MEDCOM RADIO

Originals were made by GM & a few by Olsen in the late 50's which were eventually replaced by Grumman's in 74 Type 2 Wheeled Coach, Braun & Horton's for the privates I slaved for Cadillac style Sayers & Scoville, Superior & Miller Meteors for the vollies which we proudly called community Volunteer Ambulance corps.

The only reason why I (Along with all the other wise old NYC EMS heads) decided to bail out of Wally World was the fact that we knew we were being served up to FDNY as sacrificial lambs come March 17th, 1996 which everybody that elected to stay & be considered real FDNY fire medics & EMT's now calls that day "The Ides of March" & rightly so. We always were the red headed stepchildren of NYC & once FDNY grabbed our budget (You know how the ever optimistic ones say cheer up, things could be worse) the newbies cheered all up in their brand spanking new FDNY-EMS uniforms & FDNY-EMS buses until they realized that there were no promised raises, benefits & pension plans & if you're at a hospital you better be dropping of a patient (Or else) along with other career crippling one sided policies, rules, protocols & decisions, so if I had the opportunity to return to FDNY-EMS: Absolutely not, if NYC-EMS in all it's faults still existed, I'd re up in a cardiac beat. Thanks for reading. BTW: True fact....Back in the day the NYC Civil Service Commission actually considered the top 3 services to be: 1. NYPD 2. FDNY 3. DSNY Why no NYC-EMS you ask? Well because NYC-EMS wasn't an actual municipal agency, it was founded under the NYC corporate charter as NYC-DHH which wasn't qualified for Civil Service status, DSNY slung garbage cans for like $26.00 an hour yet we saved lives for a paltry $6.00 an hour, go figure.

I must've missed the part where Community Based Medicine involves first responders but I do believe in strict hospital based EMS which I've enjoyed in Noo Yawk. I have always pitched in to assist the ER staff in any endeavor required just as long as it didn't interfere with my bus being delayed for calls in my PAR, help work up patients, hold down EDP's, juggle stretchers, beds & equipment, run errands, mop blood off the Trauma room floor, whatever it took to keep the hive functioning, they took care of us & we took care of them. I'd never entertain the CVS concept even by direct order, I didn't attend EMS school for that.

To call it or not to call it....That's the question: Feel free to call me selfish if you so desire but protocols not withstanding I've lost way too much sleep at night not so much for pronouncing what might not have been the best recommendation but having to tell family members on the scene that their loved one will no longer be with them for the rest of their days, those images will always haunt me until it's my time to be pronounced. EMS work can break your heart but a wise old medic once told me when I was ready to quit is that all that we experience minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, month by month & year by year the truly unfortunate ones are the victims & their loved ones that experience sickness, injury & death just one time to forever alter their lives. I don't know if this in any ways satisfies your query but I just felt I needed to say my peace, thanks for reading.