Chief1C

Normally, I feel very strongly about the use of SCBA in structure fires b/c of inhalation of CO, Cyanide and other toxins. However, in this case.

I'm not feeling all that great - heat + reactive hypoglycemia = depressing way to go through my favorite season. In all honesty.. I'm agnostic, questionable. Being in a rural area, I spend a lot of time looking at my patients, or holding hands waiting to see what happens next. I've worked on hundreds of folks that I grew up with, known all my life. I've done a lot of praying that this man that was like a dad to me would just be the one patient who we'd resuscitate, or this priest wouldn't die on me. That leaves a lot of time for a person to wonder about God, Heaven and Hell, and what prayer is really about. I mean, yeah, in a sense, talking out your problems, or the trials of my day makes me feel better. Even if I'm just talking to myself, in prayer that is, but as to who I'm praying to, I don't know. I was thinking about dabbling in the God of Sun, you know, since that's probably what will kill us all, if North Korea doesn't first. I was being facetious on the latter part of that sentence. I fear what lies beyond life, I was raised in a Roman Catholic house, I went to church, I've read the bible.. I own a 150y/o bible, but any more, the only comfort I find in it, is the smell of my great grandmother's perfume which had been spilled on it. I also don't want to know why we exist, or what our purpose is. I'm comfortable with believing that, if there wasn't some distinct, even unknown purpose for each of us, we'd just die off. I don't want to be embalmed, or boxed up.. Nor do I want to be cut up for science. Dump me in the woods, and let nature take it's course. Seriously. Like the body farm thing for science. If I knew I was going to die, I'd probably donate everything to a charity to auction off, travel to someplace I've always wanted to go, and wander into my own demise.. like the wilderness.

You can give me all of your money, but you'll have to deliver it in small, unmarked bills.

Two time zones, maybe?

Who's Online: 0 Maybe that's why you can't see it.

Take some classroom based Con-Ed courses.

Clearly, a person who is in too much of a hurry. I appreciate the reasoning of the spelling of Bambulance. But the user failed to spell ambulance properly. Just sayin'.

Well, I certainly hope they knew the number to alert dispatch that an ambulance was needed.

Put a "dry hydrant" in each pond and it will cut down big on your homeowner's insurance.

Sweatshop Media? Seriously?

One could always sit with the patient, calm, reassure, and give the stare of life...while waiting for the ambulance that they didn't have, to arrive. Just sayin'.

Penna. requires you be currently certified, and have a chief officer from a station which you actively serve, sign the form, in order to get a plate. Once you are not active, it has to be turned in. They aren't vanity for the general public, the same with the fire plates, the money goes to the DOT. But various organizations have their own plates.

PA doesn't require NREMTB, so that doesn't affect the course at all. In fact, we were given forms in case we wanted NR, and would have had to travel to Indianapolis just to test.

The requirement is that you be 16 years of age to take the written test, and have a pulse. A parent has to sign the application as well. You are a full fledged EMT, once the course is passed. However, you are restricted by law to be with another person of equal or higher training, that is age 18 years of age or more, in order to treat a patient. That is an assumed regulation, and nothing changes when you turn 18. That's not to say that you can't arrive upon a victim, and not care for them. I would encourage it, in some cases you can get college credits. It helps to build a foundation for roles in leadership, responsibility and self confidence. Just make sure you use it like an extra curricular activity, and put your main focus on your high school education. I'm a big supporter of youth programs, even if I'm outspoken.

PA has that, well, not any more, but from the 70's/80's. Different EMT certifications. Some were trained for working in ER's.. some for ambulances. My white coveralls have an EMT-Ambulance patch for PA.

I think the copyright expired on the Star of Life, b/c they all used to have a trademark registration attached. Hell, even our patches had it, but now they don't. I read that somewhere.

