Siffaliss

Agreed.

Wiwi, an interesting point actually. Nobody ate there, but in all the death camp footage I've seen I've never seen a big-boned jew. People who eat too many twinkies don't want to blame themselves for eating too many twinkies. If you have an overweight or oversized bag, you are required to pay extra for your bag to be in the baggage compartment. Why shouldn't an oversized person have to pay more when sitting in the passenger compartment? I was searching for a story I thought I heard once regarding a discrimination lawsuit started by an overweight person on a flight who was told they would need to purchase a second seat. Can't seem to find it anywhere so not sure if I heard correctly. I can certainly see something like that coming to fruition if one who eats too many twinkies wants to blame their fatness on mental trauma, instead of that they just have really shitty eating habits ... Here is a related link, there are several out there so I wasn't going to post them all ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8471451.stm

By the sounds of the story, the obese man knew it was going to be uncomfortable for anyone sitting beside him. I do feel somewhat bad for him (yes, I do have feelings) however it is quite likely a situation he created for himself. Should the airline have only charged and reserved for him one seat? Hell no. He should pay for the space he's using. He's the size of two regular people, so should pay for two seats. How did the coffee carts even make it past this guy? Yeesh ...

Oh RumFiend, you know. I assume (yeah, I'm an ass) that he would be referring to our standing orders and capabilities. RN's cannot intubate, etc and need physician approval for pretty much everything. We can intubate, give narcs, suture, so on and so forth without having to see if Simon Says ...

Socioeconomic problems are everywhere, not just in non-white neighborhoods. Sure, statistically there is more crime in low income neighborhoods, however a knife to the body will hurt just as bad in a mansion as it would in a ghetto. I am color blind, and my job is to treat and go home at the end of each shift.

It sure is black and white, your partner was 100% correct. Who cares how serious the dispatch info is? Half the time it's wrong and even when it's right, it's not YOUR emergency. You won't change the world going into calls, but your world will change if you don't come out. Live to attend another one ...

Extra staff would be a luxury ...

A prediction is still just a guess. The busiest shift I can recall over the last 5 years was a weeknight with no special events or major concerts going on, and did not occur during a typical payday or welfare week. Extra staff? No sick call ins? Only happens on a stat holiday were we get paid extra but we still get run off our feet. Nature of the beast in a failing system.

Wow, are you ever an idiot. In an ideal system, there would be no sick call-ins or people off because of a work related injury. We'd be able to predict the amount of calls that would come in on any given shift, and be able to pull staff out of our ass to cover all of those calls without having to hold the less serious ones until a unit becomes available. If you really did work in this field you'd know that things can happen which are beyond our control, like call volume on any given shift, sick calls, people quitting, MCI's, etc. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. I know what my job is and don't need someone like you telling me what that is, thanks Wow ... YUP! Well said.

... and all the calls are determined to be BS after hx and vitals. The shelters are booming squint! And I'm not about to let my career come to an end over something which is later found to be BS.

That's the thing, there are so many BS calls in the city along with the occasional 'real' call. Resources 'per capita' if you will are just as stretched. Mind you, we have maybe 25 on the road and that's less than minimum staffing requirements. Still, a larger city with more units on the road does more bullshit. Anyhow, flamingemt ... what about the woman who bends down to pet a kitten while walking near her apartment at night; gets scratched by said kitten and phones 911 because she has no bandaids? That's bullshit. What about the chronic narcotic abuser who is new to the city, who 'heard from a friend' that calling 911 and telling the ambulance that their doc in another province said to call 911 if they ran out of morphine and that the ambulance would give them morphine? What about the ever helpful drive-by caller who phones 911 in the middle of summer for a person lying on a bench near a busy street, who doesn't have time to stop to see if this person is breathing? Only to have the ambulance get there for the typical drunk guy sleeping on a bench because he's homeless and has nowhere else to sleep? What about the person who phones 911 in the middle of the night living RIGHT BESIDE A DRUG STORE because they can't sleep and their Imovane isn't working? What about the 18 year old male who vomitted 2 days prior to calling the ambulance, who only called because their abdomen is still "just a little bit sore" from wretching? What about the person who calls 911 because the medication they were given is "working too well" and all their symptoms disappeared and they thought they should see a doctor about it? What about the girl who gets a flu shot, then phones 911 because her arm is a "little bit sore" the next day? No other side effects. Just a sore arm. I could go on for hours ... There certainly ARE bullshit calls out there. It's even more frustrating when you're sitting there on one of them hearing a cardiac arrest getting dispatched to a PRU (single member) because there are no units available. To deny that there are these types of calls is like denying one's shit doesn't stink.

