Chief1C

I've called the vet to report my cat to be ill, she used to get kidney infections from our water. But that was fixed with an uber-filter.. However, I still call now and then when I need an antibiotic. I can go to my doctor, pay $90 co-pay, and then $15 for the Rx, which is usually a liquid b/c in years past I wouldn't swallow pills. Or.. I can call and say the cat is sick, and get the same Rx, for $4. Yeah, it's wrong. But I ain't rich, and I don't like to pay someone that much, to tell me something I already know. ...and they don't phone in prescriptions anymore.

IAFF. I Ain't Fundin' Firefightin'... So lets get an Ambulance to do it.

I'm a fireman in town, but I would die before I would call upon our EMS. I will do everything in my power, to get across the tracks, per se, into another coverage. Same with the municipal service down the highway. I joke, if I wreck in their coverage, the first place I'm gonna call is a wrecker service. So I can be towed into someone else's coverage area to be extricated. There are just some folks that you know are too incompetent, wreckless or ignorant to take care of you or a family member. I'd take the fine, fight it in court, then file a law suit; before I'd let someone tell me who was going to care for me. But if I call 9-1-1, which I wouldn't do for myself, but that's not a variety number. You get what you're supposed to get, that's how it works.

I knew I'd seen that name before. I read a cultural inventory, as we called it for a book I co-authored, or an oral history, by Walter Brown. He interviewed Mr. Rike, who was a driver for O'Neal Ambulance. The greatest impacts, were by those who ran calls before EMS existed. Their gift to us, was EMS, now it's our job to make it better for our grandchildren. Actually, the O'Neal car had oxygen, and a radio, so by 1963 standards, they were already ahead of many ambulance operators. In a city especially, with liveries full of ambulances, the name of the game was speed and money. This was right around the time where focus was starting to get put on improvements in care on scene, and later, enroute to the hospital. As you can tell, size and equipment, not much care was done enroute.

I'd sooner trust either a full time ER Doctor or Nurse, than just someone who has an MD behind their name.

In all honesty, I'd sooner go to the town Vet, than my personal physician. The town doctor. Not your typical small town doctor. He should either be deported or committed, does NOT do well in an emergency.

See the film "World's Greatest Dad". It's a mentally sick, imo, flick that has a little to do with this subject.

Sue a dentist for conscious pain and suffering while he walks toward you with a needle? Sue Rescue-EMS for the pain you suffered before you were extricated from the car? Sue EMS for the pain, while waiting for them to be dispatched? Why not.

No... When you call 9-1-1, you should get the nearest available unit. If you don't want municipal, call private on seven digit land line. Maybe it should say something to the municipal. Everyone would rather call this other place, than yours. Perhaps you're doing something wrong?

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=nflDcYJkHuQ

Moving air good? Got good color and crying, so she's breathing. Look, if you can't see it.. Assess and Transport w/o ***ing w/ it. Suggest cutting the grapes in half next time.. or quartered. IMO, any pediatric patient w/ airway obstruction of any degree, out by the time you arrive, or moved down farther, warrants an ER visit. Since the top killer of kids is airway troubles. It can be a typical call, had a good number. Balloon, Tootsie Pop, GI Joe Gun, Peas, a stick, and a few "possibly swallowed ______". A dog caught in a fence, reported as baby choking.

Don't buy him a hooker. (google that)

About the only nice thing, of having it all under one roof, is an unlimited supply of manpower. The bad part, the ambulance people are always around. So, when there's a fire dept. fundraiser, who does all the work? The ambulance people, who doesn't prosper from it??? The ambulance people. What pays all the bills? The ambulance. Who brings in more money? The ambulance. Ohhhh that's why they want the ambulance.

Sounds like something our Sheriff would do. They have very few duties related to what you'd expect from a Sheriff.

I should add.. As I was criticised by a user after sharing a call with a friend. Why do I feel sad, if I said death didn't bother me. There is a difference, in my mind, between being mentally put off by a call; and feeling badly for the victim/family. I think, morally, and professionally, there is something wrong with you, if you hop out of the ambulance, in front of the family, and every in the back is smiling and laughing, while the patient lays there dead. Most of the people I transport, are folks I've known all my life, see every day, know by face, by name, maybe I'm related to them. I couldn't do this, if treating each of them, left me emotionally scarred. I've had a few that left me awake at night, over the past eleven years.. But I also couldn't do it, if I felt nothing of their loss.

