ClutzyEMT

The sad part out of your entire rational for your comment triemal04 is that "those poor representatives" are more often than not from a PAID service. I'm not jumping in to the paid vs volley debate because it has been going on for decades and will continue to go on for decades to come. Until community governments and leaders realize they cannot feed off the backs of a few dedicated people who provide lifesaving services in their area "for free," and until those few who are providing the "free" services realize that their community has enough money to pay for waste removal and other essential services, there will be volunteer EMS services across the nation and the "paid" vs "volley" debate will continue......... One thing to remember tho, nothing is ever "free" in this world. Someone, whether it be the volunteer that never gets to lay down the pager and spend time with their family and eventually loses their family, or whether it be the paid EMT that had to respond to a call 38 miles away to a pediatric drowning in a town with no "local volunteer" services and no treatment being done who has to live with that call reverberating around in their head.....someone always sacrifices something....

yep...me too...but it wasn't 'quite' that long ago...almost tho... Congrats Marie!!!!!

I just started using the new "CPR Anytime" DVD in our local schools In total honesty, initially I was very disappointed in it~but then I've been trained the way of the dinosaurs and still want to teach ABC.... There are a few things I would like to see modified in it, such as maybe checking for a pulse added back in there but that is because "we've always taught it that way"....and it's hard to unteach an old dog old tricks I guess What completely reversed my opinion on it was the "score" sheets that were returned to me at the end of the day~I had an increase of 66% of students that said they would actually feel comfortable having to do CPR on a family member or friend and an 82% increase in students that said they would use it on a total stranger!! Yeaaa **throws arms in the air and does the happy dance** Random comments heard through out the day pointed towards the students being more comfortable with it since they didn't have to worry about doing mouth to mouth anymore. That issue was brought up several times during the day~and I know from teaching it in the past, that the mouth to mouth was daunting to many of the students and one of the things they didn't want to do~~ Also, from my recent CPR/AED "save", I know that airway was approximately ten minutes into the resus process as the gentleman had lacerated his forehead when he fell, which in turn caused his entire face to be full of blood and not having a pocket mask, or BVM nearby, I didn't get to do ventilations on him until someone brought me a first responder bag out of the facility where we were that had a BVM in it...so this gentleman didn't get ventilations prior to his first shock and still survived to walk out of the hospital with a pacemaker two weeks later... The "Anytime, Anywhere" AHA video is very lay person friendly, and it does a lot of stressing of the "Push hard and push fast" mantra and stresses that people who suffer SCA need someone to do something besides standing there in a panic... So in my own humble opinion, if it gets two people out of five to actually begin CPR, it can only improve someone's chances of surviving a cardiac arrest and I am all for teaching it as often as possible to as many people as possible...... Oh...and I remember the 'original' thumper as well and I'm sure I have a jacket with my pretty patch on it somewhere in a box in my storage We purchased three of the new Zoll Auto pulses quite a few years ago at the reservation where I worked, one for each rig, and I'd be willing to bet that all three of them were used a total of about ten times....the one in the main rig was used the most of course, and one code I used it on in particular, the batteries gave out ten minutes into the code . It gave me enough time to get an IV and an airway secured but then I was back to trying to do it all by myself again since we didn't run with partners~~and the "back up" battery was flawed. I used it a couple times after that as well but not "religiously" because I found it a major pain in the ass to access!! The things were so big and bulky that there was really no handy spot in the rig to put it so that we could get to it in a hurry. It rode behind the passenger seat in the front of the rig and you almost had to pull the damn seat out of the rig in order to get to it. Only one of the rigs had a spot on the inside of the rig near the patients feet that it could be secured into and be handy enough to grab, but that rig was the "third out" rig and unless we were paged out specifically for a cardiac arrest or CPR in progress, we didn't use that rig very often and had to use the GSA rig, where it rode up front.....

**waves frantically** Yugoslavian belly button slug!!! I think I 'might' know...but too lazy to google so I'll wait and see...

I'm still choking over the new "obesity" scale..........**note to self~refrain from drinking anything while perusing a scenario regarding obese people.** I may get around to taking a look at the patient once I catch my breath and finish off the trail of twinkie crumbs you guys are leaving on the way out the door...........if the chihuahua doesn't get them first.....

My teacher used to tie my left hand down during the day when we were writing or using scissors, etc..I still think that is the reason I ended up in EMS....

Welcome to the city....what did you think of the aemt test??

