Just Plain Ruff

Yep I just heard it was 12 inches for the Raymore area.

The updated forecast is for KC and surrounding areas is 6-20 inches of snow all the way to the Iowa border with mininal ice. I just got 4 bundles of wood, got a 20 pound bag of ice melt, a new snow shovel, a bunch of food supplies and we are ready for a long winters nap.

I think that instructor insurance is similar to liability insurance. It covers you for errors and omissions in the instruction process. It's pretty hard for someone to sue you for poor instruction if you follow the curriculum and many other students that you teach pass. The onus is on the student to prove that your instruction or lack thereof is the reason why they didn't pass so I never felt that it was needed when I taught classes. Now if you develop your own curriculum like Dr. Bledsoe or Dr. Caroline have done, then by all means that might be a reason to get your instructor insurance but if you are following a prescribed curriculum that is approved by your educational institution, I don't think that instructor insurance is particularly necessary but I AM NOT telling you not to get it. That decision is up to you but I do believe that you get what you pay for and you probably will never EVER use that insurance and you would be better served by spending that money on furthering your education or getting additional classes on adult learning and teaching techniques which would go much further in your career development if you choose to continue teaching adult learners than the money you spend on instructor insurance. I truly believe the only people getting any benefit out of you spending money on instructor insurance is the companies that you send your money too. And one final thing, make sure you read over the fine print and re-read it again and maybe even have an attorney read it as well, because there is likely to be plenty of clauses that would indemify and allow that insurance company to keep from paying a claim if a claim were to ever arise. And ONE MORE THING - NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER let your students know that you have instructor's insurance because if they do fail they can possible think back and say "hey, clutzy has that instructor insurance, I wonder what I can get out of him for My failing the class"

To all my EMS Friends in the midwest. There's a storm a coming and they say that it's bound to be a bad one. In the KC MO area and parts surrounding they say it might be the worst this year or even in the past two or three years. It should start tomorrow night and not end till Friday if I heard the weather right. So buckle down and get your supplies laid in and if you live in an area where the powerlines are NOT buried and are above ground but under the trees, a good plan would be to get lots of blankets and also stock up on firewood for your fireplace. Make sure you have your phones charged as well. Good luck and God speed. If you are working the next three or four days, keep lots of pocket warmers and wear extra layers of clothing and make sure you keep warm. Drive safe and slow, remember, it's their emergency NOT yours. Don't make it yours too.

You might be hard pressed to find a Uhaul company that will rent to you if you are under a certain age. And if you have someone rent a Uhaul for you and you damage the vehicle while driving it the insurance won't cover the damage to the vehicle since you weren't the one renting the vehicle, unless that person has deep pockets. I know this from renting lots of cars over the years and being in an accident or two. The car rental companies which I can only think would correlate to the uhaul companies will require full payment of the damage from your insurance or from the renter personally and that can be several thousands of dollars depending on the damage. Hell I had to pay for a full windshield when I got a chip in the windshield on a recent rental. I didn't want to involve my insurance company so I paid out 245.00 to Hertz rather than have my insurance company pay the damages and see my personal car insurance go up. ( I don't do credit cards) So my advice is if you are driving a rented uhaul that someone else rented for you is for you to practice driving it in a very big parking lot like a stadium parking lot. I never have understood why people don't get their drivers licenses when they first are able, seems counterproductive. But that's just me.

I wasn't really paying attention to his posts until I read what Mike kept trying to hammer into his head about going to EMT school. That's when I added my 2 cents. I really didn't read all his posts. The only other post I contributed to was the bag post but it wasn't directed at him per-se but to the group as a whole as to what I have in my disaster bag

plus they have more money to throw at them than many agencies do so you will not be hard pressed to pick and choose what you do and don't want in a sprint car.

Well color me surprised. How many of us did he fool for a short time?

Now when did I miss that?

