Dustdevil

That's awesome that you have that option! Kudos to your service for providing such an opportunity.

What part of Texas are you in?

LMAO!

The off-colour use of the word "unit" has only come of fashion since I retired. Thank God for that, because it was probably the second most common term for the ambulance here (second to 'truck')!

Buy some raw onions and some caramel for caramel apples. Put popsicle sticks in the onions, dip them, leave them on the counter and wait for the next sucker to walk in.

Now that's good stuff, right there!

Few things pissed me off more than losing that sense of security when a thief is on the loose at your station. Whether it's your wallet out of your locker, or simply your food out of the refrigerator, thieves are the lowest form of EMS life. Anything that gets them back is a good thing!

You and MedicRN seem to be unfairly characterizing paramedicmike and I. Hell, I was one of (if not the) first people to post my pranks in this thread. Did you two miss that? It doesn't make a bit of sense that you would sit here and whine that I don't have a sense of fun or humour.

Gracie, there is nothing wrong with your topic, and there is no reason to be disappointed with the results. I'm just personally disappointed with the [im]maturity level of a lot of our brothers out there. And even more disappointed that others would openly condone such criminal conduct as "humourous."

I'm the funniest, most lighthearted and entertaining mother F'er you'd ever work with. I simply have the good sense to know where to draw the line. If you don't recognize criminal activity as a reasonable line, then EMS is not the field for you.

You want to blow off steam? Get your buddies together on your days off and go play paintball. Have a poker night. Host a pit barbeque...

Oooh! Offering alternatives! That is the mark of a great post!

Five bonus points for you!

Unfortunately as you and I both know, TDH is never wrong, even when they are!!!!

Word. But now in retrospect, I only thought TDH was horrible. Then I encountered the NREMT. What a joke! :?

Yeah, to clarify -- and I think I speak for paramedicmike too -- I was referring only to criminal acts of assault and the misuse of various chemicals and medications. Those are not "pranks."

Listing somebody's house? That's no prank either. That's hardcore revenge. But hey, I recognize that sometimes people deserve that kind of thing. But let's not call it a prank.

So they make an entry, I am within ten feet of the door at all times. I ought to be armed, don't ya think?

Especially if you are dressed the same as the team. :?

...based on what was originally stated and reviewing TDH policy, they were wrong..............

Who specifically is "they?" TDH or the medics?

After they "fingered" you, did they dispatch the helo?

They did! The dispatcher was pretty sharp and understood exactly what I was asking for. In fact, it became the standard phrase for that county afterwards.

I honestly hope people don't find any of these funny.

Been thinking the very same thing myself. It's beyond immature and sophomoric. It's malicious and criminal on local, state, and federal levels. It's on level with the lowest of frat initiation hazing.

These are most certainly not "pranks," much less "classic pranks." I wouldn't fault or fire anybody who beat the hell out of anybody perpetrating such crimes on them either.

Some memebrs, FDNY or voluntary, still have their old NYC EMS shields, a couple of whom wear it on a belt clip. These are really the only people I can tolerate wearing a badge while on duty in EMS. It's a mark of pride and history, they have every right to wear it, I think.

Yeah, that is perfectly understandable. I can go with that. I would think those medics would look with particular disdain upon n00bs who would be presumptious enough to mimic them. Imitation is not always flattering. Sometimes it's just plain annoying.

with the test fee waived.

Hold it... does NYC seriously charge you to apply for a job? :shock:

Seems like there has to be something unconstitutional about that. :?

It's a typical liberal ploy. They always use a false concern for "the children" as justification for any governmental power grab. And since nobody wants to risk the appearance of not caring about "the children," they get away with it.

Pretty sickening, actually.

Heres Cut and Dry...yearly retests for everybody!

Sweet!

They should be able to, "Only" after completing a Yearly Written, Driving Test along with a Yearly Eye exam.

Who is "they"? Where do you draw the line between "them" and "us?" And what objective criteria do you use to come up with that standard? Does your criteria have a scientifically valid basis, or is it arbitrary, and therefore ripe for appeal?

It ain't cut and dried.

...not all ems is government run.

