bandaidpatrol

If falls are a problem, then you also need to go with something that is quick and easy when it comes to evacuation. Many times the area they are in is too dangerous for public/private sector EMS to enter. Really, it comes down to how well equipped and skilled your team is. I could go on and on about how to properly equip a first aid team, I did safety equipment inspections for MSA. The mines often had their entire emergency kit in one box, first aid kit, blankets, stretcher, etc.

I would recommend a couple long boards w/ separations between the legs, which are made to #1 immobilize the legs and #2 make it fit in a wire stokes basket.

On that note, you should also have a modern, sturdy Stokes Basket or two w/ your plant safety equipment. You can put anyone in it for evac, and just set it on the roll-away stretcher for simple evac's.

Key Word: Industrial Setting

I'm going to assume that you are buying a plain old stretcher, not something for an ambulance. So, I'll share our supplier w/ you...

http://www.junkinsafety.com/kitsacsy.html

Junkin. We've used Junkin stretchers for the funeral home for 50 years, MSA uses it, Junkin came before Ferno. We didn't use stretchers with wheels for years, so our bodies didn't roll away at crash sites. They had fold-down "U" shaped feet. Then we switched to four wheeled stretchers w/ a raising head and a long steel handle on each end. Of course then it was onto Ferno 35A's... But we never raised them, just rolled around w/ it down all the way, and had handles on each end. If you're going to be carrying people up and down narrow steel stairways, and across concrete levels, a conventional gurney is too heavy.

You should really go w/ something like this... Carry or roll it, doesn't matter, perfect for a first aid team.

Sure, great idea, of course my 98 y/o neighbor who has been driving the local ambulance since 1929 is probably a better driver than I am. And teenagers should never be allowed behind the wheel, I've seen enough of them killed. Really, more so today than in the 60's. Even though most serious injuries today were fatalities then.

Say 21 to replace 16; and 23 to replace 18.

Stringent safety guidelines for persons 65-70, yearly eye and driving exams 70-80, and 6 month eye exams 80+. Provided free of cost by the DMV for those who still like to eat and take life saving medications.

Get some valium. I got some.. from Mexico via the internet.. after a church collapsed killing some guys I knew for a long time. I don't even have my own doctor, I haven't been to one in like 30 years, except the city doc. And going to him for something to calm me down would have been career suicide. Plus, it was cheaper to buy it online. Though, I'm not telling you to do the same, just suggesting Valium.

my first patient to die on happened early for me. i was 8 days into my first job. we were taking a patient to the city for surgery she was 90 had a DNR. i was driving my first time in the city had no idea where the hospital was so my partner had to jump up front every now and then to give me directions. i missed a turn and she ended up dying before we got her to her room. i was in the hall blamming myself when i partner came up to me put his hand on my shoulder and said "do you know why she died?" i thought he was going to reassure me that the missed turn didn't have anything to do with it and she was old next words out of his mouth "because you missed that turn"

I'm sure he was trying to be funny. Often in EMS, we use humor to combat stress and avoid grief. We can't grieve for every patient we lose, it will burn you out and you'll never make it. I'm not saying humor is the best way to deal with it, but it may delay any type of stress or emotional reaction to the situation to a time when it may be more appropriate to critique the incident.

Don't remember, it's been over 40+ years. Lost so many people in that time period, it's hard to remember any one-single death.

We didn't use them all the time, but they've been in the PA protocols for 20 some years. We always used the short boards. They were light, wooden, disposable - if needed to be, and nobody ever stole them. City of Pitt went through thousands of KED's, I'm willing to bet, they could be all over the world b/c most of the time you never saw them again. The only true use I ever seen is for suspected spinal injuries in an MVC, people w/ head injuries in the MVC, hip fx's & dislocations & immobilizing a pediatric patient for just about everything. You could always keep their arms down if they were combative, so it worked fine, try it sometime. I would never say they are useless, but they aren't my favorite tool. Of course the short board isn't my favorite tool either. Keeping them was just another reason not to have those clumsy old orange CPR boards. They (hudson cpr board) were too big to fit in with the long boards, and too odd to be kept in a corner, unlike the CPR board.

The KODE.

After 1990, I've used them exactly three times. Prior to that we used them all the time, for just about every reason we could think of. I figured if enough hospitals didn't give them back, they would stop issuing them.

I've always trained and used Bermans. The thought of a re-useable airway makes me wanna puke. How can you re-use an OPA but justify throwing out a NRB?

Must be a youngin! You didn't throw them away, unless you planned on "borrowing" one from another bus. You throw everything away these days, they only thing we threw away back then was gauze products. We washed and reused all the oxygen masks, resuscitator bags, airways (except endotracheal), collars, sandbags, sheets, same pillow-every patient-no cover. That's what bleach and alcohol was for. Except that after years of use, alcohol makes plastic gummy and rubber hard. Hudson also made hard rubber OPA's, they were always too slippery, we'd lose them all the time. We used the same oxygen mask in the Lytport for a month at a time, the 'ambu bag' came in a set of three for about 175 bucks. Why would you throw a 58 dollar resuscitator away? The masks alone cost 30 bucks!

