Rescue0ne

Resucitating the dead is an EMS talent, after all. Did it just the other day...oops. Those darn HIPPO cops might be watching. Anyway, our EMT-B's do exactly what their certifications allow them to. Basic EMS. Combitube & AED only after our OMD clears them, and if they're 21y/o, with EVOC...we MIGHT let them operate an ambulance.

Yeah...and although this WILL be off topic, I love the EU...even with Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin (RIP). I hate that Chewie died...however, currently, Jacen is now supposed to be the new Sith Lord, and trying to take Ben Skywalker as an apprentice? The series is going downhill, stat. Ok, sorry guys. Had to be said. I'm done.

Richmond Ambulance Authority = Ambulance Transport Service. They used to be Richmond Ambulance Service, Incorporated. Changed the name, primarily, to make themselves sound more professional, and more like an EMS service, instead of an AS. You can change the sheets on a bed, but if you don't flip the mattress, you're not gonna get a good nights sleep. RAA changed the sheets, but not the mattress. American Medical Retards? HeHe. I've transported into RIC, as well as out of RIC, despite RAA's temper tantrums about them being the only ones "allowed" to transport FROM richmond into another county/city (while working for a private service once upon a time). They're full of themselves. The employees are decent, although far from being the creme de la creme. Go to Charlottesville, VA for that. However, if you're stuck in the Richmond Metro area, then you're better off to apply with Chesterfield Fire Dept. Yeah, they're combo, but you'll get better bennies, and actualy run real EMS calls.)

All patients which are "pinned" are airlifted to a Level One? Bet that's expensive. Out of sheer curiosity, how many instances like this does your EMS service have, in say, six months? Also, is your service ALS Ground Ambulance, or ALS non-Transport?

Derogatory terms for ambulances aside, if you'd like, visit this link for examples of a well-functioning OEMS (imho). They really have their act together. They are division of the state DOH, but they function as their own entity, and do a darn good job of it! http://www.vdh.state.va.us/OEMS HEY DUST!!! VISIT THE LINK RIGHT NOW!!!! YOU'LL LOVE THE CURRENT MAIN PAGE! lmao Sorry for the caps, btw.

Technically, Luke couldn't come BACK to the dark-side, because he was never a "dark-side" Jedi...unless you're referring to in the expanded universe novels, where he (temporarily) serves under a clone of the Emperor. No one really counts that Rescue 1 Chief Medical Officer & Star Wars SuperGeek Galactic Alliance Medical Frigate "Redemption"

Congratulations! Now...when are you going to be starting your Intermediate, or even better, Paramedic course?

I'll show you mine if you show me yours! Gags... Anyway, on the topic of NY EMS Badges, my buddy was a VAC EMT in NYC. His shield ws exactly like a patrolmans shield, except it said NEW YORK CITY EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES instead of NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT. His DOH # was in the same place as a patrolmans shield number goes. From 10 feet away, it's really hard to tell the difference, as the lettering is all the same color...same as the shield, so it blends in with the rest of the badge. This was back in 1998. I have no clue what they're carrying now, if anything at all. If you're in NYC, I recommend not getting on at all.

Visit this link, and ask the folks who participate in the website about relevant info. http://members.aol.com/fdnyemswebsite/ If you've already been there, you know what's going on. If you haven't...well, I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to read the site. There's many diff views, and not many of them are flattering to "Fidney")

Other than the stuff the common layperson has on them... 1) Mini-Maglight 2) Nitrile XL Gloves 3) Motorola "Radius CP 200" Portable Radio 4) Combination protocol mini-guide/notepad & pen

Virginia... Our squad is going to begin billing patients' medicare/medicaid, & private ins. w/in the next year or 2, in conjunction with our squad becoming part-paid. The plan is to not bill aggressively. Our county is small enough where everyone knows if someone comes from a family that can afford to pay out of pocket...so no, we aren't going to bill aggressively to the family on public assistance that lives in the projects...but we aren't going to take a loss and not aggressively bill the multi-millionaire down the street either. That's the plan, anyways. Yeah, that's not a uniform approach. Hey, I'm an operations manager. that'll be left up to the folks in sharge. My billing experience is limited to paying for my kids prescriptions at RiteAid, CVS, Walgreens, or WalMart. Sue me.

