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Rural County EMS System--Scares me


SSG G-man

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Good Lord! Whats it going to take to get this testosterone fueled p'ssing match locked down. What a waste of space.

Whit- You are absolutely correct in saying that you didnt start this thread, you are just responding. However, you have repeatedly made comments about response times, training, medics from urban services being able to respond so quickly that they have time to tell you what they did with their weekend. If youre not a subtle enough thinker to see that many of your posts have been derogatory to rural responders, either explicitly or implicitly, well then...

Im glad to see that you finally answered the question about your level of certification. I didnt ask that to prove that you may or may not be incompetant, but rather to determine where you are coming from with so many of your chest puffing comments about all of the things you do in an urban response setting. Now that I see that, like me, you are an EMT, I know that alot of your duties are driving, bandaging, giving aspirin and oxygen, etc. All levels of responders save lives. All levels of responders from all sorts of response areas save lives. You keep egging people on and then saying you didnt do it and then in the next sentence repeating exactly the same thing you implied. Before I was laid off because the service that I was with went all medic, we had a response area of 250 square miles. Rural, Urban, City, Country, County, Suburbs and the occassional bodies of water. The fact remains that if you commit yourself as a volunteer first responder in a super rural setting or a Critical Care Paramedic in Washington, DC, we all do the same job and as you say we all ride around in the shiny truck with the flashing lights. That is except for those rural providers that have to do these jobs in their POVs. The fact remains that lives get saved by people who have ambulances, those who dont, those who have full tactical uniforms and those who respond to calls off a scanner wearing camo hunting gear. Anyone who is willing to take the responsibility for the life of another is a hero. Most people wouldnt do what alot of us do in a million years. So lighten up. Every system does the best they can with what they have and WHERE they are. Sorry everyplace doesnt have highrise hospitals and 5 minute response times. Every single responder on this site, from folks like Dust, who do their jobs with mortar rounds incoming to a retired school teacher first responder who lives in the middle of a cornfield and maybe responds to a call once every couple of months gets a thumbs up in my book. Sure you see alot of FDNY stories on the news and in other media, but lifesavers from BFEUSA should get an extra pat on the back. You have insinuated through this entire thread that urban was superior to rural, if only by saying that you would rather have an urban team respond to your emergency. That is your opinion and you have every single right to say it no matter how obnoxious it may get. But dont light firecrackers in the forums and then pretend you didnt say anything. Dude, youre only getting chopped cause you put your own head on the frigging block...over and over and over again. I know that this post will get me quoted and blasted apart by you (you have proven the delight you take in doing this) and I dont really care. Have at it. I now volunteer for a county service in northern Illinois and handle mostly rural calls. So if you are ever in my neck of the woods, would you please put out the "Urban lifesavers only please" sign in your back window so I dont accidentally respond and waste time and resources. Also, if we ever pick you up and you are unconscious and then you come to and see guys in no uniforms taking care of you, feel free to ask to be let out of the rig. If Im driving, I will gladly pull over.

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I can tell you what it will take to make this go away

Either lock it or stop responding to it. It has gotten way off topic just like many threads seem to do here but that is what makes the City great -

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When I started this I hoped to hear about other rural systems and how they worked. The sysytem I am in is different from the one I described where my mother lives. I was not looking for a pissing contest, more of an informed exchange of ideas, which is what I look for in most of these forums, other than humor.

This site has imparted a great deal of knowledge for me, and I am sure for others. Lets try to be civil and remember the spirit of the thread.

This was not started as a whos better rural or urban thread. Thanks!

Sarge

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Lets just clear some things up first, OK.

Nremt B wrote:

However, you have repeatedly made comments about response times, training, medics from urban services being able to respond so quickly that they have time to tell you what they did with their weekend.

Ummm......Yes I stated that we have short response times. What about this do you find derogatory? I stated nothing about training.

Anatomy chick wrote:

I would put most of our rural responders up against "Urban" EMT's any day... the reason? Because of the long wait times for our Ambulances, many times we are out there performing BLS skills that those who work in the City NEVER do.

This is what I responded to, you sir took offense. I never stated anything derogatory about any rural provider. If I had to choose, yes I would choose urban.

nremt b wrote:

but rather to determine where you are coming from with so many of your chest puffing comments about all of the things you do in an urban response setting.

Please list examples of things I stated that I could do, that was so out of the ordinary?