Don't get a car. That wouldn't be prudent. SMall SUV would be best. Most people don't equate a EMS or Fire vehicle with a car anyway. Ford Escape or Similar would be good. The best example of a Chase vehicle that I know of is at Johnson County Med Act in Johnson County KS in Olathe KS. Call them you can find their number at this Website www.jocoems.org they have some of the best spec'd out sprint vehicles i've ever seen. I used to work there, not long but I did work there. These people are some of the best in the biz.

Benasack, I was in your position at one time and then I arrived at a wreck that was a total clusterfuck. 2 car head on with 3 critical patients with no EMS units on Scene. I was RED CROSS First aid trained and thought I was the SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! I mean come on that's all I needed. I was the bomb. I was ready to take on the world. I was able to call 911 and get all the resources. You know what, I froze when I saw a dead kid in the floor board of the car. I had no preparation for that. The first ambulance arrived and the medic realized that I was there to help because I was holding C-spine on the kids mother. He told me to focus and just talk to the mom. I did just that. they ended up flying all the patients out and then he sat me down and talked to me about what we saw during that call. He told me to take my enthusiasm and the red cross first aid card and shove it up the Red Cross's ass and then gave me a number to call to enroll in a EMT Class and I did. Best thing I ever did and now 20 years later I'm a pretty damn good medic. So do what Mike says, get your butt in a EMT Class and stop trying to impress all of us with your "nanny nanny boo boo I'm trained I'm a MFR shit" and get into a EMT class. You will quickly realize that the MFR that you think is so hot shit has not only set you up for failure down the road if you do come upon the big one like I did. YOu have potential and you should listen to him and to me, get a EMT Class under your belt and see how far you can go, you might realize that EMT isn't as far as you want to go.

Yeah Kat, I'm a medic at heart but my first priority these days is to make sure that my home has the means and ability to survive when the resources of my community are stretched thin to completely non-existent. I have the medical kit complete with medications I can give which is whatever I deem necessary for my family - including all our prescription needs. I have a full set of camping gear in case my house in destroyed, I can just put a tent up in the back yard, start the generator that is if I can find it in the rubble and it's not destroyed, and be able to be as self sufficient as I can. I can also shelter in place if the neighborhood is damaged to the point where my house is livable but I can't get out of the neighborhood. I have a plan with several neighbors on who does what in such a situation, we all have distinct skillsets that we bring to the table in a disaster and we can survive with what we have in our homes for at least a month if not longer. I have a freezer full of frozen food and 3 seed banks. Plans are set in place. Not complete but in progress.

RT Training can do nothing but make you a better provider. How many calls do you run that have an respiratory component to them? I'd bet that 35% of them do. The better you understand the respiratory system the better you understand your patients respiratory issues. 2nd, Most respiratory therapists I know, I said most, are pretty good at intubating patients and I've worked with quite a few. You want to have a RT on your truck. Why do you think that many critical care transport teams (pediatric especially) have a RT(who may also be a medic) on board rather than a paramedic? I'll let you sit and stew on that one. Just food for thought.

I think you've done all you can in the back of the ambulance. You have a non-diagnostic for MI 12 lead, the MS has dropped his pain from 8 to a 6. What else can you do? You have also drawn blood and the lab will draw it unless they are wussies and say "it's heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmmmoooooooooooooooooolllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzeeeedddddddddddd" which many often do with field draws. You know we can't draw blood to save our asses. Plus they come back with CLIA regs saying that if their staff didn't draw the blood it doesn't count. waa waa waa. So what else can we do on the amblulance?? Give him more morphine and see if that helps, Do you have a nitro drip? You could give that if his pressure allows. But other than that< I'm going to continue transport and drop him off, do my report and return to my reclining passenger seat to await my next call or maybe go get a large coke zero and a snack. It's only 9:49am where I'm at.

