Coach Hohman

Two good points, I didn't take either of those into consideration. Not being a father myself, I guess it's easy to overlook. Safety wise...I try to do that on every scene, so I guess I wouldn't think much of it either way.

Maybe I'm naive, which is a distinct possibility...I've been doing this for over a year, and my mom has been in EMS for 22 years, so I would say I have a pretty good feel for how things work. My question is, everyone in here is talking about a duty to act if you see an accident, but how many of you could drive by a bad accident if you saw one? I don't get the logic that if you saw an accident with the potential of injury you wouldn't atleast stop and check on the occupants of said vehicles. This excludes fender benders, or silly little accidents, but if I saw a significant MVA, I don't think I would have to worry about a "duty to act" I would act. Now granted, you're limited (atleast I am) to a pair of gloves and whatever napkins I can pull out of my glove box. However, I think offering first aid, calling 9-1-1 and holding c-spine until providers with equiptment show up is not much to ask of an EMT/Medic. Maybe that's just me...

Yeah.....what Neuropathy said...+10 for Idiot...Ghurty, where do you live? I'd like to try to avoid it while this guy is on duty.

Three key point can sum up my best call ever/most awkward call * Stripper with chest pain * Still Topless *Dancing kept on going I love this job

Given that I was not there, I can't comment on the exact reason why. My guess is that with the number of patients and (from the sounds of it) the rural location that they were in, they may flown them due to the time it would take for other medic units to respond. Faster transport = faster arrival to definitive care. I run in a pretty rural area and we have 2 departments that can give us adequate mutal aid in the timely manner. If we have an MCI situation we call for a flight because of the sheer number of patients and the lack of trauma centers in the area (hour drive, 15 minute flight). Not knowing the area I can't say this is the case, but it's hard to second guess a crew when I wasn't there myself

The only person that could die from that instance is the EMT/Paramedic themselves. We run strictly 9-1-1 calls and I've never had a problem slipping my seatbelt on in the .5 seconds it takes before I roll out of the barn. That excuse is simple stupidity, especially if he's on a transfer crew. I encourage you all to look at the apperatus crashes section of the photogallery on here. After viewing some of those accidents, I've made a concious effort to try to buckle up in the back of the truck as well. Harder to do, but if it saves my life it's worth it.

I work on a paid department and work a 12 hour shift a week for the local volly department. On the volly department we can respond in personal vehicles, and I have on many occasions. There's nothing wrong with good ol 4-way flashers and a horn if needed. There are guys on our department that drive freakin bat mobiles and mobile command centers (bat mobiles being vehicles with 10,000 lights; mobile command center being the guys with 10 radios and antenas on their trucks). In all honesty, if you're putting those things on your vehicle, you generally think thats a license to drive fast ans wrecklessly. Out here we have some rural roads that may see 4-5 cars an hour, therefore why would you need lights. If I'm responding emergency to a call I can do 65-70 MPH without alerting the whole world. There's no need for 4 interiors lights, a light bar and 3 different kinds of siren and god knows what... Keep it simple. I do however carry a first response kit with the essentials if you will...BP Cuff, CPR mask, Stethescope, 4x4's, a couple ice packs, some band aids, 2 pairs of gloves, and a pen and paper. That's because a lot of times I can get on scene faster than getting to the ambulance...either way...be careful out there and check out the photo gallery of aperatus crashes. It makes you realize how "uninvincible" you are.

Our motto is "When in doubt, fly them out"...Helicopter crews have told us if it remotely sounds bad get them on standby, if there's any extrication involved with the jaws generally we get them in route. In your case I think you were 100% right. The thing about the helicopter is, you can't really go wrong. So what if you fly them level 1 and they find out he had a concussion, atleast he had the best treatment avaiable had he had more problems. You're taught as a basic that MOI should be the basis of your decision, and in this cae...you have every right to call a helo.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if he were on cocaine, Meth, ext. wouldn't his BP be a lot higher than 100/70? Heroin might be a possibility, but him freaking out wouldn't necessarily coincide with heroin use, as heroin users are more mellow than anything. What about the use of acid? His hallucination could have led to the accident and would explain his head hurting, eyes burning, and possibly the slow pupil reaction. These are all kind of shots n the dark...Maybe he has a psychiatric disorder? You asked for a medical history, most people don't associate psychiatric histories with physical histories. Might be a good question to ask

