Coach Hohman

That's what I'm thinking too. I wasn't overly impressed with their Vanbulances in the pictures, but it said their director was one of the founders of the National Registry, which if nothing else shows he's progressive.

I'm interested as well, given that I live about 45 minutes from Orrville and have never heard of them. Apparently they're the 911 service for the city (I would say Orville is around 10,000 people perhaps?). Heres a link to the ambulance portion of the company http://www.webfh.com/fh/aboutus/history.cf...amp;fh_id=10508

"XXXXXX County paging ABC Ambulance, You're needed at The Esates apartment G as in (long pause) uhhhh....goat. For a 79 y/o male with chest pain."

Ruff also covered something else I wanted to say...I didn't know a way to say it without jumping all over over the OP...I didn't want to be on my soap box :wink: 911, what was the nature of this seizure?

A couple things to address - Great job keeping your cool, I know especially if you're a mother these calls can be difficult the first time (not that they're ever easy). - If you have a child in this condition, transporting parents with you is NEVER a good idea. They will be too much of a hinderence. I know they want to be there, but you need to explain the need for them to follow behind (and not chase the squad). - From the get-go this isn't a "basic call". If a child of 3 y/o is seizing, there is a serious reason why. Is ALS available in your area? This child needed much more than you could provide him. - Good pick-up on the cyanosis. It's easy to pick up on, but a lot of people (myself included in my first few months) would either a) panic, get distracted by the mother (see point No. 2), c) have tunnel vision on the foaming - O2 sats will regularly drop with a seizing pt. during the seizure itself, did you have the pt. on o2 prior to the BVM? just a little food for thought Don't feel like I'm jumping all over you, just offering some advice as I seem to be a pedi-magnet and have been in your shoes. Best of luck in this field, it can be as rewarding as it is challenging if you allow it to be.

Almost EVERY time I put my GPS unit in the truck we will pull a lengthy out of town trip to BFE....so I stopped doing that. Also, I love to play Tetris online and every time I do I will get called out in the middle of it...so I stopped doing that too....I'm running out of options

Any presence of ETOH? Last Oral Intake? When did he take his insulin last? I would get a blood sugar Vital Signs?

You're right, but the immediate life threat is the chemicals...lets say he aspirated some of that blue stuff (I think I just vomited a little bit). What are the complications as far as chemical exposure in his respiratory system? I've searched and can't find much of anything.

In all seriousness (difficult I know)...What are the chances for exposure in this case? Exposure to chemicals, not crap...but is there a potential life threat, possibly respiratory related from the chemicals in there?

AK, I agree with you 100%. Of course that is completley in retrospect. I'm a big guy and used to power lift so I had this mentality that I was young, big, and strong. There was no way I could get hurt lifting. Pure stupidity that could have injured my partner or the patient (never considered the patient at the time). it was definately a learning experience. This call was in a volunteer fire area at noon, so we had one guy show up to help. In retrospect we should have called for another department for patient safety. It's one of those things where you learn from experience. Luckily t wasn't any worse than it was, but it was enough to learn from it.

Broken? No. I messed up my back pretty bad though on a 500 pound woman. Had help on four corners and my partners hand slipped off the bar and the weight shifted. I tried to counter it with my own body weight and somewhere in there the point of torque became my low back. Four months of chiropractic and I'm as good as new.

By contributing, he means "Contributing the the delinquency of a minor" or the equivalent in N. Dakota. Essentially he bought booze for an under age and got busted.

We are dispatched for any working fires, any fires in heavily populated areas (a kind term for trailer park), any at risk situations (gas leaks, CO detectors, nursing home smoke alarms). We respond to almost all working fires non L&S unless dispatch cannot confirm the family is standing by outside of the house. We've arrived on scene and seen grandma Mae trying to rescue her cats inside her fully engulfed house. If they can confirm that the victims are safe, we go non-L&S, and usually take our time anyway so we can stock a couple coolers of water and gatorade. Our FD responds to all of our calls, but they're all medical first responders. On more than one occasion I've taken one with me on a diff. breathing or something just to give them some experience in the ambulance. I would rather break them in that way than on a code, or a bad trauma. Overall though, I think we have a pretty good system....but don't we all

Our system is rather simplistic....there are seven ambulance districts in our county. From alphabetical order they are numbered 101-201-301...etc. If there is a Paramedic onboard we are Medic 201, and if it is all basics/intermediates, we are Squad 201. That way our county ALS units know if we're a basic squad en route to a potentially ALS call. Our county director has a fly-car and is EMS-1 and the assistant director has a county pickup truck with L/S and is EMS-2...simple and easy to distinguish. The fire departments are different...where I work we have Engine 10, Brush 14, Tanker 13...etc. They just use the town name and the vehicle name when callin dispatch...easy system

As simple as it sounds, just be respectful and 9 out of 10 times you'll get it right back. The district I run with has a lot of fire and EMS clashes, and I can honestly say I get respect from the FD because I do two things. 1) I make small talk at the station, and 2) I thank them for their help (even if they don't do much). Usually when we're out at house fires I get the same from them. Now, that might just be me and it may not work for you....but like everyone else says..just be cool, don't act like they're worthless, and you're in.

