mrsmall

I don't know if this has been posted here before ** warning very graphic** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVzsMXTPop0...feature=related

They are going to be system status trucks, meaning they will have posts that they have to sit at for their shift until they get a call (this is how our service works currently). So the will be sitting at a gas station for X amount of hours until they have a call. Personally, I'm so new in this field that the transition isn't going to hurt me, actually, it's giving me fire standards and paramedic for free, which is the idea, it's cheaper to hire a bunch of kids out of highschool, and people with little/no experience. What sucks is that transport is considered the entry level position for fire, so all of the transport units will be ran by the fresh outa medic schoolers, many of which were forced to go to paramedic school. I hope I don't need service =/

Sorry I wasn't clear.. right now our trucks are supposed to be 13 hours, with two different week schedules, it comes out to 39 hours and 52 hours. however, it usually works out to a 12 hour shift. From what they've told us, they don't want to pay single certs overtime, so it will most likely be 39 hour work week.

There's a catch... those trucks are 40 hour a week 12 hour shift trucks. They are only in place as a transition thing, and will be phazed out with time...

Can you always know what their altered mental status is from?

To be honest, fire rescue is usually first on scene or right on top of us... any time I've been first on scene, I either didn't REALLY need the gear, or by the time I'm all suited up, fire already would have been doing their thing. The only time it is actually needed is like, hurricane/tornado stuff... as far as our service goes... yeah, a LOT of people are very upset... we have to reapply, go through probation again... we are not allowed to buy into FL retirement, so everyone gets their 403B cashed in, and has to start over... not to mention seniority is null, people are losing 1/3 or more of their pay, all of the supervisory positions that have the title "lieutenant, captain, cheif" require dual certification, none of our ranks are recognized. i could go on and on... they will have 100 open ff/ems positions and like 50 ems positions open.. to get in the single cert position, their physician has to declare you medically unable to attend fire school, (so unless you have a cardiac history worse than tachycardia, you'll be going)... only 7 people have applied, and the chief is getting ready to shit a brick...

I'm curious to hear some of your stories of when a scene became unsafe... I've heard a few from around here, and been working on a night when someone's gotten into some trouble. Luckily I've never been caught in a sticky situation.

Our current service actually issues us: Bunker Coat Bunker Pants (suspenders if needed) Extrication Gloves Heavy duty helmet w/ flashlight Fireproof/waterproof/whatever proof rubber type boots Heavy Duty Rain coat Rain Pants Winter Coat All i've ever worn was the rain coat and winter jacket

In FL when they refer to a "rescue" they are referring to ... Anyway, just thought I'd throw in that Marion county will be 100% fire based EMS starting Oct. 1. To throw insult to injury, if you want to continue serving EMS in this county you have to apply for the fire dept. and start over. go through probation, start FL retirement from Day 1 (with no option to buy in). and lose all seniority... nice huh? not to mention that you are required to become a firefighter within 3 years.

I live in Marion County FL. We have a population of about 300k, and the city of ocala has a population of about 50k. We have 4 EDs in our county. We're surrounded by many main cities in FL such as Gainseville, Orlando, Tampa, Daytona, etc. 1/4 of the largest retirement community in the nation is in our county. The rest of the county is also populated with senior citizens. This is just a little bit about our county. Around January, many senior citizens fly down to their winter homes. We here call them snow birds, as they live in FL only during the cold seasons. So many come down during this time that many business only make money during this time. At the same time our hospitals are flooded with people. Also, when flu season comes in, it puts even more stress on the hospitals. Our hospitals have some kind of formula where if they fill up a certain % of beds and cannot move pt's for a certain period of time, they go on what they call "divert". I dunno if other people have this. It basicly means, go to another hospital if possible. All of our EDs are close enough that it usually isn't a problem when a hospital goes on divert... However, with the current flu season all of our hospitals have been on divert. When this happens, divert means nothing. However, it does mean that you will be waiting on the wall with a pt for a long time. I have had to wait up to 4 hours with a pt on the cot, waiting for bed. That seems kind of extreme, I mean.. 4 hours? Trauma alerts, stroke alerts, etc. They will ALWAYS make room for these of corse. Does anyone else experience this.

I have always used the hi-lo strapping technique. On my last call I was strapping along with a FF and he had parachute finished on his side, I don't remember how it's done so I had to have someone else finish. I have the general idea, but I think I'm not getting part of it correct.. is there anything on the internet that shows how to parachute strap?

You cannot work in my county if you have or have ever had a wreckless driving charge...

Someone who works in a career that is for: public safety Police officers, EMS, fire....

I'm curious, when you get a call, for someone involved in public safety.. (fire, ems, highway patrol, police, etc.) Do you tend to get a little more aggressive? From what I can tell, everyone's attitude changes whenever we find out someone from public safety is in trouble. When someone calls "officer down" on the radio, every cop in the county will show up... Do we tend to think the same? I don't know about the rest of you, but I tend to act differently in these situations.

Hmm.. I've been told that 55-65% is what is expected good for an ambulance service... Part of our orientation, we had to spend 5 hours in billing and see how it works. They seemed to be pretty good at what they do. He explained to us some of the problems they face in billing, such as insurance companies writing checks to individuals for their ambulance ride, rather than giving it directly to us. You know what happens to the check once the individual gets it Either way, out of the 5 commissioners, 4 of them came in already knowing they wanted a hybrid, it doesn't matter how we presented our selfs, they made up their mind without us.