GBFDEMS174

I believe all you need is a course called CEVO (certified emergency vehicle operator)

Are you honestly trying to compare someone who goes on EMS calls when they have the time vs someone who is on an ambulance 40+ hours a week? Which one do you think gets more experience over any amount of time?

Also, what exactly is the punishment for not showing up to an EMS call at a volunteer agency? You don't get to play with the lights and sirens? Fail to show up/run calls for a paid provider and you're out of your lively hood. The simple fact is that there is nothing holding a volunteer back from deciding to only run the 'exciting' calls.

We are assigned a night not showing up for calls can get our gear pulled for a while, if you are still a probe you might have your year probation extended or something more serious if it happens enough times, sometimes it could get you kicked off the department.

Volley had a lot more passion for the job because you are doing this out of the goodness of your heart

if you are paid you just do it for the money but dont admit it most of the time

OK so I just got back from Colorado. Saw Royal Gorge, 7 Falls, Garden of the Gods, etc. Did not get to climb Pikes peak due to weather.

OK here goes my complaint and question. In Pueblo, CO I was in a crowded public building. A person was feeling bad so the facility did call 911. I was on the way back to my van. All of a sudden I hear sirens keep changing of tones I guess to get traffic out of way. Then I realize there is another siren. I think well probably two 911 calls in my area. But no around the corner in the crowded parking lot comes AMR full speed L&S almost missing the facility person trying to wave them down. As if that wasn't bad enough the second siren is getting closer and here comes a large fire ladder truck blasting around the building in the crowded parking lot and it seemed to me almost hitting AMR ambulance, they actually had to back up. AMR crew is already walking cot into building. Several FF's jump out and run up to catch them. OK even though w/o other than a quick glance in my opinion patient was not in bad shape, no signs of distress, was actually smiling. At first I laughed but then I thought what if somebodys small child had been running in the parking lot there would have been no time for the ambulance driver or truck driver to have stopped. Then another thought crossed my mind, what a waste of taxi payer money rolling 2 pieces of equipment, think of cost of fuel, plus wear and tear.

OK enough. So some questions.

1. Even though they were probably responding to an unknown medical should they have been running so fast in a crowded area?

I don't think they should have been running that fast into a crowded area for safety reasons.

2. Is there any justification for dual response?

yes, it could have been an allergic reaction to something and fire could have had more advanced equipment with them.

3. If justified would it be better for second response to come no L&S to minimize risks to public? Honestly no L&S in this case would have only had them arrive 3 or 4 minutes later and AMR could have stopped them if not needed or had them get equipment if needed.

I would say lights only unless its confirmed ALS is absolutly needed.

4. Are we needlessly endangering the public?

If you are going that fast into a parking lot, I would say, yes, you are endangering the publics safety.

I have many more questions/concerns but ................

One last question is this the norm in bigger citys?

I just cannot wrap my mind around such a waste of resources when at times we work with only one medic on the ambulance and end up with multiple serious patients on our one ambulance.

I hate dealing with resident doctors, they think they can say whatever they want, I was admitted a while ago for pain in the kidney area (turned out to be kidney stones) one day i was treated horribly by the resident he told me I can go home because there was nothing more they can do until the appointment to remove the stones came up, well I felt like I was in to much pain to go home, so, I tell him that I feel like i'm in to much pain to go home and he says "If you think this is a hotel then stay if not then go home" all I could think at that time was WTF.

Exactly. I had to double check the calendar to make sure this wasn't April Fool's Day. This "team building" nonsense sounds about as relevant as how cool their uniforms are.

I completely disagree that the practice of medicine is a team sport. It's all about individuals being the best they can be.

How can you be the best you can be at what you do if you don't work as a team?

when your idea of a rig check is to open the bay door and say "check the rig is there"

This one is a funny one

What can also be said is When your idea of truck check is when you open the bay door and say "OK check the ALL Fire Trucks are here and Ambulances too" if you live in a town or county that has Fire- EMS combined departments

What a pants load.

And they tip out of the goodness of their hearts too. Why is your "good feeling" so much more important than theirs?

I am not saying it's more important,I am just saying thats what I get and that is all I need as a "paycheck". Sorry if that is to big of a feeling to get when I help someone. I don't need a chash tip or anything like that, so I just say I cant accept it im sorry and I wouldn't be here if I didnt LOVE what I do regardless of what time the call came in.

They'd have to prove it in court.

I don't issue receipts for tips.