I had just put my card in my wallet and got toned to a single vehicle rollover MVC. En Route we found out that there were 6 patients, all juveniles, four ejected. Got on scene and found four in the roadway, and two walking wounded (seatbelts ofcourse) with a handful of first responders. Dispatched 2 additional squads (while en route) and then the helo. Turns our the van went up an embankment, rolled, and then continued to roll back across the road. the sliding door of this van had opened and just tossed out all four of the ejected mid-roll. The driver and passenger had seat belts on and signed off AMA and were taken in a private vehicle to the hospital. All of the kids lived, and ironically....three of them are in the US History class I am student teaching for right now. they had an assortment of injuries....2 head injuries, multiple arm/leg fx's, one broken back.....it was simply unforgettable.

I don't argue the fact that there are better doctors. However, I took that as a personal attack on me as an EMT, by basing my patient care on my (then) attitude. That was roughly 2 years ago. I told that story kind of in jest, but I've came a long way since then. So, when it comes to patient care, EMS operations, or anything patient, EMS, or hospital related....I yield to the floor and learn. But when you get called out, you should defend yourself. So..DUDE, as I keep saying, it was a joke, it was stupid, and I'm admitting a mistake, so get off it.

I missed the part where I bragged about my amazing level of training? I'm an EMT-Basic, and I realize the level in which I can provide care. Do I think that I was acting in the right? Absolutely not. In fact, I acted unprofessionally. It was a Freudian slip...I forgot to mention that I did apologize to her a couple minutes later. however, my reaction was based primarily on her EXTREME over reaction. Did I over react...yeah, probably. However, it should be evident to any bystander that if an EMT (or medic for that matter) has 2 patients sitting on the back bumper of the ambo, that there isn't an emergency. In fact, I was laughing and joking with the patients prior to the arrival of said STNA/CNA. So, in hindsight, it wasn't a smart thing to do. However, you can drop the "greater-than-thou" attitude off at the door. In your 30 years you've never made a single mistake? If I ever consider getting into paramedicine, let me know where you went to school. If they teach you to be THAT phenomenal, I need to get into that program. Please paraphrase in my original post where you feel that I lack the ability to perform or lack the knowledge to write two AMA refusals? You're judging my level of competance in patient care based on my sarcasm? Some of the best doctors I've ever met were the biggest asses to ever walk to the face of this earth. Good bedside manner? Not necessarily. Good physicians? absolutely. I'm not in any way trying to compare my level of training to the of a doctor (which would be asinine) but rather I am questioning your ability to judge my performance as an EMT based on....what? Like I said. I should have handled the situation differently, and I appreciate QI you just provided. But brash generalizations without substantiated information to support them are nothing more than a fancy way of taking a shot at me without the evidence to support your claim.

We were on a scene one night, second unit on scene handling sign offs. The first until transported non-code 3 to the nearest factility and I was working on 2 sign-offs and out of no where this Buick comes zipping in off the highway and out runs a woman, probably mid-20's in scrubs with a stethescope around her neck (sign No. 1) she ran probably 100 yards up to the scene, looks into the car, which in her defense was pretty torn up....then runs up to me, clip board in hand, 2 patients sitting on the running board and yells, "I'M AN STNA, CAN I HELP?" Here in Ohio an STNA is a nurses assistant, I know there's a million different titles for them but basically they wipe asses and change bed pans for a living. Well, without skipping a bear I was like, "Well, if someone here needs their butt wiped I'll be sure to holler for you." The patients thought it was hillarious, the "samaritan" did not. She tried to turn me in to our department chief who laughed at her and told me to watch my mouth :roll: :shock:

Your "partner" and I struggle to give him that much of a title, is an idiot. The first rule of EVOC is to stay left. Naturally if you hear a siren, where is the first place you go? Right. So driving along the right breakdown lane at 60 MPH is the STUPIDEST thing this guy could do. As for hopping curves...it just reinforces his obvious incompetence. I would report him to your supervisor and file an incident report, if necessary. Some people might thing this is an over reaction, but when you're driving at 60 MPH in a break down lane you're not only endangering your life, but the lives of anyone who follows stanard procedure and pulls to the right when they hear sirens. You're 100% in the right..

Why are you so anal about the background check? Got something to hide?

Someone on your crew arrives on scene wearing something he/she refers to as the "Bat Belt" Reference: See the "Bat Belt" thread

I'm waiting on a punchline....this is a joke right? I have a "jump kit" which is escentially a couple 4x4's, a CPR mask, a stethescope and a BP cuff. It might get used twice, maybe three times a year....a belt is not only overkill, but embarassing to anyone who identifies themselves as a healthcare professional.

My partner and I both were struck by a drunk this past summer. He ended up having a BAC of .239. I took a brunt of the swing to the left clavicle, he just brushed my partner (a 20 y/o female who MIGHT weigh 120 pounds). The FF's on scene quickly took his arms and the LEO on scene cuffed him. We chose not to file charges because it was his sixth DUI offense and he was already going to jail for a pretty long time anyway. However, had I sustained any real injuries? I would be the proud owner of the house trailer that I'm sure he lives in.