Medic One

I find these apps pretty useful to use at work. Icare ECG Guide Amber Alert Skyscape WebMd EMSG (Audio Spanish Interpretation) ERG (Emergency Response Guide) NIOSH Guide ACLS Wiz EMS: BLS EMS CE (CME Tracker) EMS: ALS ECG Interpret Protocols 911 Toolkit Police Scan 2 (for the slapper in all of us) Scheduler FleetEyes (works if your company GPS tracks units)

Beacon Falls firefighter dies while responding to call Department treats passing as line-of-duty death BEACON FALLS -- A longtime firefighter died in the line of duty early Wednesday while responding to a call. Fire Captain Kevin Swan, 69, a firefighter with Beacon Hose Company No. 1, woke around 5 a.m. to respond to a fire call on Susan Street, said Jeremy Rodorigo, a Beacon Hose spokesman. Swan signed on the radio, but did not show up at the call. He was found around 8 a.m. inside his pickup in his driveway, Rodorigo said. He was taken by ambulance to Griffin Hospital in Derby, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 9 a.m., he said. Fire officials are still trying to detemine exactly what happened, Rodorigo said. The department is treating it as a line of duty death, he said.

Yeah its a IIIa and as far as the helmet you got me...Yes I consider safety #1 priority but I still stand strong against the helmet..I have pretty hair and don't want to mess it up...yeah thats the story I am sticking to...I have pretty hair!!

Yeah I wear a vest Level 3 everyday for over 10years (not the same vest for those wondering)....It comes down to body conditioning....the first few months I wore one I was not a happy...I was soaking wet from sweat all the time...now I seem to sweat less or conditioned my body to accept the extra body heat I carry under the vest. Cool towels on the back of the neck and frequent tee shirt changes help out a lot in the summer months....and yes humid days still suck but I manage to get through it. We have many multi-story apartments with no elevators in our city so frequent carrying is done.

Just suprised the school made you purchase it not knowing if you would pass the program. I would think it would be provided as an outer wear to students.

I smoke more at work than at home. Rarely smoke on vacation and rarely smoke in winter (in winter people tend to smell more). I some about 1 a day off duty and 7-10 on duty (when I get a chance). I have chantix and am starting it this week.

Had to buy it for school? PLEASE Explain!!

This is a good topic I think. 80% of our staff wear Body Armor while working...how about you? We are an innercity EMS agency that share the same style of uniform with the police. Badge/pins/uniform color/coat all look the same with the exception of the patches and what we wear on our duty belts. We feel it is mostly for our safety but most of us really wear them to reduce blunt trauma should we get in am accident. Tell me your story about why you choose to wear one or why you want to get one. Do you think that your agency should atleast provide universal fitting "Outer Wear" body armor to leave in the truck should you get unfortunetly caught in a situation wear you think you may need it.

I tell my wife just about everything..she is an ER doc so it makes our lives much easier knowing what each one of us do. My son is 17 and daughter is 14. They both get 90% of evrything that happens. They have been in the ER watching "mom" work cardiac arrests and she is also a medical examiner so they have had many opportunies to see the well... the ending part of life. We express how valuable life is and are not afraid to tell them how it is when suddenly you get seriously hurt or killed because of stupidity or drinking and driving. As far as the rest of our family we tell them some of the goods and bad but it is on a more censored fasion.

Best part of being old for me is.... I don't remember having alzheimer's I don't remember having alzheimer's I don't remember having alzheimer's Did I tell you I have alzheimer's

YES we requir HAZ-MAT Ops for line staff and Tech for Officers All classes provided cost free by the city with mandatory recerts anually for Ops and bi-Anually for Officers

HELMETS IN EMS....NO NO NO!!! I do agree with wearing an approved OSHA and/or NFPA helmet for fire scenes, MVA Extrications (if in the car), or special rescue situations but to wear a helmet in the ambulance when driving and/or doing patient care...ahhhhhh no. The helmet idea is somewhat of a good thought but come on folks really...think about it. If you properly secure your gear (monitor/O2 bottle etc...) and wear a seatbelt your safety will be as best as can be according the the US Ambulance KKK specs (organization for ambulance safety/design). Most injuries to ambulance attendants come from improper storage of EMS equipment when transporting. Get into the habit of using the captain chair seatbelt to secure your monitor, use the bench seat seat belts to secure the airway bag with bottle in it. I think before helmet are a thought we need to educate ourselves as we educate others to wear seatbelts....most injuried MOS (members of service) are found to be unbelted. Injuries mostly from loose gear....accidents happen and you never know when you'll be in one to wear a helmet can actually increase injury if it in NOT properly sized, maintained, and worn properly. I think the KKK specs need to add more padding to walls, more catch nets at the end of the bench seat, and require seat belt harnesses in the back. Then they really need to look into the construction....um I never could figure out why they use pressboard with laminent over it then screw a 1/4 inch wood screw into it to hold a crappy nylon strap with cheap plastic buckles. These straps should be more of a reinforced connection to the car with seat belt type buckles. Then there is the stretcher mount ummmmm.... 1950's technology for 90% of the ambulances on the road today. A trip hazard "Y" on the floor, I stupid hook at the rear of the doors to trip on because the yellow paint wore off and another crappy single pole with a stupid ball pin to lock the stretcher to the wall. The spec should be looked into and require atleast the center track system that can actually support the stretcher to maintain its position on the floor with patient on it should the ambulance roll over. SO.....IN CLOSING There are many more things that need to be corrected in ambulance to make it safer and by requiring helmets just is a false sense of security to the worker and a lame excuse for ambulance builders to skirt around safety issues that really need to be looked into. Again just my opinion!! Oh and where in England do they require helmets to be worn???? I have Friends and Family that work EMS in London...they don't wear them there as a requirment!

