WolfmanHarris

Great one area where LA is setting the bar higher than somewhere else. What's that, one out of every other remotely EMS related topic?

Very good point. Street gangs do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time shooting at each other.

The story goes that in Toronto a few years ago, Dr. Mazza one of the Sunnybrook-Osler Medical Directors fell off his roof. When TEMS Paramedics responded to him and gave MS he asked for more. They told him that their protocol, written by him, didn't allow them more and that as he was the patient, he couldn't be OLMC. At the next CME, maximum doses for pain meds were increased. Coincidence?

Ahhh, Alberta and their backwards titles strike again. Unlike the rest of Canada, Alberta calls their Primary Care Paramedics (PCP) EMT's. However, they have a full year of full time college education comparable to Ontario and exceeding many of the other provinces. Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP), which Alberta calls EMT-P is a further two years of full time schooling.

As I said. Not anti-gun. But the assertions made by Eric with regards to crime rates compared to the US in countries with strict gun control or in US cities with stricter local control were flat out false. Not to mention the ominous sign of a debate about to go far astray, the mention of Hitler/Nazis. Edit: Reread and removed my original last sentence. Came off cranky and nasty, which was unintended. Sorry.

I'm not anti-gun, but I am anti-wrong facts. Please take a look at this link for murder rates per capita and see how the US compares to the rest of the world. Although looking closely those numbers are dated. I'll try to find more up to date ones in a sec. Edit: Couldn't, in the time I was willing to put into this, find a better source than wiki. But here are some more current murder rates for around the world. Also take a look at this page of crime stats for the US by city. Specifically review violent crime, murder and manslaughter, robbery and forcible rape. I think you'll be surprised to see (as I was) that LA and NYC sit fairly low in the rates per capita. In fact it seems to me that there's a fairly diverse cross section of cities above them in terms of size and whether they're above or below the Mason-Dixon. Cheers, - Matt

I'd be interested to compare US and Canadian crash logs. In my two years, the amount of time we spent on driving was limited to one day behind the wheel on the skid pad and a semester on theory (which also covered radio ops, the Haz-mat response guides, etc). I know by sheer population the numbers should be vastly different, but the comparison would still be interesting. Also I'd expect some further skewing from the fact that, at least in Ontario IFT companies are not Ambulances under the law. (And in the best IFT companies, their vehicles are actually purpose built stretcher vans, not retired rusted out ambulances). Any suggestions on sources Crotch?

Ambulance: Lindsay, 4142, requesting a patch. Dispatch: 10-4, switch to Tactical 2. Hospital: Cobourg Emergency. Ambulance: This is 4142 en route to your facility CTAS 3 with an 13y/o Male patient. Belted patient in a two car, low speed MVC. Patient complaining of low grade neck pain, vitals unremarkable. Be advised patient is autistic, agitated and unable to effectively communicate. ETA 15 minutes. Hospital: 10-4. ------------------------------- Ambulance: Lindsay, 4282 requesting a patch to Base Hospital Physician. Dispatch: 10-4, switch to Tactical 1 for PRHC BHP. Hospital: Base Hospital, Dr. Arceri. Ambulance: Dr. Arceri, this is ACP Chris Johnson, OASIS number 143682. I am on scene with a 42y/o male complaining of severe 10/10 back pain as a result of moving boxes and is unable to ambulate due to pain. Patient does not meet my standing order, but I'd like permission for fentanyl, 25mcg IV. Vitals are pulse 110bpm, resps 24, BP 130/90, SPO2 100% on 8lpm. No known allergies or relevant medical history. Patient is going to require stair chair to extricate from home. Hope these help.

I'd be happy to do it, but I think our reporting is quite different. Our radio reports when en route are usually under 30 seconds and just include CTAS, chief complaint, vitals if noteworthy, and tx if noteworthy. But if you need someone to record one for you let me know.

So it sounds like there will be another Paramedic show on the air to make us all cringe and groan. (Remember "Saved") NBC Announces However, like "The Guard" on Canadian TV I'll probably watch it, and give it a chance, hoping that it might actually be enjoyable and accurate.

Umm... didn't you use a fake newspaper (as in a farce and well known one at that), to back up your arguments. I think the onus is on you to prove the cogence of your arguments, (in other words, quoting the newspaper equivalent of SNL's "Weekend Update" destroys the credibility of your arguments) especially when their scope is so sweeping and has no room for understanding of the opposing side. Unless I've missed something the two sides of the argument have so far broken down like this 1) The current policy of affirmative action is horribly flawed and doesn't address the whole scope of the issue. 2) Reparations need to be paid for slavery. The thing I think you're missing here Crotch, or refusing to address, is that your stance is to identify the symptoms of a problem (incarceration rates, representation in politics and media, etc) but not the nature of the problem and how to address it. If you look back to the beginning of the thread you might find that this discussion didn't start and hasn't tried to be a "racism doesn't exist" argument, but instead a "how we're dealing with a history of racism isn't working" argument. Maybe this would be more productive if you attempted to engage in that discussion and not in the "who's ethnic/religious/whatever group has had it worse." I think if we can't have that discussion in a mature, reasoned fashion than we might as well close the thread as it's the intellectual equivalent of "oh ya?!" Yes I am picking on you specifically, because as I went back and reread the thread, it seemed to me that you were the one who took us in this direction and have continued to keep it on this track and I believe only your cooperation can turn this into a productive discussion. Kind regards, - Matt

By-law officers enforce municipal legislation. Usually parking meters and the like and are often catch-all's for different municipal jobs. They may handle animal control in some areas and I'd imagine it was that part of their job that was in play in Calgary.

