SSG G-man

Weasel- We have some folks that "live-in" and there some that sleep in on a regular basis (I am there almost every Fri and Sat night from 2100-0600 or 0700). We do not have a set schedule during the day, but are usually covered by the folks who work shift work. Plus being in a semi-rural area with a low traffic volume some folks can get from home pretty quick. I have been in the bathroom and met people responding from home by the time I can get down stairs. IT is not a perfect system. We were supposed to be getting a paid daytime ALS crew, but another station in the county gave up EMS altogether, so the paid crew went there and wait for next hiring cycle. The only time we seem to have much trouble is 0500 to about 1100. I guess this is our transition with folks leaving for work and the night shift people coming home and getting settled in. We have folks sign up for duty crew hours, that lets people know when there will be no one in house and we respond from home. Because of my "real job" and family I usually respond from home on weekends during the day. As our area population grows so does our call volume and the need for better coverage. So we are getting the paid folks in. When they come in, we will be able to take the call if it is a BLS call, and we can go with them if it is an ALS call. Be discussion now is if county is going to provide a rig or will they use ours. I hope this makes things clear as mud.

The more severe your need to urinate, the greater the likely hood of a call in the next 30 seconds.

I hate people who see you in uniform (US Army in my case) then walk up and say "are you in the Army?" HERE's YOUR SIGN!!! See this with all branches of military, Police, and Fire. Heard someone ask a guy in full turnout gear if he was a fireman!! I was hoping for a good answer like "No, I am a rocket scientist, how can I help you!"

Once again the volunteer and basic bashing!! My station is about 2basics to 1 EMT-P. So, IF the EMT-P does not come for a call that's okay, 'cause hes a cool EMT-P. But if a basic is not there, its because he is waiting for a cooler call. I understand!! I need to quit this site. Tired of searching through the land fill of BS for the nugget knowledge I came here hoping to find! Sarge. Out.... for a sabbatical!!

I agree with Rid, function is paramount. I thought that the day glo yellow suits that the DMV put on their driver assistance personnel (folks that help get stranded motorists moving during rush hour) we hideous, until I saw a guy come from behind a car in the early evening and he showed up like a lighthouse. It makes no sense that my coveralls are dark blue!! Yeah, there is some reflective material, but not much especially if I am standing sideways. Sarge

Well, could be they don't get out, or already on call that we did not hear, because they are second due into the county right across the bridge from their station. Not a whole lot different than a paid crew being on a call and second due has to respond. This usually only happens in the low call volume areas, or the very high volume area where they have a paid crew and usually at least 2 volunteer crews and sometimes are getting their 4th or 5th call.

We usually go out with 2. Sometimes three if we have an observer. The occasional 4 if we have a non-EMT driver and a observer. The exception is if we have what sounds like a bad call and no extra drivers we will load up an ambulance and request a second ambulance for transport. (Example: Call went out as rollover, subjects ejected. We took non-EMT driver and 3 EMTs. the other unit dispatched with us does not always get out, so we cleared the station with the one ride we had!!)

Might be because there is no image showing.....

Most of the time I will take my trash with me, especially if I am in a home. IF it is a bad trauma (especially MVA) I may leave some trash. On the MVAs the fire guys will be cleaning up debris anyway. Even though as a basic I do not have much call for sharps (finger sticks), they are always properly taken care of. I even keep a portable sharps in my personal first aid kit, just in case.

Maybe you have had bad experiences with volunteers, but do not lump us all together like that!!! Especially when (as at my station) a lot of volunteers are paid folks elsewhere who do this on their time off. We have folks who are Battalion Chiefs or Captains, for paid departments. No "clipboard carriers!!" Sometimes I wonder why I even visit this site anymore. The bashing is not worth the few nuggets of knowledge I find amongst the other rubbish!! Sarge

I can sort of relate to that. Had a patient the other night with a lac on the underside of her chin. Used a collar and she handled it okay. Probably should have gone with the blanket horseshoe, works and would have been less painful!!

A few weeks ago I had a large man that we could not get anything to fit. Used the blankets in a horseshoe. It seemed to work. Sometime I think we should do that more often, especially when it is very hard to slid the collar under the neck. I have seen many people move the neck to get the collar on. I have been reading and going to presentations lately that are questioning how much spinal immobilization we do, but if we are going to do it I think we need to do what is best for the patient, and moving them around to get the collar is not what is in their best interest.

My service has minimum hours to pull a month. Luckily we have several folks that are retired and add to that the people who are paid elsewhere, we have pretty good coverage. It a call is not answered in 5 minutes, the next 2 closest stations are dispatched. What is amazing is that over half of our calls are mutual aid. I would say 75% of those are to one stations first due. They are EMS only and have 4 ambulances, but can not seem to get out very often!! Sarge

My department is pretty compliant with regs and stuff. I think that maybe the OSHA stuff cover performing the extrication, not providing BLS on site. Maybe our EMS is rated to give us protection, I never asked, but it does not seem that sturdy. I know it is made to be Blood and fluid resistant. I have not yet had to get into a car when they were perform and extrication, other than in drills and I know it would like to have the extra protection, even just the pants for crawling in and out. I might even consider extrication gloves over the ones for BSI. I have cut a finger or two during drill. Leaves me open to infection! Not cool. Sarge

We are a Fire Based EMS department. We have jumpsuits or what is termed "foul weather gear" to wear on calls. If going in a car during extrication, we have helmets and safety glasses/goggles to wear. Having turnout gear to wear seemed like a no brainer to me, but maybe that is the military Risk Assessment training coming through (Or could it be the uncommon quality called Common Sense). Sarge

Billboards about illieracy which tell you to write someone for information!!

I live in MD and think "How sorry is a state that cannot come up with a state song that is not based on a traditional German Christmas Carol!!"

I agree with Chbare. You may want to see what the Internet can provide you on Tactical Casualty Combat Care. IT is some new techniques and ways of doing things the military has come up with. This would be similar to what you are looking at. If you have any military contacts, you may want to look into getting info on the Combat Lifesaver Course. I do not think any of the information in it is classified. Contact me and I will see what I can dig up. Sarge

Jake- Yes they are. Original song was "Oh, Tannenbaum" I beleive.

We do not refuse to take anyone who wants to go. Also, sometimes the patient is not the person who "activated the system." A passerby calls in an MVA. Driver could be fine and would have been on his way after dealing with the Police if we had not received a call. We document fully any time patient refuses treatment or transport. Patient refusals are not a refusal to transport. I see them as to separate issues. Sarge

Why the Department of the Interior deal with the outdoors?

YMMV?

If con is the opposite of pro; is congress the opposite of progress?

I agree to some extent with the responding from home to a scene. It is different if you are there when it happens, etc. My department chief has gone as far as to say we can not be in a POV at any scene in our first due. I guess he figures if we are within first due, report it and head to station so we can be there protected and with correct equipment, etc. Heck, I wish we had more PPE going to MVA. I have been advocating keeping a set of turnout gear in the rig for use in MVA situation. I always try to give as good a report as I can before leaving vehicle if we are first on scene, or report any changes from earlier reports. Nice thing about our ambulance is that they are big so we are pretty high up and can get a good look at scene.

Wow, looks like Dust has been wrong all this time. We can not help people better by raising education standards, we just need to have less paramedics. I guess this is the "doing more with less" theory of Emergency Medicine!! Sarge