Kelly, great story...I have a similar story, but from the other side of the fence. My mom has been doing this for over 20 years and the first time I saw her work was when we were going on vacation and saw a bad accident on the highway. My mom pulled over, grabbed a pair of gloves from her coat and ran to one of the cars, while my dad ran to the other car. I was probably 6 or 7 at the time, but seeing how my mom worked was the most amazing thing ever. To this day she has nerves of steel and a heart of gold at the very same time. Now, once a week I run a shift with her as my partner on her volunteer squad ( I work paid on the side) and she is still one of the best EMT's I've worked with. I'm new to this game, but you never truely appreciate your parents till you see what they do. My personal story involves an accident call that my mom and I had one night...single vehicle MVA, rollover with entrapment. When we got there we found a young woman pinned under a truck from her hips down. She kept talking about her baby and I looked up in the truck and saw the baby, hanging by his babyseat upside down....giggling. I undid his straps and brought him out of the car, grabbed his blanket and ran him to the squad as the firemen were moving the truck and more personel showed up to help with the pt. who was pinned The baby was completley unharmed and was actually laughing and playing and more interested in my reflective lettering than anything. It showed me that sometimes in this field we focus on the negatives or focus on the things that we do and not the things that we cannot do. Later on the family invited our whole crew out to a cookout as thanks for our service to them. It really helped make the connection that what we do effects the rest of peoples lives..

Though it was a rookie mistake, it was just a slip of the tongue I guess. It's a human reaction to ask someone how they are. In all honesty, I almost have to socialize with patients to gaintheir trust because of my age. I'm the upmost professional, but how man 82 year old women are going to trust a 19 year old. They probably expected me to come in with baggy pants and an Ipod in my ears. I try to be polite normally, but How are you to a woman sprawled out on the floor goes down in the "experience column"

Not really completley stupid..but it was a funny sequence none-the-less Elderly pt. possible broken right hip, down in kitchen floor Myself: Hi, I'm EMT Hohman from the EMS, How are you today? Woman: How am I? Well let's see..I'm laying in my kitchen floor and my hip hurts like hell, how are you? Myself: Well...I'm doing alright, thanks Woman: Well isn't that wonderful (sarcasm) How about we cut the formality bulls_it and get me off this floor Myself: Yes, Mrs. ** As I'm taking a history I get this Woman: Look, son..how old are you? Myself: I'm 19 m'am Woman: See this pair of shoes...older than you...how bout we stop asking questions and get me on the road. I decided to do the rest of my assessment en route...she scared the shiit out of me

A Blowjob?!?! What in the hell was the real chief complaint? I woulda ran code 3 regardless lol

Paramedic Now, First and foremost I'm not offended by this, but it's my pet peeve I guess. I'm an EMT-B as are most of the people on our department. I don't mind being called "paramedic" by people who don't know any better, until they question why I don't do certain things they see on TV. Prime example..we're called for an MVA, find our patient in a lot of pain pinned inside a pretty beat up car. The weather is pretty bad so the chopper won't fly so we take her by ground. This patient asked for some pain meds and I told her "we're all basic EMT's, I'm sorry...but I don't have anything to give you" and she's like "But your'e the Fuc**ng paramedics, you have medicine" and I told her we don't...and she said "but I see it on Third Watch..they can give pain medicine" so it ends up with me trying to explain to her the difference between EMT's and paramedics and we get nowhere. Anyway...that's my rant for the day, as much as I would love to be called paramedic, I'm not..>I can't do what they do...don't believe everything you see on TV

One call from about 8-10 years ago that my mom had... Dispatch: Medic 501, ******** first responders, you're needed at 1234 CR. 98 for a man vs. cow Medic 501: Dispatch, can you advise the nature of this call again? Dispatch: Affimative, your patient is a 72 y/o male whose cow fell on him. Medic: *uncontrollable laughter* That's clear, we're en route. *someone in the background, mic still keyed* MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! The sheriff was far from thrilled about that one, but I don't remember anyone actually getting reprimanded

Our county has one on demo and it's floating around between our eight crews. My district has it right now and so far I'm indifferent about it. A big pro is that it's easy to maneuver and obviously very easy to lift your patients, but you still have to hold the end of the cot up while you raise the legs, and that extra 38 pounds or whatever is hard for me to balance. Now, I'm 6-6, so I love this cot because it sits up very high. My partner on the other hand is 5-5 and 100 pounds and she hates it, but I do most of the lifting anyway, so this will definately save my back. We've only ran two calls with it so far, so I guess time will tell.

