medicare-emr

please accept my apologies, dusty I wish we could have a system like yours in the states, in my country, its unfortunately the way things are here, ems in sa is in turmoil, private and government. just remember we all start some where. if my situation changes, i'll get up to the ALS level, if its not in SA, i'll get it elsewhere in the world, but i will get it, that is guaranteed! keep safe in the line of fire maybe we will cross paths some time :wink:

THE COMBINATION OF EDUCATION AND PASSION = THE BEST EMTS

you know what i think is that you have missed the point due to the fact that you think the sun shines out ur ass. in south africa there are two ways on getting qualified, 3 yr diploma or three short courses, bls, ils and cca. the guys from the 3yr diploma come out with minimal experience and throw the book at you, but the guys doing the short course method have to obtain 1000 pt. hrs before the next course, this has meant that the quality produced has been far more superior than the diploma, because of the passionate paramedics doing the trainging, do actually care about what they do and how they do it. and arew willing to bestow there valuable experience on us lower qualified people. it shocks me to think that you have an attitude like this, (Content Removed - Admin) instead you could give her credit for having the passion for life to do this job, and the fact of wanting to further herself in this field, we need more of her and(Content Removed - Admin) so dusty when u coming to SA to get some real experience?

and those who are willing to do the job!!

I will stand by your side and support you, as one basic to another, nicely put, a starting point. like it 8)

i have an ALS partner now who has given up a contract offshore to relocate and stay here with me. but without an ECG we cant offer ALS levels of care. in the interim we have started a first aid training facility to start training people in the community with basic first aid. we require funding to get the response service up and running, because providing the free service i have the past two years has ended up costing me quite a bit. so if you know of anybody who will donate an ECG or any equipment will be great help. nice to see the attitude has changed, we must never forget our roots :wink:

spenac why don't you just answer the question, how long have you been a paramedic? and then, i'm sorry if i hit home, it seems that your attitude has changed slightly, let me paint the picture for in South Africa. Firstly the pay sucks at all levels, the ratio's for ALS in the Western Cape is 1:249500 people, so you can consider yourself extremely lucky if you get a ALS paramedic attending to your call. what this teaches you is to be on top of your game and deal with what comes your way. you try sitting next to a patient who is bleeding out and you cant do anything more than what you have done, maintained the airway, stopped the bleeding and monitoring his vitals dropping, phoning the control room every five minutes to ask where is the ambo, its on its way, 3 hours later the ambo arrives, not even responding p1, because the dispatcher said it was a fracture. and because you have no resources to your availability, but you know what to do, but you cant get your next qualification, because the college you were studying at was closed down because of some political crap, some one pissed on someone's battery because they felt threatened about the quality of training provided by the college was to high, so sorry that i am stuck as a BLS provider. Come to SA and see the crap we have to deal with here, you think your job is tuff, you guys have all the equipment and resources to your availability. here's little me trying to raise the money for an ECG, so we can provide a better level of care because we dont want to lose our licenses and practice out of our protocols. but to save a life i have stepped out once before and didnt even realize it because i had been working with an ALS partner for so long. so BLS is all my community of 16500 people has and will get until we get an ECG so i can mobilise the ALS unit. I invite you to come to SA on your next holiday and come and see what work is, you will be surprised what you can learn as an ALS in this country. thats why we produce the best para's in the world, thats why out of the 1000 registered para's in this country only 300 are practising in this country. the rest are all abroad working on offshore rigs @ $380 p/day. so i am proud to be BLS, and would love the opportunity to further myself to ALS, but like i explained its not possible right now. brentoli: the fact that you took it personal means that you are an ass. the reason why basic's cant come together is because of guys like you dissing fellow basic's with commentry like being an ambulance driver, i can clearly see you work in fire, if you cant take pride in being a basic then you are nothing but a glorified drip stand and a cone packer what you :shock: or , start taking your job seriously and act professional :!: :roll: bye bye boys

to the great spenac, how long have you been a paramedic?, and where did you start?, at the bottom, where will you end? at the bottom of a 6ft pit what goes up...must come down! go eat some humble pie, we all start some where, don't ever forget the journey along the way, its what makes us and it seems that your journey was an easy one, one that was paid for by mommy and daddy, not one that was a constant struggle to getting to your goals. it really shows in your attitude towards people who you think are less of value. so in essence the only thing that sucks is your attitude mr brentoli, as for you, the only thing you can declare is....... as taken from sloganizer << 3,2,1....Brentoli is an ass>>

Three cheers to the BLS crews. wooooohooooo ata boy, nicely put lone star, I too have had situations in my runs, the one time i arrived on a scene to find the ambulance crews outside packing the vehicle, and this was after the cops asked me to assist them with a stabbed chest. i asked the crew what the situation was and they said to me the guy was dead. i asked them if i could take a quick look and proceeded to have a squiz, and my gut said to me to check for a pulse. apon checking i discovered a weak thready pulse and proceeded to resus the pt., i called for help and it took the crew 10 mins to come and assist me, the pt. was aspirated in his own blood, they did not do the basics, did not have an ECG to declare, no suction, i had to stop CPR to show the senior crew member ILS how to do a proper C-grip while ventilating coz she was pumping air into his stomach, while the BLS was attempting to put up an IV that was not in his scope of practice. after resusing the pt. 6 times, we lost the pt. the damage done was to late. this was due to the first crew on scene not performing the basics ABC's, and to top it off their attitude towards their job stank - it was clear, in it for the money and not the passion for life. i bit my tongue and kept quite about the situation, because i was launching a new dedicated service to the community and did not want to crap on my own doorstep. the amount of politics in SA is unbearable, to the point where i no longer can further my studies locally in Cape Town, i have to go to Johannesburg to do it. there is just too much politics in this industry, you always have to be careful what you say and who you say it to coz you might just be pissing on someone's battery in power. i suppose its a lot easier in a first world country. back to old school i say, not for the money, for me its a way of life, i live by it and will die by it! do it for the right reasons and keep your integrity regards DaMadMedic

