island emt

A Flagger as in SCCA racing? Or as in standing on the side of the road with a stop / Slow sign?

Kaisu: Here's hoping that you find the peace you're looking for and the answers to the riddle of life as we know it. Stay strong for yourself and your husband. Family matters, but not at a cost to your own health & sanity. Glad your friends are true friends and willing to hold the position for you!

Mike Ellis: Since everyone else has gone there already: I'll only comment that there is a reason why commercial transportation companies , including ambulance services will not hire anyone under 21. Youthful arrogance is a killer. Your age group has a 14 times greater risk of being involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes than someone in the 25-35 yr age bracket, and an 80% higher chance of dying in a motor vehicle crash than someone in my age bracket. Your age group is more likely to DIE in a motor vehicle crash than from any other cause. These are insurance company underwriting facts. Someone with your attitudes and bravado would not be driving any ambulance here! You might not even get hired to deliver Domino's. Just be the good little basic that you are ,and leave the pontificating to those with a little experience. The boots on my feet right now are older than you! Just so you know: I had 1.6 million miles of driving over the road Tractor trailers with one accident. It was caused by a 20 year old not paying attention and speeding, that ran into the back of my 45 foot bright yellow trailer at 80 mph on an interstate highway. His two passengers were killed , He got off with a broken nose and 15-20 in NY state prison at Ossining for manslaughter.

Okay : you've had your vent. NOW GET YOUR ASS back to the books ! The military version of this was SERE school. Pushed to the limits of endurance for 2 weeks straight ,22 hrs / day evading capture. It puts your mind in a different place and allows your body to find reserves that you didn't know existed. Similar to the Navy seal teams hell week

barbecue sauce is better! Our newborn / OB kit has a cotton blanket and space blanket to wrap them in , Placing them on mom's chest and covering both is excellent as long as neither require more interventions from us.

Mobey: before we got our 12 volt battery powered IV warmer bag, we used the hot packs wrapped around the IV bag to get them warmer than ambient temp in truck. It did make a difference. Like you , we deal with hypothermia a lot more.

CM: As i understand it the best response is to get their core temp down fairly quickly. It was explained to me that Cooled towels and ice packs do help , but only peripherally. The best way is to use cool, not cold IV fluids and gastric lavage. The IV's are doable but out scope doesn't have the lavage. Once the brain gets to 106-107f life expectancy is not good.

In a past position I worked special events which included several large music venues and outdoor arenas. Was first exposed to X at a godsmack concert on a hot summer night. Halfway through the show partner & I dispatched to the mosh pit in front of the stage. Once we got there we found 2 unconscious 20 something PT's among the hundreds surrounding the stage. Anyone ever surfed the mosh crowd on a backboard?? I did that night. Pt 1 [my pt] Fast pulse, extremely low BP and dilated pupils, shallow respirations, hot dry skin. First thought was heat stroke as the outside air temp was in the 90's with no breeze at all. Got them boarded and moved into the safety of the security fence at the stage and went to work. O2 and wet towels to cool them down. Moved to aid tent and set up on monitor, Elevated the feet started an IV and wet them down with water and cool towels from the cooler. Core temp turned out to be 107.2 rectally, monitor show irreg tachycardia, GCS of 6. On follow up the next day , pt #1 was in ICU , the other was on life support with no brain activity. Fried his brain beyond repair.

Just don't get in an accident between your toaster oven and one of those big gas guzzling trucks. You won't win. the trailer hitch on my 1 ton van is at the center of your windshield height. When I was your age i spent my money buying old run down multi family houses and fixing them up. Once we had them fully refurbed and rented we sold them and kept turning the profits into the next one. Over 20 yrs bought & sold 10 properties and made money on everyone of them. Didn't get rich, but had enough put away to move here and now have no mortgage or regular payments due. We both still work, but not because we have to ,to survive.