Oh, the folks that do stupid stuff and get hurt, they get fined. People who fall off water falls, or amateur ice climbers - those operations can take in upward of 15 hours, people who disregard signs and walk difficult or extreme trails in sandals or sneakers... They all get fined. But someone who is prepared, doing it right, and just has an accident.. They get billed if we can use the RTV. We don't always have to, there's a tire that mounts to the stokes called the Anderson Wheel, it makes carry-outs so much easier, but it can't always be used on the "difficult" trails. Simply, if it's your fault, and could have been prevented, the rangers on the command end will probably issue a fine. We don't see any of that, but it does go into the SAR fund for that district. It also provides funding for education of the public. The last ice climbing accident, where it wasn't a professional climber, it took nearly 18 hours. You're walking in, on ice, you're walking out.. on ice. This is the one where the National Guard refused to help. They weren't prepared for being in the wilderness, or climbing vertical, rugged ice. People got hurt, our people, crampons can only do so much on perfectly forms, lumps of ice. Hundreds of feet of ropes, dozens of haul systems, dozens of people from agencies all over the state were involved. People were mad that we were charging them, criminally, they ignored posted legal signs, charged with huge fines. Sometimes, that's the only way to "educate" others from making the same mistakes.

I've been on dozens of rescue missions, and quite a few extended operation search missions. We don't charge for searches, but we do charge for rescues. Rope and Technical Rescue equipment, and rugged terrain vehicles take a lot of wear and tear on every single rescue. We cover tens of thousands of acres of park and game land, in a four county area. Not many folks are willing to be involved in such efforts, once they realize the scope of each operation. SAR is a very expensive operation, nothing is cheap. We have very high standards, b/c so much can go wrong. What few courses exist to make people competent field team members and leaders, are the basic courses. Long, costly, and extensive, but very good classes. In the woods, only experience differs one from the next. PA has a budget issue, state parks around here can't afford to fund SAR efforts anymore. Very few grant opportunities exist, for SAR. No matter who sends personnel, state wide task forces, paid fire departments, volunteers, county groups, nobody is being compensated, no matter how long it takes. We provide for our own equipment usually, the pack I carry on searches cost me over $800. I bought all of my own gear, boots, clothing, helmet, etc. The only fee, is for use of our ambulance's RTV (Rugged Terrain Vehicle), which has a device to hold a stokes, or extinguish wild fires. So, we charge the rescue and extrication fee from our service agreement, for use of that unit. But everything else is 'eaten cost', if we lose rope, or equipment, it's a loss, we can try to have insurance pay for it, but that's unlikely. If we get any of that billed fee either paid by the person, or reimbursed by insurance, it's used to offset costs of education and equipment, to improve our services. SAR is something you have to WANT to do, put your whole heart and body into it, and it's expensive as hell, but it's one of those things, where the only way to do it, is the right way, can't do it halfhearted. Helicopters are our biggest issue. We've asked the PA National Guard to do Lift-Outs. They won't. They ask first, who's going to pay? We can't, the parks or game commission can't, they're broke; the county's are broke. Medical helicopters can't lift around here, but they're always glad to offer their search lights, at no charge.. or their Infrared, state police too. But again, neither can lift out.

You don't have to work for a fire department, there are plenty of ambulance services that operate solely. If it's something that you want to do with your life, do it.

Everything closes at sundown here, all year. So, if the sun goes down at 5pm, everything closes at 5pm. At 2am, only a gas station is open. The only one in 80 miles of highway.

http://www.noob.us/humor/full-interview-with-the-i-like-turtles-kid/ He's not "special". I was wrong.

Put some deodorant on Spleen, it has to be you.

I could probably harvest honey from the vents on the soffit. Not many lady bugs, of course I haven't gone up to the 4th floor in a few months. Bottled CO2 and a shop vac works good, then seal up openings. How do you know where it's open? Cake pan and a red smoke bomb from an army surplus store. Put water in the cake pan, and put the smoke bomb in it.. go outside & take pics. Insist your neighbors NOT call 9-1-1.

So some of them are being allowed to keep their fake certs? I want my fake medical license.