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Arctickat

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Everything posted by Arctickat

  1. I was just looking over the advertisement at the bottom of this page for TnT Diagnostics. Have you researched their website? One of their products is a cardiac marker blood test that would identify elevated trops or myoglobin in AMI. It looks promising. Here's an article on the use of cardiac markers in the emerg. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/811905-overview Edit, I see the ad is gone now, here's a link to the site. http://www.tntdiagnostics.com
  2. Who is to say the individual you directed your crude comments towards wasn't subject to that either? You can't, so dont even try. Hmmm, perhaps we should conduct a retroactive study comparing the number of EMS providers over the age of 50 who died of natural causes on the job to those under the age of 30 who kill themselves, their partner, their patient, or others because of improper vehicle operations due to a lack of experience. I can hypothesize which category more deaths occur in, but I don't think people under the age of 30 should be prohibited from EMS. And absolutely nothing you have said here actually supports your moronic comment in the other thread, indeed, it appears to me that you are attempting to spin the situation to mean something else entirely. When you actually have a justifiable argument that you can support without spouting nonsense it'll be my pleasure to debate this with you, but you have nothing that can back up your claim that people over 50 should not be in EMS. It is simply the foolish ramblings of a foolish wannabe.
  3. Thanks Tskstorm Wow, each post from you gets dumber and dumber. First, I am not your "Homeboy" Grow up, what are you, a 15 year old Gansta wannabe? Perhaps you should research your comments before posting, or would that require shifting your brain out of neutral. Age discrimination law in: The United Kingdom: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/your.../Pages/Age.aspx Australia http://www.hreoc.gov.au/age/index.html Canada http://www.ag.gov.bc.ca/human-rights-prote...crimination.pdf United States http://assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/build.../adea_paper.pdf Although some countries allow age discrimination in certain circumstances, this case is definitely not one of them. You don't even know what caused her death. Perhaps it was a genetic heart defect heretofore undiagnosed and she could have dropped dead at any time, even when she was 25. Age does not cause people to die. Her age had no relevance to her death. The CPAT has nothing to do with age. Do you even know what that stands for? It's not Can't Permit Aged Toiling? If an individual is 60 years old and passes a CPAT, does he not get the job because he's too old for your tastes?
  4. An ambulance worker in North Carolina has collapsed and died after responding to a call in Pender County. The Star-News of Wilmington reported that Union Rescue Squad Chief J.L. Giddeons says 50-year-old Bonnie McNeill collapsed as she prepared to drive an ambulance away from a medical call Thursday morning. http://www.wnct.com/nct/news/local/article..._to_call/37349/
  5. Would have been nice if they had included a section for comments. Guess One simply has to e-mail them.
  6. My mistake, regardless though, doing 70kph in a 40 kph zone is still stupidity.
  7. Honestly, i believe that setting an arbitrary speed permissible above the posted speed limit is dangerous an stupid. So they can go 30 mph over the posted limit. That means 55mph through a school zone posted for 25 or 95 mph on a highway posted for 65. Those are crazy speeds for an ambulance to operate at. Dangerous and stupid. Our ambulances are permitted a maximum 25% above the posted limit. Thus at 40 mph we can do 50, at 60 mph we can do 75. It makes far more sense to have a more fluid speed adjustment rather than an arbitrary number that would result in ludicrous speeds. I sure hope I'm never in an ambulance doing 55 in a 25 zone, either as a patient or a medic. As far as those who think it's fine to "go with the flow" Here are my thoughts. If I am speeding and "going with the flow" people have the right to complain that my speed was too fast. If I follow the posted speed limit, people are not able to complain about the speed I am traveling. For once, try not to think about your "type A" personalities and that you have the right to go as fast as you can. Think about how others perceive you. Would you like them to think of you as a crazy, unprofessional, mad max driver or a courteous vehicle operator who does not risk the lives of others as he is attempting to save one?
  8. Sigh...those are geese, not ducks. Canadian Terrorist Geese no less according to you. Sigh. According to my sources they were honking several times and the plane would not alter course to avoid a collision. What kinda heroic pilot is that? ;)
  9. Read the Article BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - A colleague says that a firefighter from Edmonds, Wash., died while climbing on Mount Aconcagua in Argentina. Chief Thomas Tomberg of the Edmonds Fire Department confirms that Arthur DeLisle died while climbing the highest peak in the Americas.
  10. Authorities have released the first image of Melissa Greenhagen to the media. The 37-year-old mother of four and part-time EMT was tragically killed Saturday (1/17) by a still unidentified assailant. While the violence ended later that night with the death of the suspected shooter, the effects of that traumatic evening might be with the town for some time. Read the Article
  11. Just ignore him guys, you're simply feeding into his stupidity.
  12. I've got some information and it would have been my pleasure to provide it to the best of my ability. Unfortunately it would seem you have a significant chip on your shoulder regarding Canadians, and I suspect I would simply open myself up to a tirade no matter how I tried to help by answering your question. I do appreciate you providing an honest opinion regarding your hatred of Canadians though, even if I can't imagine what "I" did to deserve it.
  13. I've only been shot at once. Call came in for chest pain, we drove 20 minutes to the scene. As we drive up a 100 or so metre drive way we see the front door open. A figure steps onto the porch as we pull up to about 30 metres away and levels a shotgun at us. Our heads connect as we both hit the floor between the seats. The weapon discharged and our light bar disappeared in an explosion of aluminum and plastic. A quick peek showed him reloading the ol' double barrel so my driver pinned it in reverse and backed record speed down the driveway. From the safety of the road as we called for the police, we could hear him yelling at us...."Oh!! Sorry boys!! I tought you were da cops!!" Needless to say, he soon had an opportunity to shoot at their light bars too. He never did though.
