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mrsmall

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Posts posted by mrsmall

  1. from what I'm reading here, it sounds like they want to run off the single role medics. They be "phased out" by attrition. they'll make them the station duty b*tches, make them go polish the floor at HQ, wash the battalion chief's Tahoe, etc.

    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 =/

  2. Why is that a catch? And phased into what? I don't understand.

    And I also don't understand how you can work a 40 hour shift in 12-hour increments. It'll come out to either 36 or 48 hours.

    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.

  3. LOL! Yeah, it's funny how they all think everybody really wants to be just like them. There's a real arrogant elitism within the fire service, but especially in places like Floridia and Kalifornia.

    That's cool that you can actually get hired without being a firemonkey if you get a medical waiver though. Do they have an age limit? :lol:

    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...

  4. What I don't understand is why these violent psych patients are going in by EMS? They could just as easily be brought in by PD and would not be tying up an Ambulance that can't do anything for them in that state anyway.

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

  5. Even on MVCs?

    I see you are form Ocala...my guess is that you are, or are about to become a FF, if you worked for Marion County EMS (that was a raw deal).

    is there not an SOP put in place for that? I know from mid March to late November is royally hot and humid, but sweating a tad to be safe is worth it, no?

    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...

  6. 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

  7. I am so flipping confused...

    What does the term rescue mean in this thread?

    In FL when they refer to a "rescue" they are referring to

    squad-13.jpg

    ...

    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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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?

  10. 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.

  11. I believe your billing department may be largely responsible for the "powers that be" wanting out. A 57% collection rate is terrible, unless you are talking about collecting 57% of your total operating costs which is then supported by a subsidy of some type.

    57% of billed is completely unacceptable. If they would reconsider I could provide information on a solution for improving your collection rates, hell I would even drive to Florida if it would save your job!

    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.

  12. Every year we have met our budget or beat it. I believe we're at about a 57% collection rate, which has gotten better every year. I think administration was doing a good job. Everyone in the alliance is pulling out at the end of the contract. By law, the county has to provide service if no one else will. The county was stuck with the service, and today was the decision was made to either keep EMSA as a 3rd service, or to combine it with fire. I think it's more of a cost thing.

  13. Although I don't like the "Fire Hybrid" solution you will probably be much better off in the end as opposed to remaining with a private company. Hopefully there will be some manner the Fire Department can honor your seniority, retirement and accrued leave time, assuming you even have those benefits with the private company. Best of luck to you whatever happens

    Well I'm really not very worried about it, as I've just began my career. This will NOT be a good thing for most senior medics.

    the ambulance service was ran by the main hospital of our county, which is non-profit. 5 years ago they pretty much went to the county and said we're not doing it anymore, we cannot keep losing the money.

    The county, city, hospitals etc. all got together to fund and create EMS Alliance, giving all who fund an opportunity to eventually take over after 5 years.

    EMSA is non-profit, and is there solely to provide EMS. Right now the system has 13 hour shifts, with differentials that give you a 10% pay increase after 2pm, 15% after 5pm, and 15% on weekends. So in theory you could make 30% more + time and a half on a weekend. With 13 hour shifts you get time to sleep, giving you the opportunity to work more hours.

    Senior medics are making a killing off of overtime and differentials. That will come to an end. From what i've been told, the county has better retirement though.

  14. Today, the county commissioners of Marion County FL voted and by the end of 2008 all EMS will be provided by the counties fire dept. All of EMSA (current ambulance service) will be integrated into a fire/ems Hybrid. Pay rates will be "evaluated" and "should remain about the same". Everyone who is physically able to obtain their fire standards will have 5 years to do so. Everyone not physically able will most likely remain single certified paramedic/EMTs.

    Thoughts?

  15. I live in marion county FL... I work for the EMS system here. Unfortunately our contract is up in sep. 2008, and the county will be taking us over. They tell us that we will either be a 3rd service and stay the same company we are now.. or we will become part of the fire department, and a lot of people cannot go through fire school...

    here's the thing, I cannot tell you how many firefighters I've been on scene with, that tell you they can do without patient contact, they hate it! (I know some very good fire medics, a lot of them actually work for our ambulance service part time) Some people become firefighters, because they want to fight fires, and play with toys!

    The same is true for EMS though. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to go into a burning building with someone that was forced into getting their fire standards, and has no motivation to go into that building.

    I personally don't have a problem with being a fire medic, but unfortunately not everyone is willing to do both things!

  16. Ok, this might be another newbie question. I find that in general, people seem to have the mind set that as long as the outcome is right, how you get there doesn't matter. As a new EMT I notice that everyone has their own way to doing things.. I however, (this is probly just my VAST lack of experience) am the kind of person who always follows the written directions, with just slight variation.. ( I even cook food exactly how the directions tell me... ) I have always been told this job needs lots of common sense and ability to improvise, so I suppose I will eventually run into situations where I need to make some serious quick descisions..

    ok the question: At what point do you consider your self able to safely leave out steps or skip steps? Is this a bad habbit? Should guidelines that are set by my education be followed strictly?

    Note: I am still very new to EMS, this might be dumb question.

  17. I was watching a movie today and started to wander something... What are some of the jobs that people can do that involve, or are based around EMS?

    I know you have:

    Fire/Medics

    Flight Medics

    EMT-B, EMT-I and EMT-P

    maybe there are other crossover jobs, like swat medic? dunno might be a dumb question

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