat, running to save Minute Mouse? (1960s tv cartoon)

Just don't confuse a "Newfie" with a "Newbie", while a Newfie can be a Newbie. Somehow that sounded easier before I typed it...

"Newfie" jokes? You could just as easily say Cleveland, Chicago, New York, SoCal, or Miami Beach. They're good "Groaner" jokes. (;p

As a "specialist" in "groaner" jokes, you elicited a groan from me.

Just another update on MY old uniforms...as I seem to say so often, Superstorm Sandy destroyed them when my basement flooded.

Google search is your friend, so is Bing, and the other search engines. Simply look up "flying shark".

Just mentioning, a few decades ago, I saw FDNY fighting a wide area brush fire, on the other side of a 4 lane each direction mile long stretch of roadway, from where the fire hydrants were. No hose bridges, but an ingenious idea...they ran the hose in mid-air from two extended areal ladder companies over the roadway, much like they do a flag arch. Only 1 lane each direction closed in the effort, too. For those who would say, run a tank truck, no can do, as the area is tidal swampland. Any truck would have sunk in the mud. Besides, FDNY then as now, didn't have tank trucks, and was decades away from "Stump-Jumpers", which also would have sunk.

When a Law Enforcement Officer falls, everyone responds. I know that there are at least 20 NYPD Officers, whose only assignment is to represent the NYPD at the funeral of LEOs in other jurisdictions. Boston EMS has sent Color/Honor Guard details to FDNY EMS LODD funerals, as we've sent to theirs.