Just Plain Ruff

Hey, I know you will keep me honest. That is the reason I will put a disclaimer on the future post saying that the quotes I have gathered I believe to be actually uttered by those who utter it but I cannot guarantee each and everyone of their authenticity. I will endeavor to get them all right and attributed correctly. I don't guarantee that I will nail everyone of them. I will give it the college try if you know what I mean.

Squint, you validated my point exactly right. You were more eloquent and better spoken though.

I was putting together a list of other famous peoples responses to death or their response when they were told they were dying. I'll get that out soon. The one posted by you was on that list. I can take it off. thanks for the info.

If you had any test, procedure, surgery or anything done with this hospital I would definately alert the credit bureaus about possible theft of personal and credit information. Just where does 800K patient records go? http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Health-Care-IT/Massachusetts-Hospital-Reports-800000-Personal-Records-Missing-638660/?kc=EWKNLHCR07282010 This inexcusable. Both parties are at fault but it sounds like the data company really screwed up. What is your EMS Agency doing to protect the privacy and personal medical information as well as the billing information of those patients you transport? Is your computer system secure? Do you still write reports on paper? What happens to that report when it is finished and submitted? Do you allow the faxing of EMS records to unsecure faxes? Has our ability to protect patients information not kept up with the requirements to do so? Is technology lagging behind the requirements. One other question - Why did it take 4 months to alert the public. The damage may have already been done. Shouldn't we hold the facilities accountable for delaying the notification of those affected?

Here are some famous people and their responses when they were told they had not long to live. Source - David Jeremiah We have it all wrong about death. We think it's to be dreaded, feared, and fretted about. But when Francis of Assisi was told by his doctor that he hadn't long to live, he threw up his arms and shouted, "Welcome Sister Death! To me she is the gate of life." He immediately asked his friends to sing a hymn, and news of his exuberance spread through the city. When the hymnist Frances Ridley Havergal was told by her doctor she hadn't long to live, she replied, "I thought so, but if I am going it is too good to be true!" Missionary Adoniram Judson, realizing he was dying, said "I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school. I feel so strong in Christ." The apostle Paul said, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we know that our Redeemer lives; and because He lives, we have eternal life through Him. And that makes all the difference.

But those aren't the calls in question from my post. The calls in question are the ones like no orthopedic services at local hospital so let's fly them. Heck, I know of one flight that was for a fractured ankle. Circulation was compromised by the dislocation but the local ER doc could have at least tried to reduce the dislocation/fracture. (this is not my previous employer) Calls for flights when originally the doctor said they could go by ground but the nurse in the ER said "They have the membership so why don't we fly them." I saw this numerous times at my previous employer. Those above are blatant examples of flights that were inappropriate and put the flight crews in danger for convenience of the EMS and ER staff rather than patient needs. And I've also witnessed (and at one time have been a part of) chopper shopping. There used to be a service that would fly in almost any inclement weather. This was back in the 90's and they even came down during a light snowstorm to get a pediatric patient post code. When they got to our hospital the snow increased and they were not able to continue the transport so precious time was wasted waiting for a helicopter when the ground ambulance (me and my partner) could have had the kid there sooner.

truly truly sad, prayers for our colleagues The question is this, what was the patient's condition that prompted the flight? I find more and more that inappropriate flights occur daily. Chopper shopping goes on all the time. Can't get this one to fly, maybe another one will. Got a fracture and a hospital without orthopedic staff, fly em out rather than take them by ground. Got a membership to that service? Go ahead and call em, the membership will cover you. The question I have for all the members on this board. Does your service use helicopters approrpriately? Does the helicopter service that covers your area offer monthly Review sessions of flights and provide feedback as to what is appropriate and what is not an appropriate flight? If not then I suggest that you start. Most helicopter services provide that service for free. Don't just say that your service's QI/QA program can police itself, that's what my former employer said and according to one of the flight team that covers our area told me, "a large number of flights that they run from our service are inappropriate and could have been taken by ground" That says volumes to me. Without feedback from the helicopter service, those services who use helicopters willy nilly will continue to put those flight crews in unneeded danger.

Yes that was stolen from the commercial. Funny thing, I got an email with the new saying and the same day I posted this and also got the email I saw the commercial. So I think the guy who sent it to me saw the commercial and made the saying. But it really does fit the Chuck Norris theme though. And are we really sure that the commercial didn't steal it from the Chuck Norris themes? For a man who's tears cure cancer, I wouldn't put it past someone to steal that saying and apply it to the guy in the commercial.