Richard I am straight west of Grand Forks on Highway 2~~one of the two major "gateways" to the oil boom which has caused a lot of extra calls for our service I got that quote from my daddy ....and adjusted it for the boo boo bus, and yes, he was Marine Corp~~

Thoughts and prayers from North Dakota as well...... Stay strong and keep us posted~~

I completely forgot about this thread (slaps her fingers) I am not sure if they are actual "recruiting" ideas or will even help anyone else, but what we will be starting on is a "new" road with our volunteer service here in town. A quick background, the Ambulance here in town was started in 1965 by volunteers and up until December of 2012 when we received some state money (due to the oil boom out west), it was run entirely by volunteers. I am now a "part time paid" provider and my job description includes carrying pager 3 shifts a week as well as many other duties. We do not know if we will receive more state funding so this position may well end in June of this year at which point we will go back to an "all" volunteer staff again. The "new" road we are going to travel will be starting in April where our entire Executive Board will be changed. The volunteers on the squad have historically been the President, VP, Sec/Treasurer, etc but with the re-organization, these people will come out of the community of 780 that we serve and not out of our 'volunteer squad'. One of the soon to be adopted Bylaws states that "A Board member shall not be an active member of the squad." Preferably, these new Board members will be well chosen, respected, and ACTIVE community members and will be selected for nomination just for that purpose~~to get the community involved with the ambulance! I have found that while visiting with many, many members of our community who are not on the ambulance itself or living with someone "on" the ambulance, they usually have no true concept of what it actually takes to run an ambulance service nor do they realize what a 'volunteer' actually puts into being a volunteer timewise in training, re-certification, and most importantly the giving of so much of their time to keep it running. So by placing the leadership of the ambulance service back into the community, the goal is to bring the community to the ambulance. A common phrase I heard while visiting with community members was "your ambulance"~it is not "our" ambulance I would explain to them, it is the communities ambulance....but if you think about it, when a community thinks of something as "someone elses", are they really going to get behind it and support it? Probably not. We will also be putting into play some stronger Bylaws governing the squad members themselves. It will no longer be run like the "Good Ole Boy's Club" where if you have a pulse and a drivers license, you are welcome to join the club..... this is owing to our new "catch phrase,~~" We might be a volunteer organization in name, but we will be a professional organization in our actions.~~ Today's generation wants to see something in return for what they give. They don't function on the "warm fuzzy feeling" you get by helping someone in need and unless they feel they themselves, AND their time is valued and needed, they just don't have a lot of interest in it. But by turning away from the Good Ole Boys Club and more toward a structured and solid organization that they can see expanding and growing, we have peaked their interest and their desire to be a part of something that not just "anyone" can be a part of... I could probably go on and on ad nauseum but I won't (unless you want to hear more) And by the way, some of the people selected for our nomination committee are; a District Representative, the City Mayor, a Real Estate Broker, and another is a local farmer who has expanded his farm from 1500 acres to a multi-million dollar enterprise...what better people to get "on board"????

Going on long, not so leisurely walks with a 15 foot trailing line in one hand, a fanny pack holding small first aid items securely fastened around my waist, and a trusty bloodhound leading me to the current missing person, be it a real run, or a "training" run~~those are the most perfect times for me...... Sadly we've had too many lately when they call too late~~or they know we are going for a recovery and not a rescue~~

Welcome Rob I am all out of the welcoming committee's free puppies and hotdish packages........so hope you like your welcoming basket filled with......well......er....um....snow and plenty of it............

I have to agree with those two ^^^. Very good replies in my book!! Never let classmates or colleagues direct where you are going or how your going to get there.....only you know if you are able to pick up where you left off successfully. If you go back, and it isn't making sense, then maybe you need to step back and re-take the course but that is a decision YOU should make and not others....... Good luck and let us know how it's going

If I don't find a medical alert bracelet/necklace on an unknown medical patient I will also check their wallet/pocketbook for a medical ID card as well. I try to have my partner or a bystander aware of what I am doing and 'watching' me so that it doesn't look like I'm grabbing cash tho.....

