Scaramedic

Yeah I heard he had some 'personnel' issues and has since departed.

P.S. I know I put personnel not personal I did that on purpose. Towhead will get it.

Stage. Continue to eat my lunch. Lasagna with some Fava beans and a nice Diet Pepsi. Let PD track down, disarm, cuff, and secure patient then give us an all clear to come in. Place my lunch back in the cooler on way to the call. Arrive on scene, take one last swig of Diet Pepsi, pop a breath mint, jump out and serve my community.

We use a white class A shirt with either 6 pocket EMS pants or 4 pocket trousers. I prefer then 4 pocket. I think they look more professional. We are supposed to wear either a leather belt with a brass buckle or a velcro belt. I don't; I use a rigger's belt, mainly due to the extra security it provides in retention, more comfort, and can be used in a variety of ways for field improvisation.

Oh, and we have badges and collar brass.

Russell

Oh, I can definitely tell where you work. Let me guess a caduceus on each collar, brass name plate right side, and badge left side. Oh yeah, award pins above name plate. Topping it all off with that hideously ugly new patch that Aaron designed. :wink:

I also preferred the 4 pocket slacks better than the poor fitting 6 pockets.

We're thinking of going with this look.

That way we will look more like the Californians that keep moving up here.

I've seen units with them on the action wall, bench wall, and in the roof.

Like Dust said run a Fire Rehab and you can never have enough. Not to mention smoke inhalation victims and toxic fumes.

[align=center:1a124a8295]I got dibs on Mary Ann and Ginger!

[/align:1a124a8295]

You know we need to scrap the whole "scene safety" crap anyway. It's antiquated and counterproductive. We should be, like the rest of the modern world, be thinking in terms of job safety.

The idea of job safety requires us to think beyond one situation and consider the safety risks in all aspects of our job. We tend to worry about the scenes that involve violence yet the records show more EMS personnel die from traffic injuries than anything else. EMS needs to be taught to look at all dangers not just the ones on scene. It is like the Medic who concentrates on a leg bleed when the patient is dying from a head injury. We are looking at the small picture and are missing the larger picture.

We should be concerned with safety from the moment we clock in till we clock out. Not just worry about safety when we are on a call. The scene safety/BSI crap they teach in school is getting people killed.

Examples.

How many of your schools taught you how to park the unit on a busy highway?

How many taught you to look in the side mirror before you open the door?

How many taught you which side of a vehicle to approach when on the highway?

How many schools taught you to lock the doors when your in quarters?

How many taught you to look up and back when going up stairs for dangers?

I could go on forever.

Psych patients need to be closely monitored, that's why they are in an ambulance. We have a lot of "swallowers" that we transport, and you know what happens if you aren't paying attention, they take stuff out of the cabinets and EAT IT. I know, it's happened to a colleague of mine. Guess who is at fault for THAT.

What are you 3ft tall? Are you telling me you cannot see over the stretcher with a patient in semi Fowlers? If you can't I suggest you get yourself an L.A. phone book and strap yourself into the airway seat. The single most dangerous position for a Medic during transport is on the bench.

I try to do all procedures necessary in the back before we roll. I then plant my ass in the airway seat and strap on the seatbelt. From that position I can see my patient just fine, I can see the monitor, I can see any drips I have going and in case of a crash my ass will not be flying around in the back injuring my patient. If I have to do something en route I do it quick and get back in the airway seat.

If I have a critical patient odds are they are in need of airway control, I.E. they're intubated and on the vent. There is no better place to monitor the airway then at the head of the patient. Hence the name "AIRWAY" seat.

Your first priority is your safety. You are not doing your patient a damn bit of good if you knock yourself out when your partner swerves to avoid some idiot on a cell phone.

This is also what the O2 Bars are known to use.

O[sup:03799db4a3]2[/sup:03799db4a3] bars? Please enlighten me. Is this concept as stupid as it sounds?

From the Episode 'Nurses Wild' not to be confused with 'Nurses Gone Wild' which is a totally different series.

Roy has called in a chest pain patient, Dr Brackett is checking the EKG on his high tech base station...

...and pronounces the patient is in V-Tach. Looks atrial to me, but I'm from the future so what do I know.

I was looking at the huge Defibrillator they were carrying in and thought "wow, that must weigh a ton!" Then I realized it probably weighed less than an LP12. :wink:

Thanks for the link Ruff.

The funny part of these state PCR's is they are usually only used by smaller services. Larger services create and print their own. So any statistics gleaned from the state forms are skewed.

This does not even take into account that many services have gone electronic anyway.

I don't see what the big deal is. They do it all the time on TV. :wink:

Hey I got it right 2 out of 3 times. Give me a break I'm almost 40! I'm just happy to be able to see the screen.

In one system I worked at we had a Nursing home right across the street from a hospital ER. It was not uncommon to transport from the nursing home to the ER. Literally a distance of about 50ft. So I used to right 50ft on my runsheet. Billing finally caught it and went apeshit saying I couldn't write fifty feet and I needed to change it to one mile.

