sirduke

Hurling feces down onto the heads of the masses from on high?

Hurliing feces? Isn't that what Monkeys do???

Is Dusty becoming a , dare I say, FireMonkey?

Is this Dusty ol' Crank?

Only kidding; Dust reminds me of King Solomon.

Older than dirt???

Painful - Staind

What should be the last thing said to end this thread?

One takes the Blame----- Statler Brothers

Why do you ask?

Naaa, more like Cranky Kong...

Thy Will Be Done - Deborah Cox

There will be no more questions... or will there?

"Maybe Tonight" ---- The Knack

How your day going right now?

It seems that the last safe group for discrimination, White males, may have won a small skirmish in the battle. But, given the current body politic, I doubt that it will make a difference.

Affirmative action is wrong, but our politically correct society will not admit that due to fear of being labeled Racist. Racism works both ways, I've been on both sides, and don't like either. Discrimination is wrong whether it be against blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, men or women, who ever. And like it or not, affirmative action is government sancationed discrimination.

I have a bi-racial son, I have no desire for him to be discrimanated against for being half black, nor do I wish him to be discriminated against for being half white.

Each person should be judged on their own merit, education and qualifications for the job, the color of one's skin shouldn't be an issue. An idiot is and idiot, be he/she white, black, or what ever. I don't care what color the doctor, nurse, etc is who comes to my aid, but I sure as hell want the most qualified one, not the one who got the job due entirely upon their being the politically correct choice for the position.

One man's opinion

A sad but unfortunate event.

So who gets to talk to the caller when the 911 call comes in? Our calls are recieved by the 911 dispatch center, 30 miles away from us, and they page us out by radio. We don't have the option to ask, "Are lights and siren neccessary?"

I've been dispatched to calls that had me bitching about BS only to arrive and have it be Katy bar the door. One particular call comes to mind, woman cut her ankle shaving her legs, 23 miles out from the station. We grumbled about the BS call we were going to, only to arrive and discover she had an abereant artery and she'd sliced it. Blood bath all over the bathroom floor, she was shocky thanks to her coumadin preventing clotting.

Better in my opinion to err on the side of discretion.

Jesus H Christ, we've beat the hide off this dead horse. Lets move on to another subject as people will NEVER agree on this one.

Personally I think Zero to Hero medics SUCK, but that's just one man's opinion. My experience with them ain't that great.

But, I personally know some EMTs that should have been drowned at birth to save the world from them, they have risen to their own level of incompetence.

But this horse is FREAKIN DEAD, let it be.

Fixed that for ya.

Welcome to Texas.

Damnit, I should have went to Texas instead of wasting a year in core classes and a year in Paramedic school, could have just been a Whacker.

Naa, rather have the education.

I don't know what the solution is, but I too fear unions, all my experiences with them have been negative.

But the sad fact is that here in Georgia, paramedics and Emt's alike are not adequately compensated for what we do. Pay scale is no where near what it needs to be. What with county services offering $9.00 an hour for paramedics and less than 8 for EMTs, its a wonder that anyone is foolish enough to work.

Sadly this is a very familar incident with me. We get toned out to the nursing home for a transport for routine treatment. OFTEN. We patiently explain to the slack jawed drooling idiot at the desk that this is NOT an emergency, only to have it happen again and again. Reporting them for 911 abuse hasn't made a difference yet.

On the other hand, they will call via landline at 3 am, and the conversation goes something like this.

"County EMS"

"Uhhhh, this is (insert slackjawed idiot name here) at the Pinebox Nursing home, uhhhh they told me to call.... uhhh they want an Am-Bo-Lance out here."

"Ok, what is the problem?"

"Uhhhh...I really don't know, but uhhhh, they is a-doing CPR rite now..."

"WHAT??"

I think shooting them would be a better idea.

Welcome from the other side of Georgia.

Don't have a photo of it, but my favorite which is on my pickup says.

EMS, when you absolutly positivly cannot afford a taxi.

You can get one on www.cafepress.com

I'm game, contact me at mizzad@hotmail.com

Sounds confusing to me, but hey, thats just me.

