Jump to content

WMU works with Stryker to design Medical personel shoe/boot


Recommended Posts

Interestingly, I recently had a conversation with one of my co-workers who has a background in exercise science, physical therapy, and a related fields, that involved feet placement and such during heavy lifting. His impression as that for most americans, who are not overly flexible, more heel support (as in raising level of the heels) would prevent more back injuries during lifting as it changes the geometry of the pelvis during lifting. As a point of example, he placed a 2x4 under my heels to demonstrate the difference in simple squats.

If STRYKER was to invent a boot for EMS, it should look at the apparently considerable orthotic science behind the ergonomics of lifting , extrapolate or study that into the EMS enviroment, and improve that. I know that while I LOVE my boots, if I am standing for more than 40 minutes in them (not walking but mostly standing, liek a stand-b or something) my back hurts.

So any boot that reduced back pain and injuries....THAT would be an improvement. I want a boot that helps reduce back pain and improve lifitng ergonomics, not one that looked cool with a scissor pouch or comes in the company colors.

As a side note, I work in amixed urban/rural/frontier enviroment, and except for the times when I do hike in to a patient more than a mle, I vastly prefer a combat style danner boot over low or mid quarter style boot. When I do Hike in, I really wish I had a hiking/bouldering boot. If I worked soleley in an urban/suburban enviroment, I might have a diferent opinion, but our response area is 1050 sq miles, with desert and mountains as well as city all mixed in.

Edited by croaker260
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember my previous entries on this string, on the new FDNY EMS boots? Now that this string has been resurrected, I went looking for news items on these "Big-Foot" clunkers.

From the New York Daily News

http://www.nydailyne...y_footwear.html

Boots get boot: EMS workers freed from required, injury-prone FDNY footwear

BY Jonathan Lemire

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, October 7th 2009, 4:00 AM

alg_boots_harold_hoover.jpg Farriella for News

Former EMT Harold Hoover with the boots he claims caused a broken bone and torn tendons. The city blames his diabetes.

These boots weren't made for working.

The FDNY has been forced to rescind an order requiring Emergency Medical Service employees to wear special protective boots - footwear union officials blame for hundreds of injuries.

The boots - a pound heavier and more than an inch wider than the previous gear issued to EMS - resemble "clown shoes" and endanger paramedics, a union official charged.

"We have had members suffer injuries that range from minor to the very, very serious," said Robert Ungar, spokesman for the local union representing paramedics and emergency medical technicians.

"These boots are not meant for day-to-day operations," Ungar added. "They are so clunky and cumbersome that we have had members, rushing to an emergency, fall down stairs."

Some EMTs wearing the inflexible steel-toed boots - which weigh about 5 pounds a pair - had trouble driving ambulances, resulting in several accidents, Ungar said. "We had one member who hit the gas when she meant to hit the brake and slammed into another car," he said.

Fire Department officials will meet with the union to find a solution. Replacing the boots for more than 2,800 members is costly, FDNY sources said.

The $328 Pro-Warrington boots were issued in the fall of 2006 as part of the FDNY's overhaul of its protective equipment.

For nearly two years, EMS workers were allowed to keep the boots in their ambulances and put them on when needed. In September 2008, they were told to wear them full time.

Believing the order violated its contract, the EMT union filed a grievance against the FDNY. An arbiter ruled for the union last month.

The arbiter also ordered that all disciplinary action taken against EMTs for not wearing the boots be thrown out.

"We were not properly consulted, and we feel that the department turned a blind eye to our complaints," Ungar said. "These boots make sense for firefighters, but not for what we do."

Harold Hoover, a 19-year-veteran, suffered a broken bone and torn tendons in one foot after wearing the boots and is now suing for a disability pension.

"When I complained, I was repeatedly told I had no choice and that I had to deal with the pain and that if I didn't wear them, that I would be brought up on charges for being out of uniform," Hoover said.

The city blames Hoover's injury on his diabetes.

FDNY officials insist union executives were consulted in the design process.

"The safety of our members is and always has been the primary concern," FDNY spokesman Steve Ritea said.

jlemire@nydailynews.com

With John Marzulli

Read more: http://www.nydailyne...l#ixzz0r9Sq17Hz

After this news item appeared, the department relented, and is having a selected 100 personnel try out several different brands of boots, which will almost be custom made for each member. Other field personnel are allowed to wear the old boots, if they still have them (as I do), or any black military style boot (hold on to the sales slips, folks!) until this can be finally settled as to brand and style, and contracts drawn up.

From the Public Employee Press, a publication of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

http://www.dc37.net/.../ems_boots.html

Public Employee Press

Grievance Victory

EMS crews kick off hazardous boots

04EMS_boots.jpg

CLUNKY OVERSIZED boot EMS imposed on ambulance crews is compared with original boot

by union Health and Safety Coordinator

Israel Miranda.

When the Fire Dept. forced Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians to do their lifesaving jobs in clunky overweight boots, the union filed a grievance and an arbitrator ordered management to let the ambulance crews shed the hazardous handicap.

Starting in 2006, the FDNY required members of Uniformed EMTs and Paramedics Local 2507 to start wearing a new boot that was a pound heavier and almost two inches longer than their old EMT boots.

Many of the rescue workers called the awkward new Personal Protective Equipment boots "clown shoes," but the new requirement wasn't funny. The extra size and weight caused numerous injuries to the members, who often have to climb several flights of stairs while carrying an injured New Yorker.

One of the worst injured is 22-year veteran Paramedic Keith Rock, who fell on a staircase while he was helping a Bronx patient and ruptured tendons in both of his legs. The one-time bodybuilder is undergoing painful physical therapy and doctors have told him he can never carry a patient again.

The oversized boots were also a danger for ambulance drivers, who sometimes bumped the gas pedal when they tried to brake.

The PPE boots "are designed for the Urban Search and Rescue teams," which deal with steel and concrete rubble in building collapses, said Israel Miranda, Local 2507's health and safety coordinator. "Nowhere in the country are these boots used by EMTs and Paramedics."

More than 500 members of the department signed petitions that Miranda circulated, but the Fire Dept. ignored the ambulance crews' health concerns.

The local filed a group grievance in May 2007, charging that the FDNY was violating the Hospital Technicians contract and its Quarter-master Agreement, a written list of equipment that management cannot change except through negotiations with the union.

At a Sept. 2, 2009, arbitration hearing, where the local was represented by former DC 37 Assistant General Counsel Joseph Barrett, the city claimed that the Quartermaster Agreement is merely a generic list of items and that management has the discretion to change style or vendor.

Arbitrator Gayle Gavin ruled that the Fire Dept. violated the contract by requiring the PPE boots rather than the EMS boots that are listed in the Quartermaster Agreement.

Gavin ordered the FDNY to rescind all orders mandating the hazardous boots and to "rescind and expunge from all records all disciplinary actions" taken for refusing to wear PPE boots.

Members can now wear any standard work boot that is puncture and water resistant. The FDNY also recently completed a hazard assessment that the local agreed with and will have 100 members test new boots. Barbara Terrelonge, assistant director of Research and Negotiations helped to negotiate the award.

"This is a tremendous victory for our members," said Local 2507 President Pat Bahnken.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...