Matt I think you mis-read the article. The items in question she was not sure how they got to the number in question. Why is it that we automatically view the victim as lying? Have we as a society gone so far off the deep end that we disbelieve everyone? If that were the case then we should disbelieve everyone on this site that posts things that happen to them. It's unfortunate that many bad apples (people who claim truth but in the end lie) have spoiled the cart for those of us who are truly telling the truth. Let's give this lady the benefit of the doubt that things happened the way they did. In the end, the truth will come out. And the douchebag on the run, I think that speaks volumes about his guilt. But on the other hand, we have to let the evidence come out and when that does then we will have the truth. I hope they catch him though. And no his career may not be over. It may be in his state but what if he isn't convicted? He could go to another state and work for a small service that doesn't do as good a bit of research on him than they should.

I just heard a new Chuck Norris saying "Sharks have a week dedicated to Chuck Norris"

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is a pretty credible story and I believe the woman completely. Can't imagine she'd make it up but that's been done before. If this truly happened and I'm sure it did then this guy needs his license permanently revoked, he needs to be on a sex offender registry and if I was the ambulance service in question, I'd be reviewing every single one of his past ambulance reports and questioning his partners in those runs. Maybe perform spot checks and phone calls to the patients that were female and see if they relate any suspicious activity. I'm sure once this dumbtard's name gets out that there will be other women come forward and make allegations. If he was so cavalier in doing this to this patient then one has to possibly assume that there are other victims too afraid or too unsure to come forward. For all they consider, they might have had the same examination and bought his story about "I'm examining you" What a dirt bag and scum sucking bottom feeding piece of trash. No wonder we have such a hard time being considered professionals.

So true so true If all fires were like that. I'd be happy to do a EMS Standby for the Fire guys.

I got this email from a friend. He put the source at the bottom of the story. It's a feelgood story. It qualifies for the funny section because clowns are involved. Charlie's Chaplains Day 232 In 1991, Chaplain Robert Ford approached Pastor Dana "Bubbles" McKim to discuss the possibility of establishing a clown hospital ministry at Frye Regional Medical Center. Chaplain Ford found his inspiration for this idea when he read about a similar ministry that made its visitations on a three-wheeled humor buggy. McKim loved the idea and joined forces with Pastor Danny "Snickers" Leonard to help forge this new adventure. Both Dana and Danny were already involved in clown ministry, and they devised a training program, which trained 45 eager students. Thus was born "Charlie's Chaplains" at Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory, North Carolina. "This was a big experiment in creative humor therapy and we had a great time. We didn't have difficulty getting a crowd of people to respond," Danny Leonard explains. "We are just thrilled beyond imagination that something would continue to grow and gain worldwide attention as Charlie's Chaplains has now. The group's mission has always been to do nothing more than to cheer the patients up through a gentle presence as a means of taking the patients' minds off their current health condition or painful situation. "The goal of Charlie's Chaplains is very simple," Leonard says. "It is about providing a holy interruption, if only for one second. When you enter patients' rooms, if they can forget the situation they're in—it has been a successful experience." After sixteen years, a new generation of Charlie's Chaplains entertains monthly at FRMC. The group encompasses a number of professional entertainers who donate their services, along with other specially trained community volunteers who offer uplifting performances. The hospital ministry is now a creative ministry, representing several disciplines with the group's talent pool, and was recently featured on the front page of The Hospital Clown Newsletter, which is distributed worldwide through paid subscriptions. Charlie's Chaplains makes rounds to cheer FRMC patients monthly and has a party for the children at the hospital's mental health facility. The group also participates in select community events in tandem with FRMC. Patients are always our primary focus during visitation. Charlie's Chaplains is comprised of members with varied interests and talents, which adds to the mix when entertaining the patients. We have a well-known professional teen magician, "Magic's Royal Duke Sammy Cortino," who performs simple close-up magic routines. Another seasoned clown juggler, Vince "Zenzel" Ferretti, brings a real air of wonder to our traveling show. Music is an added element to our visits, as one of our professionals is international award-winner: "The Whistling Woman," Phyllis Heil. Several of our members bring along puppets to interact with the patients and their visiting team members. The rule of the day in rounds is that simple is always best. If the patient is under heavy medication, he or she will not really be able to fully participate or grasp the concept of a long or intricate presentation. We try to notice and consider the patient's condition and alertness. Analyzing the environment in the room also plays an important role in determining our performance–Are there visitors? What is the mood in the room? Sometimes our gentle presence is enough, with a smile and wave, to brighten a patient's day. Sometimes that is all the energy they may have to take in what we can offer. We entertain the staff at the nurses' station and in the hallways, as schedule allows. The staff appreciates stress-relieving moments with us. Visitors are often treated to entertainment in the patients' rooms, but sometimes we catch them by surprise in the hallways, waiting rooms, elevators, and lobby. Over the years, we have had many experiences that have left indelible prints on our collective hearts. The patients, visitors, and staff often tell us how much they enjoy our visits and performances, and sometimes we are even surprised by our patients' reactions to our work. We were all thrilled when a gentleman in his seventies whipped out his harmonica and played us a tune after we sang Happy Birthday. Our clown ministry gives us the opportunity to brighten patients' lives as they experience trying times. We are grateful to be able to collectively heal our community with humor, joy, and love. —Submitted by Becky Cortino, Frye Regional Medical Center, Hickory, NC This story was excerpted from What's Right in Health Care, 365 Stories of Purpose Worthwhile Work, and Making a Difference (Fire Starter Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9749986-4-0) and is available at http://www.studergroup.com/.

