Just Plain Ruff

Americans will not collectively buy anything more expensive regardless of where it's made at. If you have widget 1 for 39 cents And widget 2 for 1.30 they both do the same thing, they both have the same function. Which one are you going to buy? I'm gonna buy the 39 cent one. Hands down. The only thing I'll buy more expensive is electronics but that guarantees I'll be buying chinese products. to get rid of everything made in china is a unrealistic goal. I'll bet that 97% of all the items in your house have at least one component made from China. My numbers are strictly arbitrary though. I took stock and looked at what I had on my desk Dell laptop - parts from china Asus monitor - parts from china Dell keyboard - made in china Dell optiplex 320 - made in china (nearly completely made in china) Bayer Contour glucose meter - made in japan Samsung Galaxy S phone - made in Korea Samsung cell phone battery charger - made in Korea Computer desk - made in USA Sylvania fan - made in china ExtremeMac battery charger - made in china Belkin powerstrip - made in china envelopes and pens - made in china energizer batteries - made in USA My colleague John Elliott - made in America ME - Michael Ruff - made in america That's everything on my desk or near it. 8 items made in China. 5 items made somewhere else. Two humans made in USA Truly sad. If 1 or two of the above items made in china were made in the USA - then we'd have less of a trade deficit. But like I said, no one(collectively) will buy something more expensive over something less expensive with the same form and function.

Quadriplegic skydiver falls to death. A suspicious case of Jumpus interuptus. Quadriplegic skydiver dies

Yeah, check this video out. make sure you bring your black belt if you are a pimp.

Or Change artist, watercolor artist, oils artist, con artist and many more. But you can see he has not been back so I guess he refuses to continue his tirades.

Seriously, not knowing to turn on their stethoscopes???? Are they being deliberately stupid? They shouldn't be allowed to have that type of technology until they have proven they are out of the toddler stages.

Just how friendly was he in the end? (hint hint, nudge nudge, say no more!)

I'm not sure I want to get that up close and personal with that dog. The 2 nitro sprays right in front of him (10 inches away) dropped him like a stone.

Dang, that's the pot calling the kettle black. Like Wendy, if you insist on name calling then expect the same in return. And after the nasty reply he had to Wendy and others, I think he's just being deliberately stupid. He doesn't warrant even a valid look from here on out. Wendy, glad you reportedeth himeth.

Ok, my biggest mistake is this one About ayear out of medic school. Had a patiet in a paced rhythm but no pacer spikes visible on the lifepak 10. Gave 100 mgs of lidocaine and they nearly arrested. Was humbled in front of the physician at the ER. One more - I didn't have to learn this lesson but I saw it in action and it nearly cost me my job. Take responsibility for a mistake. Three man crew. 2 medics in back for a eclamptic patient. She starts to seize. I pull the narc box out per the medics orders. I open it for him. He then proceeds to give what at the time was Valium 5mg. She eventually stops seizing and we arrive at the ER. Go in the ER, give report and return to the ambulance. EMT says "Why did you guys give her morphine?" I said we didn't. Medic who gave the med looks at the syringe and goes white. I imagine I'm white as a ghost too. Medic says "Let's get out of here, I'll take care of it later" I went NO FREAKING WAY, that's a med error and we need to report it. He refuses says I gave him the wrong syringe. I tell him he's full of crap. I walk into the ER, find the doctor and explain what happened. The doc says "no wonder she has pinpoint pupils". I return to the ambulance and the medic is way pissed. Silent treatment all the way back to the city. I request a meeting with the supervisor. WE meet up at headquarters and my medic partner blames it on me. The supervisor asks who pushed the med and the other medic said that he did push it. So into separate rooms we go, one supervisor for the medic in question and one for me. Our stories don't match. In the end, the physician called the station and said that they had a honest medic on staff (ME) and that the patient suffered no long lasting effects from the error. The Emt said that the other medic just was going to "fix it" and that really sealed that medics fate on this incident. The other medic was removed from duty and ended up getting fired for something else that I cannot remember. We never worked together again and he never talked to me again. Not a very big loss if you ask me but had I not have stood up and took responsibility for my part and the other medic refusing to take responsibility for his part, it could have ended up very differnetly. Always take responsibility for what you do, your integrity is very easy to lose and nearly impossible to get back. So personal responsibility is not taught much at all.

