ambodriver

some medics gotta have it their way.....ya know.

p.s. fast food sucks and being in shape is good mmmkay

With the information provided I don't think I would have intubated. If he is spitting then he should a good gag reflex. Let 'em puke but be ready to suction if you need to I guess. With such a long transport an anti-emetic would have been nice....for the medic assigned to clean and the pt.'s airway.

I hate dealing with drunks, especially when they are puking. What a waste of time.

NYC EMS gets 12$ an hour?!?!?!?!

That is shocking....and an unlivable wage.

I've seen nebulized narcan for the person wheezing after taking heroin. The pt. was also lethargic but alert enough to fight off an IV attempt.

"I just want my albuteroll bitch!"

It worked, albeit slowly. By the time the ambulance got to the ER there was one pissed off druggie.

http://www.jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679%2802%2900723-0/abstract

Sorry, but single role in an FSR union is not true representation- especially since you are the minority. First and foremost, FIRE departments are out to protect FIREFIGHTERS. By and large, they promote and fight for things that primarily benefit FSR, while occasionally throwing a bone to EMS. Yes, they are forced to provide medical care, but if you were somehow able to wave a magic wand and eliminate the medical portion of their jobs again(like the good ole days), most would JUMP at the chance.

It all depends on what you want to do with your career. It can be frustrating to be underrepresented, but if all you are looking for is a paycheck, benefits, a stable job, and doing something you love, that's fine. I don't know how old you are, but over time, working in a high volume area will take an emotional and physical toll on you. Once you are able to retire, you still want to be able to have a good quality of life. Sometimes that means moving up to a position off the streets. That's why so many single role providers become cross trained-not necessarily because they love fighting fires, but for longevity's sake. Changing locations/employers is always an option, but not always practical or even feasible. So many factors to consider- cost of living, pay, benefits, housing costs, etc.

We are well represented here. Yes it is true that high volume areas can be stressful. However, we work 24 on 72 off......those 3 days off are more then enough for me..to even work a 2nd job at a private company.

Yes, I am looking for a good pay, benefits and doing something I love. I believe I've found that balance. In time if I am toasty and bitter maybe it will be time to retire and enjoy an easy part time gig. Changing careers would be fucked up as I am already vested in my pension.

You are right though...so many different factors, and everyone is unique. Just thought I'd hrow my 2 cents out there.

Nebulized narcan.

Yes?

No?

Why or why not?

Effective or ineffective?

The problem with private services is that for the most part pay horrible wages with horrible benefits. It's not all about the money--but we need to live comfortably and make a nice wage for the services we provide.

The FD here has single role medics working in the fire dept. I think this is the way to go. We get the benefit of the union without being forced to be FF's and pander to that BS.

Private and contract EMS here pays about 15$ an hour. Pretty hrd to raise a family on that. Single role medics on CFD get paid about 75K a year and get a pension.

We deserve the pay and bennies. This is a tough job and to make a barely livable wage doing it is a joke.

Can things be better with municipal EMS? Yes. Single role FD medics are the way to go imo.

I'm not experienced with private EMS outside this area. Do any of them pay good wages with good benefits? Let me know some places that do if you know any.

Thanks,

When I first started out as a EMT I worked the privates, as most people do around here when they first get their certs. It was horrible. Nursing home staff that were clueless, rude. Nursing homes that were dirty (99.99%), gross, and negligent. I hated it, but payed my dues.

I couldn't do IFT's anymore. It's not what I'd like to do. I became a medic to be a first responder so I will stick with that. Also the privates around here pay like 12-15$ an hour, which is a horrible barely livable wage.

just my 2 cents.

don't volunteer. get a job with a private service to learn the ambo and get comfortable driving.

I'm not sure about long term transport with patients, or interfacility pysch transports, but if someone is extremely hostile, or if I think they will be hostile our protocols allows 10mg of versed IM. This is only if they have to go with us to the hospital and are not a refusal. (i.e. suicide attempt etc. etc.) I am quick to use it...I have a daughter to go home too, and at that point I don't care to struggle any longer with them.

I find it weird that pysch patients are being flown in helicopters via EMS, that's crazy!

I've got a person who goes 1-2 times DAILY for BS. And theres nothing we can do.

Then we have someone that calls for a lift assist at least 3 times a week if not more.

It's ridic. I'm waiting till we miss a serious pediatric call while wasting our time with these drains of society.