Um...if they were public service EMS, then award the benefit? I know, I know...what if they are both? Well...what about the city firefighter who gets killed while working part-time as a medic or emt for a private ems service? If they were working public service at the time of death, then award the benefit..but private service, don't? What do YOU think?

The one in NYC is this one ---> http://www.transcare.com I googled it, and found this one as well. They're HQ'd in Canada it seems, but they have operations in Indiana, as well as other US States? http://www.transcare.ca/index.htm Check out their "equipment page". It's a riot.

Well, I've no tattoos to speak of, and managed to retain all of my teeth...so far. I think I'm doing pretty well. Seriously though, I understand exactly where you're coming from. All too often, it all revolves around the individual volunteer, instead of the patient population. I'll share something with you really quick. Last year, I was tasked to take a county with 6 volunteer EMS agencies, and combine them into one funtional system, under the leadership of a single chief officer, and his staff. You can well imagine the redneck response I was met with by several of those squads. Alot of territorial BS, posturing, and puffed up chests. One agency even forgot to mention their concern for their community, amidst all the other reasons they didn't want this "assimilation" to take place. It was obvious they were in it for themselves, and no one else. I'll mention also, that not one provider in that whole 34 person squad was above the level of EMT-Basic. Reason? None of them wanted anyone else to rise to a level of training & education above their own, so they kept everyone else, as well as their service to their community, in the crapper. My recommendations to the county reflected these concerns, as well. Sidenote: The above example happens to be the county I actually reside in, myself. The county I speak of in the other posts is my "home" county, where I grew up. That's where I volunteer, not where I live. (About 3 hours away. I just now returned from there, after spending all day today, and half of yesterday working with their BOD, in order to find a solution to their manpower problems.) My solution to this is...you might want to sit down for this...career EMS providers. WHAT?!?!?! What'd that arsehole say? What happened to FIGHTING TO KEEP IT VOLUNTEER!?!? See, I need to qualify that statement. I should have been more forthcoming in my reasons for saying this. I didn't mean NO PAID EMS whatsoever...I meant NO PAID EMS being provided thru a contract by that one particular self-serving, nepotistic paramedic, and his paragod arsehole buddies. Additionally, I found out today that our OMD wouldn't let his buddies operate in our county to begin with...the only reason that 1 medic is able to do so, is because, remember, he's also a provider with our squad (although he only served on 19 calls last year...where other medics served on 300 - 400 calls each.) Yet, this guy knows what's best for our county? Self-serving Arse, imho. Here's the outline so far: The shift is 0600 - 1800 hrs, 5 days per week. Two (2) ALS ambulances staffed by an EMT-B/Driver, and an EMT-I or EMT-P (Preferably P) One (1) ALS Zone Car (quick response vehicle), staffed by the Duty Officer (Paramedic), who is also a career provider. During the 12 hour shift, this officer has authority over all EMS/Rescue operations, career AND volunteer. Volunteer staffing back up the career staff during the day, and will assume first due responsibilities during the hours of 1800 - 0600, as well as weekend staffing, 24 hours. This proposal is, of course, our first rough draft. There will be others. As you can tell from previous posts, I've no issues with the level of care, and/or education & training of our medic level providers. They are fantastic. The issue with our squad is manpower/staffing. Additionally, no one at the squad ever really took up the recruitment/retention flag. It shows. What we're left with is a bunch of really talented BLS & ALS folks...and the rest are crap (as in, the crap several of you mentioned that always manages to crop up everywhere). My favorite is the squad member, not yet an EMT-B and not yet off of probationary status, who took it upon himself to buy a leather belt with the squads name & logo on it, where you could see it from the rear while he was wearing it, in addition to one of those bomber-style satin jackets, with the squad logo, and his name, silkscreened across the back of it. Care to guess how long he lasted? Didn't even make it through EMT class. "It was just too hard" :-({|= I'm going to bed. Be safe.

I don't know anything about them in IN...but when I ws in NYC, they were known as TRAN-SCARE.