Then wrote:

All levels of responders save lives. All levels of responders from all sorts of response areas save lives.

I never stated this, nor do I believe any EMS provider saves lives. Do we play a part? Yes. We however one step in the chain of "saving a life."

Then wrote:

The fact remains that if you commit yourself as a volunteer first responder in a super rural setting or a Critical Care Paramedic in Washington, DC, we all do the same job and as you say we all ride around in the shiny truck with the flashing lights.

I never made a comment about any volunteers. I have actually defended them here in the past.

Then wrote:

Every system does the best they can with what they have and WHERE they are. Sorry everyplace doesn't have highrise hospitals and 5 minute response times.

I said anything contrary to that statement? No.

Then

You have insinuated through this entire thread that urban was superior to rural.

Oh I insinuated it. Maybe you insinuated it?

Then

Dude, youre only getting chopped cause you put your own head on the frigging block...over and over and over again. I know that this post will get me quoted and blasted apart by you (you have proven the delight you take in doing this)

Chopped, you were the only person on this thread that seem to have a problem with my statements. Maybe your assumption was off base.

Then

I now volunteer for a county service in northern Illinois

I have the utmost respect for volunteers, more then I have for most. Anyone who lays it on the line for free, deserves my respect. Again I never stated anything about volunteers. This conversation was about rural and urban EMS. You made it about volunteers.

You are very defensive, you have obviously mis-interpreted my posts. Considering you cant quote any of my comments to substantiate your beliefs.

And your buddy Dust has made his thoughts abundantly clear about his feeling towards volunteers, however you have no problem with that.

Maybe you crave the attention of the more senior members of this board, a few who have made some statements that you seem to have no problem with:

Dust wrote:

I ask them not to volunteer at all.

You didnt have a problem with that. Hmmmmmm.

Assyst wrote:

I live and work now in a very urban setting. A person who has work experience in an urban setting perhaps will have to make some adjustmants working in a rural setting, but believe me, give me someone from rural america and send them up into the projects to treat a woman who speaks Pashtun who is having an MI, that'll take a lot of getting used to.

Didn't have a problem, or felt the necessity to comment on that either.

I never made this conversation about rural vs. urban. The statement was made above, I responded to it. You have a problem with that, fine.

Or maybe you just choose to make statements that wont offend the in crowd. I however make statements I believe in, not whats tailored to what everyone else is stating. My being on this site is not to gain respect, friends, or confidants. Nor do my statements reflect that. I state what I believe,what I see, my opinions, or my experiences. if you have a problem with that, I am sorry.

However if you wanted to pick a fight with me, don't dance around the subject just ask.

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Look at the national standards of response time, there are more that have > 15-30 minute response times than one would ever suspect. It's not that too uncommon.

It would be impossible to staff and place units in areas that serve in counties with several hundred square miles. We too have a normal response time in some areas up to 30 - 40 minutes. That is the risks one decides to take when they choose to live in the rural areas. One cannot provide an EMS unit for a area that has an occasional call....

R/r 911

Hey it is not impossible!!!, my agency I work for is a County based 3rd service ALS transport service. We cover over 1,100 sq miles in Lee County with a response time of 9 minutes. We also have 2 helo's which have an average response time of 10 minutes anywhere in the county. We staff 30 ALS units 24/7 throughout the county. We also have 4 additional 12 hr trucks throughout the day. Most of our stations are housed with fire departments, but we also have 7 self standing EMS stations. It is not impossible to do this if you have an open mind to accomodate.

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But lee County probably has a bit bigger budget than the county I was describing. A rural, agricultural based county with a population small enough to support only one high school. I think county Pop is around 35-40K.

I am just surprised the VFD's in the county do not pick up some of the slack with ambulances. A first responder in a pov does not have all they need. In MVA is there a KED, backboard. IF it is inclement weather, no where to put pt for further assessment. Have a ambulance would help, I think. Maybe the county based EMS could provide ALS, which the response time would still be tremendous, or the county based system could stage units at VFD's throughout the county.

Sarge

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Yeah, the two counties I referred to have probably a combined population of 1/10th of Lee County or even less.

There is no way that a rural county with a population of 31000 or so could staff more than 2 ambulances maybe 3.

So the Lee County analogy is not really applicable in this case I don't think. Correct me if I'm wrong though.

our response times are averaging about 22 minutes to arrive on scene. Total call time over an hour unless we are in the city where we are based.

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