Not yet. But one day, the EMS gods will smile upon us and rid us of the scourge of "public safety." :wink:

This is sort of a prank.

I had a new partner once. Eighteen year old girl right out of high school and EMT school. She was drop dead gorgeous. About 5'11" and built like a supermodel. She was nice enough, but she was overly enthusiastic and too eager to prove herself. She would mimic anything I did in order to fit in. But since she was so eager, I figured I'd have some fun with it.

The station was a small apartment with a small, two-bunk bedroom, a living room/kitchen combo, and a bathroom. The bedroom and bathroom were separated by the living room. I knew this chick didn't have a clue what was normal for station life. And I wasn't going to stop getting comfortable to relax just because there was a girl around. So, like always, I took off my uniform shirt when we were at the station. She did too. Then that evening, after a long day in the heat, I stripped to my underwear and grabbed my bag and towel and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. When I was in the bedroom getting dressed afterwards, she walked in, stripped butt naked, tossed a towel over her shoulder, and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. I was shocked, but not unpleasantly so! Anyhow, this continues for many shifts, with her (and me) frequently walking around the station topless or in her underwear, showering with the door open, and basically living like nudists. Then finally, she worked a shift with another medic one day. The very next day, I walk into the office and the other medic grabbed me and took me into a private office. He was freaking out, haha. He was like, "Dude, that girl is a FREAK! She runs around the station naked!!'

He ended up having an affair with her and his wife found out and trashed the station. They were both fired.

The no lights and sirens thing I don't get.

Why did they call 911?

Really no stranger than all those people who call for an emergency and then keep saying, "PLEASE HURRY!!!" Dude, it's an ambulance! You don't have to ask them to hurry!

Funniest three incidents I can recall:

Christmas eve, 1986. Somewhere around midnight, I heard the unit whose territory we were covering check enroute to the hospital, so I flipped over to the med channel to hear their patient report, just out of boredom. It went something like this: "JPS, this is Medic 32, Paramedic Navarro. We are enroute with a 28 year old male victim of an assault. He was doing some last minute Christmas shoplifting when he was caught and beaten by store personnel..."

One night, my partner and I picked up an assaulted street person in a parking lot just a few blocks from the hospital. For some reason, we couldn't reach the hospital directly, so my partner was giving a patient report to a dispatcher to relay for us. Since we were now very close to being at the ER dock, he gave only a short and sweet report. The total report was like, "22 year old male, assaulted with kicks and punches, suffered a seizure and found post ictal with minor head contusions and no other obvious injuries. Vitals stable. ETA 1 minute." Well, the dispatcher was a relatively new medic and was one of those guys with a degree and a lot of book knowledge, but not the least bit of common sense. Real management material. He decided he needed more information, so he tells my partner on the radio, "NO NO NO! WAIT!! First of all, was there any loss of consciousness?" We looked at each other in stunned silence for a moment, then my partner keys the radio and politely replies, "Well, let's see... he had a seizure, so yeah, I'd call that a loss of consiousness!'

And finally, on scene of a motorcycle collison out on a rural highway, I requested a helicopter by telling the sherff's dispatcher to "shoot me the bird!" To which she replied, You got it, buddy! I was told afterwards that every cop, medic and fireman in the county simultaneously shot the finger at the radio when I said that.

I agree it looks professional. The problem is, it looks like a totally different profession than we are in! Why copy some other profession? Why not establish a unique identity? You can have an extremely professional appearance without looking anything like a cop. Or a fireman.

Anyhow, in this case I believe the original poster is talking about hanging the badge on his belt, not on his chest.

I've worked in street clothes, police style uniforms, fire style uniforms, flight suits and jumpsuits, and even scrub suits and lab coats. To be honest, I have never noticed a single bit of difference in the reaction of my patients. Their reaction is established by what you say and do.

I would however say that your uniform style does make a difference in the perception of fire and police personnel. I notice a higher level of respect from them when I am in a uniform that doesn't look like I am trying to mimic them. The best treatment I ever got from public safety was when working for a hospital based system who wore scrubs.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying your trying to be a buff. I recognize that you are still new enough to the field that you don't even know what a buff is when you see one. Hell, none of us did. Yep... I had a badge made up too. That's $75 dollars I still wish I had back now thirty years later.