Two quick sprays of Nitro dropped the dog in about 5 seconds. I did hear from the cops that the dog did come around, not sure of long term issues but it was truly a matter of time on that call before the dog attacked. The cops said that animal control had several instances of getting called out to this house regarding a vicious dog. LIttle did we know of that fact during our call. But I don't recommend doing this on any dog smaller than 50 or so pounds, not sure of the survivability of that size dog. But I'd rather use nitro on a dog than try to corral it into a room that he didn't want to go into. At the time it was the only thing I could think of to keep safe. I'm sure glad it worked out for us though. I've been bitten by dogs on scene before and it sucks. That just happened in florida the other day. End stage cancer victim, was at one time the coach of the team and his son was on the team. The crew asked what they could do for him and he said "take me to a ballgame to see my son" The ems crew did (from AMR) and they surprised the son. The son even hit a home run. The son and father say it was the best day they ever had. Those stories always get me choked up.

Dwayne, you aren't the only one who started an IO on a diabetic coma. Been there did that, last resort too. (big history behind this patient) relocated a dislocated knee with 0 peripheral perfusion and no pedal pulses. We were out in the woods with a 25 minute walk/carry to the ambulance inadvertantly relocated a dislocated pinkie finger when I checked cap refill. Did many long distance transfers where the person would not have eaten for 2 hours prior to transfer and then the 6 hour drive. I fed them many times. AK you are a man among men. Was on a call where they did a field amputation, I was working the other patietn in the other car. nitro'd a vicious dog who kept snapping at us as we worked his owner.

These are great responses. Keep em coming. Some of the responses have hit me between the eyes and made me realize I need to broaden my search out to county and state officials. This just became a year long project and the CE article is no where even close to being started. This should be fun. Now just where can I find a place on my calendar what with travelling for work, working, family time, teaching my son the drums, the 5K training, the pregnancy and all the doctor appointments, my 3rd grade sunday school lessons to put together, the book that my son and I are writing (chapter 3 already), playing with my daughter, and my time with God. Just where can I find the time? I will just have to make the time.

Actually the numbers I gave are pretty accurate as I have friends that work in both systems and they said that was an average of calls for each system. They don't have true exact figures because those are held in the dispatch statistics system which only management seems to have access to at least in Independence MO. The henry county call volume is based on a friends recollection over lunch and my recollection from when I worked there a little over 2 years ago. At that time the average daily call volume for each of the 2 services that covered the county was 7-8 for the largest service and 3-5 for the smallest service. so the numbers, while statistically not as exact as i'd like them to be, are in fact pretty close to accurate.

Aside from the population aspect, why do you think EMS calls are higher in urban areas. What I'm trying to say is that if Rural people don't call 911 unless absolutely necessary then what makes urban callers different? Are they more apt to call 911 because they are more accustomed to having things their way or getting what they want or is the rural population more self sufficient? Is it the way they were brought up, In the rural areas, people tend to do things themselves and deal with issues that come up with a "I can fix that" attitude. Do those in urban areas not have that attitude. Do those in urban areas expect for things to be given to them or fixed for them? I'm just not sure. There really is a method to this post, I'm beginning to write a CE article on a similar topic and this along with your opinions are going to help shape that article. No-one will be directly quoted. I have many other friends aside from EMT City that I'm planning on tapping for their opinions also. It will be a peer reviewed article so people better than me will have their chance to give an up or down vote on the article I write.

Oh Richard, the voices are alive and well in my head. Who do you think put me up to the rural versus urban thread today? It was the voices I say man, voices in my head. I'm glad though that your voices don't talk to me though. I think my voices would get territorial.

