firespec35

They can kiss my ass. I just won't renew with them. There would be no point to keeping up with their almost impossible list of CE's I would have to retest to keep registry and If I let it go and wanted to leave MI I would have to take a refresher and retest anyways, so either way I'm retesting. I think a lot of people will think the same as me.

I only live about 7 miles NW of there. You saw the main attraction for the NW suburbs 12 Oaks mall. Home of bored Suburban Houswives during the day and their kids during the night both have nothing better to do than spend exorbanent amounts of money

Can't comment on GT county cause I don't know. I have some friends on 3 different Saginaw county FD's and I'm pretty sure MMR runs their ALS. Highland Park is no longer PS Wayne County SD provides policing they have a part time FD run by a few of the old PSO's and Medic One does their ALS Yes I'm from the Metro Detroit area

As lonestar said In Michigan there are at least the Genesee County Sheriffs and the Ionia County Sheriffs that both operate similarly. or You can get your firefighter too and work as a PSO. In the Detroit area at least there are a dozen or so departments that operate like that.

When I lived in Georgia there were Krystals. They were pretty good burgers. Are they still around?

Oh damn that was the wild west days of Detroit You're lucky your ambulance was still there when you woke up

Yep sounds like my hood. At least the clerk gave you the courtesy of telling you. Do you remember what hospital you went to?

It's not that you need online medical direction for orders. It's more about having a medical director to approve your protocols. EMS in general is more geared toward transport 99% to where standby EMS is more geared toward sign off 99% and transport 1%.

I work for a company here in MI that is special events only. We are a fully licensed ALS ambulance company that does not do 911 or transfers. We have a corprate medical director and follow all the rules the rest of them have. There pretty much isnt a type of special event we haven't done from Woodstock 94 to movie sets to NCAA sports to nightclubs and concert venues. We provide all of the equipment to people. I would consider anyone who asks me to provide my own supplies to be shady. I have my own bag but they stocked it and re supply it so I don't have to go to the office every time I have a gig. Plus how is a pvt citizen to get O2 without an doc to sign for it much less epi pens or combi tubes without pilfering it from another job and if they expect you to do that I would quit before I started. As for nightclubs wanting someone to stand by and just be paid by the club you woould be opening yourself to HUGE liability. You are not working as part of an organization so no protocols, no medical direction. If someone sues the club will pawn it off on you and then your shorts will be in the wind. Go with an organized company. You will be better off

Well there are 2 problems there #1 EMS and fire are so intertwined from the beginning stages of EMS that it will be almost impossible to separate in the larger public's mind. Look at all the major shows "Emergency!" "Third Watch", All the EMS crews that are on the show "ER" and even the ill fated "Rescue 77" show EMS as part of the FD. What do we have that shows us as separate? "Mother, Juggs and Speed" ? and do we really want that to be our image to the public. Hell half the crews that the show "Paramedics" ran with were FD EMS. The other thing is along with being healthcare professionals, we are public service professionals so the public almost expects us to be in a similar uniform but that could link back to my first point.

No I really don't want to wear a dirty shirt either but want to look decent too and I don't have a station to go back to. So I'm stuck in a truck for 12+ hours on the street How many shirts can you carry on an ambulance. I know I sure as hell don't have room for more than 1 extra. I'm sorry it's the street things happen. You brush against the wrong thing and you screw up a white shirt.

I guess I don't see the point to reinvent the wheel. I reallllllllly don't want to be stuck wearing scrubs on a scene. If anything I'm a big fan of polo shirts embriodered with the service or dept name with a good sized star of life or screenprinted front and back. But some management thinks that doesn't look professional enough. I don't know if it is thier real uniform or not but the other option is the tv show "Third Watch" style uniform with a uniform style shirt but with the screenprinting on the back of it. I definately don't like white shirts as an option just because they get dirty easy and I hate white t shirts for undershirts. I will take my blue tshirts anyday. You wanna put me in a green uniform sure why not. Not my first choice but OK (Det EMS used to wear green uniforms and they looked like park rangers) As far as getting the world to see us as healthcare providers. No change in uniform is going to do that. In fact I don't think it will happen in the next 20 years. We are still fending off the old 1950's funeral home sling the pt in the back and go like hell to the hospital image. Those who have needed us know, and their immediate family know. We will never be considered along the same lines as nurses and docs and I understand this and accept it truly what does it matter as long as we all go home at the end of the shift and we did our best to treat our patients.

Lets see I've done Kling, Triangle bandages, cloth tape and pillowcases the thing that matters most is if you can get them in a 1 arm up 1 down position that is a little more effective than both arms to the cot rails to me.

