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Internal Bleeding - Raising the legs


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I work with the Red Cross in Mexico. Tuti Frateli amigo.

In Germany is the Red Cross funded by the government or is it totally financed through donations?

The GRC is a NGO, therefore it`s totally independent. All the while, there may be fundings conncerning certain insitutes (like kindergartens, etc) - though they would be general fundings (not specifically intenended for the Red Cross but for the institutions in itself).

As far as the EMS goes (at least the full-time service), we are being paid by the insurance agencies, after debating with them over the amount of money we are allowed to spent (for providers, cars, stations, meds, etc) every few years.

The voluntary forces of the Red Cross are mainly funded by the Red Cross, though I believe (finances are not my speciality) that at least the troops attached to disaster management (Fast Response Units, etc) get some governmental funding, since disaster management is per se a governmental assignment.

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In Mexico it varies. Some states help fund the Red Cross because they are the only EMS service in an area. There are many areas that don't have any EMS services at al. We are expected to stop and render aid for any accident we see in these areas. It usually isn't much funding. Most of our funding comes from support drives and local businesses. Once a year we have a big drive where volunteers "panhandle" for support. I don't like that very much but it raises a good amount of money. The truth is that many of the EMT's that volunteer with the Red Cross use their own Jump Bags and own perishables. Sometimes the hospitals replace materials some times they don"t. The insurance angle is very interesting. I will be looking into that angle here.

Wow, that aren`t what you could call formidable conditions. Is there really no concept of an overall coverage of full-time EMS at all (even within wider spaces and therefore with bigger arrival times)?

About the insurance angle. Don`t know how it is in mexico, but here nearly everybody has an insurance agency, either a governmental or a private one. Also, the whole EMS germany-wide EMS is run through that angle so I don`t know how you could convey this idea into your conditions.

But of course you could ask for funding from your local insurance agencies. Just tell them that studies have shown that a good EMS coverage/treatment by EMS decreases the number of days a pt. needs to stay in hospital (therefore decreased costs, since one day in a hospital bed is terribly expensive). Just my piece of thoughts.

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I am not sure exactly how we would negociate insurance. Most local definitive care is at government social hospitals and the care is very inexpensive. The addage is true that "You get what you pay for". A lot of car owners have insurance so I would possibly begin there.

Thanks for the heads-up on how you guys operate. You have given me some good project ideas.

Do you mean health insurances?

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