THE_DITCH_DOCTOR

Personally I don't have a problem with it.....at least when it is displayed by a southern. We have a lot of rednecks and white trash around here who display them as though they are from the proud state of Georgia or something. They seem to forget that Indiana fought on the side of the Union (at least most did). I know some blacks find it offensive and I guess I could understand that. I guess it would be similar to my take as a person of German descent on the Nazi flag- to me that banner implies nothing more than the person waving it is a worthless POS excuse for a human being who needs their head kicked in. I guess I don't have a problem with the Confederate flag because the Confederates were not wholesale slaughtering people, simply enslaving them (which is still really no better, just more publicly acceptable). But like I said I personally don't see a problem with the Rebel Flag, but I know a lot of people automatically deduct 100 IQ points from the IQ of anyone displaying one because of prejudicial beliefs. By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, the non-German side of my family fought for the South in the Civil War.

Actually according to a friend of mine who works for the Illinois DPH which handles EMS, the decision to give FR's the go-ahead to use AED's was based on various studies done in several states- but not Illinois. Sorry.

***COMMENT ABOUT SHORTHAIR REMOVED BY ME IN THE INTEREST OF PROMOTING PEACE AND MAINTAINING THE CEASEFIRE***

If your local gang members know where the backboards are kept on your ambulance. (Don't ask....long story from when I was in Maryland)

Is it a Lifepak or a Zoll?

If you are not concerned with scene safety on a call for someone shot in the ass with a broadhead arrow because you know it was an accident and make it a point to say to the patient, "That'll teach ya to wear white underwear during deer season". That reminds me....I need to call Jake and find out how his uncle is doing.

If there are more feed stores and grain elevators in your county than fire stations. If there is "_____ Keg (Full)" is listed on the daily shift checklist. (I am not kidding there was a fire department in Indiana that actually kept a keg on their truck. To quote their chief, "If the house is more than half gone, why stress yourself? Who wants half a house" :shock: And these boys were our second due department people! :roll: )

The fire department requires HazMat Ops for all personnel (even those rare souls who do strictly EMS), but if you want to be promoted to an officer position (LT or above) you have to be HazMat Technician. I have mine, but personally I don't fancy myself a glowworm so I avoid potential HazMat calls as much as possible.

Personally it depends on if there is a photographer on scene or not Just kidding, I prefer the paddles.

I used to work a service where every crew was a married couple, except mine (I mean I liked Wes, he was a good guy and all and everything....but he's just not my type ). There were no problems because of this, and I don't see a problem with it. My current volunteer station has a husband and wife pair and two boyfriend/girlfriend pairs running on the various apparatus (both fire and EMS). You seldom see any of these people without their respective mate, and I have not had any problems with this (I'm one of the lieutenants so I would be the first one to find out about problems). Now if trouble arose from this arrangement, I would not hesitate for a second to require separating the particular pairing in question, but I don't make across the board rules like "no husband and wife teams" because I have seen it work, and be quite successful.

I recently met the man who ran the call for the accident that killed my grandmother in 1970. He was a rookie at the time and still remembers the "lady who went off of Coal Creek Bridge on 63". He's now the chief for one of the local VFD's. How weird is that?

"The ACLS course from hell"- basically take the regular ACLS course and the standard megacode stations, but then you have to come back for a second day for 10 or more rotating scenarios (the exact number depends on how sadistic the course director feels at the time), basically go through multiple different scenarios (and they are different everytime you do it). That way you make sure you have your stuff down to perfection.

Excellent point. The same theoretical change in pressure occurs in ET tube cuffs (that's why my personal policy is to inflate the cuff with saline if I think the patient is likely to be flown (between the recieving hospital and the trauma center) or if they are going into a hyperbaric chamber). Most people assume that this only occurs if you are flying high enough that require cabin pressurization (wrong!). but the pressure gradient is greatest within the first 305 meters (about 1000 ft) of the atmosphere because this is where the air is densest.

Personally the guys from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour are funny. But really given my choice, I'd rather see Eddy Izzard live. Just something about a smartass British transvestite standup comic.....

I don't think you can....If I remember correctly (and I don't work with Valium very often) Valium is in an oil based solution which would probably not be very friendly for the nasal mucosa and also might interfere with atomization. This is just an educated guess, but I'm no t sure on this. I'd ask a pharmacist if I were you.

Used to be career, now I'm a volunteer.

The county I work in is about 20 miles by 25 miles, so that is about 500 square miles. There are 5 stations in our county and we are one of only two ILS services, which means we normally are the "medics" for any critical call in our county (the other ILS service only has 2 EMT-I's so they have a hard time maintaining full time ILS staffing for their one ILS ambulance).

Look at my signature

From Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 (although most of you are probably more familiar with the first part of it as a song by 1960's rock band The Byrds) A Time for Everything 1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth? 10 ¶ I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. 13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God. 14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. 15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past. 16 ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. 17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. 18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. OK.....now from here on out this is my words: We are all mortal and we all must do what we feel is most in keeping with whatever moral standards we cling to, but we must also remember that it is not just to judge any in a manner that we ourselves would not like to be judged. What is sin in one man's mind, may be the path to heaven in anothers. There is very little that is definitiveely right or definitively wrong in this world, at least that we are able to know, so we all must only do those things that we are willing to be judged for when the time comes. We should not expect others to do any less or any more than we ourselves do, nor should we allow the will of one person, or a group of persons be allowed to be forced upon the meek, the innocent or the suffering simply because the do not have the ability to stand up for themselves. We are all human, and we all have free will. We must maintain our ability to exercise this while at the same time seeking to not deprive others of the same freedom. Amen.

Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman whose final years tethered to a feeding tube sparked a bitter feud over her fate that divided a family and a nation, died Thursday, her husband's attorney said Schiavo, 41, died quietly in a Pinellas Park hospice 13 days after her feeding tube was removed despite extraordinary intervention by Florida lawmakers, Congress and President Bush — efforts that were rebuffed at every turn by the courts. Her death was confirmed to The Associated Press by Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, and announced to reporters outside her hospice by a family adviser. A shy woman who avoided the spotlight, Schiavo spent her final months as the focus of a media frenzy and an epic legal battle between her husband and parents over whether she should live or die. Protesters streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water. The Vatican likened the removal of her feeding tube to capital punishment for an innocent woman. Politicians repeatedly tried to intervene as her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, pleaded for their daughter's life, calling the removal of the feeding tube "judicial homicide." "Something has to be done and has to be done quick," Bob Schindler said, a week after the tube was removed March 18, as the family's legal options dwindled. "I think the people who are anxious to see her die are getting their wish."

She died. Update to follow.

What about an avocation?

The only time we are allowed to use them is for bilateral unstable upper and lower leg fractures or for strongly suspected pelvic fractures. Personally I think I have only used them maybe twice, perhaps three times for these purposes in 8 years.

Well, we prefer everyone to cross train but we will normally take any volunteer we can get. Now, if you want to be a firefighter, you have to be an EMT, but you can be an EMT without being a firefighter. This is because of the shortage of people. Everyone on our department at this point (with the exception of one of our EMT's who just got done going through chemotherapy) is cross trained. But because we are all volunteer we have people who don't want to do medical or trauma calls that will simply not respond if it's an EMS call (and will not put themselves down for call time on the ambulance which is the only piece of apparatus that we try to make sure we have staffing for), but will be the first out the door when a fire or tech rescue call comes in. Now technically they aren't supposed to do this, but we really can't stop it from happening. BTW 92% of our calls last year were for EMS and only 4% were actually "working" structure fires.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...0052903&e=1