amraam840

Welcome to Ohio 2010! We just got that capability without all the awesome cameras and signage. Seriously though, I say go for sponsorship! Maybe if we put sponsor stickers on it we can get free medics and equipment?

That's kinda characteristic of most things sulfer. Definately gonna put me on alert.

Right, I've read 3 pages deep in google searching "Chemical Suicide", "Detergent Suicide", "Hydrogen Sulfide Suicide", "H2S Suicide"... I'm fishing for a powerpoint or .jpg here...

I remember seeing something on this about a year ago and our Chief of Police just gave us another version in hardcopy of a powerpoint on it. Pretty scary stuff, I mean how often do you get called to an unconcious/unknown and thirty six possibilities and a single dynamic plan of action is screaming through your head? I know, scene safety is paramount but it's not always easiliy recognizable. According to what I've read on it, several successful users have posted warning signs on their vehicle doors but the Sugar Creek incident did not have that. It just takes opening an unlabled car door to take down our first out crew and nobody would know until we didn't answer a 20 minute check. I'll keep my head on a swivel for buckets in cars on Unc/Unk type calls but like Dwayne said, what about in a bathroom? The whole house would be affected. Unless we can all get 4-gas meters on our watchband this'll be a rough time for situational awareness being enough to cover your six. If anyone has any media on Chemical & Detergent Suicides can you post? I'll do the same.

Sooooo, pulling this trainwreck back on topic.... Does anyone know how I can volunteer, or better, get paid to go help in either LA or TX? Any links or 800 numbers besides the first post? OTF-1 has contacted our county Fire Cheif's Assn. and Ohio is trying to send 400 EMT-Ps. I'm a B and our station can't send an ambulance but my services are availible and I want to know how to help... Seriously help.

I'm taking my in class final for the I85 this coming thursday. Practicals are next tuesday. Then I gotta register for the NREMT exam. I'm glad to hear that there's only the 4 practical stations, those tend to make me psych myself out badly. and if the written is mostly practicality and Basic skills with a bit of ALS thrown in, and knowing the terminology helps, then this one's in the bag. I gotta say though, I don't think the class was nearly long enough. I understand that it's written in the DOT regulation that the class can be no longer than so many hours but c'mon here. With an extra month, I would have time to process this information. Right now I've got it leaking out my ears. maybe that's CSF. But it's like the rookie class for volunteer firefighting. In that 24hour class (max 40 hour) they teach you just enough to kill yourself. Does anyone here agree with me that because of the time restraints in this I-85 class they teach you just enough to kill a patient?

Gotta love those entrapped-morbid-obese, upside down in a rollover, hanging from the seatbelt and stuck under the steering wheel, swearing "I washn't Driiiving Shir!"... I notice too, that there's always something like the aforementioned ghetto stairs, or a tight hallway, or some obstacle or other, to deal with when you've got a big pt. How come it can never never never be a straight beeline from pt's location to back of bus? I have one in my district that truly puts Stryker's 700# limit to the test. Picture that scene of "I Now Pronounce You: Chuck & Larry", you know.. We're lucky enough to have the power-pro cots (thanks workmans comp), and we drain two batteries per run when this pt's involved. We always always call mutual aid in such a case... I've never broken my back but came close on a transport to an optomatrist's office where my pt absoultly had to be in "the chair" and there was no lift assist availible. Next time I'm calling the local FD for assist if this facility won't have a team availible. I try to be smart and lift properly but that sometimes results in a blow-out of the crotch of my duty pants and a good deal of embarassment at the ED upon arrival. And sometimes it's a hard call if the pt at hand is in a condition that I can afford to wait for lift assist. Bottom line..... Situation Dictates Procedure.

I call them our tax dollars hard at work.

I regret not having moved out and experienced the total college package. I stayed home to save money. lame excuse because those who went to live in the dorms are making enough money now to not have to worry about it... just my $0.02.

on-scene

marsupial

Some idiot EMT from our station administered D50 down an ETT tube years ago. Just a story I hear when I start asking diabetic questions to people I haven't already asked. She was fired pdq.

I dread the day I find my first pt with silver paint all over their face, reeking of minty freshness! I can't even imaging ingesting perfumes... I did hear about the kids who broke into the glue factory and busted open and spilled a 55gallon drum of aircraft glue and were found dead, glued to the floor on monday morning... Calls I just can't bear to imagine.

Wah ha ha ha ha hahaha..!!! I can't wait to transition to urban ems! I'd like to work for a year in NY, Seattle, Devner, Miami, LA/SD, SF... That's awesome, I'm surprised I don't see that here in little Union City, OH. Our population is 30% Elderly, 40% Illegal Immigrant/Low Income, 15% No Income, 15% Working Class....