Coming from a rural area like you, We do know a lot of the population, and after a few years , you do get to know who can be a problem and those that are perfectly harmless. It does take a good "spidey sense" to know when to sit and when to go ahead and do your job. We will often get a call and dispatcher in a bunker 50 miles away will say "Stage" due to the nature of call, thats what their dispatch software tells them to do. It's all about your comfort level and your knowledge of your pt's. If your not comfortable , wait till the blue canaries arrive to clear the scene. Then again, the scariest scene I was ever on was after four blue suits had entered an apartment and allegedly cleared "scene safe". As we were moving down a hallway towards stabbing victim. Banger pops out of closet with a Mac10 and opens up spraying the walls a few feet over our heads. Luckily there were two cops in front of us and they managed to get the shooter before he pulled the weapon back down. Had to clean the shorts after that call.

We do steak & lobster nights and have a training after the meal. this morning the area hospitals did a 4 hr Con Ed with breakfast provided and snacks. End of the year christmas bonus depending on activities and senority. Everyone like a little extra cash for the holidays!

I think you will find that OZ requires a degree to practice in most situations compared to the US with it's short term trade school requirements. Granted we are slowly moving toward a minimum of 2 yr degree programs for Paramedicine, but it will take a long time to get everyone on line with that.

In a retrospective look at this call. 21 yo male , 1st day working as a roofing laborer, hot day working in sun, 1/2 day in and he's not feeling well. right age group to suspect drug use, humping shingles is a backbreaking job climbing up a ladder with 80 lb bundle on your shoulder. Increased work = increased core temp . Probably not drinking water, Add in a little "X" which causes hyperthermia by itself, and you have a young lad who's fried his only two working brain cells. Probably not a good outcome.

glad to hear that you got a diagnosis. Sciatica can take some time to get relief as the swelling thats causing the nerve impingement can take time to go away. When you start to feel better: TAKE IT EASY! Trust me on this. Don't rush right back and re-injure yourself. Lots of gentle stretching and slow warm up exercises to loosen up without causing re-inflamation and swelling.

just remember that 90% of the supplies you stock in the unit will have expiration dates on them. They will expire before you use them the majority of the time. The initial purchase price is high on equipping these kind of units. Keeping them full of unexpired supplies is even more expensive. & time consuming for someone to keep track of. There were a bunch of these type units funded by homeland security funding after 9-11 and Katrina. I'd wager a guess that the majority of them are filled with expired medical supplies and even more expired emergency food rations. I know the one in our region is parked at a hospital back lot and has several dry rotted tires and probably hasn't been opened in years.

Welcome to the Village Mican: As a long time EMS provider [42 years & counting] I used to carry a lot more than I do now. What I have on my person when responding to a call is a pair of 6 $ shears and a couple pair of gloves. i have a jump bag in my truck with all the normal bandages and stethoscope,BP cuff and the like. When I get a newbie starting class, We supply them with a $35.00 basic bag with a $20.00stethoscope, $18.00 BP cuff, $6.00 shears that are disposable and basic bandaging and splinting materials [sAM splint]. It's good through class and lets them use it to practice getting comfortable taking vitals, and doing basic bleeding control and minor wound care. Don't spend a lot of money on things that can get covered in spuge or destroyed when crawling around at a crash scene. After a new member is licensed to practice we issue them a more complete bag with an AED [ we are rural and respond from home] and an O2 kit with airway adjuncts and a BVM. Everything else you might need will be on the ambulance. I buy our supplies & equipment from Boundtree medical. They have anything you might want and at reasonable prices. Study hard and toy will do fine. I've found older providers to be the calming influence on calls due to having life experience. I do have my own good stethoscope that I bought cheap from a would be Paramedic student that passed out every time he encountered blood or vomit. Finally figured out he wasn't cut out for this business. got a $300.00 Littman for $60.00 in a getting out of the field sale. :-}. Did I feel guilty? Only for a little while. Seen way to many gung ho kids who think their going to save the world ,only to find out they can't stand what we deal with on a daily basis. edited to add last paragraph.