I remember one time when I was giving a quiz, I gave two different versions. The students cheated off each other when I left the room. When the tests were graded, several had failed. They disputed the quiz results and I let them know that there was suspicion of cheating and I had given a quiz with two different versions. The quiz was the same questions but the answers were in different order. I told them that this would be the way things ran from here on out. I would make subtle changes to each quiz and also to each test. That way there was no guarantee that they would have the same test as the next person. That nipped the cheating in the bud. The students were rather upset but I told them they only had the cheaters to blame.

90 dollars a dose, if it's that effective, the cost will be 900 a dose, not 90.00 never let a pharmaceutical company's altruistic decisions get in the way of making some sort of profit.

Well here's a thought, maybe confront the cheaters and tell them it's got to stop. let them know that you won't tolerate it and the next time it happens you will nip it in the bud right then. Tell them that you work very hard on being honest and you don't appreciate cheating and you just won't tolerate it. put them on notice and say "if I see you doing it again I'm going to the instructors" That might be all that is needed. But I think you also need to go to the instructors anyway. Even if you don't confront your friends(so called friends) you have done your part in keeping your academic environment clean and honest. In every class I've ever attended, cheating was grounds for removal from the class. My thoughts are this, if you know about the cheating and you allow it to continue then you are just as guilty as the cheaters themselves.

Kiwi, doc said that one closed down. You are WAY WAY behind the times.

Cheating is WRONG, no matter what so to allow that to happen is tacit approval that you approve right? I would go to your instructors behind closed doors and explain what you saw and let them take it from there. You take the high road and DO NOT cheat and you will be better for it. You can call the cheaters out in class during the test and let the chips fall where they may or you can let your instructors catch them. But if your instructors don't give a shit and leave the room during the test then they are giving the cheaters carte blanche to cheat. That's wrong in itself. Keep your moral compass and just keep on doing what you are doing, don't give in to the cheaters, they will fall mightily at the national registry test or they won't . You know that you passed fair and square. You can also let their departments know they are cheating if you are a vindictive sort of person which I don't think you are. I myself, called the cheaters out in the testing situations, I just said to them during the test "Stop trying to cheat off my paper" and that stopped them. It pissed em off but they weren't going to get to use my hard work to skate through class. I didn't make friends in that class except the friends I already had. I HATE cheaters. They do nothing but make those of us who actually try to learn, look bad. Keep the faith, it will be worth it in the long run. My true and honest opinion is to get a list of each of those you saw cheating and give that to your instructor and tell that instructor that these are the ones who shared answers to the quiz or test. I'll bet that will be the last time an instructor is out of the room during a quiz or test. But I could be wrong.

Heck no. Not in the least. It would be strange but it's not like I'm going to catch what they have (sarcasm). To each their own I always say.

By the way new guy, which is I guess your new title and I retain the dinosaur title, welcome to the city. We really aren't a bunch of Aholes, but it might just seem that way at times. Feel free to contribute, this place ROCKS in terms of learning and fun to be. All the cool kids are here.

i were there but I were not there. I think the question that begs to be asked and answered is this. Where are you a emt or medic at? If that's the question, I am a medic but I am currently retired but possibly on the way back into the field.

But to these individuals, these are not costumes, they are part of their identity. If they are in the process of gender identity change, they are not in costume are they?

We are not saying that you would do anything to save that person. What were are questioning is your empathy and your apparant lack of any feelings towards a persons death. You said that no death affects you and I say that you aren't being truthful. You may say it doesn't affect you at all but I'm not buying it. YOu might think it doesn't but down the road maybe not now or today or tomorrow but one of these days it will and you better have a good support system to help you through it because I'm fearful that the ramifications of your callous(I don't mean that negatively) attitude will really hit you hard. I'd urge you to consider and think about why death doesn't affect you even a little bit.

It would be a sexual identity issue maybe? I'm not in HR so I'm not sure what it would be but I'm sure that this has already been tried in the courts at other companies so the definition of what kind of legal case this is is out there in the vapors. I'll leave that up to the lawyers to decide but HR would have a hard time justifying why they didn't hire that person over another if that person can prove they were better qualified than the one who got hired.