Richard B the EMT

Any guy who has ever had a Foley inserted would not only stop faking, but run away, on such threat.

Thoughtless! The Fire Fighter may have videotaped the incident for training purposes, or to show something of the Method Of Injury to the ER crew, but NEVER should have been shown to anyone else without written permission of the family of the deceased. That a video made it to the internet, and to the family of the deceased, is, indeed, a sad commentary of living today. On a different commentary, I have known VFDs and VACs to "fire" personnel for acts that put the agency into a bad light. My own squad did so to a guy who didn't check that the ambulance fit under a marquee, and almost ripped the roof off the ambulance. Edited for accidental triple posting.

We don't necessarily know the individuals, the service they work or volunteer for, or where it is in the world, but anytime one of us passes in the Line Of Duty, we all feel it. Rest In Peace, my friends.

Dina! Don't go. Regular postings, while a good deal slower than the chat rooms, are still available. Administrator put in the charge to defray the cost of operating the site, and then there's the cost of the lawsuit alleging the site violated copyright laws with some quotes some member of the site posted, probably in innocence and in good faith. Welcome back, anyway.

I know hardware is the computer itself, software is the programming, but would someone PM me as to what middleware is?

Minor tangent, if you don't mind (and even if you do...) To quote most of my instructors, and several EMS related writers, please don't use the "WNL" phrasing, especially on your call reports. We know it is intended to mean "Within Normal Limits", but if used in a lawsuit, the lawyers always will try to tear you, your partner, and your agency down, by stating that it means "We Never Looked". Back on topic, now A crew from my Volunteer Ambulance Corps, circa 1975-ish, was on standby at a local High School (American) football game, when one of the team members from the other school took a hard "hit". As related to me, one of my colleagues dropped an ammonia inhalant (which had the nickname of a "snapper" as you snap them to activate the aroma) onto the guy, which caused him to react so violently, they had to get a ladder to get him off the ambulance roof. Seeing this, his team was demoralized, especially as the crew was cheering for the home team (most were graduates of the school), and was eventually beaten in the game.

More commentary at AOL, link to http://www.aolhealth.com/2010/10/18/new-cpr-guidelines-chest-compressions/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl8%7Csec1_lnk3%7C178507

Ammonia Inhalants used to be required disposable stock on ambulances in New York State. I don't recall when the orders came from the state DoH to take them off the ambulances, but, if memory serves, it was because DoH presumed that if the patient fainted, the period from the actual fainting until they awakened was therapeutic, and should not be interrupted. Don't hold me to that interpretation.

Would this be referring to the old line of "struggling to survive on the salary you used to dream of getting?"

Phil, considering the association between the 1970s show "Emergency!", and it's 'Los Angeles County Fire Department's "Rescue 51", did you choose this car due to it being Car 51? Awesome coverage of the car that rolled. Kudos to the roll cage designer, and the fact that the driver WALKED from the vehicle.

Addressing the issue of finding a mate at work by nature of working with them, I met Lady J at my VAC, me an overweight, mid-European background Jewish EMT, she, a 100 pound Sicilian-American Roman Catholic "paper-pusher" who wasn't even a dispatcher at the time. Then it turned out, we had attended Junior High School together almost 20 years prior to meeting at the VAC, she, a soprano, me, a tenor, in the school chorus. Then, I wouldn't have looked at her, as I was still chasing the Deneh Navajo girl. If you've been following my postings, you've already heard the story.

Started as an unpaid volunteer in 1973, and ran with the VAC until 1996, when the VAC "went under". Liked it so much, worked 10 years and 5 different proprietary, IFT services 1975 to 1985, and then went 25 years municipal EMS, specifically NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS, and after the "merger", the FDNY EMS Command. I still look out the windows when I hear a siren approaching, as it could be a past partner of mine going by. My state "cert" is still good, even if I no longer can work in the box.

Any agency looking at a resume will see the supervisory position, and it might end up being the "marker" the agency is looking for, for their own supervisory personnel. I say that, with both paid and unpaid areas referred to.

The wording is, if memory serves, "Continue CPR until Spontaneous Return Of Circulation, relief by similarly or higher trained personnel, exhaustion, or until directed to stop by higher medical authority". Someone else commented about "Hollywood CPR", which in this case, I presume to be like continuing CPR on a SIDS baby, even if it is obvious that the patient is gone, it becomes something of a comfort to the patient's family, friends, and even the other passengers with you on the aircraft, that "something is being done." View it as a more energetic version of the "Stare Of Life".