I LOVE MY JOB!!!!! Twenty years on the job Municiple EMS.... 16 as a Paramedic. I have advanced myself to EMS Instructor, ACLS/PALS/ATLS Instructor Have been an EMS Battalion Chief for 7 years now. I can retire if I want but I'm only 39 so I can keep going. I have thought about RN but I like working outside

Thanks all...Atleast I have a place for him to start.

Had an applicant come in today...He is a Paramedic from Puerto Rico looking for work in the states. He has a great resume, no criminal history, working on drivers lic in states, has social security number, AWESOME transcripts from his school, speaks excellent english but............. The NREMT can't help him until the local EMS office gives receprocty..problem is the state office wants him to get his NREMT 1st to issue a state lic. WTF.... Anyone every come from another country to the US for work in EMS? How can I help this guy? Can he challenge the NREMT test either as a basic or Paramedic? Give me some info I would like to hire him!!!!!!

OUR UNIFORMS SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We look like cops!!!!!!! To save money for PD/EMS have same uniform and this is what we all got: Dark blue pants with blue stripe (non-supervisor) Dark blue pants with gold stripe (supervisor) Standard uniform shirt (with velcro pocket flaps - nice feature) The patches are different but basically same color and size We wear same ties or turtle necks in winter We all wear a metal badge and name plate OH DID I MENTION WE WEAR POLYESTER ALSO (COLD IN WINTER/HOT IN SUMMER - BUT DRY FAST WHEN WET) Most of us wear a duty belt so we all look alike Something needs to be done but once again money is a factor

So its true he got his cert back...yeah!!! That means he will have that master key that all EMTs have.....Congrats on getting Elevator Maintenance Tech cert back...now can I get a copyof that key..I am tired of waiting for the elevator with the trach pts spewing lung butter all over the place.

I don't think speed really saves that much time we have had several instances were for example we respond a supervisor and ALS ambulance to all cardiac arrests on a hot response and a back-up car as an assist on a cold response. Seven or eight times out of ten the cold response car arrives about two minutes later on average. We also completed studies locally prior to EMD where a supervisor responded hot to some calls and the Amb responded cold until the supervisor was able to determine if they ambulance needed to upgrade to hot and once again seven or eight times out of ten the ambulance arrived about two minutes after the supervisor. What I feel it all comes down to is knowing your area well, knowing more direct routes on less congested roads, use of CAD GPS and/or Fleet Eyes mapping program to find the closest avail unit, system status managment ei: posting units in areas during peak traffic hrs, and utilizing EMD properly. With EMD our city works well by properly coding the call Alpha (cold) or Bravo/Charlie/Delta/Echo (all hot) but we also respond to rural communities that take the call and then call us for an ALS response to back-up the BLS Volunteer units and 90% of the calls are a minimum of a Charlie response (ALS Request Hot Response). I know that the response codes are not correct and have been told by dispatchers of these communities that "Oh we don't trust the Volunteers and they falsify the EMD code with the loop holes of Dispatcher discretion to dispatch ALS". Now I know that it is wrong for them to do that and really can't complaint either because it is contractual issues that I don't want to mess with. Our average response is 15-20 minutes to some of these towns and the dispatchers feel if they start us hot we can get there sooner or the VOl can cancel us .....NOT they never do!! I have on avaerage only saved a few minutes to get on scene so Speed is not an issue. The other thing is our units are GPS live tracked with the RoadMate system, ZOLL CAD and Fleet Eyes Mapping. Our state laws only give reponding emergency vehicles 10mph over any posted speed limit during hot response ONLY if road conditions & traffic conditions are safe and we must travel with due reguard. Now the RoadMate systems in our units are like in car black boxes - similar to flight recorders. They reocrd everything from headlights on/off, blinkers, seat belt monitoring, speed, tachometer, cornering and braking. Each driver my "Fob" in everytime the car is started. We get "points" added if we violate things such as speed. We only get 65mph max before the audible warning sounds when the emergency lights are off and 75 when they are on. We get points for hard accelerations determined by the G's pulled in the car matched with tach or engine rev speeds. We also get points for hard braking determned by G's pulled on the car. I can say our times to get on scene did increase with this system put in place but not by much...what it did help was the condition of the cars...they get less beat on our brakes have lasted longer and we have had less accidents. Oh and one last thing the dispatch supervisor can monitor this information live for each car and can do one of a few things....get on the radio and tell a car to slow down knowing that for example east main st is a 25mph zone and the car is doing 75mph.... or the supervisor can remotely turn the vehicle off which has helped when we had an ambulance stolen from the ER and a medic car stolen from the scene of another call. So as I decide to stop rambling on....I think speed is not going to seriously affect your response times. Sorry for going on and on but thats my thoughts on the subject.