I like the game at Draeger's website

Ohio State Dept. of Health Do Not Resuscitate Orders If a person has either type of DNR order, there is a standard protocol for treatment found in OAC rule 3701-62-05. For a patient with a "DNR Comfort Care" order, the DNR protocol is activated when the DNR order is issued. For a patient with a "DNR Comfort Care - Arrest" order, the protocol is activated when the patient experiences cardiac or respiratory arrest. A patient with a DNR order may revoke it at any time. (By destroying the document or just saying "help me" "save me" etc..) Under my (GMVEMSC) Protocols, as an (NR)EMT-Basic I may under DNR-Comfort Care provide: *Suctioning *Oxygen *Splint/Immobilization *Control Bleeding *Pain Control (Which as a basic mean placing pt. in position of comfort) I May NOT *Chest Compressions *Airway Adjuncts *Resuscitative Drugs *Defibrillation/Cardioversion/Monitering *Respiratory Assistance (Oxygen and Suction ARE Permitted) For DNR-Comfort Care Arrest, I may provide any medical treatment until cardiac OR respiratory arrest occurs. For me, it will be the State of Ohio, Dept. of Health, and the Greater Miami Valley EMS Council. We're right on the border of Indiana and Ohio so we have an Indiana license to provide EMS care but we do not have Medical Control in IN. I'm trying to find more information on our Indiana protocols. By Ohio and Indiana law we cannot follow a healthcare facility's in-house healthcare request for living decisions. I'm working to find out more about how that facility can follow it. I'm about a year behind on something I REALLY need to know and if anyone has any input on this topic, I know that we could all benefit from it since DNR affects most of us and I'm sure in the near future it will affect us all.

My first loss wasn't so hard on me. It was a bad circumstance for the pt and a tragic loss to the family, but to keep the stress down in the back of the bus we have to find things to laugh at ya know? Sometimes the tension gets so thick back there that a medic can make a basic fall over withought physical contact. So when we can be serious about our call and still laugh at the fact there is Skippy Chunky Penut Butter ALL OVER the back of the bus, in every corner and across the celing, then it's a good call for a rookie to see that not everyone makes it. I'll never forget the pt staring at me while I bagged. Or one of our fire capt's. buying us all Reeses' Cups ASAP upon arrival at the hosp. I've had a few full codes since then and none made it. Also had a few (back to back at that) that looked rotten, but somehow once we got the vehicle off their face things were looking up for them and they made out fine. Round here we have a way us using twisted humor to offset stress.... well I'd bet you all do. Burnout's another thing though. I can relate to short-term burnout, but not the kind that leads to complete dissatisfaction of the job. I learned the hard way why I have to sleep and not work 72 hours on 6 hours off by taking a bus through a barrier wall on the freeway, and I've changed a lot since then. The hours I sign up for, the hours I sleep, my diet and fitness reflect the lesson learned with the loss of a good little bus. In case you wondered, our squad is the only thing that made out from my incident harmed, all occupants of the vehicle were belted and came out unscathed. No long-term burnout here though, I'm a lifer.

I've seen one good combo fire/ambulance. Not much to it but we have a 2006 Horton with a FireFighter's compartment on the outside. It holds 2 SCBA, 2 sets of Bunkers, 2 LiteBoxs, and a Halligan and Pick-Head Axe. That's real handy in a lot of situations but the best application I can think of is when your pt is 3 days rotting in the bathroom. Can I get a hell yea?

we have 2 Hortons and have another on order for delivery next May. Only electrical problem we've had on ours was the module disconnect button didn't work for a few days two weeks ago, but there was a manual override for that. Horton installed a new board in it under warranty.

*Walks to front of line and straps on bicycle helmet* Where is the rest of the test pilots?

I was sitting at home for this one and almost had to call squad myself for injuries involving a shishkabob skewer as a result of ROFLing too close to our BBQ command... Dispatch: (tones) ***** City **96 Please respond to the **** Block of Taffey Court to a female pt......... to a female pt c/o stray cat bite to the head.... (hissing and spitting heard in dispatch background) (more tones) ***** City **96...... (Uncontrollable laughter) Please (still laughing) respond to Taffey Ct.......... (hissing and giggles) to a pt......... to a pt c/o (again laughing uncontrollably throughout) a cat bite to the head. ***** County (can't stop laughing) 2043. Someone else in the county: Meow! So you know, Taffey Ct has a lot of our frequent flyers and it seems every so often they come up with a new way to try to get into our drug bag. This scenario didn't work.. Also, another dispatcher was behind the one giving the call doing the hissing and spitting while the rest of the office there was wailing. It is as of yet unknown who keyed up and meowed...

Our engines say something about smoke detectors and our buses say something about "Proudly serving since...." But our city motto sounds like an AA/NA motto. "Moving ahead, one step at a time."