Seriously, do you all watch Jimmy Kimmel. I'm sure the story is indeed true but the fire fighter interviewed I believe is one of Kimmels staff. They had him on as a joke. Part of the gag. Other talk show hosts do this type of thing too. The firefighter interviewed is not a real fireman.

I met both your kids and I have no doubt that you will fulfill your legacy above with your children.

Good answer spenac, but I specifically left out the bible verses on this thread. I know(believe) what will happen after I die but will it be like the movies or will it be a instantaneous thing, I die, I wind up in heaven? I can't really get a grasp on that part. There are some really great thinkers on this site and I'm curious to see what the following people have to say Richard B Dwayne AK EMTAnnie Dust if he ever shows back up and many others.

I cannot remember the last time that any employer conducted any type of background check on me. Oh, I know, my last employer ran a child abuse check on me but no background check. To adopt a child I went through 5 different background checks. Even though I had a background check, local ,state, and federal, I had to have them all over again for each state that my wife and I were trying to adopt from. AS for EMS employment, most of the employers have run credit checks on me but background checks, not so much. And this piece of shit doesn't just give his profession a bad name, he gives men a bad name. He is the kind of person that makes women afraid of men. I say if he's found guilty, and most assuredly he will be unless he pleas it out, his nuts should be cut off. raping a 11 year old girl, not only is he a rapist but a pedophile also. there is no room in society for this kind of garbage. And if he's a member of these forums, shame on you dirt bag.

Hey all, I was in my sunday school class and we discussed what happens to us after we die. NOW I do not want this going down the road of religious arguments although those are completely allowed here, I am just curious about some things. We've all seen countless people pass on. Some witnessed and we attempted to save them, some witnessed and we let them go due to DNR's and such. Others we have seen that have died horrible deaths and some who seem to have died very peacefully. What are your thoughts of what happens to you after you die? I know that according to my beliefs that I'm going to heaven. I have no doubts about that. But what I do have doubts about is what happens the moment I die. I cannot explain it and I don't think it's going to be like the movies or like the movie Ghost where the bad people get attacked by the shadows and the good people hit the light. The sunday school lesson just got me to thinking about what happens after we die. Feel free to discuss. Again, do not make this wholly about your religion or lack of religion. That's not the point of this thread.

Thanks for the continued kick in the pants daedalus. But seriously, where in the original posters post did it say the guy was a dispatcher? It didn't. ONe can assume and that is where we all get into trouble here, one can assume that if he's an emt and on his break that there was an ambulance somewhere near him. The articles did not state he was not working on the ambulance. In fact the articles don't really go much into detail about the previous problems he had, just that he was the emt who walked away from a sick lady and told them to call 911. To me, if you are in uniform and you don't do anything to help or assist someone who is 10 feet or so from you and you walk away after telling others to call 911 which I think that is the way this went down then I am ashamed for you. You said in your post that you would have done the same. I'm sorry but that's not a good attitude to have.

