gaelicfirefighter

We have diversions here in Chicagom also. Some hospitals get a name for going on diversion to quickly. A hospital must call The Illinois Dept of Public Health prior to going on diversion. Two hospitals in close proximity with the same level of care cannot be on diversion at the same time. IE: Two level one trama centers cannot go on diverson. IDPH can deny diversions. CFD announces all diversions across radios and computers. Hospitals can also just have a certian area on diversion like Peds Trauma or OB/GYN. How ever, no hospital can go on BLS diverson. The pT's just have to sit and wait. Im BLS so I dont care or pay attention to diversions and it really pisses off nurses and ER docs. Oh well.

I am a firefighter/emt in Chicago and I work my tower ladder as well as a bls ambulance. We were issued flame retardant blue pants that we use for both positions. We were issued work boots/shoes. Our fire and ems shirts are blue polos (summer wear) with the city patch on one sleeve and the fd patch on the other. We can get away with just wearing a fire dept blue house shirt (T-Shirt) if we want. We can also wear our long sleeve shirts (Winter wear). We were issued windbreakers with liners for rain and winter. I dont like short sleeve shirts or t-shirts. I feel more protected with long sleeve shirts. BSI / bodily fluids and blood are very communicable when your arm are exposed. I know it gets hot but that is what a/c is for. I would like cargo pants with pockets to carry commonly used items like xtra gloves, pen light, etc. But we were not issued them and cannot wear them. Our medics are basically issued the same items as our FD. Ambulance officers wear white shirts though. They have full turn out gear with diferent coloring to differentiate them at a fire scene. We must carry our turn out gear on the ambo at all times. You must look professional but also have some sort or protection. I would also caution all members to wear only what is approved or issued. If you get injured or are exposed to anything and you are not wearing issued items you might not be covered.

SOP, SOQ & Protocols - Yes, you are correct. Good Point I will place everything in the download area. Also a good idea. Thanks for the input thus far

http://www.suntimes.com/special_sections/c...S-cop18.article

I was in the chat room the other night and was amazed at all the young people in there. I also have noticed many people just entering our lovely field. And there are also many EMT-B's looking to move up to EMT-P. Saying this I would like to begin to collect info from all of you on tests, SOP's, SOQ's, Protocols, quizzes and assessments. Any study material that may be helpful or any sites offering free educaional info. Please e-mail to gaelicfirefighter@yahoo.com I will gather this info hoping to compile it and provide these younger people with reference material. I will also set a day and time where these people can come into Chat Room #2 and ask questions and be asked questions. Take tests and quizzes and go through their assesments and equipment. I would also like to know who would be intersted in helping me moderate this. I am only and EMT-B with four years as an EMT. I have a lot of info and experiences but would like more seasoned veterans with more education and more experience. Especially rural medics as I am in a highly populated urban area. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. I think this would be a great offering for this site and will help our present and future membership. Gaelic

I dont know if your local news service covered it but a woman was arrested in a Chicago suburb for leaving her kids in a running car and putting money in a salvation army kettle. She was less than 30 feet from her car and was in eye view of the car and her child. The child was sleeping. I'm not commenting on this. The city was Crestwood, Illinois. The officer who arrested her was a part-time Crestwood cop and an full-time Chicago cop. He was on disability with Chicago for a shoulder injury. Just like Chicago's FD, the CPD does not allow you to work any job, including sidejobs while you are on duty or non-duty lay up. Please remember your rules when you are on lay-up or disability. Our employers are watching us. This person was stupid and will get what is coming to him. But his wife and kids don't deserve anything bad to happen to them. Remember all the videos and cameras are on us. Think twice people. Just some FYI.

Sorry, I couldn't find it on the site. Im gonna CXL that photobucket page. Thanks! By the way. To the administrator. I enjoy being part of this site. Many good people on here. Good job!

I created an account for us at photobucket. login name is emtcity and password is password. Post photos if you would like to share. I hope you enjoy.

I wish to start a mature post on her comments about Obama. What do you think. What is wrong with the fact that blacks vote for blacks. Women vote for women. Men will not vote for women. Irish Catholics voted for Kennedy. Statistically history shows us this. Why cant you say anything about black people that can be construde as racist. Why wouldn't you vote for someone who walks in your shoes to some extent. Dont we vote for people we can relate to. Dont we vote for people who we feel will represent us and our views. Its true, he has no experience. It's true he is balck. Those are facts. Who cares. Look at how many politicians with his amount of time in office have gotten elected. Not many if any. This race is awesome because for the first time we could have a black man or a woman as president. These issues have to come up. I dont buy the experience thing. What about a 20 year politician doing it wrong for 20 years. Does his amount of tenure equate to ability and knowledge. If so, I think we shoud re-wite our election laws and allow my fourth grades to hold office. They would do a better job than most of our politicians. I think they are a little smarter. We should put them on that show before any debates. Bush would have gotten murdered. We elect people with experience right? We elect people who use prostitutes, who steal, who have affairs, who go to jail, who allow China to steal technology and secrets, who allow Saudi terrorists to attack us and then invade Iraq and Afganistan, who raise our taxes, who allow China to poison our children, who allow guns laws that enable mental patients to shoot people at colleges and high schools and who continually make a mockery of the offices we elect them to. Hmmm. And we elect people who continually cut funding to EMS, police and Fire. We elect people who screw our Vets! Ok, now I'm getting pissed so I'll stop. Let me know your thoughts. Have a good day and stay safe. Gaelic - Not Garlic or Gaylick - lol

I am a firefighter/emt-b in Chicago. We are the second largest Fires Supression & Rescue department in the nation. We serve 2.8 millon residents. Chicago comprises some 250 square miles. We have approximately 5000 firemen and 600 medics. We operate 98 firehouses with 96 engines and 61 trucks. We offer ALS and BLS ambulance services. We also have ALS engines and just put 6 ALS trucks into service. Our EMS did approximately 300,000 runs in 2007. Engines responded to 224,00 runs (Fire & Special Duty). Trucks responded to 141,000 runs. Busiest engine is engine 55 with 4900 runs in 2007. Busiest truck is Trusk 20 with 3900 runs. Busiest ALS ambulance did 7800 runs. Ambo 10 is the busiest in the city. I am and EMT-B and ride Ambo 89. Its the busiest BLS rig in the city. Last year 89 did approximately 6000 runs. Firefighters work 24 and off 48. We work 88+/- 24 hour shifts a year. Single role Medics (Ambulance not cross trained medics on engines or trucks) work 24 and are off 72. If anyone is interested in our info, there are two resources to go to. Local 2's web site and The Concerned Firefighters Association. Both have test info, general orders and protocols. Look under items of interest on both sites. Here are the links: http://www.iaff-local2.org/ http://www.cfdcaffa.com/

Your right, think I was responding to the wrong thread. I did alot of drugs when I was young

First of, I like the shirt pic. I work in Chicago. I am a firefighter/emt-b. I ride the ambo 6x a quarter. I ride the busiest ambo in the city. The bls rigs can run to every corner of the city depending. Especially if the ALS ambo's get a large incident (Plan). It is not unusual to start at 7am and noit return to the house until 7 the next morning. I get back into service quickly. I dont sit at the hospital. If more of our ambulances did this, the amount of windshield time would be deminished here. 'll do 2 runs for some ambulances one. Its not fair but I do what I feel is right. I will also get on the radio and let the office know if I can get to a run quicker and let another ambo stay in quarters. They run the BLS all over as they know it is not an emergency.