When I'm not volunteering, I'm a; 1) Career EMS Provider 2) EMS Management Consultant

First, Let me introduce myself. I'm 32 years old, a career Paramedic, and currently an EMS Administrator. EMS as a recognized profession? I'm all for it. Should all volunteer EMS providers burn in hell? Of course not. Yet I feel some think otherwise. I'm not saying our county is different than all the others, and that we have a unique situation. I'm sure it's been there, done that plenty of times. However, do not casually cast our situation in with others, without knowing the specifics. I have the utmost respect for the majority of the members of EMT City. I agree with you on so many issues. For some to say that my community is hurt by our EMS providers being volunteers, is an unqualified statement to say the least. Another member states: Lower standard of education? I'm not going to get into Canadian edu requirements. Virginia paramedics are, at this time, not required to obtain 2/4 years degrees. Many do get the 2 years AS degree, that's just because it comes with the certificate. Virginia paramedics are educated, yes I said EDUCATED, to the standards of the NREMT Paramedic (and usually beyond those standards). You can debate those standards all you want. I'd be more than happy to go with Dust, ASYSN2, and all the others, and obtain a BS, or even a Masters in Prehospital Emergency Care. The problem is that they currently do not exist. In lieu of proper edu, there is training...however at the paramedic level, it's more edu than training. Anyway...the EMS Alliance that governs the area that our Squad is located in is, in my opinion, the best in the state. Our EMT-P's and CCEMT-Ps are not slacking in any area. The OMD for our Squad, and many others, is a top-notch Emergency Dept. Physician, in addition to being a paramedic. It's mighty easy to toss insults and throw jabs. I'd love to get some of you in here to work with us sometime, and I don't just mean the volunteer squad either. What I'm currently in the middle of is reality. Reality is a certain Paramedic trying to sabotage rescue calls. Reality is dealing with the State EMS Office, and explaining that, "No Ma'am. We have NOT dropped over 30 EMS calls in the last 6 months. That ANONYMOUS letter you received WAS in error. No Ma'am, I'm not positiive who the author of that blatant lie is, but I have a pretty good idea." Note: Paramedic in question is a career medic with a metro FD nearby. He is also a medic with our vol. agency. :x I'm all for EMTs and Paramedics earning a decent living wage. When the time comes for our county to go career, I'll be the first one lobbying for at at the county "board of supervisors" meeting. Right now isn't the time.

I was waiting for this. I'm not going to say why my agency is different. I'm sure many other agencies have similar issues. I'm going to create a thread for this issue, even though it's been done before, since this thread isn't appropriate.. If interested, I'll see you there.

You're truly welcome. Later on, I'll hold a class on sarcasm, if anyone's interested. No CEU credits, however :x Incidently, the "elements" I spoke of that are pushing for Part-Paid are doing so for ALL THE WRONG REASONS. I'm a career Paramedic myself, and I agree with the majority here @ the City, insofar as making EMS a recognized profession. Our county has a truly unique situation on our hands. If you care to hear our story, then I'd be happy to share it with you. THEN AND ONLY THEN may you plunge your hooks in my back. I don't consider myself a hero. Nor do any of the volunteer Basics, Intermediates, Paramedics that staff the agency in question. Many of them are Career Firefighters, Medics, EMTs, Attorneys, even some Physicians. My reasons for volunteer continuity aren't sundry things like PRIDE, getting to wear a "cool" badge or patch, or using a strobe/LED light on my pov. These are childish considerations. There's alot more at stake here. I'm not going to turn this thread into a "Fight for Volunteerism" battle. That's been done on this forum way too many times. People have their reasons to hate Vollies, and others have reasons to support volunteerism in EMS. To Be Continued

One (1) County (530 sq miles, pop. Approx 17,000) Four (4) Fire Departments One (1) Rescue Squad (EMS) ALL VOLUNTEER...and fighting to keep it that way. In a whole years time, we dropped only 1 call (which is still very unacceptable) due to manpower issues :x That's not taking into consideration the Ambulance Service, and other EMS components in the county, of course.