Aero, I like your call to be involved with these communities, but in the ghetto areas I work in, people are pretty much hostile and don't give 2 shits about us. They'd rather berate us on a scene then help in most situations. I've stopped the "paramedic teaching moments" because most of these people are too ignorant and too far lost. I wasted my breath for so long.

If there was a better reception for us I'd be more then willing to get involved, but the truth is the gang bangers, basketball players and fake gangsta rappers are the true role models in the ghetto

Please delineate what political reasons they had for attacking us.

Not arguing the point nor am I disagreeing withyou but I want to know what your evidence or rationale behind saying that this was political versus religious.

Sorry to be so late in posting been awhile since I came to this site.

A year after the 9/11 attacks Bin Laden released a video tape saying why he ordered the attacks. IT was all over the news stations etc. He said it was because of our support of Israel and unjust policies in the middle east. I don't even need to post a link to this as it is common knowledge. Do none of you remember that video? This wasn't someone attacking our "freedom" or our religion (muslims died in the 9/11 attacks in the towers), this was about the USA's political stance in Israel. I.E. supporting Israel's creation after WWII which led to the Palestinians being shipped out of the area and sent to live in refugee "concentration" camps in Syria and surrounding countries as Israeli's made their own homes and took over.

You don't see Al Qaadea targeting religious shrines, or all "free" countries...just those that support Israel.

I see a lot of people seemed to have taken offense to my post and continue spouting the BS of this being a religious attack. I also love how everyone turns into an expert on Islam out of the blue.

To the person who told me to read the Quran, thank you very much, I have read it mutiple times in it's true form, Arabic.

Anyways, I don't care if the build a mosque near the 9/11 site. But I would caution against it because people are gonna deface it as soon as its built. It's just not a smart idea with the anti-muslim backlash after 9/11.

p.s. again I have to post this before someone calls me a terrorist: I do not condone the 9/11 attacks, I think the terrorist are slimey POS's that should be tortured and burned alive!

Here's the deal. No, all Muslims do not believe the extreme lunacy of radical Islam, just as all Christians do not agree with white supremacist's bastardization of Christianity. Does that mean we should allow the KKK to set up a few burning crosses in the middle of an area of a city that is predominantly black?

I'm sick and tired of all this PC bull. Sorry folks, but all over the planet, terrorists are predominantly Muslim in nature. Shall we list all the recent attacks perpetrated by radical Muslims?

They want to build a new mosque? Fine, but NYC is a big area- pick another spot. WHY does it need to be in such close proximity to the WTC site? It's a slap in the face to those who died and the families they left behind. Every single one of those 9/11 hijackers were Muslim, what they did was because of their "religion". Fact.

I don't give a crap if those who want to build that mosque are the best people on the planet. It's wrong and completely insensitive, and if these Muslims cannot understand that, then maybe they aren't the best examples of people who follow Islam.

Not to be devils advocate...

But the terrorists attacks were not because of religion, but because of political reasons. I don't see how so many people here think this is a religious attack. It really shows an immaturity to the topic. The 9/11 atacks were political in nature.

And of course, I have to add this in...b/c people will start calling me an american hating terrorist if I don't. I don't condone any of their actions, they were sick POS's. But it makes this situation a lot easier to understand if you know why were were attacked.

Not because they hate our "freedom" or because of our religion. It was strictly political and if you can't grasp why then there is no use really talking about the subject anymore is there?

That being said I don't care if they build a mosque. Not all muslims are terrorists. But the fact the terrorists were muslim will make it a hard sell, especially those ignorant enough to this this was a religious and not a political attack

They are in the bottom right corner of peoples posts however ruff cant get any because hes a moderator.

Yes bottom right. Remember to add me as a negative.

Thanks in advance for your compliance.

Yeah saying the S,B,Q words doesn't seem to work around here. But saying the "we haven't had a ---- call in a while "sure seems to.

Getting in the shower seems to set the tones off too.

yea, that or the treadmill

UGh. That's pretty fucking sick. These types of guys get what they deserve in the end. I betcha you'll be working him as a traumatic arrest some day in the near future.

You did the right thing though. Sometimes hard to take our feelings out of it..especially in this case. We have all (well at least I have) been guilty of getting pissed and yelling at patients and their stupidity...but this one really takes the cake. I'd probably give him a piece of my mind for sure.