It's the voices in your head Richard, telling you to run towards the light, but alas, the light you are running towards is in the subway tunnel, and the light is accompanied by the tell tale whisper of a subway horn.

ok, was doing some thinking last night. I know thats a dangerous thing. Rural service covers 700 square miles - runs about 8 calls a day Urban service covers square miles - runs 75 or so calls a day Aside from population of the rural area versus the urban area what are the factors that drive the number of ambulance calls? Surely the same kind of calls only a smaller amount occur in the rural area so I'm asking Why do urban services have such a difference in ems runs? What do you feel are the factors causing such a huge difference in ems calls. consider rural Henry county Missouri(732 square miles) - population about 25000(approximately)and Independence MO with a population of 121,000(80 Square miles). Daily call volume of Henry county - approximately 12 per day Daily call volume of Independence - approximately 75 What drives the discrepancies? Opinions are allowed here as well as facts. See what happens when I begin to think? Now on to the debt ceiling crisis.

Anytime a hospital closes is a bad thing for the community. Eventually you won't even notice that this or that hospital closed. This happened in KC MO when Trinity Lutheran hospital closed it's doors. The community outrage was huge but in the end the hospital closed. We in the ambulance biz, were dismayed that one of our favorite ER's was closing but you know what, over the following year it was like Trinity never existed. Transport times were indeed a little longer but you move on and deal with it. I have a feelign that will be what happens with Penninsula but I could be wrong. Sure your transport times and turnaround times will take longer but after a year or two it will even itself out and I'll bet in that time period you will look back and say, this really wasn't a bad idea. Patients will still get the care they need, You will still provide the best care you can but in a longer time frame and like I said, sometime in the future you will look back and say "It really didn't make a huge difference in the long run" I worked in a county with one hospital that covered about 45000 people. Our hospital was also the closest hospital to another county with 25000 people and the surrounding areas and counties we said that our patient base was nearly 100K. Transport times were 5 minutes in the town the hospital was located at, all the way to an hour if we were way out in the county or even into the other county. We worked with two ambulances to cover that area. Our call volume was about 12 calls a day over 2 shifts. Not that busy. But we dealt with 1 hospital and I'm betting that after a while, you'll be doing fine with one hospital also.

I'm driving into Orlando to the Embassy Suites near the Airport. I'm sick of hotels and want to go out to dinner. If anyone in Orlando has some free time and wants to get together PM me and we can make arrangements. I stay in hotels 250 nights a year and rarely get to go out with others to dinner. My flight is at 6am tomorrow so I'll need to get in early. but something out is much better than staying in watching television or working on my computer. PM ME

I sweetened the gift for him. As long as he sends me his address I can send him something extra to give her. I found a couple of additional books in my storage.

unless of course you work in that ER and are hospital based but I'm not sure that that applies to the OP. But seriously, the hospital should have had enough help but I know that I have worked in areas where the hospitals have a nurse and a doctor on duty and if they are lucky they have a nursing supervisor. I worked in a county service where we would be routinely called to the ER to help out. We basically ran the codes because the nurse and doctor didn't expect these types of patients and when they got them they sort of froze so we'd get calls on the phone from the hospital (it's a psych hospital with a Emergency room - think urgent care) to come over and "give em a hand". i cannot count the number of codes that I got called on over there.

That's the reason why I had the contest. Getting rid of a bunch of things.

Yeah, sorry bout that. But you could have put a list together and sent it to me, at least you would have been one of those who got a prize. I guess this is the perfect time to kill the messenger. ha ha

Mike, I realized after posting the I meant to add the off duty part. If the guy was indeed off-duty then the excuse is still not a good one but the better excuse would have been "I'm off duty and heading home" The guy was dead, would having a couple of fresh hands have made any difference? NOPE - a dead guy was transported to the ED and they worked him forever it seems if the OP was getting exhausted. Sounds like someone should have said "no transport" to begin with, unless they are required to work in the dark ages and transport all arrests that are started(behind the times if you ask me) No worries Grasshopper, I'll bet that you will get over the drop everything attitude eventually.

Not having gloves was a Crappy excuse what with the number of glove boxes in the room. So if he doesn't have any gloves on him when he gets to the scene does he refuse to work the patient without the gloves. He just didn't want to do CPR and that is a pussy of an excuse. I hate these types of lazy medics.