I used the same box of Hudson airways for 15 years! That's right, 15 years, I pulled them out of the patients mouth, washed it and put it back in the box. I threw them away when one of them was almost falling apart, and they had gotten all gummy and soft. Remember, they were solid plastic, so to get soft meant in that time some kind of chemical reaction in a junkies mouth had to ruin them. Damn junkies, I could have gotten 5, if not ten more years out of them! I like the solid plastic, with the hole in the middle, just because.

But when it comes down to maintaining an airway, I don't give a damn what it is, as long as it does the same job as the other guy. The only down side to Hudson is that the whole kit costs about 36 bucks - and that's now. That eight piece airway kit cost 50 bucks or more 25 years ago! Separate the still cost 4 or 5 bucks for a single airway. While the other brands cost less than 5 bucks a kit; and a single berman airway costs like nineteen cents.

We have the same things you'd find in the city... Rural America isn't a third world country. We wear the same bunker gear, rescue suits and carry the same supplies as any other ambulance service or fire department. A lot of NYC firefighters retired to our quaint mountain resort here. We're as small as they come, but they all say our equipment is 20 years ahead of NYC. Maybe because we have more control over our own budgets? We certainly don't go on as many runs, but we raise our own money, and only buy the best quality equipment that will last as long as we require it to. That is something you'll find in most rural areas.

Our uniforms for ambulance runs are royal blue coveralls w/ the FD Patch, EMT Patch and our name on the right front. As far as Jump Kits, we provide every EMT member with an O2 To go Pro Bag - purchased equipped from "http://www.buyemp.com". First responders get a stocked "Mini Medic Bag" from Galls. Then some of us buy our own. Three members live more than 15 miles out, in areas that we cover, so their POV is equipped with an AED w/ a 5 year battery, a manual suction device, and an "E" Cylinder.

If you would leave because you can't look good, and can't use the siren;

You should quit right now.

The nurse should work in a nursing home. She would fit right in! Let people lay around and die, the less work, the less paper work.

:roll:

05 Ford Mustang

04 Ford F550

04 Chevy Suburban

74 Caddy Criterion Ambulance

68 Caddy S&S Ambulance

59 Caddy M&M Ambulance

43 Packard Ambulance

I use to carry a Thomas Aeromedical Transport pack equipped with everything to do BLS, plus 2 Bags of 500 ML NS with tubing, plus 24 g, 22, g, 20 g, 18 g, 16 g & 14 g x2, start kits plus medications Albuterol x 3, ASA x 1, Benadryl x 1, Brethine x 3, Epi 1:1000 x 3, D50 x 1, Narcanx 1, Nitro x 1, Phenergan x 2, Thiamine x 1, Toradol x 1. My Medical Director also let me carry Demerol 50 mg x 1, MS 2 mg x 2 & Valium 10 mg x 1.

I only carry a pocket mask & something to control bleeding with now because of the liability.

Maybe liability with using drugs on any old person, anywhere in the country; but the good sam law protects you for providing first aid. Besides, you don't have to tell them you're an EMT or Medic...

I once told someone that I was "Just a first aid kit salesman". :idea:

I live in the City of Pittsburgh. However I no longer work EMS. I'm a temp DAL.

:idea:

See other post... Got rid of my kit.

I recently gave all my supplies to a local fire company that wanted to start a first responder team.

Now all I keep is a Johnson & Johnson "Emergency Care For Accident Victims" case that I've had for 40 years. I will replace all the supplies of course, but I never opened the box till last week. So everything should be pretty well preserved. That's what happens when you never clean the attic.

The fire whistle blows, and half of those football players, the coaches, and most of the crowd leave... Not because they are firefighters, but because it's the most boring place in the world and they don't want to miss the excitement.

Depends...

LDT. Long Distance Transport. Red Blanket Service

We got stuck on the PA Turnpike during a snow Storm once on an LDT, took 42 hours to do a typical 20 hour transport. We tx a lot of nuns, etc to this catholic sisters homes in S. Carolina.

Ok in the pre hospitable setting I give you that , I'm a person who questions everything . Sorry I have been like that for has long has I remember. I also like to find every thing about anything. One reason I have a T1 line I also don't like to wait for information

again sorry for rambling on Kevin

:?: :roll:

I'm not exactly sure I'm following you... What exactly are you asking, looking for, because I really have no clue what you are trying to say. Do you know what info you are looking for?

When your emergency response vehicles ARE snowmachines, and you have to mark out a 3000 foot runway for the medivac plane with snow filled garbage bags on a frozen lake at 50 degrees below zero. 8)

We have this box on a skis called a "Sno-Rescue" Sled, heated with a lawn tractor battery-run heater. They have one in the Snowmobile Museum in New Hampshire. Supposed to be towed behind a snow mobile for blizzards or ski accidents, etc. It's very interesting to use, even better if we can keep it from tipping over in deep snow.

I'd get a pic of it, but I fear injury from all the junk piled around it.