Leaderboard

Why dont we take all the lights and sirens off all the ambulances and just drive with the flow of traffic. I realize that there are some situations where you are in grid lock and lights and a siren might help but generally I have found gridlock is grid lock. More often than not the call we are dispatched to is not time critical such as a sprained ankle or a sick call or even in the case of an MI or CVA. It has been proven time and time again that driving with Lights and Sirens is not that big of a time savings over planning a smart route to the patient avoiding known traffic delays and in the late evening or early morning hours there is virtually no time saving. Does it really matter if we get there 30 seconds or a minute earlier? Just because we wont have lights and sirens does not mean on the odd occasion we need to clear traffic we cant have a police escort. Now lets think of the cost savings on and ambulance with no emergency lights inverters power packs and dual alternators or on board power management computers and in addition how the ambulance insurance costs would go down. Maybe with these cost savings we could add additional ambulances to cover the area that would cut down response time even further? Lastly, having not just suffered a harrowing ride screaming through the streets at the hand of another would we be calmer and think more clearly on the call and in turn more accurately diagnose and treat the patient? I think its worth a try.....

http://daveberta.ca/2010/11/raj-sherman-rocks-the-establishment-with-emergency-room-email/ Dr. Raj Sherman rocks the establishment with his blunt emergency room email. Reproduced with permission. cheers. BRAVO MY NEW HERO DR. RAJ SHERMAN whom I have had the pleasure of working with and hope to more. Next if this thread is followed ... I will post MY letter to Raj "someone is going to get hurt REAL BAD" Instead of walking away .... http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Sherman+renews+support+Stelmach+government/3850987/story.html

A young man received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. The man tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to 'clean up' the bird's vocabulary. Finally, the man had had enough and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. The man shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even more rude. The man, in desperation, threw up his hand, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, the man quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto the man’s outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior." The man was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird spoke-up, very softly, "May I ask what the turkey did?" HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Well it's about time that someone WITHIN the government stood up and hollered about this problem! I was aware of the letter that Dr Paul Park sent a few weeks ago (he is the head of the ER in the Hat, and I work with him regularly). The letter he sent was circulated throughout the hospital. He spared no polite words to say how disappointed he was with the current government and AHS' handling of ER wait times. Dr. Raj Sherman is my new hero for being as vocal as he is (and it helps that he is a Russell Peters fan - that guy is hysterical!) Squint - remember the Dr. Oberg era? Now ther is someone who, if at all possible, did less than nothing for health services in Alberta. My favorite quote from him was "I had no idea that Ralph KLein had a drinking problem..." enough said..

Call 9-1-1