I was taught never to accept tips because THAT IS some form of payment and we are a volunteer squad we do this out of the goodness of our hearts and the feeling we get from helping that person is what counts it is not any amount of money that counts

my company is not not allowed to go over 45 MPH

I might have mentioned this in a different string.

Working a Facility Transfer Ambulance (this the new phrase?) one frozen midnight, my partner and I went to a Dunkin Donut store for coffee. A prostitute came in, walked up to my partner, and said, "My vagina is cold (she used more of a street term, not a medical one), could you warm it up for me?"

My partner replied, "If I do, I am going to have to charge you, as I am a professional!"

Everyone in the donut store broke out in laughter, and the prostitute fled back to the streets in embarrassment.

^

THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE HEARD IN ALL MY YEARS AS A FIREFIGHTER

I just say im not a doctor but with my experience in the field it could be this or that, in my opinion, but you should really consult your doctor about this whole thing.

Can't hurt to ask, you never know you may learn something new that can make your Pt care even better than it was.

What is an airline style uniform? I can't picture it in my head.

Unless we are getting government money like the FD and PD.

Don't forget people like me. If you want a completely legibe handwritten chart from me, our truck will be out of service for a hour after the run, and you better make those boxes plenty big.

Lets have everything computerized so no info is lost, forget about hand written charts paper gets lost very easily, yes on the unit have the call sheets but then put it into the computer after you get back

I think it should be made up of 3 divisions one that is just ALS and one that is just BLS and one that is just there for inter-facility

The more divisions we have the more money we can possibly make and the better off we can be financially

NO VOLUNTEER DIVISIONS

I'm allergic to patients.

Yes, sometimes we all think we are allergic to patients, but we have other allergies like latex that we can get in the field if we use it on our units, if we use it to much, yes, I know people that this has happened to so my squad does not use latex materials.

PD can cancel EMS but not FD in my township.

well, we get 30 to 50 percent off at a few places when we go out to eat there. I especially take advantage of it when we get a multiple amount of alarm activations at thoes places.

Thank you I really needed that good laugh, I was lauging so hard I had tears in my eyes.

well when you are dispatched to a street that connects another town to yours you start thinking that smoke is comming from another town so you drive past that thinking you are dispatched to another call in another area

I AGREE oohh that could be sooo much fun.........hhhm who should start it?

Oh...surely not.

This is a truthful statment this happened a few years back on easter eve night at around 21:30 for a structure fire that was only around the corner from the firehouse she sent us past the scene and farther away from the scene the opposite direction. We were laughing it up the next week

Dispatchers always tells you where to go.

But they may send you in the wrong direction

had that happen to my station before it took her three shots before she got the right street address

ok here's one for ya

Have ya ever gone on a call and gone through the motions, gotten to the point of deciding where you were going to transport to, you tell the family or the assisted living place the Pt is living where he or she will be transported to and the Pt hears it all of a sudden gets off the stretcher and drops trou and urinates on the wall and I love the elderly ladies that have diff. breathing and you find out its the elderly husband that forgot to fill his wifes 02 tank and they both feel so bad for our dispatch that they say im so sorry for having to have you guys out here this late, i just say dont worry about it if we didnt love what we do we wouldn't be here. I love when things like that happen it just makes me want to get up even more for the next call.

I think EMS should be there on a rescue scene just incase the Pt dose need more care then a FF is trained to give i mean EMS could be there for C spine reasons and depending on the situation a medic unit would be nice to have on standby so yes they need to be there no matter what the situation especially if its a person that was crushed in a trench of some sort ( Yes my company has been dispatched out to that situation )

Awsome film, Never saw anything like that in my life.

In the couple hundred CO alarm and possible gas leaks that fire is toned to here maybe 1% have symptoms associated. Most are paranoia, dead batteries or there is something but with no symptoms. So to send EMS on EVERY CO or Gas alarm goes right back to sending them on all fire calls, its just a waste of limited resources. If you happen to have an ambulance for every fire truck then go for it, but most places do not have that luxury. I feel it is the responsibility of dispatch to find out if there are symptoms.

--Be Safe

The only reason why I say that EMS should be an automatic dispatch is because you never know if the one who is reporting the incident is giving you all the info you need because of how worried they are about the other people that may be trapped or around the fire scene, so there for it is a waste of time for Fire command to get there and realize there is more to the story than already known and we could have had an ambulance in route if the caller had just said that there are injuries or there is someone here feeling ill, it makes fire commands and dispatches job a heck of a lot easier when it is said that there are injuries or an illness.