Actually Richard, I'm going to have to be the odd man out. The most recent service that I worked for has gone from a great service to a embittered/embattled service that is lucky to keep 1 ambulance staffed on a 24 hour consistent basis. The majority of employee's are very unhappy. The employee's live under constant fear of discipline and a place where being on the cell phone "too much" will get you fired. Three management changes in less than 2 years. A distrust of management and a belief that management lies to them on a consistent basis. It used to be that there was pride in going to work for them, they were the service that was in demand to work for. The protocols are a mess, there is minimal oversite of the staff in protocol usage. No M&M reviews, no call reviews. A slim QA program. Overuse of the helicopter service. When asked where I worked at I would tell people in other services and they'd say "What is going on with your service. All we hear is bad things about it" This from at least 8 different ambulance services spread out over two states. Instead of evolving and growing as a service, they seem to be devolving and self destructing. I used to have pride in saying I used to work for this one service and now I just say "I used to work for a service in the mid part of Missouri"

Well it looks like the money won't be here till the first of the year 2011. After taxes it will be a lot less with the capital gains tax rate going up. It looks like we are probably going to be purchasing 50 acres that my parents own in a small town of 500 people. WE will be purchasing an additional 50-100 acres from another realtive with about 80% wooded and stream filled. After we pay off all our bills we will be building/upgrding the current house and upgrading the current 5 ponds on the land making one of them 5 times it's original size. Nice enough to put a small fishing boat on and do some quality fishing. Hopefully we will keep our current home in town and then also use this house. Thanks for the offers but the wife and I decided we wanted a place that all family members can come down and enjoy the hunting, fishing, trail walking and swimming inthe large pond. History behind the house is that thsi is a neat acreage that I grew up visiting each weekend in the summer. If funding allows after all that then we plan on opening up the old Whistle stop cafe style cafeteria in town. AS soon as it all occurs, I'll send pictures of what we buy.

I stand duly corrected. so no, I can't imagine that they could have done anything other than hold this ladies hand until EMS arrived. I would not have left but we all know that even the best paramedic with nothing in his hands or equipment per se can do anything to help an asthma patient until oxygen and other equipment could get there. So makes me wonder if the reason why he left was to alert dispatch about the patient? ONe final thought, when was the last time that he ran a call? When was the last time when his partner ran a call. If you are off the street for an extended period of time, I can see where he would have thought about leaving. Not much to do for her. I guess he could have offered her his coffee and bagel!!!

I believe he had an ambulance sitting outside the shop where she suffered the asthma attack. Ambulances have oxygen. I wonder what he could have done to help her. 15lpm non rebreather could have given her time to get the medics there with the meds. Your argument is absurd. Now if he was without an ambulance there then that's a different story but I believe he was on a coffee break and he did have his partner there with him so one can assume that there was also an ambulance. Actually I don't think she probably did anything to deserve her death. What I was commenting on is that this crew had the means to help her, they were on their coffee break and they refused to help her. That does not justify the ends to this guys life whatsoever. If Karma was truly in play here, then he would have been shot and another EMS Crew on scene would have said "I can't help you, I'm on break, let's wait for another ambulance" But seriously, this is a terrible situation. Tragic on all ends. The question I have is why is there a police car outside the female partners house like mentioned in one of the articles? Did they get death threats?

Thanks for the clarification Rock. but I don't believe squint ever said (and if he did and I missed it then I apologize) but I don't believe he ever said he ran the test and read the results. If that part was left out then you can understand my being out of the loop on this whole thing. I do agree with it being the laypersons responsibility to obtain the specimen but if the layperson is asking squint to do it and it lines up with the policy manual then he should be able to collect the sample. Running the test is one thing, collecting it is entirely another. Again, if I misunderstood or missed Squint telling me and the community that he had to run the test also then I apologize but if he did not give that piece of the pie then you can see where I was coming from. No the nurses and myself with collecting the tests never saw what the results were. If Squint was running the tests and then seeing the results then it's part of the medical record and should not be released. But I will again say that if the test is not done as part of a patient care procedure and is collected as a company required item for drug testing then there is no protected health information being passed on because Squint did not see the results. All he did was collect the specimen. I'm the first to admit when I'm wrong and also when I mis-read things so if I did then I'm duly chastised. If I did not misread or miss the info then I don't stand corrected. Unfortunately the damage has been done, he's out of a job for standing on principles and I truly admire him for that. Integrity is the name of the game.

