a_shane2_go

Edmonton, Calgary, Ft McLeod, Slave Lake to my knowledge. Basically anywhere there's a supervisor with AHS.

Its a little late but welcome back brother, good to hear from you! I am starting to feel "it" after almost a decade in the business and can only imagine how you are feeling and what you are going through, keep busy man. Know that I'm pulling for you and thank you personally for your contribution to our profession and all of your years of service.

It's sad that those who work for AHSEMS have to worry what they say in public forum's on the internet. Freedom of speech? Nope you work for AHS. We might as well become communists, at least the government will officially have the right to control of our lives. AHSEMS = Waste of my Tax dollars. (oh and a big contributor to the Alberta's $4,000,000,000 deficient this year.) Hey Redford here's one. PATIENT CARE. Thats why i do what i do not for money, two pension plans, bonuses, or power. They only control you if you let them.

To add to Hell's Bell's info AHS just updated their policy. He is right with having to give 4 days availability, and you must work a min of 2 shifts a month to maintain casual status. (It used to be 2-4 shifts every 3 months.) Although the pay is good, they do not look after their employee's. Good luck getting accomidation if you hurt yourself. Also if you are casual and not in the two big cities you are palced into shift bidding slots for the whole zone. So you can be expected to commute 50km-300km for one 24 hour shift. (ON YOUR OWN DIME and cannot choose where you go.) Unless its in the north of the province, where they have a seperate agreement to get KM's paid. "We are one" when it saves them money. Personally I am not working for them Full Time because of how badly they provided service to my home town and how they screwed my wife over after she hurt herself at work. Also because of my morals and ethics I cannot stand predatory management and liar's.

I personally know of 4 people who have left BC to come to AB. And thats just for better work conditions/ pay. Oh and 1 of those to take their EMT-P (ACP) But its a step in the right direction! Keep them local and hopefully increase the ALS coverage in BC. ALS has been around since the 70's, eh.

I teach a JIBC/EMR blended model here in Alberta. (Just throw out the BC related things.) And its basically the same curriculum. But as already posted, it should just be a simple fact of taking the equivency exams. www.albertacollegeofparamedics.org Good Luck!

Always seems to be the case. Sometimes the real hero's are those that choose to do something and extend that Defib time so us paid professionals can do something about it. I'd vote for him!

Just to remind you guys that your "nameless employer" does not tell you that if you are in anyway disiplined etc in Alberta for trying to use your right to refuse unsafe work via OH and S. It is a $500,000 fine! Remind them of this next time they try and push you farther. I was young and dumb once. And had a 42 hour day and put on 1800km/s with a 20 min nap in that span.(private ambulance service) BE SAFE i've spinal'd and coded too many of our own in the north. Oh and to stay in-line with the thread. We have a micky mouse rural ER in town, but its two and a half hours to a Level I,II or III.

In high school i drove my parents 1990 Chev Suburban, house on wheels! 2003 Ford Ranger FX4 4x4 2010 Dodge Caliber auto CVT (HORRIBLE FUEL ECONOMY FOR A 4 banger!) 2011 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 (20% more fuel for 400% more vehicle!) I've also owned a 03' Kawasaki z750s, did 110km/hr in first gear! (It had 6.)

I have to agree. I want to vote Raj just for a change in AHS... but liberals? I think your right Hells. Minority.

My wife who was an EMT also has a severe career ending back injury. Talk to your doctor about Lyrica. It'll help you sleep and its NOT a benzo. Its 99.9%^kidney (although not recommended you can have some ETOH without killing your liver.) It helps with neuropathic pain, depending on the cause of it. Be careful with dosing, start small.

Here in Alberta we just had our distracted law put into effect this year. In rural AB with long transport times texting still happens. Pisses me off. We are exempt for calls if they are directly EMS related.... the public doesnt know it and always gives us a sour look. Its getting better. I just hope it gets A LOT better before someone gets hurt, or they put camera's into our units.

Ironic... I dont support either of these candidates. But they show up on my screen anyways?! Attached is the print screen to explain... lol

Better to get it in the courts, then to just sit on your hands.... squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Good Job Sask! Hope their wages increase as well! We're spoiled in AB.