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone here, unless you're in serious denial.

http://www.ems1.com/ems-management/articles/817472-Miss-agencies-report-more-responders-flunking-initial-fitness-exam/

May 10, 2010

Miss. agencies report more responders flunking initial fitness exam

Overweight and out of shape recruits for police, fire and emergency medical services are presenting increasing problems for agencies in Miss. and around the nation

By Chris Joyner

USA Today

JACKSON, Miss. — When the Jackson Police Department tried to recruit new officers this spring, more than a third of the applicants were not able to pass the initial physical fitness test.

The city's police academy's initial fitness exam includes push-ups, a 1 1/2 mile run, an obstacle course and a flexibility test, Deputy Police Chief Gerald Jones said.

Mississippi has the highest rate of obesity in the nation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Jones said it is not just that recruits are fat.

"What we are finding is a decline in overall physical strength," he said. "They can't complete the mile-and-a-half run."

Overweight and out of shape recruits for police, fire and emergency medical services are presenting increasing problems for agencies around the nation.

*Ronald Smith, chief of the Lawton (Okla.) Police Department, said about 15% of applicants to his department this spring failed an initial agility test, including push-ups, sit-ups and a quarter-mile run. "Used to be nearly 100% passed the agility test," he said.

*Capt. Doug Shoemaker of the Jefferson City (Mo.) Police Department said "a noticeable number of people" failed the physical exam in the two most recent tests. "I don't know that I have seen this ... as much as I have now," he said.

Last year, the Cambridge Health Alliance and researchers from Harvard University and Boston University found that 77% of fire and emergency medical technician trainees in Massachusetts were either overweight or obese.

Harvard School of Public Health professor Stefanos Kales, one of the authors of the report, said no national studies on recruits exist, but in localized studies researchers "consistently find that among police and firefighters, generally three-quarters are overweight and that includes one-third that are obese."

The picture may be worse, he said. Some departments have lowered physical strength standards to avoid discrimination lawsuits, he said.

"In combination with a less fit pool," he said, "that will end up allowing more obese recruits to successfully join these services."

Andrew Nesbit, a vocational public safety teacher at South Paulding High School in Douglasville, Ga., heard the complaint from a local fire official when he asked what he could do to turn out better recruits.

This year, Nesbit started his junior and senior students on a physical fitness plan similar to what they would face if they apply to a police or fire academy. "At first they didn't want to do it," he said. "They just don't like exercise. A lot of them don't even enjoy being outdoors." And their diet is "garbage," Nesbit added.

Part of the problem, according to Texas Christian University kinesiology professor Deborah Rhea, are cuts in school physical education programs.

A report this year from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education found that only five states require physical education for all public school grades and that more than half of the states allow physical education exemptions for students, a 61% increase since 2006.

Rhea said education leaders need to get physical education classes back in the schools. "You've got to educate them (about) why they need to be active," she said.

It's quite embarassing that our house has two fat ass medics...with sometimes questionable hygiene. On top of that...one of them sucks at lifting and easily gets out of breath. Great to know he won't be able to have my back.

Get in shape people.

minus for making me think that Rid was back..

minus for reviving a 4 year old post

triple minus for the lack of quality of the post

lol. You know I'm reviving these posts...they show up on the bottom of the page while reading other threads...sorry.

I'm on a mission to get -100, thanks for your help!

someone needs to work on their cardio...heehe, but if you have a long transport time, I'd call the patient on scene if I was able to

I'm stingy with the pain medicine. Problem is we have too many young doctors throwing MS at everyone. Now people expect it. If someone is hurting bad I'm gonna make them MOREfine (cheesy), but every claim of pain doesn't warrant me treating it. Flame if you want but I'm really sick of lots of these BS calls for "pain" and they walk to the ambulance and talk in a nice controlled voice "I'm hurting 10/10". All to often in the ghetto and I'm not about to be the pusher man for bullshit.

http://www.ems1.com/ambulances-emergency-vehicles/articles/818785-2-killed-in-Iowa-ambulance-crash/

This is horrible. Remember always pass on the right, even if it makes you go around further.

Be safe out there guys!

2 killed in Iowa ambulance crash2 dead and 3 injured in collision Thursday

KCC1.com

Photo courtesy KCC1.com

Rescue crews arrive on the scene of the crash that killed a patient and nurse

BOONE, Iowa — A paramedic with significant injuries fought to save her patient and an ambulance driver on Thursday following a crash in Boone County.

Rescue crews arriving on the scene said the paramedic, Wendy Baker, told them her co-worker in the back of the ambulance was dead. Baker then continued to move back and forth treating the patient in the back of the ambulance as well as the driver.