They are just stupid and pointless. What purpose do they serve? On duty, you're in a uniform that clearly identifies you. The big orange and white truck you drove up in is a pretty good identifier too. So what does a badge add? Nobody can read it unless they are in your face, which they shouldn't be. Off duty is where you seriously run the danger of being mistaken for a cop. When that shield flashes out while you're paying for your Slurpee, you're just inviting any con with a grudge against "the man" to waste you. And for what? So the Pakistani guy behind the counter will be impressed? I can guarantee you that no police officers are impressed. In fact, they too will label you as a wannabe, and possibly jack you up and hassle you just for their own entertainment.

So the bottom line is, it serves no purpose except to stroke your own ego, both on-duty and off. It's nothing but a conversation piece. Something you flash at every opportunity so people will ask about it and you can tell them you're an EMT, just like a million other guys in NY.

And by the way, do you see FDNY wearing shields? No. That should be a clue right there.

About the only legitimate purpose I can think of for having a badge when none was issued is for quick ID at an MCI where you might respond off-duty. But even then, you'd be better off with a marked traffic vest, t-shirt, or windbreaker that can be seen front and back. Again, nobody can read that badge unless they are right in your face.

Nobody here is trying to make any personal judgments about you our your motives. We've all been in the same place. We were all n00bs at one time with EMT stickers all over our cars, hanging our stethoscopes on our review mirrors, wearing an EMS t-shirt off duty. It's a phase that most of us go through. After a few years, when you no longer have anything to prove to anybody, you begin to roll your eyes at those guys when you pass them on the highway. We're just trying to give you an edge and help you bypass that pointless and embarrassing time in your career where you can barely afford gas every week, much less a badge that will end up on the bottom of a drawer somewhere in due time. If you're smart, you'll take good advice. If you're average, you won't. But remember, the people you work with can tell who is smart and who is average. Which one do you want to be?

Get smart and spend that $75 dollars on a PHTLS or PALS course or a medical book. Something that will make you a better medic. Show your priorities are in the right place. Be a professional, not a wannabe.

And just to show that I'm not a total dick, I just spent nearly an hour on Google trying to find someplace with in-stock NY style EMS badges. Sorry, but I didn't find a thing. Just the generic looking crap. If you see some other n00b wearing something you like, ask him where he got it. Maybe there is some warehouse in Chinatown selling them. But otherwise, you're going to have to get Galls to make you one up custom for $50 to 75 hard earned dollars.

Good luck!

Ah, that makes sense. Although, I don't like them for city EMS either. If you are not a cop, or a fireman in full dress, you have no business wearing a badge. EMS is not public safety. EMS is medicine. We have no "authority," and have no business pretending that we do.

I'm all for uniforms and uniformity. It is important. But that doesn't mean you have to look like a Mexican general.

There's a Six Flags near Fairfield?? :shock:

I use KED's because that's the local protocol, I just think they're a waste of time 99% of the time.

If you lack the communication skills to explain yourself to us, just tell us and we'll understand. But otherwise, I would still like to hear a little explanation as to why you feel this way, and what experience you base your opinion on.

Not agreeing or disagreeing with you. I just think you ought to have the integrity to explain your opinions if you're going to spout them off.

How do you look like a FNG wearing a badge if everyone has one. Is everyone a FNG.

IF everybody is wearing one, you don't look like an FNG. You just look like a dork, as does your entire organization, unless of course you are a public safety agency and not a stand-alone EMS agency.

Rules change, and I certainly agree that a re-testing procedure would help assure that drivers stay abreast of those changes. For example, I would bet that more than half of the drivers in Texas honestly don't have a clue that it is illegal to drive in the left lane of the highway when not passing. And they sure don't know that it is required that they give a one-lane buffer to parked emergency vehicles. Re-testing would solve that problem.

But what we are talking about here is a deterioration of skills, not knowledge. And skills can only be measured through a driving test. That is what needs to be re-tested to weed out incompetent drivers of all ages.

Anyhow, you need a "none of the above" choice for your poll. None of them address the problem adequately. It is more complex than age itself.