They can, and would. The On-Line Medical Control, is, after all, even for Paramedics, "Higher Medical Authority". The OLMC is there, even if it is not the one you normally answer to, to make such decisions.

Does this mean Bumblebee is going to, as he did in T1, "talk" by shifting radio stations to insert words? Filming "Ragtime", in Central Park, NY, an NYC PD team was filmed stopping 3 vintage cars driving on the normally closed roadway, as they hadn't gotten the news that filming was taking place. I am uncertain of my facts, but I think it was James Coburn, filming in San Francisco's Chinatown, being chased by 2 Chinese "Thugs", and 2 local LEOs joined the chase, passed the actors portraying the thugs, caught up with Mr, Coburn, and bopped him a few times in the head with their batons, before the film crew was able to stop them.

Going as a theoretic conspiracist, here, anything with tubing can have something explosive tucked into it. Think "pipe bomb". As for strollers or baby carriages, they have been successfully used for smuggling, so why not some kind of explosive? Then, has anyone seen, in movies or TV, a woman getting a hitched ride, or seat on the bus, by having a pillow stuffed under her shirt, simulating the visual aspect of being pregnant? That could be a hidden bomb, delivered by a so-called "black widow". Of course, I'm using both movie and TV plots here, but I have read of actual bombers, in places like Israel, using such techniques. Hollywood and "Bollywood" had to get the ideas from somewhere.

Prior to the EMS/FDNY merger, the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS would have already NY State DoH certified as Paramedics personnel ride for at least one year in EMT title, to get them familiar to the procedures and protocols of the department. EMTs elevating their status to Paramedic needed to be in the department at least one year before they would be accepted into the training program for Paramedics. Nowadays, they put Paramedics trained outside the agency into the streets almost as soon as they finish the department's basic training, admittedly under close supervision by senior Paramedical personnel.

Just commenting that in 37 years in "da biz", I've been trained in how to do a nasal intubation, but have never seen anyone, BLS or ALS, use one field side. It might also have to do with the fact that where I work, the nearest ER is usually no more than 15 to 20 minutes away (I love New York City).

At least now I don't have to ask. Nicknames have a way of sticking, for better or worse. One such nickname became my E-Mail address, another is my CB Radio "Handle", or on the air name (anyone still use a CB? "Ya got the Witchdoctor, mobile around the New York City area"). BTW, I use "Witchdoctor" but not in the EMT City, as there is someone out there uses "WitchDr" as their city online name. Whoever that individual is, has only 2 postings, but I respect the similarity in names.

I saw the BK ad, and I basically said, "WTF?" It was my same reaction to a TV ad for a job finder's on line listing service, showing an EMT riding as a "third", fainting when he looks at a car crash scene from up close.

Until today, I knew nothing of the Triton. Information (via Google) showing them at http://www.lonestarev.com/triton.html. Looks nice in the picture, but nobody rides in a picture. Anyone actually ridden in one of these Triton type 2 ambulances? I'd suggest contacting the link, and ask for the name, address and phone or E-Mail of a service that purchased one from this vendor, and ask the customer what they like about this brand/type, and more important, what they didn't like, to determine if your service might be interested in one.

To 46Young, FormerEMSLt297, ECC, and IrishFF277, I have some bad news. Retired Queens Dispatcher #830, Kathi D, passed away this week. Funeral and/or memorial details are not published as of the time of this posting. Keep an eye on http://www.facebook....157631127589519 for details as they become available.

FDNY Engine companies carry the same "jump kit", oxygen setups, AEDs, and long backboards as do all our ambulances. The personnel are Fire Fighters trained to NY State DoH "Certified First Responder-Defibrillator" status. If a call requires it, both the BLS or ALS ambulance crews can request a FF come along, to assist in or continue CPR in transit to the ER. Side note: FF-CFR-Ds on an engine company get a bit more $$ when they do a medical call. I don't recall what that amount is.

You're a longtimer if you worked at Webster Outpost (detailed there twice, before they moved to Boston Road, and assisted on the first of only 2 OB-Labor calls I've had in 38 years of doing EMS). Several dispatchers did that trick to misbehaving units. Was that Gerosi (Spelling)?