What you are describing sounds very much like sciatica. nerve impingement causing spasms and a burning pain down into your buttock. Try hot compress application and laying on your left side with a large pillow between the legs to help align the lower spine, legs slightly bent at hips and knees. Hope you find relief! nothing worse than back pain.

When I worked EMS for a Large motorsports venue at a nascar track, we staffed with a minimum of 12 providers on duty for the 4 days leading up to friday, 6 trucks. On friday[practice day , lots of spectators ] we ramped up to 25 providers plus a staffed infield hospital with a trauma team from the level 1 hospital. Saturday & Sunday race days we had 75-85 providers and 25 trucks half a dozen golf carts and a gator. Population during the week around 10-20k , friday 35k weekend in the area of 120 thousand. we ran 24 hours a day for 7 days, twice a year in addition to other events every weekend from April through October , some of them with 30 -50k guest on the property. the local population was around 3800. We brought in crews and trucks from a three state area owned by the corporation to be able to up staff for the big events. Rule of thumb was 1 provider per 2500 guests minimum. we also staffed a medical center in the grandstand area with a Dr. and experienced staff to deal with all the maladies you find in a city of 100k+ population. We had 5 dedicated transport trucks assigned to that unit, to carry folks that had been treated from there to the two hospitals we used. 4 trucks dedicated to ON track at all times plus a couple infield transport trucks and the rest were assigned to respond to cover the 2000 plus acres of parking & campgrounds.

You kiwi's need to get out of the dark ages. Our ambulance's have had the on the wheel siren/horn control for twenty years. Here we tend not to use the siren as it cranks everyone up and can cause needless stress and pandemonium for all. Either just put the lights on to let folks know we are working , or shut everything off and just go with the flow of traffic. CKA: I was trying not to go down that road , so as to not offend a few members here, who work for THAT firm and stoutly defend the honor of that sweatshop.

There is a large corporate entity that has the same philosophy, Have an accident and your gone. I know of several cases where the ambulance was parked at the scene with the crew away from the truck, or in one of the companies designated convenience store parking lots on post and they got hit. Maybe not right there on the spot, but surely before the next payday they were found at fault and let go. Have a chargeable crash and don't even bother to go back to the base to collect your ass chewing. A company like that just SUCKS to work for!

Where to start ??? First car was a 51 saab 2 stroke with 4speed on the column. Next came a package deal of a 58 beetle, a 59 beetle and a 61 beetle. All 3 for 150.00. They were all the same color and depending on which one was in running condition , thats the one I put the plates on and drove next up was a 67 Ford bronco with a Fisher plow on it. Drove a holden ute while stationed in western Australia then came a series of Corvairs, a 61 lakewood wagon which we still have, a 65 & a 67 coupe, a 65 spyder 180 hp turbo coupe that was a corvette killer. Once we got grown up we started buying Ford pick ups & vans , the best of those was a 77 f-250 that had 730.000 miles on the odo before we sold it when we bought a new one in 1993 Currently I drive a 2008 one ton 15 pass van, Plenty of room for me the labs and my tools as my daily driver , and the wifes' got a 2004 explorer.

It only becomes a problem when the seekers have a greater knowledge of Pharmacology than the hospital pharmacists. I agree that since the chronic pain drug sellers have set up shop, we see a lot less drug seeking pt's. It's a lot easier to pay $50.00 for a "consult at the pain clinic which will get you a script for a mayonnaise jar full of oxy's or suboxone, than going through the whole hassle of calling the ambulance & going to the ER while trying to hoodwink the Doc into feeling sorry for you.

The BIG is old news here also. We tried them and had poor success with getting them to flow as the injection seemed to plug the opening with fragments that had to be forcibly flushed out to flow fluids . EZ-IO works much easier and definitely more gentle on the PT. Now that they have the longer needle it has a high success rate. Fast 1 worked great, but had a bystander pass out while watching it inserted, pretty gruesome looking tool, took some fore to imbed it.

But they were only dissing AMR in California after all!

Spring thaw in Sasquatch land