island emt

very strange circumstances for an experienced guide to go missing.

I have a good friend who is a modified quadriplegic as a result of a partial transection @ C-5/C6 in a motor racing crash. He has some movement of his arms and can "hamfist things, but has little finger or thumb control. He gets terrible pain in his lower legs and feet at times even though he can't tell you where you are touching his lower extremities. He plays in a wheelchair basketball league and can on occasion move his legs , but has no strength or co-ordination of these movements. Time to hit the books my friend

Never put a pen near the trigger as it might just be loaded and ready to fire. As everyone else has said that is evidence in a crime and the police are responsible for it's chain of possession as evidence. They need to know exactly where it was found & in what position. If you are on scene before the police at a shooting : It's time to bitch slap your dispatchers for putting your lives in a dangerous place. If police are delayed you should be staging away from scene and waiting for them to secure the scene for you. I have been at a shooting with police on scene ahead of us when a gangbanger popped out of a closet with a tec 9 and let loose down the hallway in our direction. Only thing that saved my partner & I from injury was the cop who knocked us down while trying to flee down the hallway to safety as the 9mm bullets stitched the wall 2 feet over our heads. That was a definite code brown night in the hood.

Note to self: When someone shows up and starts to cap off 50 cal rounds ::: get the hell away from him. The concussion effect from bouncing off the roof magnifies the shock wave to your ear canals My wife & I both shoot 9mm & .380. We wear foam insert plugs when we get out of the truck , and put top quality headphones over them when near the line or shooting.

Nah retirement is great. When I worked in a big city one of our stations was in a seedier part of town and the sex shops and porn theaters were regular stops for us. We did a lot of call volume from that 6 square block area, usually after midnight. Me to Pt: Good morning Sir what seems to be the problem? Pt :: I um have this problem ummmm .It's stuck in there. Me : Whats stuck where??? Pt : Um it won't come out. Me: Maybe if you tell me what it is thats stuck we can figure this out. Pt: : Here let me show you> Me ::: Oh ! Thats really stuck in there huh. Do I really want to know how or why ????? How long has "IT " been in there? Pt: since last night at 8pm. Me: You do realize it's now 5 AM ???? PT: I was hoping the batteries would wear out. OK why don't we take a ride down to Hatford Hospital and you can see if the Doc has some ideas on how to get it out of there Pt :OK But can I lay on my side cause it's really started to get to me with all those vibrations. Me: Whatever floats your boat is fine with me.

he's off playing with the sheep in PNG

looks like something one would expect to find in a gay sex store catalog . Or maybe in the BSM section,

That makes it even worse. Thats why I carry my own liability insurance. Because if god forbid something happened and exposure was out there, You can bet the company/city and their insurance carrier are going to look to hang the blame on someone. I don't expect their insurance carrier to have MY best interest at hand. Yep: I can see it now: : : : family decides to sue : : : City decides to throw the Doc in the box or the EMS crew under the bus to expedite the process and cut their losses.

We had some of these issues when we were insured through the towns insurance carrier. Maine Municipal claimed that we only needed $300,000 liability as that is what the State tort claims act limits are. In todays society that won't even pay the lawyer bills if you get into litigation . Our department along with two others joined together and purchased insurance coverage package under VFIS that provided us with 1 million Liability, 1 million medical malpractice, and full replacement value coverage for our apparatus at a cost less than we were paying through the towns carrier. Personally I carry a million dollar liability rider coverage package to protect me and my home & possessions. Cost is around $600.00 per year

While the Doc's may have immunity : can't believe the city would be also immune from lawsuits if the ambulance chasers can help it.

the only thing that is going to do is keep a few percent of them out of the ER's. The ambulance & fire crews will still need to respond and set up their telehealth system so the Doc in the box can interview them. While all this is going on , you have a crew sitting on scene watching and twiddling their thumbs, out of service and on the clock. From the sounds of this they will have to send someone along to guard the ambulances while this process is happening in the hood. I din't see how this is going to save them time or money. The Dr's they hire will have to ERR on the side of caution, lest they make a mistake and the city gets sued, so a lot of the same folks are going to end up in the ER anyway after a long delay on scene. easier & faster to tag & drag em & drop them at the ER. Yes I know this is not what practicing prehospital medicine is all about. But to those who work in these environments and get abused on a regular basis it is.

