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Isn't Wayne a territory? The trustee would not have too much authority if that is the case.

If we are bringing in a "code" it refers to the fact that we are working a mega-code which is the hospitals terminology. Age, sex and time before being worked (if known) are about all they expect you to have time to discuss enroute. So you tell them you are working a mega-code on a 78 year old male, unknown time prior to initiation of CPR and they know what to do and you get back to work. This is not slang, this is effective use of terminology to reduce time away from critical duties.

Americans are lazy and greedy. So what! We can stereotype with the best of them too. I personally feel that there is no reason to hate or be upset with anyone person or culture for the beliefs they hold or the differences they bear. We do some horrible things as a nation, and those individual acts are to be condemned, not our society. It should be clear here that the difference of opinion between peoples trained and educated in similair manners can be monumental so to judge all peoples based on a few corrupt individuals is narrow minded and worthy of angered reactions by us fat, lazy Americans.

There are a lot of things a basic can do to assist a medic. Pushing meds and doing anything invasive are the two big no-nos. Some states do provide levels that increase the skills certifications (EMT-A, EMT-I). But these are really pretty pointless, as nothing is going to substitute for a good medic course. Drugs are outside the realm of BLS-Period!! Why there has been so much discussion is really beyond me.

Evansville? Isn't that in Kentucky?

Residency has nothing to do with it. Most FD's only require a contiguous county and have hardship exemptions as well. And the only thing they have to beg for is medics, as for the other positions, well Wayne Township had 1120 applicants for thier last hiring list and ended up with 89 on the final list and IFD buries that. The civilian EMTs don't make much money compared to 1977 firefighter/EMTs. The medics are the ones who are in demand and are the reason for the system being the way it is. You will get 20 or 30 EMTs applying for one position and two medics applying for one position.

The answer is: PERF (public employees retirement fund). Yes unions and FD contracts have something to do with it. Civilian paramedcis are still under a PERF system, it is just not restrictive like the 1977 police and firefighters fund that Indiana uses. The 1977 PERF fund is restrictive (I don't understand how it is not discrimination). The fact is, too many fire departments are fighting for too few medics that are under 36, can pass CPAT (which if you don't know what that is, you start by doing a stair climb for 3min, 20sec with 75 lbs on you then they make you do a fairly demanding obstacle course in a certain amount of time with alot of critical fails), and can pass the PERF physical and background check. So they get around this by hiring medics that are not eligible for the 1977 fund and call them "civilian" medics. The pay is usually still as good (often better), and the benefits are almost as good, but they dont get to get rotated off of the ambulance. There are still other options such as wishard (which will probably not go by the wayside for Center Township), Rural Metro (Johnson County, Morgan county and other areas), and some others. As for the unification of departments, well IMHO that is a cash grab by the poorly ran city to rob the properly ran townships of their money and it will ultimately hurt everyone.

I could see this being a bigger help to BLS providers than to ALS. The benfit for suctioning a conscious patient seems pretty apparent.

The whole debate just seems kind of silly to me since everyone except Dust seems to be basing their arguments in the pride they have for their job. Pride tends to get in the way of a well reasoned argument. I figure most of you are effective and passionate providers who will give your patients a high level of service, or else you wouldn't be here. So have fun with your little excercise in chest puffing!

How does the patient care provider not have the ultimate authority in determining the patient care? Unless the fire department is the transport service, then they can back off my freakin' patient. If they tried to cancel something I thought was needed, I wouldn't have shut up until either the helicopter landed, or there was a second ambulance needed for the fight that ensued. Of course, you have the option of beginning transport, and meeting the helicopter a few miles closer to the hospital. That is what happens when people do not train together and understand the reasons we do what we do.

Train Horns!

It just seems like an attempt at utilizing a cert level in a manner that jeapordizes the well being of everyone. I am sure this in an attempt to save money.

It won't happen overnight, but all transporting providers do eventually need to be ALS. This is a fight we all need to take up. There is a place for EMT-B's, but that is as first responders only. The money will not appear overnight, but it can be found. That swimming pool in the school or that $200,000 restroom at the park can go a long way towards improving services. We just need to make the public realize what they are spending their money on and what they could have instead.

I do think 40 minutes is a little long for on scene time. By that point you could have performed every available procedure 3 or 4 times. But the ER is going to do little else in that situation, it just seems counter-intuitive to not transport once you have done what you can.

The answer is no, so due regard must be used. But, if you are exceeding the normal flow of traffic's rate of speed, then you need to use all available warning devices. But the sirens do little to gain motorists attention on the freeway. I am basing my answer on our State's law though.

We actually can outrun normal traffic, so we do use it in the cases where we run emergent. We just try to avoid running emergent, as it rarely gains enough advantage to justify the risks. In fact, Thanksgiving day we had a run where we did run emergent to the hospital down I-70 @ 90 mph, but that was only the 5th time I have gone emergent all the way to the hosptial.

When in doubt.... transport! It saves lawsuits, but more importantly it could save a life. I felt that Becksdad layed it out the best. I do have long transport times, but will invariably try to convince patients to go to the hospital, especially if they called 911. I personally can get back to sleep better when I know my patient is taken care of than when I have to worry about their well being.

http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5784 this link comes up when you do a search on this subject.

Ok, so Rid says something that, while some may find it harsh, is on point and hopefully finds its mark. So you follow by parroting it and saying something that can only be seen as derogatory. You have a history of doing this. What value have you added to this site by doing that? That is my point!

I like how Rid makes his point in a direct, no nonsense manner and then some body else comes in and parrots him then adds some inflammatory comment. That makes for some good reading (sarcasm intended).

To be eligible for FEMA grants and government funding of any kind you must be compliant with the national FEMA ICS and NIMS/NRP training requirements. Through fiscal year (FY) 2006- which ended on September 30th- all personnel that are likely to respond to an MCI or incident of national signifigance must be certified to the current requirements of ICS 100, 200 and NIMS/NRP 700, 800. Please note the 800 as most agencies don't believe that we are required to meet that yet, but per the FEMA address to the State Governors, it is. So if you are on a county EMS system, fire department, or apply for grants, you better get your certs soon, they are past due.

No, IFD does not want into the Transort Business. Some of the townships do their own transports (Warren, Franklin for sure, Wayne and Pike(?) use civilian). Rural Metro is the only service I Know of that has any real amount of 911 ambulances. Hendricks County is all Fire based EMS, but Brownsburg is going "civilian" town employees. Plainfield has an open system right now where if you are a Paramedic and you can pass PERF, CPAT and a background check you pretty much have a job. Buck Creek Township and Greenfield Fire do most of the Hancock County ambulance services.

Of course, a chimpanzee has the same capability to grip, open, and eat the banana. I am amazed that they don't see that one coming.

The problem is some people are content to be stretcher fetchers.

Sounds like Advanced EMT-B here in Indiana. You can start IV's, start fluids and do manual defibrillation. Kind of a BS cert, but it works well for medic assist situations.