I refused saying there is no way you can round up 50ft to over 5000 ft. We finally compromised on me writing <1 mile. :roll:

This might be old but I just got it in an E-mail from my sis and I thought it was funny.

10 signs that you might be Taliban...

10. You refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to beer.

9. You own a $300 machine gun and a $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes.

8. You have more wives than teeth.

7. You think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide.

6. You can't think of anyone you HAVEN'T declared Jihad against.

5. You consider television dangerous, but routinely carry ammunition in your robe.

4. You've never been asked, 'Does this burka make my butt look big?'

3. You were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs.

2. A common compliment is, 'I love what you've done with your cave.'

And, the NUMBER ONE SIGN you might be a member of the Taliban:

1. You wipe your hinney with your bare hand, but consider bacon unclean.

Does anybody use GOOGLE?

It took me about 5 seconds to find this.

Ryan White Bill Side by Side Comparison

Well, now I have seen it all. While attending an EMS Conference this weekend, one of the presenters shared this unbelievable video with us. The man in the video is a doctor. At least it gave us a good laugh.

Enjoy!

Hope this works

I bet he is REAL popular in the bathhouses! :twisted:

Retroactive abortion, soon to be legal in California and Vermont.

Damn, I actually looked that up hoping it was a real book. :evil:

wnat to move to down under

Well you're already spelling like an Australian!

Sorry my friends from Oz I couldn't pass it up! :wink:

As a side note, the caduseus is a representation of Dracunculus medinensis or the Guinea worm. They are the longest nematodes and live under the skin in infected people. The way they were removed back in the day was to twist them around a stick and slowly turn the stick until the entire worm was out. The twisting of the worms on the stick is thought to be represented by the caduseus.

Here is a picture.

Thanks Doc, I am going to throw my lunch away now!

Do not know anything about this company. Anybody have more information?

[align=center:c060bd8b4d]Ambulance Service Accused Of Fraud[/align:c060bd8b4d]

Posted: March 13, 2008 07:21 PM

A grand jury indicted Illinois-based Mercy Regional Emergency Health Services and its CEO Clayton Hobbs.

They're supposed to provide life-saving services to Green Country, now the company's CEO faces federal fraud charges.

A grand jury indicted Illinois-based Mercy Regional Emergency Health Services and its CEO Clayton Hobbs. Hobbs also heads an Oklahoma ambulance services company, Mercy Regional of Oklahoma. It operates in five Oklahoma counties, servicing Vinita, Fairfax, Cleveland and Stroud.

The company also provides back-up in Owasso.

The News On 6's Ashli Sims reports people from Mercy Regional of Oklahoma insist their company is separate from Mercy Regional of Illinois. And they say in Illinois is where the legal troubles will stay.

Mercy Regional Emergency Health Services and Mercy Regional of Oklahoma have similar names, the same CEO. They even link to one another by the same website. But Mercy Regional of Oklahoma insists the two companies are not one in the same.

"We are a completely separate different entity and our communities and our customers will be served without any problem at all," said Jim Koch, Mercy Regional of Oklahoma.

Mercy Regional in Illinois is facing big problems.

The Illinois company and CEO Clayton Hobbs are accused of bilking Medicaid and Medicare out of almost $95,000 from June 2004 to December 2006.

"Anything that should occur in Mercy Regional Illinois would not occur, would not affect Mercy Regional of Oklahoma in any way," said Koch.

Koch says that's because the Oklahoma outfit is owned by a completely different company, Centurion Health Systems. But according to state health records, Centurion is based out of Benton, Illinois, the same home-base as Mercy Regional in Illinois.

"When we first started the company they were also running the company the board of Centurion Health Systems out of the Illinois division until they moved to Oklahoma," said Koch.

One thing that was clearly not separate, Hobbs' roles until recently, he served as CEO for Mercy Regional in Illinois and in Oklahoma.

"Mr. Hobbs is an officer of Centurion Health Systems. He is on the board. He is currently on administrative leave. And he will remain on administrative leave until this matter is cleared up," said Koch.

Koch says none of this will have any effect on Oklahoma customers.

"If Mercy Regional Illinois was to dissolve, we would still be in operation, because we are a division of Centurion Health Systems. We are out there servicing them. They have nothing to worry about," said Koch.

Mercy Regional in Illinois is also accused of not paying its employees and lying to them about their benefits.

Mercy Regional in Oklahoma says they're making payroll and fully-funding benefits for employees

:shock: I thought God wrote those....

(Does this mean I can stop worrying about the tall, dark, handsome man that is supposed to sweep me off my feet? I've been losing sleep....)

Dwayne

No Dwayne, he is still waiting for you to drop the soap.

I feel dirty now.

I am glad you are working things out I wish you the best of luck.