This is not a new trend for emergency services. Many county services both down south and out west use a three tiered system with Police that work as Medics and in some cases as firefighters. They are sworn officers that have also completed fire and EMS training and are required to change hats on a call to call basis. This is primarily done when the counties run Police Fire EMS. I think it is a great idea to be able to change hats at a drop of a dime because it keeps the job interesting and utilizes its employees the best possible way for each situation. Many Virginia State Troopers are also paramedics and dual role as well as many SWAT team country wide. In my home town the entire town highway department crew are trained as firefighters and are automatically dispatched to extrications and structure fires so help with staffing issues. They are covered under the same town insurance, lowers the ISO for the town residents, and really reduces response times. I think if more towns got on board with cross training it would help the budgets, prevent layoffs and better our comunities. .....Just my two cents

This is commonly known as "Pigeon Chest".

Creo que la prueba debe ser en Inglés. Si usted vive aquí tiene que leer y entender nuestra lengua patria. . . . . . . Translation: I think the test should be in english. If you live here you need to read and understand our homeland language. In our service areas we have a lot of Spanish, Portugese and Asians. So not only needing to know atleast basic spanish should we learn Portugese and Asian?

Yeah I lost the drive to stay in EMS several times but kept at it ... basically for lack of knowledge to do anything else. I started paid EMS after helping someone in a crash and I did not know what to do so i got my EMT over the years I progressed to a paramedic and now I'm a fly car medic supervisor. I wish sometimes I got out earlier but I have been paid since 1989 and no nothing else. I have been working 3on/3off day / night rotation for last 10+ years have 4 weeks of vacation, but I am tired. What keeps me in EMS is I have bills and with my work schedule I can do swaps working 6 in a row to get 6 off without having to take a vacation so I actually can squeeze out about 8 weeks of vacation a year. I have had my lows and wanted to walk out but I always seems to get a funny call that says man this job is fun. Its sad but after a week of vacation or time off I tend to want to go back to work...if on vacation I see a unit go by an wonder whats going on...I feel that once an EMS'er always an EMS'er and that scares me sometimes. I have gone through my "sparky" stage, "who cares" stage, "burned out" stage, "never open a book" stage to better myself, "burning my JEMS and EMS magazines in the fire" stage, and seen to have made a turn around the last 4 years that wants to better myself as a paramedic and manager stage. I think this career for everyone has ups and downs...most people I have noticed in my area (that is full of volunteers) look up to us paid guys and when they actually go paid for one reason or another either think we are all really messed up and quit or get run out of the job because they can't handle the call volume. Now I am NOT putting down volunteers but paid people tend to "taint" the true reason why they got into EMS. I always sit with my new recruits when they get hired and tell them a few things that sums up most EMS'ers EMS'ers are mostly all "A" type personalities, so it will always be a competition of who got a better call...There is a lot of drama in EMS (rumors etc...), DON'T date anyone from work (causes problems down the road), Dating hospital staff can hurt you also (I broke that rule but it worked out for me and married a doctor), Keep your mouth shut and listen because once you talk that statement will get turned around, and if you call out don't go to a local bar, attend that party with your co-workers, or stop to assist at a crash. I think the love for EMS if what you make it...you at some point have to decide to either walk away totally and never look back or stick with it. I describe my career in ems as the same feeling I have for my cat...I love it but hate all the crap that comes with it (like stepping in puke /cleaning the litter box / Cat hair). K ..I am don't rambling on..

Sept 24 1989 - MVA minor injuries - The day I got hired in the city about 20min into my 1st shift first Yeah I am dating myself

We have the bougies, king air devices (for EMT's), and the same old blades our service bought like 20yrs ago. Just looking at some new toys...I like the airway cams but $$$$. I rarely have problems intubating and have used the bougie a few times for difficult intubations It looks like a cool product tho...it will be like having a Disco in thier airway and fun to play with to see how dirty the back of the ambulance is or your partners pants (lolol) ya know that CSI stuff...lololol

Any one use the IntuBrite Laryngoscope? It is the newer one with ultra white forward bulb and a second "Black Light" that phosphoresce's the cords. I am looking on some feedback on it. I have contacted the manufacturer to try and get a demo sent out for us but have yet to get a response. www.intubrite.com here is a ideo of it in use: http://www.fdnntv.com/review.asp_Q_reviewID_E_58_A_title_E_IntuBrite_Hypervisualization_System