CONGRATULATIONS Ugly That course is a tough one to get through. a lot of knowledge to remember in a short time.

imagine that !!! the ax murderers at the controls of insurance companies are the highest paid folks in the food chain. SARCASM for those that didn't get it

welcome to the city.

Take it easy Seth: Deep cleansing breaths. What seems very foreign to you as a newbie will become second nature with some time & field experience. Develop what I call little pull down menus in your brain. Build on these menus every time you see or learn new skills or processes. Thinking on your feet means not getting rattled and being able to adapt to changing situations. While every call may seem different to you know it's only because you are new to the business. In reality the majority of calls we deal with are not life threatening in nature and those few that are are not going to change how you do your ABC's and keep your cool. Street smarts can only be learned with experience & exposure, They can't be taught in class.

about fifteen years ago we had the pleasure of hearing directly from Dr Jim Broselow at an EMS seminar. He discussed how they had originally developed the system back in the earl 1980's & how times were changing with the increase in size of peds & young teens in the modern age. He told us to guestimate with the tape and then by our best ability adjust for additional body mass & size. Lets face it folks: Kids are getting much bigger today than they were back then. There is an 8 yr old female in the neighborhood who is 50 lbs heavier and taller than my wife. Wife is "normal sized @ 5'4 & 120lbs. Child has also begun puberty by age 8?? WTF Plenty of teens outweigh me and I'm not exactly small at 205 lbs, which is 10 lbs more than I weighed when I entered the Navy in 1972 Has to be whats in all the processed foods kids eat now a days.

Welcome to the City Stacy Compassion is something they don't teach in school.

Just a few thoughts from an old guy: Don't be surprised if some companies give you a cold shoulder when appling. This is a young persons sport. Many of your co-workers & potential bosses will be younger than your kids if you have any. Many of the youngsters think they can outwork us old dogs::: I had to show the kids that while I was older than their parents, my decades of experience and street smarts allowed me to work smarter without hurting myself. Back injuries are very prevalent in EMS as we have to lift and carry in awkward positions and haul some very large folks from tight spaces such as small bathrooms or worse. Learn proper lifting positions and think before you do a move. do exercises to strengthen your core muscles/ I just retired at 59 after over 4 decades in EMS and while my back had a few tender days, I managed to maintain it in decent shape after all those years. I can still out lift most of the kids I worked with through proper technique. Some managers will want you for your years of life experience and lack of impulsiveness found in youngsters. Don't get discouraged if you don't succeed at first.

A nice thank you note is fine. Ice cream or cookies are good too. :-}

we love your infrequent visits Tami. We know you will be back for a visit when you can.

Nothing like showing your arse Mikey. Some folks have special educational needs and don't get the standard dribble from being read powerpoints. We had a woman with dyslexia that required a little different teaching style. More hands on explanation of what we do in a format that wasn't based soley on reading the book and listening to powerpoints. But in a perfect world like yours everyone is an idiot

I have my 1970's dynamed smocks. They make great Halloween costumes.

are you enrolled in a class currently? I know some folks down there that might be able to help, if we had an idea of what you need help with.

I scored a 6. but a lot of that has to do with being retired from the rat race of EMS since January 1st. Prior to then , I'm sure score would have been higher. Never realized how much sleep deprived I was for years on end, along with missed/ruined meals, lousy schedule and lack of personal & family time.

that's one of the reasons for retirement. Trevor. great meals just off the grill and the tones go off. Phone calls for help just as your drifting off into a sound sleep thats one part of the job that I don't miss. I do miss the customers , but still get to see many of them around the island , when they are not in distress. Pretty sad that the Doc in the box & the nurses had to call you to figure out how to mix a D-10 bag up/