You posted the Onion as a reference?! Seriously?! Okay, maybe scholarly and peer reviewed is asking too much, but at least a real newspaper, not a satire. Funniest shit of the entire thread right there.

Hey this video got sent to me earlier today. It's a large group of musicians around the world doing "Stand By Me." One of the best renditions of the song I've ever heard and a really cool way to do music. Enjoy. The song Stand By Me The website Playing for Change Cheers, - Matt

CONGRATS! Put me down to call in 15 years when you need a drunken bunch of hooligans to scare off the new boyfriend. Ditto for interrupting good bye kisses on the porch and shining flashlights in cars that have been parked for more than 45 seconds without them getting out. I can do crazy eyes, or the old "I don't care if I go back to jail." routines. I also do balloon animals.

Key here for me is PD is already on scene. I'm asking their permission to leave, letting them know I have a critical patient in the back. Now, I expect them to say "Go!" but if I don't have their permission I'm not going anywhere.

Crotch, you're not arguing for race as a basis for success, but social and economic standing during upbringing being the main predictor of success. I don't think anyone's disagreeing with this. In fact my initial question/assertion was whether we'd find a closer parallel in test results between people of similar economic and family backgrounds than we would on race. I have six years of post-secondary education. Neither of my parents attended college or university. My mom didn't finish High School. My parents divorced when I was young and I was raised by a single Dad. Both my parents are now entrepreneurs making greater than $200K/yr but I still stand on my own without them paying my way. Aside from my aboriginal roots on my mom's side (which I have no contact with due to her estranged father), my family's white. But that's not the point. The point is we can take a story like this or one like any other member here has a find people who have worked hard and overcome difficulties of their upbringing to get where they are. This is EMTCity, not LearJetEnthusists city, I doubt there are too many silver spoons kicking around. What I was trying to argue initially was that as long as we perpetuate a system that STARTS with the assumption that if you are black you must need extra help to succeed, than we perpetuate a system that needs that leg up. If we create equal opportunites than we may actually break the cycle. I don't believe we can try to redress the lagging of visible minorities in terms of economic and academic success at the career and post-secondary level. If we want to give everyone the best opportunities in life we need to start early by making the focus of any programs, childhood. We also need to stop placing those who do not need help in the same category as those who do based soley on skin colour. We need to identify need and provide help based on it. By doing this we will no longer be telling those who have been successful (by saying finishing school and getting a career with a full time FD and sitting to right a test for a leadership position) that we believe they still need help due to an inherent inferiority. Let's try and create an exit strategy to a cycle that does nothing to impower a group. The first step though in finding any change is being able to communicate freely. If any time a non-black person questions the merits of affirmative action they are branded a racist, than how will anything ever move forward?

Congrats! And thanks for disproving the legend that Waterloo doesn't actually hire anyone.

Regional Municipality of York, Ontario. The great suburban sprawl north of Toronto.

Sorry Wendy but I think the opportunity for open discourse was lost pages ago. Too many axes to grind on both sides pulled this off track. Brady not calling you racist, just found "gyped" ironically hilarious in the current discussion. I'd probably find "cracker" hilarious too if someone could find a way to work it into a sentence.

So I got the call today and starting June 1, 2009 I am a Primary Care Paramedic with York Region EMS! I'm pumped, as York was my first choice service and I got called early today which means I was sitting at the top of the list. I have three weeks of orientation and training starting June 1, full time and then on the road as a casual part-timer until a full time spot opens or someone needs vacation coverage. I have a month of consolidation left, but I beat the odds and managed to snag a job in Ontario with out going way up North! So excited right now. Two years of hard work have paid off! Cheers, - Matt

ROFL! Gotta love the unintentional racial slurs in a discussion on racism.

I've been on nights at this station for a few days now. Most common call seems to be... sleeping soundly through the night. I'm hoping it picks up tonight. I'll take low call volumes when I'm getting paid, not when I'm supposed to be consolidating.

Might be time for the Rosenbaum family to return to court as it seems their settlement is not seriously being followed. I'm not usually litigious, but the family did an incredibly reasonable and selfless thing by placing the fixing of the problem ahead of the need to make someone pay. DCFD is not living up to the trust given them and if it takes the courts smacking them around to get things seriously back on track then so be it.

This is where it gets complicated because in this case ACP does not equal Advanced Care Paramedic but Alberta College of Paramedics, which is usually shortened to ACoP up these parts. The reason for this is Alberta likes to be different and bucks the PCP, ACP, CCP trend of the rest of Canada. That's not to say their levels are pretty close to the NOCP, just substitute EMT-A (Emergency Medical Technician - Ambulance) for PCP and EMT-P (Emergency Medical Technologist - Paramedic) for ACP. Education is comparable, with one major change. While BLS is two years in Ontario and ALS is one year. In Alberta BLS is one year and ALS is two years. Just a difference in whether or not you front load the extra theory or not. At least that's my understanding of it. Welcome to Canada MI/Medic. Here are a few things you may want to know: 1) If you don't like hockey it's best to save the money and stay out of any restaurant or bar with a TV between October and umm... well counting the juniors and international games and exhibition and training camp, let's say September. 2) Quebec... probably just better for you to find out for yourself. Let's just say one of the best and worst parts of Canada at the same time. 3) Tim Horton's. Good coffee, great spot for lunch. You'll find them everywhere. (Except Brighton where I'm on night shift tonight) 4) Not sure how far north you are in the US, but just in case: "all season tires" aren't. Okay I'll stop there before it gets too off track. Anyways congrats and good luck the move up! - Matt