We are a rural BLS/ALS unit with a fire department that first responds for us. They go everywhere we go and vice versa. If it's difficulty breating, they're there and if it's a working structure fire, we're there for them. It doesn't cause many problems, but I can see why you would say it's a waste of resources. Usually we get 2-3 firemen on a brush truck with O2, an AED and a basic first response kit. Most of the time, it's nice to have them there if we need a driver, extra man power, or someone to work the radio communications with dispatch. I would say they're pretty good about staying out of our way, but they're usually close enough that if we need them to go for something or help lift/move they're there. We don't have any problems with them running in wearing full gear or anything, they wear bunkers for MVA's, but usually are in jeans or work pants and a FD shirt on scene. I would say we have a pretty good working relationship with them, but we've done a lot to get that respect, and vice versa. It may seem like a waste of resources, but with 20 minute response times from station to the edge of our district, it's nice to have them there and not needed, than need them and wait another 20 minutes.

My mom has ran on our department for 20 years, so about 10 years ago they had a frequent flyer that would fake seizures. Well, he had a mental illness following a car accident where him and his brother were in a car and were struck by a train trying to shimmy around the gates. His brother died on impact and he was Lifeflighted...treated...and developed this condition (He was a weirdo before it). Well he used to fake heart attacks and seizures and what not and they suspected for a long time that he was an arsonist and all this stuff. Well he got smart about it and used to pour water on himself to fake the seizure. Welll my mom used to take a lot of pride in opening up the biggest IV needle she could and using it. That same patient was so unpredictable that the sheriff would dispatch a deputy to his house for these seizures and the squad would stand by. One of the deputies always drew a gun going into the house because of the guy. That same guy started showing up at EMT's houses and faking illnesses and such until the county prosecutor stepped in. He was probably one of our most notorious "fakers" thought

I had this exact scenario this week...a patient with COPD, CHF, Asthma...you name it...he had it, including lung cancer. Was on home O2 2LPM. I got a saturation level of 86%, which is probably average for his conditions and put him on a NRB @ 12 LPM. By the time we got to the hospital (35 minutes, long story...pt. wife refused nearest facility and after a brief debate, I got overruled because I wasn't "on call" but it was across the street) So..we get to the hospital his saturation level is at 98% he's not working nearly as hard to breathe and he's no longer cool and clammy. Well, I'm telling my mom about it (who is an EMT-I for the past 20 years) and I got lit up for putting him on that much O2 for so long. We had the hypoxic drive debate, and I still think I'm right. I'm going to have to show her this post!

Arrogant reffering to you talking about medics as if god himself floated into my MVA and saved the day. I work with some great medics, but they can only do so much. I don't volunteer because I have a siren and lights, I volunteer because I watched my friend die in a car accident and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. But hey, that's ok...if I had some paramedics on a paid service I could have waited 20 minutes on them...oh that's right..my volunteer squad was there in half that time WITH a paramedic. I don't do it for a badge or anything (I don't even have a badge). Wankers? Yeah, sorry...we're taking away from the only paid service in our county...the guys who run 50 calls a week in their city as it is. I don't see how we're hurting their buisness any, and in fact a lot of them work volunteer in the small communities around here. You get your paycheck signed the same way with the same amount (or lack) of money. I don't mean to say that paid services are greedy or that you aren't good at your jobs, but rather I dont' see what a paid medic can do that a volunteer one can't and vice versa. I believe in seeing things for face value...a paid basic EMT is probably not much better trained than a volunteer and vice versa. You make it sound like they just get some guy off the street, put a light and siren on his car (I don't have either of those) and give him a trauma kit and send him on his way. We're trained the same, we offer the same treatment as a paid service. I'm not closed minded about this as you say...but I see it for face value. Sure, a paramedic would be better for our patients...but we don't have any on the one service I run on. The other service has 6 medics and a 5 minute transport time. Usually in that five minutes they don't do anything that a basic couldn't do, so what's the point? All that I ask from this discussion (which isn't going anywhere) is that you see SOME value to BLS units. Volunteer or not, I don't give 2 craps if I have a light and siren and I don't do it for myself, as you say. I do it so other people don't have to wait for care and wait for god..er..paramedics to come and do the same thing we'd do anyway...call the bird

