EMTChris

You mean 24:01 right...not 00:01?

I would like to apologize to everyone here for my rant. It was indeed unprofessional for me to do so. I just happened to fall upon this topic during a time when I was in a heated dispute with a local paid agency (a dispute in which I briefly touched on), and the timing was all wrong. I can assure you that as a rural EMS volunteer agency, we do strive to provide "paid level service" at the volunteer level. Our agency has the largest district in the county (possibly the state). We had 560 calls last year, and our average response time is 4.12 minutes (AVERAGE FOR 2008). I recently read an article that professional paid agencies average response (tone out to roll out) is roughly 5 minutes, rural volunteer is closer to 10 minutes. In this regard we are well above average, and I can assure you our level of care is also. With few exceptions of individual members of local paid agencies which provide limited mutual aide to our district, the paid agencies in my area are the most unprofessional I have ever encountered, and recently, it has been a lot worse.

I would like to thank a few of you for proving my point on being condescending. I don't need any more evidence of "professional" EMTs or medics puffing their chests out. It's exactly the reason why you aren't welcome in our communities, and I field several complaints about you when you do need to come to our district for mutual aid. I had a "professional paramedic" come out of nowhere, and pull a victim of an MVA out of an overturned vechile by her ankles while we were attempting to backboard. No imminent danger, no orders by anyone on scene to do so...she just assumed she was in charge because she gets paid. I'll link the article to the local paper when she loses her ass in court. For the poster that provided the "youtube" vid, should I scour the internet for the countless number of videos and newspaper articles of "professional" members of EMS who do the same exact thing? Like the "professional" Medic who shocked his fellow crew member.....ultimately killing her? "Professional" only means that you get paid to do it...not that you're any better (like one poster pointed out). I have, and will continue to stack our volunteer personnel against the paid....and we will continue to do a better job. Maybe your friends are impressed by your stories of "having slept on the couch all night at the station". I'm not. I bust my ass day in and day out to be damn certain our members are current and up to date. The only reason why we lag behind is because our smaller communities do not have the budget to equip us with all the new toys. We need to PROVE it for a few years. I'll stack our squad against any in the country. Paid or not.

Most of this garbage and criticism is coming from a paid agency member who wants to move into our station. Our residents don't want your service. You don't care. You do it for a paycheck. I've witnessed it for years, and although I do my best to judge it on a case by case basis, I've been in EMS too long to think otherwise. Try getting out of bed at 2:00am, rushing to the station, then the scene when you aren't getting paid...then talk to me about response times...you condescending a-hole.

The simple fact of the matter is, people will never act naturally or honestly in front of a camera.

You need to work on your convincing skills.

It's a counterindication if the Pt goes unresponsive. That was his concern....after the fact.

stabilize c-spine, Drop a tube, BVM 100% all the way in. The only thing to administer to this Pt is gasoline. Get him to the ED.

Castaway Top Dawg :shock: AND I'M COMING FOR YOU LISA LOW BLOW!!!!!!!!! (these aren't too far off from the porn star name generators BTW) :toothy5:

I've always trained and used Bermans. The thought of a re-useable airway makes me wanna puke. How can you re-use an OPA but justify throwing out a NRB?

You know...I've read all of these before....and they still crack me up. Sad thing is....some less-than professional EMS personnel (from all levels of certification)...have used them in PCR's in our area. Our County Office of Emergency Services sent a MEMO to all agencies which said if any of these were found on a PCR, you're tags will be permanently revoked.

You got us. Our local bar is "Station Two"

The instructor cannot "change his mind" about the 2 or less fails. That is a state rule. Something still isn't adding up here.

we are blessed where I volunteer....anywhere from 5 - 25 minutes tops.

xaby, did you both fill out the state registration form? If you did you have a viable case to fight this. It just seemed from the description above that the instructors weren't taking this very seriously. I know that in NY, you have to have so many class hours to test out (120 I think?) and if you don't have enough hours you can't test out. State requirement. I'm just wondering if the elective classes you took in school were as intensive as the state course you should have taken. I would start with the person who told you that you would be a state certified EMT at the completion of this course. Please keep us posted and good luck!!