I used that thing with an Elder valve and a NuMask. Expensive, but mine was free. All I do is write to them, not email, or call, and ask for information and/or a product sample package... and I get it. Patient still died, but their color improved greatly. Though, it was just as good with the Elder and NuMask, since it forms a perfect seal, I could use my other hand to catch the CPR do-er and slap the wall repeatedly and yell "easy on the brakes (name) we got people standing up back here" Elder Valve, is an oxygen powered resuscitator, with a low volume pressure, that vents when it meets resistance. When we tested them to determine if it would be useful, it had the same results as two people operating a BVM. One keeping a seal, one squeezing the bag. The pros are; you can make a better seal, since your hands are over one another, less oxygen is wasted into the surrounding air, and it has a filter. Cons, it needs oxygen to run, and if you're low, it won't work, also expensive as it's 2009 demand technology.

Great, take away their condoms, we need more pregnant 14 year old's. I think the lack of pregnant teenagers in our rural school district, was because of a massive bowl of condoms in the nurses office. In rural areas, you often see more pregnant teens, just because there's nothing to keep bored teens busy. Only knew one that was pregnant in my senior year, but I knew eleven that had under-age DUI's. Now if they pressed for keeping better control of alcohol, that I would support. Screw religious feelings, control the goddamn population.

Shelling out cash, esp in rural areas, means taxing us all to death. It all depends on the population, the local economy, etc.. Then again, not every town needs an ambulance. I feel that every little dot on a map having one, is over kill. The answer isn't always consolidation, there is no answer in my opinion. There is always room for failure, whether because of a lack of planning, or running out of plans. If it were up to the municipality, there would be an ambulance somewhere, but they wouldn't be paying for it. In most US states, a municipal governing body is responsible to make sure every citizen has access to two things. Fire and Police. A contract for fire and police, they don't have to have a fire truck and a cop, they just need to have one on hand, somewhere. Ambulances, are not considered essential services. That may be one of the reasons, you don't see more paid services, in rural areas.

In the case of Penna., you can use this website, to keep track of your con-ed. It features a full transcript, different from the LMS, it tracks all of your con-ed. Perhaps other states have something similar? Though, I find it's best to keep a file folder of certificates or class records, just in case.

Generally, I find myself not to be "bothered" deeply by non-gruesome, non-violent, non-traumatic deaths. It's part of life, people die, perhaps you've accepted that. If you're feeling badly, because you think that you should feel something, then talk to someone.

That's hilarious!

Speaking as having served in both career, in the beginning, and then mostly voluntary, I've never met anyone either working in or volunteering in EMS, that didn't have a passion for it. Sure, some are a little more into doing their personal best, but they all had a strong passion for it. As far as education, EMT's and First Responders. The highest being EMT, even when I was paid, the training is the same. Either way, you're the taking the same class, the same Con-Ed. However, I had more time with the patient, as a volunteer, because my primary function as a career EMT, was to drive. As far as who to thank for EMS as we know it. It could be a lot worse. Funeral Directors and Private Services, Fire Departments, Resuscitator Squads, Volunteers, Corpsmen and Combat Medics, Military Doctors and Nurses on battlefields all around the world, Rotary, Lions, KoC, Boy Scouts, all sorts of tiny organizations and big clubs in small towns and the suburbs of America; General Store owners at cross roads in the Canadian Wilderness and the American West alike... all could be thanked for EMS Developing to what we now know. Yeah, it's all behind. I've been so frustrated with it sometimes. I wish every officer in charge of an EMS organization, had an education is management of a business. Wow.. I had more to say, but my allergy pills have me feeling like I'm hanging upside down... So... anyhoo.

Either way, he's going to die. Maybe they can pre-dose him with epinephrine and benadryl?

Perhaps, the SVA movement would be better suited, doing what people in, near or from NJ do best. Develop a consulting firm, to aid services, squads, et al, in forming a plan of action, in order to became paid services. Where possible that is, and where paid services wouldn't be economical, develop a plan to condolidate multiple services into one large service. That would seem like a better idea, than harassment, suggesting damage and assault upon, and terrorizing, the volunteers.

Seriously? Are you bored?