racing-emt03

Its no secret that alot of fire depts (that do not also run the EMS service) need medical assist calls to justify a full time existance. For instance one FD in my area averages 1100-1200 calls per year covered by two 24 hr engine companies. in 2006 76 of their calls were actual fire. But some depts do not need medicals or do not run them at all and do just fine. My belief is if you do not have a qualification requirement (even for volly depts) as in EMT-B or at least first responder they do not need to be on any medical scene unless there is rescue invoved

EMPLOYMENT NOTICE:

Seeking 10 million EMT-P's and 10 million EMT-B's

WANTED :

Alot more ambulances!!!!

We now send EMS to all police and fire activities, including traffic stops, therefore we are now very short staffed in the united states EMS field. Due to the low number of EMS professionals applicants must meet the following requirements:

Pulse

Some type of respiratory and brain function

Send your applications to :

Wasting Resources

c/o Stretching to thin

119 Need a Purpose Rd

Los Angeles, CA

Moral of this, sending ems to every fire and PD call is impossible

i believe EMS belongs at any type of a gas leak or carbon monoxide detector activations because of the health hazards. As far as Fire alarms go thats when it should be upon Fire Commands Request to dispatch EMS.

In the couple hundred CO alarm and possible gas leaks that fire is toned to here maybe 1% have symptoms associated. Most are paranoia, dead batteries or there is something but with no symptoms. So to send EMS on EVERY CO or Gas alarm goes right back to sending them on all fire calls, its just a waste of limited resources. If you happen to have an ambulance for every fire truck then go for it, but most places do not have that luxury. I feel it is the responsibility of dispatch to find out if there are symptoms.

--Be Safe

in my county we have five different fire depts and one ambulance district, all CONFIRMED structure fires get an automatic ems response, and usually once the fire is knocked down and search for victims is completed ems is released by IC. As for if fire rolls, so does ems? That is a huge waste of resources, especially in a community such as mine that is very limited on ambulances. I used to be a ff, and an ambulance being at a grass fire? Whats the point? All I can see from this discussion is a major need for rethinking on the part of the "head honcho" of these ambulance services to reorganize response protocols

Be safe

I can understand your issue but most services I have seen will be more than happy to let someone off work for medic school (depending on the time demands). And there is grants and loans all over for medic school, just research it online, you will find something. I start medic school in Jan. and I was able to find a grant that covered a large portion of it provided by the state. Just research and you can save a ton of money

I live in missouri and this state is a pain when it comes to EMS...

Missouri does not recognize "First Responders" or EMT-I's. What states do recognize the NREMT EMT-I

Is there anything wrong with just staying a basic, if its what ya want to do and you like it, stick with it. Until i decided to switch from fire to ems I had no desire to become a medic

to answer any questions or doubts...

I served as a ff for two years, I wanted to move on to a larger dept where EMT-B is required prior to employment, shortly after completing my emt-b I was injured in a collapse during a fire and was forced out for quite a while, I am currently working as a dispatcher and am shifting my focus more towards EMS. My question comes from the fact that the local EMS provider that I have been interested in working for has been working towards switching to a 100% Medic service. They are hiring EMT-B's and then shipping them to medic school within a couple weeks. I have little patient contact expierience and I want to find out if people would go for it or get some time under my belt in a BLS or BLS/ALS service before taking the leap. But since the posting of this I have been called to test for two EMS services and will hopefully be back in the field soon, I do not mean to sound defensive there were several good points made but it began to look like an "EMT's suck and Paramedics are the king shit" argument. All levels of emergency services play a vital role, dispatch all the way to the chief of the largest dept, lets just not forget that.

Be Safe

Do what you want. Ignore all the ones that have experience and posted.

If you don't want advice don't ask. The fight is not a fight it is each person backing the reason he feels so strongly one way or the other. If you can't handle the heat in the forum you'll never survive in the field.

I am a state certified firefighter-emt, rescue technician, and haz-mat tech... so heat aint an issue

well, none of these really answered my question, this has become a place for shameless bickering. well, nevermind I will ask someone else this question

What is the appropriate way to inform responding units to a patient with a communicable disease.

Some options-

Have the unit call in on the phone

Use a code (like a 10-Code)

Just say it on the air

I am currently a dispatcher and that has been going around my center for a while, any ideas?

How long would be needed to practice as an emt-basic before taking on the challenges of medic school

I have heard of such a asystem but have never been around one. We run a rural ambulance district. It is comprised of three stations and four full time als units and a bls or als day car (9am to 9pm) which usually is plenty for our area but sometimes an all call is used to bring in part-timers or off duty full timers to man reserve units.

VFD can be a very useful tool on medical scenes. I carry a jump bag with me, and though I am no longer affiliated with the local VFD I do carry glucose gel and various other things with me, if prepared a VFD can provide adequate patient care until als arrives