Yes, I would comply with the lay persons request. If that lay person was speaking for my employer and he had the power to ask me to do something, if it didn't cause a life or limb problem, I'd do what he asked. Clarification: The representative (company man) is NOT entitled to Personal Health Information, I am sub contracted for medical and they are subcontracted for Safety they are not the prime contractor AND we have more legal acts and legislation than you can imagine. Did You read the links ? NOPE DID NOT - don'thave time to read a bunch of links. Should I, yep probably but I'm not naive enough to believe you'd read a bunch of links I would post. If they had the need to know and were part of the patients care, then yes I am by policy required to discuss the patient. BUT they have to have a bona fide need to know, they have to be part of this patients care and they have to be a member of the organization I work at. If they don't fall under the above then they do not get told anything. They are NOT a part of Patient Care unless holding an IV bag is considered care. So Your company policy states you can discuss a Patients PMHX or abuse problem ... NOT BUYING IT. Yes if that person I'm discussing the patient with has a direct involvement in patient care. No different in you talking to someone at a facility that you are medevacing the patient out to. It's called continuity of care and giving a patient report. To reiterate - they have to be directly involved in that patients care to get any info out of me Besides Safety is NOT a part of the Patients Care and its Clear in this Jurisdiction that the "Medical Provider" is has complete and ultimate control. The responsibility for "root cause" and investigation re the "Incident" is the Safety Officer and in a court of Law (in passing) are considered biased as they are on the "company" payroll. In a perfect world Squint, the drug test would be done off site and done after the treatment for the medical condition was completed. The safety officer should be the one doing it but you didn't seem to have that chance. Zactly a third part should do the testing and they do in the VAST majority of cases in Industry here ... this (situation) is recipe for an EPIC FAIL. When I said Done Right I didn't mean it was going to be done correctly. I meant that the drug test was going to be done. No way out of it. not that it would be done right. Does that make more sense. Back at you but good point what if I do it wrong ? ...Mr. meth head boy stays on the job operating a 100 ton Crane am I at a liability risk ? What if its positive (false or true) guaranteed a 3 day course on "how to" is going to be a huge question in a court room. So what if you do it wrong? isn't that what a second lab testing which is much more thorough than the first in place for? to protect the person being tested. It would be terrible if you did it wrong but mistakes do happen. That's what the courts are for, to sort out mistakes, and in the end the person by your own account are going to be in court anyway. BUT I have dodged that bullet and will continue to protect the rights of my patient (clean or not) its not my moral responsibility to single handedly change societal issues. So when you are asked to give information about a patient and you refuse to do so then aren't you causing a delay in the patient treatment. You are in essence saying that you don't give protected patient information out to anyone. That attitude is an epic fail. There are people in the continuing care of the patient that need the info you have. Surely you are not withholding that info from those people are you? BTW this IS BC and the right to pack around a small amount > 30 gms of BC Bud with "dump it out by most RCMP (Fine)" or a maximum of 1000 CDN pesos ... again that's MAX ... its typically more like > $200.00 as a fine. The "green industry" is billions of dollars in BC. Do I personally agree with the tolerance in operating anything other than a TV remote and a bag of Chips .. NO it makes you stupid, then again so does a case of beer and you don't test urine for beer ! All medical information gathered while treating the patient. Is a drug test part of that? If the drug test is being done as part of the medical treatment then yes it is protected. If the drug test is being done as a part of a safety program and drug testing per the policy of the company then I don't believe so. But I do get your point, if you are asked to do the test while you are treating the patient then it would probably be covered under the protected information but I'm sure that the courts might not see it that way. Just because you in the course of your treatment collect the urine that will be used in the safety part of this patient I don't believe that that is truly covered under protected patient information. Maybe in canada it is. But the places I've worked at that have required that I get a drug screen done after an injury these tests have been collected by the nurses in the ER or by a third party that came to the ER and took my sample after I got my treatment. In the USA, I'd suspect that the courts would not consider the drug screen performed by the company to be considered part of the patient record or patient care. I could be wrong and I have been in the past. I don't have a canadian clue on what is considered right in your country.