Guess I'm a little late reading this one, it's been interesting. There is a duty to act while in the ambulance out and about, even if there's a patient in the back. Several times if I'm driving as opposed to attending I've come across an accident, so I will most certainly stop and ask if anyone is hurt or needs anything. I update dispatch saying either yay or nay for an ambulance or, fluids down send fire, or the po-po's, etc etc. Everyone has their off duty stories, so here's one. A couple of years ago while driving to my grama's for dinner (because I hate cooking and she does it so incredibly well), right in front of me I see a car/ped. The ped was an 11 year old girl, but regardless it was right in front of me. Couple cars from opposingly directional traffic stopped and were trying to pick this kid up as I was walking over. Her left foot was pointing over to the right, swelling to the left upper leg (oh, and pain++++) and they figured if they picked her up and put her in their car they could take her to hospital because "they would be there before the ambulance got here". So I'm shouting to leave her where she is, I had two level headed bystanders keep the rubber-neckers moving along while I waited for the incoming unit. I knew the crew, stayed holding c-spine until she was boarded, then went and had a wonderful German dinner. After texting the one crew member later on that night, it turned out the kid also a spinal fx although I cannot remember where, and she did end up making a full recovery several months later. Had those idiot bystanders picked her up and drove her, she could have been paralyzed. So in situations like that, sure I'll stop. There is no duty to act while off duty here as far as I know, and I don't even think there is a "Good Samaritan" law anymore. I have a box of gloves in my trunk, nothing more. If there is no crew yet on scene, no potential harm to me and it looks as though someone actually needs help, I can't really see myself not stopping for a few minutes. As soon as I'm not required anymore, I'm out.

My daughter is 18 years old, and I've told her I'm associated with the largest gang in the city. Every one of these gang members carry guns. Guns and badges. So she had better be careful about who she chooses

It's a province wide system here, not private. The only similarity is that they want us to do more for less, which always happens with government controlled businesses.

Squint Get that fish out of your mouth and put some rum in there instead. I was kidding. (P.S. - Watch MJ&S again)

... assuming people actually pay ambulance bills How about we go back to the days of F&B Ambulance, only 'millenium style'? Each ambulance could be outfitted with credit/debit card readers by each patient entrance and include the option of leaving a tip. No change provided with a cash payment. All drunks etc, people arguing for a specific hospital and criminals under arrest with a police escort in the ambulance pay an automatic surcharge. Heh ...

I have it on DVD. It's certainly not on crappy Canadian netflix ...

I find it interesting that you comment on how it is in a rural service when you've never worked in Calgary or Edmonton. Wages aren't NEARLY frozen, they ARE frozen for those in certain paysteps as both EMT's and paramedics. Certain staff have even had wages reduced. How you've described a night in the city pretty incorrect. Firstly, there are very few 12 hour shifts, most nights are typically 14 hours. Secondly, due to the fact that we are understaffed for the volume of calls that are coming in, most 14 hour night shifts average at least 8 or 9 calls now. My record to date is 12. Edmonton for instance is now #1 in the country for murder, and several violent crimes don't even make it into the paper. I don't think it's appropriate for you to know or understand what goes on when you've never worked in a city of a million. There's also the coverage of surrounding areas, all the burbs. All this without having the number of staff to appropriately cover the city itself. Crews are run ragged and several are leaving for greener pastures because of this. So please, don't patronize by pretending to know what goes on. Why didn't rural staff try and unionize before? Perhaps those of us who started small and still work small should have done that before. Then maybe we wouldn't have "scraped by". If 3 years ago you wanted to be paid more and realized it wasn't going to happen where you were, why didn't you make the move? And it's not that there's "equalization" going on. It's that they are preventing several from receiving raises until others catch up, which will likely take several years. How is this kind of "Robin Hood-ism" fair? We had what we had because we had a good union that fought for a lot longer than you or I have been in EMS, so that I could enjoy for a short while, the fruits of their years of hard work. Somehow the province made it legal for them as our employer to choose a union for us. Nobody got to vote on this. My point is, that some made the choice to leave smaller areas for better paying jobs. People frequently do this in several industries, not just ours. Not saying people should get paid for each call like piece work as a mechanic. It's inappropriate that others have been forced to sacrifice and not given a choice in the matter, and wait years despite rising cost of living for financial gain, just so others who knew how pay initially differed from area to area when they entered into the field here. Things do have to be more fair, like a greater difference in pay between an EMT and a paramedic and better pay for everyone. But not like this. And as for your post that was posted when I was posting my post ... Most medics in the city are very well educated, some are paramedic instructors and some are STARS flight medics both past and present, some do critical flights and transports with other services. There are critical care transports that go on every day, difference is a shorter transport time. Some are also RN's and RT's, and are better at longer term critical care than you or I will ever be. In fact, I've give you my next paycheque if you walk up to one of the STARS medics and tell them their critical care skills are shit. You appear to know it all so it shouldn't be an issue for you.

This is the only thing crotch ever said that I actually liked ...