I know, I know...it's been addressed already. One thing though. Remember the old saying: "A person is smart...but people are stupid"? I think that applies here. I'll wager if you get 50+ people together...and pick a few of them individually, each would say they don't believe EMS/Rescue is really like that, per se'. Get the whole group together, and listen to them talk about it amongst themselves...you'll think TNT has started a rip-off of "Paramedics". "GAWWWWLLY Bubba! Didja see that thar' woman all blown up n' blue-like? I wunder how ago she kikt tha buckit!?!?!?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Shapiro, Author of "Paramedic", he is/was an NYC EMS System Paramedic. He stated that once an attorney friend of his (who considered his being a paramedic to be hobby-like) saw him after several years, and asked Paul, "Paul, howzit goin'! You still doing that paramedic stuff?"...to which Paul replied, "Sure am...you still doing that law stuff?" Trust me, it's funny as heck if you read it yourself. Race, I couldn't agree with you more. When I first saw that t-shirt crapola on the previews, I looked at my wife and said, NO "FREAKIN" WAY." The only way a tshirt is acceptable is if it's sanctioned by your Dept. Even though "LifeShield" appears to be a major fictitional EMS agency in Portland??, they'd still never allow werewolf-boy to wear band shirts or the like. That's so unprofessional it's disgusting. I wouldn't blame his father for not taking him seriously FOR REASONS LIKE THAT...but it's only TV, right? We know better...but the general populace may not! I haven't read all of the thread posts before THIS post of MINE...only got as far as Race's that I just quoted...so I may speak about something that's already been addressed until it's cyanotic...but that female paramedic who didn't transport to the ER because she believed the story about the DNR (last night's episode)...I'd love to have her attend one of my in-service trainings :x Yeah, it's only TV...but how dare she shoot the EMT down in such a BIT**Y way for questioning her! He did it outside, at the truck...away from the patient, and the public. THAT'S HIS JOB. He did it professionally, and calmly. I feel he should have told his supervisor the truth, instead of covering up for her (like it seemed he did, I may be wrong). It's not like she slipped up and used a racial slur, or had a small fender bender. The supervisor stated there was NO DNR, period. AT ALL. People of the city...what do we do in the case of no actual legal DNR document in our presence...and no medical control to tell us "comfort care only"????? Anyway...I'm getting worked up over a poorly made TV show. I'm takin a prilosec, and hitting the rack. Peas

Oh no....MASS Hysteria is setting in. I'll assume y'all are Sox fans...if not then it's a wicked shame. Either way, BOSTON OWNS YOU! :twisted: But yeah...as I was going to type before... There's so many threads in the City, unless you're a Mod...or a long-time resident...or just really bored, there's no way to know if a certain subject's been addressed. It does no good doing a search, because you may not enter the correct search parameters/keywords, etc. I've tried repeatedly just to make sure I didn't misspeak. Sometimes the search doesn't work. To something more germane to this thread...I was called a "Wannabe MD" today. I didn't know wth this was about, until someone in the office mentioned that assinine show "Saved", starring the kid from "American Werewolf In Paris". She recorded it, so I watched it this evening. I'm going to start a thread about it, unless there's already one in existence. Let's do a search! I've got some serious opinions about that POS.

Commonwealth of Virginia blue denotes active certification levels red denotes levels that have been phased/are being phased out First Responder EMT-Ambulance EMT-Defib EMT-Basic (NR & State) EMT-IV Tech EMT-Shock Trauma Tech EMT-Enhanced EMT-Intermediate (NR & State) EMT-Cardiac Tech EMT-Paramedic (NR & State) CCEMT-Paramedic (NR & State)

Was his name LYMANGOOD, by chance? That was a "Blue Thunder" reference, for the uninitiated. Throughout the years I've been called; Call me what you want...just don't call me "late to a scene".

Like someone said earlier, it's a manpower issue. It's also a matter of what works best for your area, imho. Example: The County Rescue/EMS agency has over 160 active members, at least 30 being Heavy Rescue/Vehicle Extricators, or better. For any Vehicular Accident, ambulances w/ at least EMT-I Level on board will respond, in addition to one of the Heavy Rescue trucks. Number of Ambu's and Trucks depending on size & severity of the accident, of course. The ECC also tones out the FD with one or two engines in case of a possible vehicle fire, and/or traffic control. EMS has medical command of course, as many have stated. Here, we also have INCIDENT command...unless/until the vehicle bursts into flames, orin the event of a toxic spill. Long story short, where I'm from, FD is on the scene for traffic control, hazmat if needed, and in the event of a possible vehicle fire...and Rescue & EMS handles...well, Rescue & EMS. Whatever works for your area.