Sheambo

Timmy.........make sure that you attend all the debriefings, when the time comes. The the two crucial ones are going to be the Operational debrief.( what we did right and what we did wrong stuff) but the most important one is the psychological debrief. To comply with Post Traumatic Debriefs, there must be a counselor attending and in this instance, more that one. You must be emotionally over this one before you can ever be asked to attend any other major incident. I cannot stress how important that is. 'Will I ever forget ?" I hear you ask.....................no, and nor you should. All those people will put a different meaning into your life and at 19 your life is just unfolding. Let the experiences of the last week, give you a very valuable life lesson and you will grow into a valuable, caring and emotionally well adjusted person who is committed to the caring and well being of others in the hour of their greatest need. I do know what you are going through.................I've been there and I know the feeling of insignificance at the scene. "What can I do"...........................and the answer is usually, "not much" !! Don't beat yourself up over the inadequacy you may have felt. That is very normal.............................and finally, remember, the most important person at any scene, is YOU. Take care and a Job well done..............RoseMarie

Happy New Year to all...................and stay safe. Don't forget, YOU are the most important person riding in that truck Cheers

Timmy, where was this "Rodeo from Hell" held...........??? I just wanta be sure that I don't ever go there...................and if you say Tasmania, I'll understand

The legal drinking age in OZ is 18. As for the 15yo with the bottle of JB.................Perhaps it was for medicinal purposes only........you know snake bite, broken leg, bruised pride or anything else that's ahurtin'....!!!!!

I would like to know if any service over there (or anywhere for that matter) uses T-Pods for pelvic #'s and if so, what is the general opinion about them Cheers............Sheambo

What are you people doing over there???...............This is unbelievable gut wrenching stuff There is no one more important than YOU , in the rig or chopper or where ever and certinally, the expectation is that you arrive home from work at the end of every shift, in the same condition that you left. None of us should ever die for their patients or because of them. The Lord is their Sheppard.....................

Always have the radio tuned to FM on every shift. Obviously, when it's inappropriate, it's turned off but the best pick-me-up on return to station after a 'bad one'. Also carols and a decked out rig at Christmas time.

It matters not that this tragic event happened in a country other than my own, the impact of the loss of all onboard, to our profession, is just as profound. RIP PHI Air Med 12

R.I.P. Medic Man

Let me have a stab at answering your curiosity. Firstly, I'll give you a bit of info on my status and where I work. I'm an Advanced Care Paramedic, had 22years on road with the Ambulance service on the east coast, in my home state of Queensland, where I still live, most of the time. Now, where I work is on the other side of the country, in the Kimberley in Western Australia (the state). I work at an underground mine and processing plant and I'm employed by the company that owns the mine. I do a 2 week on/off, fly in and fly out roster. Yeah! I travel about 13,000K's to get to and from work but I earn a six figure salary so it's worth it. This is the heart country of the Aboriginal communities and as for their EMS providers, locally, there are two ambulances attached to the hospital, manned by the nursing staff, not ambos. The communities and there are many of them,that are not within a reasonable distance to the local hospital, are visited on a regular basis by specially appointed nurses or they have access to the Royal Flying Doctor Service. By this I mean a fully outfitted plane complete with doctor and nurse to visit these communities, say on a weekly or fortnightly basis, for all their clinical needs and if there is an emergency, the RFDS will fly in at any time. (fixed wing not rotary) It is not only aboriginal people that live in very remote areas. We have many station owners whos properties are larger than some of your states. These people are very isolated, so they have RFDS kits. By this I mean a very large green, lockable box that has, probably, sixty different drugs in it. They are all numbered and when some one is sick or injured, needing pain relief or antibiotics, they ring a 1800 number and have a consult with an RFDS hospital network, based doctor, who will advise them to go to the box and get drug number 164 (for example) For trauma,the RFDS are dispatched immediately and fly in. All remote station (ranches) have landing strips. This RFDS network is spread all across the top end and the centre of this country. Many doctors, many hospitals and plane are involved. In less remote areas and towns, the locals are services by the ambulance service of that state. These ambulances are fully equipped with all the bells and whistles their counterparts in the city have, possibly more. Here at the mine ,I run a fully equipped ambulance and have a casualty room that will cater for most of our needs. I also have an RFDS kit here, with many more drugs. Some I can give without consult, others need LMO sanction. Here at the mine, we have an arrangement with the nearest hospital that we attend any highway or property incident if our ambulance is closer. I hope I have enlightened you a little on our outback health situation. We breed 'em tough here................. they will only call for help if they really have to.

lookin' for luuv :wink:

looking at me

Gucci disposable toothbrush

in Wisteria Lane

Hi there Guys, let me butt into this debate and put you straight on a few things. I'm an Advanced Care Paramedic, had 20 or so years on road with The Queensland Ambulance Service. Resigned a couple of months ago to "go bush" and do remote industrial work. The main reasons being, a back injury that stopped me from continually lifting patients, had enough of night shifts and wanting a change, not to what I do for a living but where and how I do it. And I love it. Your Cert IV would probably get you into the QAS's Patient Transport System. This is an area of operations outside of the Acute(Emergency) operations. It is the inter hospital/clinic/nursing home transport wing of the service. If you want to move from this to the acute side you must go through the 3 year student programme, with RPL for your cert 4. Most of the people being turned out as qualified ambos, go through the student programme. That's the Diploma level. You can upgrade to the degree, through the University of Qld after qualifying. This degree can also be done prior to employment, at your own cost and with no guarantee of a job at the end of it. The people who choose to do it this way have some "on road" time as a third Officer but come out of it at the other end with very little hands on experience. Sucessful applicants for the student programme do 12 weeks training at our academy, then 12 weeks on road as a second officer with a Senior Officer (Mentor). This is repeated until they graduate in 3 years. As for the Industrial Paramedic courses in WA, you don't get any on road experience. The training companies are not part of the Emergency Services System so you can't. If you want to go down this track (industrial) do your self a favour and sign up with an Ambulance Service in any state and after five years or more experience, go look for a remote job then Cheers.........Sheambo