  14. Why? What difference does it make if it's 30 min or 33 min? Some of our responses are over 30 minutes and if the patient survives for 30 minutes, I suspect they'll make it for an extra three or four. The human body is not so fragile as one might think. For this reason emergency L/S responses are being down played and used less and less frequently. Time is simply not that much of an issue anymore now that we can bring the treatment to the patient rather than be a meat wagon.
  15. I wonder why SIAST removed it. When I took my medic training there in 1992 it included self defense training and pressure point control tactics and that was when the program was only 10 months long. Now that it's 18 one would think they wouldn't have needed to eliminate it. Unfortunate though, it's come in handy for me a few times. Shrug, besides, I don't know that self defense training would have been of benefit in this anyways. If a guy is pointing a gun in my face he's going to get exactly what he demands. In this case, it sounds like it went down thusly: Medic 1: "He's Got a gun!" Patient: Pulls gun "stand back and let me out!" Medic 1 and Medic 2 stand back and wave bye bye as gunman bolts for the exit. That would have been my response. Let the cops deal with him.
  16. Cost of living here isn't too bad, gas prices are higher...about 4 bucks a gallon. Housing prices are okay, a decent place for about $200,000. All I can say is that I'm doing okay with what I make. BTW, I'm n Saskatchewan, Canada. Easy to draw, hard to spell, and there is a shortage of ALS providers here.
  17. Indeed, Chris, it is not the fact that you're a volunteer that is troubling. It is your attitude. Your immature rants do nothing but justify the feelings that most people have regarding "vollies". You are helping no one with your diatribes and are only hurting your reputation in the end. Mateo, thanks for your input. It is very interesting information. Out here there are 113 ambulance services, only 11 of them have staff at the base 24/7. The smallest of these does 1200 calls a month. Any organisation must balance economic viability with efficiency. If we had a budget triple what we currently function at, we might be able to have staff at the base 24/7. Besides, I have yet to see a medical emergency in which the extra few minutes required for us to acquire the ambulance and respond would have made the difference between life and death or morbidity. I am curious though...One person works 24/72 another 24/48. I am assuming that you are paid full time hours for this. If I were to work these shifts I would make an annual salary of $54,750 and $73,200 respectively. Is this in the ball park of where you are at?
  18. SirDuke, here is the vast difference between our services. You did 4100 calls last year with two ambulances. My company did 330 in 2008 116 were 911 responses, also, with two ambulances. In your case, I can understand the requirement to be staying at the base during your duty shift, but in my case, we did 6 calls in October of 2007, 11 calls in January of 2008. Can that really be economically feasible to have someone posted at the base 24/7 when there is a great likelihood they will not get a call for days? Honestly, you do over 12 times the number of calls we do, I couldn't fathom that in my area. JakeEMTP, apologies if I misunderstood. Although your comments may have been directed toward the volunteer, the criteria you put forth also described my situation to a "T". I am a career paramedic, this is all I do, but as with the volunteer, I don't have to stay at the base while on call. Your comments led me to believe you feel that anyone who does not stay at the ambulance base while on shift is a substandard paramedic and not professional.
  19. We've also got volunteer first responders in our area as well, and I love having them available. We work very closely with them and conduct their con-ed for them. Sir Duke, how many calls a year does your company do?
  20. Don't be sorry that I work on call hours, for our system it is a model that suits our needs and we enjoy it. First of all, the town doesn't pay or operate EMS here. It is a privately owned service that is contracted to the health region. Income is generated from provincial grants as well as user fees. Our wage scale is determined by the union agreement. I laugh out loud at those who think that every single EMS operation should have 12 hour shifts and staff staying at a base. I laugh when I read people comment that "someone should put up the money" so that every EMS service conforms to what they think is proper. I find it condescending of you to state that you are a professional because you stay at the base while on shift, yet only work 1 out of every 4 days while I work 2 of every 3 and am quite content. Sure, we could work it so that I work 24 on and 72 off, if I want to kiss my $60,000 plus annual pay check goodbye. Just because I get to sleep in my own bed at night doesn't make me less of a professional than you. To insinuate that I don't care about my patients because we don't sit in our ambulance 24/7 to make sure we can respond within seconds to the 350 or so calls we get every year is simply egotistical and shows a definite lack of respect to a fellow professional. Simply put, your comments offend me. That said, I do believe Chris' comment was also over the top and rather rude.
  21. Jake, what kind of shifts do you operate though? Some locations, mine included, work 6 days on 3 days off for some staff, 7 on 7 off for others, every shift is 24 hour on call. Would you be satisfied with your job if you had to stay at the base for 2/3 of your life, of being able to spend quality time with your family, even though you are getting paid for it? Rural services can rarely afford to pay staff for 12 hour shifts and even if they can, finding enough qualified staff is often the greater challenge. We have 2 ambulances and 7 full time employees and have a half million dollar annual budget. We are required to be in the ambulance within 6 minutes of a call out, day or night. We've become masters of the quick dress and dash. You might be required to stay at the base, that doesn't make you a better medic or more capable to provide patient care. All it means is that you don't have to be on call 24/7 for most of your career.
  22. http://www.physio-control.com/uploadedFile...ial%20Leads.pdf
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