I'm lucky if I can catch the news once a week. Thanks for the info

So were they just using cooled fluids or did they use a drug to lower his body temp? Sounds like a cool Idea either way. Would love to see it come to fruition in protocols. We have a lot of HS football games and I've had that kid that can't feel or move anything below his neck after taking a hit. The feeling of helplessness I had that day was huge.

You did good, I had a MVA w/ ruptured diaphragm as an ALS unit. guess what we did? The same damn thing. We ended up going back to assist the flight crew on getting her to the trauma center.

The only book I used to study was my textbook and the CD's that came with it. But they say the platinum education online CBT is about the closest to the real thing

sounds like you did the right thing

If you're going to use a pack that is not designed for EMS use I found that getting a bunch of ziplock bags of various sizes helps organize things. I throw all my 4x4's in one, one for kling and ace wraps, one for 5x9's and 8x10's ect.... I dig the pack though

I would LOVE to be able to wear polo's again. Our boss went back to standard uniforms due to how the polos wore out (but he was cheap and bought ones paper thin) . I think as long as they are taken care of it will be good enough. As for a symbol the star of life is the symbol for american EMS. All in the hood around me know it means free ride for 3 hots and a hospital bed. Scrubs- NO everybody in the hood has at least 1 pair they stole from the hospital Badges- the only thing theyre good for is when I do my special events gig and end up plain clothes I will wear a badge on a chain and holder under my shirt and if I have to treat someone I will pull it out so I have some sort of Identification. I guess what is the big deal about what you wear. How you wear it and your attitude will display your proffessionalism more than anything. And if the patient can't figure out who the people are that just got out of the truck with the big flashy lights and pushing a stretcher are then isn't that kind of a darwinism issue.

Ok I didn't read the 10 pages of kids fighting in the sandbox but I will answer the poor guy's question seriously. You wanna cut weight here you go. I can't do anything about your issued gear (chair, monitor, jump kit, drug box ect...) but there are things you can do As far as a light goes get a surefire G2 it is made of plastic, yet still tough as hell, takes lithium batteries, and bright as hell. Yes a light is absolutely nessecary As far as your O2 wrench goes go to a machine shop and get a 1 1/2" x 3 or 4" x about 1/4" bar of Titanium and have them machine the proper slots in it A custom knifemaker did one and I have it and an Aluminum one the weight is much lighter. Not sure what the cost on that one is though or Cut down your aluminum one so there is only a 2" or so handle you don't need too much leverage on those tanks to open them. Multi tool- Once again Ti is your friend. I believe Leatherman has a Ti series that will save you a few oz Shears- Dump the shears and get an original model 5 benchmade rescue hook It will do the job better and if you get the plastic sheath just clip it reverse onto your belt so the metal clip is out and you will never notice it till you need it Other than that cut out all unnessecary stuff If you carry a bag in your rig, put your wallet, keys, and whatever else in it that you don't need on you at all times. Other than that try lightweight boots, and maybe some B-12 for more energy good luck Rob

I just passed my practical this weekend, Thats right the fat guy is actually a paramedic. I had to retest on 3 things but we got lucky that most of the people in my practical were retests themselves and the proctors were cool enough to stay and let us retest. The 3 things sucked too cause I've been an EMT-S (AKA EMT-I) for 10 years and I needed to retest on Intubation, IO, and trauma asessment. COME ON!!!! I actually have field tubes and I was taught IO in 1997 you'd think I know those. Being nervous sucks

I kinda like the speed lead idea. It would add bulk to a monitor though

It depends on the event. For these 2 in particular. During the night times we do not transport we will call another pvt ambulance company that we have an agreement. During the show times we transport and will have enough people to do so. During the auto show we can have up to 13 people including 2 ALS ambulances and a supervisor who can take over as the first aid crew if need be. For State Fair we could have up to 20 people including 3 ALS ambulances. It's not a big deal to lose them if we have to. Now for smaller events that want to purchase transporting services we always try to sell 3 people. That way if the crew has to go transport there still is one on site. We explain this to all of those who call us for services. If they choose not to there is not much we can do. If we gotta go we go and try to hurry back.

Probably the 2 longest events we work are the MI state fair at a week 24/7 and the Detroit Auto show at 1 month 24/7 for construction and 2 weeks at just operating hours. Normally the state fair is relatively easy. The layout is condusive to breaking it into zones and we add 2 for the concert each night. The overnight is usually covered by one person and they clean the place up and stock everything as they might get one call per night The auto show construction is easy 2 shifts day and night both 12's 1 or 2 people each shift depending on what they want to pay for. They just hang out in the First aid room or go wander. wanderings not easy though cause you have to carry like 6 radios. When the show starts we break the show up into zones. Either way we always get the appropriate radios and dispatch ourselves. The nice part is we are integrated into the 911 system so even if a patron calls 911 the City EMS doesn't have to get tied up on a call.