I agree, it sounds like an amazing trip but I tend to be a little concerned with your comment stating that a 'contingency plan' is not worth it... How well is this trip planned? Sounds like you will be moving every 15 days or so. Do you know where you are moving to or is it just a random "pick up and move camp"? Is it possible to pre plan the move and also map out a camp next to an area where it would be possible to land the bird in the event "the unthinkable" happens and you don't have 6 hours to wait? Trying not to be a 'downer' or judge you but even in the best of circumstances, things can go wrong in a heartbeat. If it were me as "Camp Medical Director" I would want a lot of input into where we are headed and how we are going to evac a patient immediately in the event of a life threatening emergency happening. I am speaking from a bit of experience of having been the only EMT on a "wilderness trip" many, many years ago into a dense forest area in Minnesota. Things were moving along great until the sixth day around dark thirty when one of the horses was either spooked or bitten by a bee (we never figured out what happened) and ran over one of the campers while it was bucking and trying to toss off its load of camping gear. This was a horse that had been packed on and ridden for ten years and was as solid as the ground just to give you a clue as to how well we thought our best thought out plans were.....while trampling the camper, the horse stomped on her head just above her ear. The shoe of the horse, or perhaps a rock lodged in the shoe, sliced her scalp from the top of her ear to the bottom of her chin as the horses weight came down on her head.The weight of the horse also crushed her eye socket, cheekbone, and jaw. CAT scans later showed bits of bone lodged in her brain. She never did wake up and eventually her family made the decision to discontinue life support and donate her organs..... At the time we didn't carry cell phones or radio's and getting her out of the area we were in, in the dark, without a travois, (we fashioned one out of a cut up tent and rope) no c-collar (rolled up towels and two of us taking turns 'riding' on the tent with her holding c-spine as best we could) and no BVM to assist respiration (mouth to mouth all the way), it took over four hours to get her to an area where a rig could pick her up and transport her. If I had it all to do over again, you can bet we would have had Contingency plans in the event of an emergency or life threatening event. You can bet I would have had some more emergency gear along, and you can bet to this day I wouldn't wonder if we had gotten her out sooner and gotten her to a more definitive point of care if the outcome wouldn't have been entirely different..... So when I caution you about not having contingency plans and stating that they are 'not worth it', I also caution you that in essence, you are saying that the life of one of those entrusted into your care for those 60 days, is not worth it......and you just might be sleeping with a ghost for the next 30 years of your life as well...........

No sir... making that the biggest reason I have to say no every time they call and ask me back. I have seen the light and life is too short to miss it in a sleep deprived haze due to inhumane shifts....no matter how badly I miss it. My family deserves more.

Congratulations Good luck as you enter a new phase in this adventure called life!

Captain..those coordinates that you sent me...umm, well, I got here just fine, but when the seamstress took my measurements for my new jacket she didn't leave an opening for my hands. It's not like I'm complaining or anything...but I'm just wondering when they are going to let me play with the others out in the yard.......

Latest 'rumor' has it they were on the tail end of a 40hr shift......

Nope...wasn't me...but I do know the rig...GSA rig out Eagle Butte. What can you expect from a rig that is put together by the lowest bidder..... I can't tell you how many nightmares I've had that happen in........

From one grammar nazi to another...

https://apps.sd.gov/applications/LD10SDWorks_SS_Seeker/SS_Seeker_JO_Details.aspx?job_order_id=1594450&src=0 Here's one for Pierre... http://hiring.paramedicemtjobs.com/a/jobs/find-jobs/q-EMT+OR+Paramedic/l-south-dakota Good luck Med-Star out of Sioux Falls was looking not very long ago as well....if you want to be busy and get a ton of experience I would recommend working in Rosebud or other reservations.....but it gets tough on the psych after fifteen yrs or more because the conditions will never change... and another one for SD https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/338360100

I'm not a doctor...but are you the "alternative"? Or are you the primary?

We have to here in the NoDaks and SoDaks. Everywhere I've worked in the past fifteen yrs has required a current copy of my vehicle insurance.....

​Great big crocodile tears and sobbing hysterically....."My daddy told me there would be days like this."...... All kidding aside tho, I have been in some pretty volatile situations while working in certain (reservation) area's where police or other back up is seldom available due to the high area of coverage they have on any given night, and if they are, it's going to be a 30 min wait or longer. I usually start out trying to find some common ground with my pt and see how that goes. If they begin to get hotter than I work a different tactic. For example if I know them, I will start talking about their family and bring something personal to the conversation, ask him where the wife and kids are right now and what happened today to bring this crisis on. If he gets hostile and throw out the "Everybody hates me, I'm done playing, etc" then I will probably try to switch it around. Explain that I've always treated him with respect, etc. and ask him just what makes him think I have done him wrong. Then I'm going to ask him for some respect in return by letting myself and my bawling partner leave the premises. So I'll go with that for now~~I'm in this process now, talking to him on a personal level~~now you tell me, what is He doing now? P.S. We don't have any type of emergency button on our radios.....so the only hope I have for back up is that dispatch has realized we are on scene an extremely long amount of time and is trying to raise us on the radio..