For the most part I really have no problems with our fire department, but I'll list the few I've came across. * Gentlemen, When a patient verbalizes left hip pain and it's extroverted, she can't straighten it, nor can she be moved without pain. It's probably broken. Therefore, when we've slid her from the chair to the cot...don't grab her left foot and swing it up onto the cot. You can do that with difficulty breating..BUT NOT A BROKEN HIP. * I realize you extricate for us, and I like that. But if I come up to hold C-spine on MY patient...don't give me lip. Also, when I give you advice on the easiest way to get them out of the car...I'm not looking to yank them out....C-spine implications are just that...we don't yank anyone from anything

Dust Devil, Your two posts on here are the two most arrogant and ignorant thing I've seen anyone post on here. Sure, a paramedic would be helpful...but where I'm from *Gasp, a volunteer squad* we make due with what we have. Telling people not to volunteer because it's a disgrace to the profession is not only assanine, but untrue. I volunteer because my community needs it, not because I love to play doctor. I'm a successful coach and teacher, a good EMT and a caring person. Does that mean I shouldn't be an EMT and no one on my squad should volunteer because they're disgracing someone. You're probably from the city, and a city where volunteering to help people is far fetched. I respect a good number of your posts, but to this I completley disagree. In my town if our patients (who are many times family, friends, or in my case my students) waited for the nearest paid squad they'd have a half hour response time and a 20 minute transport time. Instead, because of a group of VOLUNTEERS they can get to the hospital in 15 minutes if we scoop and go with a trauma. You might thing of volunteers as a bunch of rednecks that crawl out of the fields to come stick people with IV's, but some of our EMT-B's are also Lifeflight nurses, RN's, LPN's, and one of them is a cardiac care nurse at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Toledo (one of the top cardiac hospitals in the nation). So before you judge people for what they do for their community as a "threat" to what you do for a living. Come run a couple shifts out here in Tiffin, Ohio...I can assure you that we do the absolute best that we can for our patients, just the same as you do at your paid squad. Whatever your beef is with BLS units or Basic EMT's...we're not in it to be career basics in all cases, we're in it to help those around us.

Check with MUO/MCO/whatever their name is this week. They run a lot of programs for paramedics, I'm sure in there somehwere is an EMT-B program. I took mine through Vanguard-Sentinel in Fremont, which is kind of a drive for you but they have a program startingin the fall (the summer program already started). That being said...I'm sure there is something in Toledo, even if it's Owens CC...there has to be something. My guess is contact somone at MUO or Owens or look on their websites. Hope that helps

Our fire departments (three small volunteer departments) do all the cutting and also help with extraction if needed. We have some great firemen who keep the patients best interest in mind...and then we have "redneck Joe" who just loves to fire up his Jaws of Life and start cutting things without thinking. There are onlya few "redneck Joe's" in our area...but the only conflict we ever have with the departments is sabout "those guys" not using common sense. If I have a 4 y/o patient stuck in a car that's already scared of all the noise...I want cut INTO that care. Cut a door off or something and get me int here, because I'm great with kids and that kid is going to go into a panic by him/herself. Most firemen respect that request...some of them think I'm a moron and go right at the frame without thinking...now I have a 4 y/o patient with whatever injury that sees nothing but flashing lights, screaming and loud noises...I think if the firemen (and in a lot of cases EMTs) in our area used their heads, sometimes things would run a lot smoother..but for the most part, we get along. They're there when we need them (Medical calls, minor MVAs) and we're out on structure fires handing out water, cooling them down, running radio traffic...ext..