Hi there well where does one start in this situation? so much has been said, and yet i find myself thinking, man these guys should be in politics. basic life support is what it is, basic - there's no doubt about it, but the important thing is that it is a set of skills designed to save a life. that's right guys it can save a life! How we save a life is not necessary putting a line up or tubing a patient, it is how we handle the call. what makes a good ALS paramedic is the basics. without them he is of no use really. and providing his level of treatment without the basic would be going in blind, putting the patient at risk and himself. just by BLS arriving on scene we do the basics and establish the condition of the patient, their VITALS, give them OXYGEN, comfort them etc. this will give us a platform to use the GCS scale to establish what level of care would be required for the patient, we are their advocate remember, we are there for them and need to make decisions on their behalf, for their best interests. where i live getting an ambulance within the first hour is non existent, getting help within 3 hours is probable. so yes as a basic EMT, i do have a value in this world. i am passionate about life, i value life and provide my community with immediate responses and a basic life support. at least they are getting some care, as much as my experience has taught me over the years, i am still a BLS practitioner. i cant further my studies as much as i would like to due to politics in the EMS industry in South Africa. Yes South Africa, i would like to invite you to come join me and see what its like knowing that your patient is requiring advanced levels of care but having to wait 3 hrs for help to arrive after you have instructed the call centre of the situation. As you sit their monitoring your patient, watching the life slowly slip through your fingers is the most frustrating thing. the skills shortage in this country is shocking, but i'm not going to go into that cause there is not much i can do for the situation in the country, but there was a lot i could do for my community. i established a medical response company to combat the poor response times by the services in the area. we are not an ambulance service but are just a response and stabilisation service. i have in the interim obtained a partner who shares the same passion as i do, and he is an ALS practitioner. this ensures we have a better chance of keeping our patients alive, we work hand in hand, and we are on a call, i know what is expected of me, to do the basics, give oxygen, get the vitals, run a line if necessary, etc. its about team work, its about providing the patient with the best of your capabilities and a caring attitude. yes reputation is important, but not as important as integrity. so i challenge you Dustdevil and old bush wacker from oz to get out your cozy situations of having 1st world country EMS systems and come join me in the no1 Trauma Capital in the World, South Africa, and come see what we have to deal with on a daily basis. the lack of resources, having six patients crammed into an ambulance and receiving a priority one call and having to do a response with them in the back of an ambulance and trying to do a resus in a crowed ambulance, blood everywhere. So as an BLS i stand proud to be apart of the EMS industry, saving lifes and giving the best i can do in my scope of practice, with the resources we dont have..... i leave you with the following... why are you in the EMS industry, what is driving you, what do you choose to do in the morning when you wake up in the morning, do you choose to get involved and make a positive difference or do you choose to go to your job, is it a job or is it a way of life? for me its a way of life, i live by it and will die by it! do it for the right reasons, not for the reputation. regards DaMadMedic ps: choose life, love life, LIVE!!!

hi there richard you're quite right, the situation is due to the location of the village, but is now under my control, because i chaose to do something about it! i moved here to franschhoek a year and a half ago to make a difference after attending a pva. my belated partner, a spectacular person, firewoman of note!!! were to establish the response service together but she was killed in a mva 15 july 2006 after attending our final meeting. i continued in honour of her and am now launching the company at the begining of next month. medicare emr(emergency medical response) was establish last year to combat the poor service delivery in the area, we will provide a rimmediate response and stabilisation service to our community giving them the peace of mind that they are safe hands till the ambulance arrives. we cant blame the ambulance service itself for the poor response times due to the fact that as a whole they are under resourced and short staffed with large areas to cover. so waiting up to 3 hrs has become a norm for our community. we are looking at getting an ambulance at a later stage as i'm sure you know the costs involved are high and to sustain it would be complex. i am a aea student and my partner is als, together we are following our passion to help others. we are still trying to obtain funding and sponsorship for the company and aim to have 3 vehicles operational in the area. so maybe if you know of any equipment that is not been used and could be sponsored to our cause, we would really appreciate any help we can get, cause we are the only help they've got. it is a community based project and are getting the community behind us, but the 80% percent of this community is from the previously disadvantaged regime and cant afford things like medical insurance and have to rely on the state service. if you know of anybody who can help, pleace feel free to email me on garth@medicare-emr.co.za i look forward to your reply regards garth

the funny thing is that a lot of the local well off people live in this bubble of disillusion that because they have a medical aid insurance and that it pays for a private service, they think that they are safe....hahahah ah a aaa hahaahahhahaaha aahahaha aaha right!!! dream on buddy, when we start bursting these bubbles with stats and figures of quickly you will die without o2 then they will begin to understand ther importance of such a service that we emt's provide in this world, viva emts!!!!!

I run an emergency response service in a rural village in South Africa, as it takes a minimum of 40min and above for a private service to arrive and anything from 3 hours for the local service to arrive, we do this as a response and stabilization service only and is membership based, in SA 70% of critically injured or ill people die on the scene, so in my mind i feel that through proper communication and awareness and education of the people can curb the idea that ambulances are taxi's, we are there for emergencies, life threatening ones and non threatening, we do a lot of community work as well for free and use this opportunity to inform people on the use of ems and not to abuse ems.