This is the first I've heard of Tammy's "vacation" (pun intended.) But I can say i'll be voting for Raj, although I did help vote the current AB goverment in last time around... So hopefully i'll help vote it out!

dumb question before i contact ACP. New protocols state EMT/EMT-P for transport less then 30 minutes use nitro PATCH.... (For AMI or ACS not sure which one) is this in the scope of practice of an EMT-A in alberta? I never learned about patch dosing etc in my BLS class 5 years ago.

If i wasn't so stuck in my Medivac ways and finishing up medic I'd think about it but I'd be going on to Lethbridge first, St. Albert is a close 2nd. Know someone on practicum there now, likes the service and whenever i run into the St. Albert guys they seems like a good bunch. And u gotta love the 3 man cars!

Its 1 part ass kissing and 1 part respect. Just don't do too much of either. And yes, ask questions!

All i know is i got about half way through the new protocols then bam. Restart year II medic school... and everything came to a hault I actually tried out our CPAP masks to see how invasive it is... not at all. If they can take a NRB they can take CPAP. They are asking our input in for the air ambulance protocols. What differences we need etc. They are being very responsive to us so far with the AA program. I'm impressed

Just overviewing the new protocols for the province of Alberta. Any comment from any Alberta Medics, EMT's or EMR's? Yay ketamine! For those of you outside of Alberta. As of Dec. 1 this year the province is planning on having province wide (AHS) protocols in place.

It was the crew at fault. Although they slowed down a bit for the intersection they did not stop, or slow down enough to see the on coming traffic. They had cars on their passenger side, and so did the car that hit them. THE worst situation at a 4 way you can ask for. Whenever I’m in the city responding lights and I’m in this situation I slow down to near stop to avoid this. Here in Alberta we as drivers are held accountable. And in our traffic laws it states ambulance operators may violate traffic laws only "When it is safe to do so." Get hit, it wasn't safe. So here we CYA with driving. We're held accountable.

I hear you. We have a deer decal on the side of our King Air 200. Scratch one deer. I wasn't on the flight but its a hazard for sure. All the airports i go into are fenced since the incident. We're not the only medivac plane that's hit one in AB. So our strip and one in the NE that are rural strips are fenced. As for the grass landing strips, doubt there's money for it there... Just remember a new engine for a king air 200 is a million (CAN)... MEEP (so i've been told) "Dispatch we have a problem.... bring a bbq! STAT! "

Good to hear they are standing up to Private service. There are some really good private air services in Alberta... others on the otherhand. Just a reminder that they are most likely like the other fixed wing services before 12 hour medic shifts. They pilots time out at 14 hours, yes. But they have 2 tweleve hour crews that rotate while the same EMS crew staffs it if they go into 24 hours of work... 36 hours.... etc.

Do you know what I think of this new dispatch system? *GAG ORDER* ..... "Joe McWilliams Lakeside Leader According to Slave Lake town councillor Rob Irwin, the level of ambulance service being provided in Slave Lake has taken a big hit since the province took over the management of the service last year. Irwin vented his dismay for the record at council’s Jan. 19 meeting.“The province promised the service would not decline,” he said.“I’m hearing we’ve gone from eight paramedics to two.”The result of that, Irwin asserted, is that 90 per cent of the calls the ambulance service responds to do not have the ALS (advanced life support) rating, but are of the basic life support (BLS) category. The percentage had been the reverse previously,he said. Irwin said he’s also hearing that response times are slower than previously. The circumstance has arisen, he said, in which the nearest ambulance to Slave Lake was an hour-and-a-half away in High Prairie! “Not only that,” Irwin continued. “Equipment,some of which was locally fundraised for, including ambulances,has left town.“It’s a shocking and horrible situation,” Irwin said, not mincing words in the least. “The service has been decimated since the takeover by the province.”The impression is apparently not an isolated one. Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee said it was brought up by other communities at an Alberta Urban Municipalities meeting, with provincial health officials in attendance. Please see Page 3" http://www.lakesideleader.com/2010/100127/week4.pdf