We work 24 on 48 off here in south Georgia. Our call volume varies like a womans mind. One day we are getting slammed and the next shift, peace reigns over the county.

We run two ambulances and a rescue truck, 5 people on shift. We are allowed to sleep after 4 pm provided we've finished any training and station duties. Our director however is a great guy who will allow us to "study" in our bunks if nothing is going on, prior to the offical 4 pm rule.

We are paid for the entire 24 hours.

If we get a long distance transfer, that we are unable to hand off to the local "for profit" transfer services, then we call in another crew who have to option to take the transfer, or cover the station, and we roll with it.

Personally I like this setup, two days off after each shift gives me plenty of time to spend with the wife and kids, like a weekend after each shift, but to be honest, I get bored and work a parttime job with another service that averages about 2 to 4 calls a shift.

Just one mans opinion.

Thank you thank you thank you.

Did any of you catch the news about the man dead in his car in Florida, been there several days, and the police even ticketed the car without noticing he was inside dead. WTF?

Damn!!! I can't wait till Dust sees this.

Anyone taken the NREMT-P practical lately? I'm having stress-induced GI problems over it. My biggest problem is that where I am testing is no where near me, so I'll be doing it with strange people in a place I've never worked, and I am really afraid of tripping up over some idiosyncracy. Any one have any tips? Better yet, anyone know where I can find some practice materials so I at least have some heads up with what I'm facing? I have pretty much everything printed out from the NREMT possible, but I could always use more. Thanks for anything that helps.

Just make sure you don't forget the basics, state loudly and often BSI PPE etc. they seem really hung up on that.

The stations are pretty much straight forward, make sure you don't forget the little things like wiping the ports with a prep before administering the med, stating that you would check the fluids for clarity, date, right med etc.

The oral stations were the easiest, the random I drew was LSB which is simple.

The biggest obstacle I had was anal retentive instructors, but I passed first go so I doubt you'll have any problems.

The cardiac station was straight down the ACLS protocol, and the static cardiac strips were all straight forward, printed off a simulator, so again, I see no problems for someone with any experience, hell, I made it easily as a medic student.

Good Luck

The question was, Can you will someone to die?

Sometimes I wish...

Was taught tourniquits in the military, way back when, and prior to getting out, they had dropped the process except as a last resort. Have seen some severe bleeding in EMS, but have yet to have a situation that I had to resort to one.

Had one ER doc give me hell for not applying one, and as he was in the process of chastising me, the surgeon came in and his first words were, "Thank God you didn't put a damn tourniquit on."

Needless to say the ER doc shut the hell up and made himself scarce.

I'm for the medical experiments myself, without benefit of any pain meds. Practice surgical procedures as well.

But then I'm a callous bastard myself.

Too late, went on and did it the hard way, can't say I regret it either. Still learning everyday even after all that, can't imagine being on a truck as a medic with only 13 weeks of training, in my opinion that is just criminal.

I still disagree with you on the zero to hero, guess we'll have to agree to disagree, seen several of them and they wern't to swift. Could have been their youth, but again maybe not.

Anyrate, there it is.

I use mine to look up prescription meds, not for drug calc or drip rates. It also has spanish/english translations in it, which usually aren't worth a sheite moslem, but I try. Lost most of my spanish after I got out of the military.

As for a 13 week medic school, where are they? I spent a year taking pre req courses, then a year in medic school and finished with an AA. Must have wasted my damn time...

I got as much use for a 13 week medic as I have for a "zero to hero" medic, friggin useless to me.

One man's opinion

walk in the station and the crew was still in bed. crap all over the place, reports not finished (so they need the toughbook for a while longer) trash not to the street. empty d cylinders in the side compartment, dead LP batteries on the bench seat. dirty dishes piled in the sink. They said they never heard wake-up tones. Its not my style to play the write up game( if they had left me an empty main O2 after sleeping all night it'd be on) so I'd help them along so they could get home (or to another station closer to on-time). I always try to relieve at least 15 minutes early. unlike my relief who comes in at 6:59:59.

Jesus, didn't know you worked in Grady County too. That sounds just like what I was dealing with, trucks not cleaned, not fueled, trash all over them. Unprofessional, oops, not allowed that word, but there it is.