bluedevil620

Just so you know Scuba Steve, when I said amateur...I was being sarcastic. I value the people who volunteer in our community. There is no pay whatsoever for these people and they do volunteer a lot of time. Most are merely EMTs and I mean this sarcastically as well, because it seems to me that unless you are a paramedic, you really should not even be a part of the EMS world or so it seems thats the way most of the posters (or posers) on here feel.

In a perfect world maybe......but I know in our small town that even with these amateur volunteers, our paid ALS are stretched to the max on any given day.....and if it weren't for these volunteers, they would be ran to death and their care would be less than mediocre. We have a good relationship with the volunteers in the county and they do help take up the shortfall of our paid EMS system.

I'm from a rural community and volunteer BLS is essential here There are many times that all of our ALS units are out of the county transporting patients to the larger hospitals and the volunteers are on standby for calls. I know that the BLS providers are limited in what care they can provide but, at least they can transport the patient for an ALS intercept when needed.

Glucometers are simple to use and it would certainly help the paramedic if this was obtained along with the vitals if the BS level seemed to be an issue. What's the harm?