"She was working so hard I had to physically remove her from the ambulance scene because she didn't want to give up her patients," said Boone County Deputy Brian Pontius. "I don't even know her name."

Officials said the patient in the ambulance died as well as the nurse in the back of the ambulance. The nurse, Sheryl Stoolman, 53, had worked at the hospital in Carroll for more than 26 years.

Officials said the ambulance ran into the back of the semi tractor-trailer as the vehicles rolled down Highway 30 near the town of Beaver at 11:26 a.m. The roadway was closed in both directions as multiple rescue crews worked to move the victims to hospitals.

"The semi driver was going to make a turn," Deputy Pontius said. "He checked his mirrors to make that turn. He realized the ambulance was behind him running red lights and pulled to the right. The unfortunate part was the ambulance saw the semi and he also pulled to the right and they hit each other. The ambulance hit the back of the semi."

The ambulance driver was flown by air ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines.

Officials said the ambulance was taking a patient in critical condition from the St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll to a Des Moines hospital.

"In an ambulance situation, the personnel in the back don't wear seat belts because they were attending to a patient," Pontius said.

Two people are dead following the crash and three more injured. Norbert Hoffman, 75, of Carroll, and Stoolman, of Carroll, died in the crash.

Wendy Baker, 45, of Carroll, and Robert Genzen, 46, of Manning, were injured. The driver of the semi, Dennis Good, 49, of Ogden, did not have serious injuries.

Witnesses said the Carroll County ambulance's entire engine compartment and cab were completely crushed.

The paramedic is recovering at the Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson. The Carroll County Sheriff said she is doing well.

The crash investigation will likely be turned over to the Iowa State Patrol.

Republished with permission from KCC1.com

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/62286107.html

Web Posted: 09/27/2009 9:26 CDT

Motorcyclist killed in collision with ambulance

By Michelle Mondo

- Express-News

A 46-year-old motorcyclist was killed Sunday afternoon when he failed to yield to an ambulance en route to a call and collided with it at a North Side intersection, authorities said.

The name of the man was not released because his family had not been notified, according to authorities.

Melissa Sparks, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Fire Department, said the crash occurred around 4 p.m. at U.S. 281 and Evans Road.

Sparks said she did not know where the ambulance was going when the crash occurred.

Officials with the San Antonio Police Department said other traffic did yield to the ambulance.

Yet again...this forum shows its ugly face and "We are better then you attitude"

We have no idea the conditons behind this accident. Maybe the medics already cleared the intersection but the motorcycle guy came up too fast too late.

And who cares if they work for a FD......I'm single role on a FD and it's fucking great. I don't need you bringing me down in your little fight for attention.

lol i just saw hold old this thread was....sorry to drudge it back up..wow

And, as always, minus five for posting an ALS topic in the BLS forum.

also, more reason that B's shouldn't be doing anything with any drugs!

Hold the phone a minute

The patient had all the signs of being dead.

If the patient had those signs and you call the doctor and the doctor concurs then why are we slamming these providers????

I know this is a huge mistake but.... if the signs of life are not there ergo no pulse, no respirations, no auscultatable heart beat, Asystole on the monitor then I'd call this lady dead.

I'd look for other signs, like Lividity or rigor but dammit to hell

If the signs are there, why are we chastising these medics.

now the article says more about their being other circumstances but what the hell do you guys want them to do? Talk to God and say "Hey God, can you send me a sign that this person is really dead??" What if no sign comes down?

Are you going to make them wait on scene for 3 hours just to make sure that no signs of life are there during that 3 hours.

Let me know when you guys stop making mistakes in your daily life, then you can cast stones. Until then.....

I know this will not make many on here happy with me but dangit, this forum continues to amaze me at how much judgement there is here and it makes me very sad.

Now when the rest of this story comes out then we can cast stones and chastise these medics but until then we need to learn from this rather than crucify.

Hey Ruff I agree 100% everyone here LOVES to hate on people. Let's face it EMS is a cruel place where we eat our young and always try to one up each other. I didn't earn my -30 rep. points for sugar coating and not saying how I think it is.

No one really knows what happened.....I wouldn't be so quick to judge w/o having the whole story here.

That being said.....determining death should include a full assessment...including a strip....and cold dead patients..need to be worked in some cases

Stay safe out there guys/gals

I think one Kotex can absorb about 10cc of paramedic/emt whining before it explodes all over you