rat115

Sorry to hear about your loss. You and your family are in our prayers.

MAS, that SUCKS!!!!! I would see if there's some way for your bank to pull up the IP address that the transaction on the account she didn't have a signature for came from. Also find out a time that it was done. See if it coincides with a time you were on a call or have witnesses to say that you were unable to access a computer. Best way to show she did this is to prove that you weren't able. One thing you need to look into, though, is your state's common law marriage laws. Those can throw a wrench in all of this if the law says your married by common law because of how long you lived together and it's a joint property state. Check it out and talk to a lawyer. There are some decent women out there. Hope you find the one you deserve.

Welcome to the City. I'm an EMT-B in rural CO. Sometimes, it's tough getting the higher certs when you live outside the urban areas, but it's worth it if your service supports it.

Welcome to the City!!!!

I'm with Doc that it's important to remember that geriatric pts have a greater risk of fracture with minimal MOI. Some also have increased problems with being back boarded due to curvature of the spine and other pre-existing conditions. That is where using a bit of thought comes in. Besides a C-collar and spinal board, what does your ambulance have that can be used to make sure there is no neck or back movement? Here, we've used a spare sheet folded up and wrapped so that it goes behind the pt's neck and is crossed across the chest and secured under the pt arms for both obese pts and for those with spinal curvature that prevented application of a c-collar. This prevented movement with a soft structure which kept the pt comfortable. In place of a board, we've used a scoop that's been padded with blankets. This fills the gaps naturally and helps the elderly pt feel that they are not going to fall again. It also allows for extra padding to not be in the way when dealing with spinal curvature when you go to move the pt from where they are to the cot and to the ER bed. You can't do this, though, if your service uses metal scoops because they can't be used during x-rays. Do you have the vacuum splint's that are sheet sized? I've seen those used. They don't work for more than about 3 hrs very well. You MUST also put a sheet under the pt to prevent the pt from sticking to it. (I had a hospital send a pt to another hospital for higher level of care who'd been laying on one for 5 hrs post hip fx. My partner and I were unable to get the pt rolled to get a sheet under her, so we taked to her about what was going on and she opted to be left as she was until we reached the other hospital. The PA who received her had a fit until we explained (and the pt backed) what had happened. The pt ended up having skin peel when we got her off this and the PA had the Ortho surgeon call the first hospital and give an ass chewing.)

Going back to the original question. I'm am mandated to stop within the county that I live in. I work on a volunteer service which is county run. If I see any accident, I am required to find a safe spot to pull over (this is important on our secondary highways), call for help, and render aid until an ambulance arrives. Here, it can be anywhere from 5 minutes to close to an hour depending where you are in the county and the weather for the ambulance to get on scene. Because of this, I do carry one of the two safety vests that the county provides in my vehicle at all times and one for the area Citizen's Emergency Response Team (CERT). Would I stop outside my jurisdiction? That depends on the severity of the accident and if my kids were with me. I don't want my kids sitting in the car if it gets hit by some "lookey-loo" and injured. By myself, I don't have that much of a problem with it. I wouldn't use my county issue vest outside the county that I live in. That way, I'm just another Jane Doe whose's trained as a CERT volunteer and who's been taught how to hold c-spine, do basic first aid, or provide CPR. That keeps me under the Good Sam laws. Outside the country, I have no real idea of what I'd do, to be totally honest. I'd definately try to find the best care possible. I'd be asking this doc if he could help me find a way to get the child transported somewhere else and, as was suggested, talking to the consolate. As a scenerio, I can totally understand how he'd feel 1) that he couldn't do what he was used to without the normal tools and 2) thinking about how he's on vacation. In real life, it'd probablly piss me off big time.

Congrats!!! That's a great milestone for any baby. Even more important after all of the issues.

Condolences to the family, friends and coworkers of the mechanic and pilot who were on the flight. We know that they played an important part of the EMS team. Glad to hear that no patient or medical staff was on board when it crashed.

JP, being raised by a design engineer for the oil/gas/chemical industry, this is the way that they deal with oil wells that have been damaged. On land, it's more cut and dried getting to it. The underwater wells have a lot more issues that have to be delt with that include the depth of the water and what happened to the rig above it. Having seen drawings of offshore platforms and having had them explained to me, I know that there are a lot of safety checks in place. Something major had to have failed for this one to catch on fire like it did. It's a major loss for those who do that kind of work as well as for BP. The environmental issues are truely a major concern for those trying to stop this well. All around, it's a sad deal.

RIP Brother! Condolences to Bill's family. He was a good man. I remember talking to Retred many times in chat. There were a couple of bad calls that I talked to him about either PM or video that he helped me put in perspective. He had a lot of knowledge and was willing to share with those who were willing to listen and learn. EMS lost a good man with Bill's passing.

Glad to hear that you're doing better than you were before. Be sure to follow what the doc said to do even though it'll be a pain in the arse. You'll be back out there before others realize it.

Welcome from yet another Coloradoan....Way out east this time. Look forward to catching your posts.

Welcome back to CO!!! Once you get your certs back from the state, but sure to get in touch with the retac. Here's the website for you. Wish I'd have known that you were back in CO. I'd have given you this info before so you could have attended to Plains to Peaks Retac conference the first weekend of May. www.plainstopeak.org Rat

If there's no signs of trauma to support shaken baby syndrom, I'd be wondering about something metabolic. With the BGL being 157 makes me wonder about the possible onset of diabetes. (Family hx???) Suddenly not eating, voiding, fever,and lethargy that day. Seizure and cebrial edema can be s/s of DKA, especially in little ones. The inconsolable crying can also be a s/s. On a personal note, I saw a 14 month old who was brought in with a metabolic disorder (body unable to digest fats properly). She started out much the same way that you've described this one except for the BGL.

Need more info! What kind of Kotex pad are we talking about? There's different levels of protection. The most common are for "regular flow" and some women must use "Overnight" due to a normally (for them) heavy flow. What's the pt's GYN hx? Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrom (PCOS) can have cycles that range from 1 month to 6 months without it being considered extremly abnormal due to the inconsistancies in hormone production. Those with endometriosis and adenomyosis can have similar issues. Has the pt had a baby within the past year and been breast feeding? Is she on medication of any kind? Has she had a tubal ligation? Has she been having abd pain or any other health or emotional issues during the time she's missed her cycle? I'm going to repeat pinkemtprincess' question... How long of a time period is "a day"? Changing a pad every 3 hours isn't totally abnormal, but changing it every 30 minutes to 2 hours is. It also depends on how many pads the pt goes through in the same period on what she considers a "normal" period. I've never tested how much each type of Kotex can hold, but there are a lot of things which can cause variations in a woman's cycle. Lots of questions brought up about what may be going on that a Gyn needs to address.

What's the girl's capillary refill like? Any changes in lung sounds? I hope that this girl was taken in to get checked out. I sounds like the grape may have moved from a complete blockage of the airway to a partial blockage. With toddlers, it's important to have the airway checked after choking to make sure no damage has been done even if the airway is cleared without incident (that's according to the pediatrician I used to take my own kids to).

Sounds to me like this town is in a situation that many small, rural towns are in where they are unable to get any or an adequit number of volunteer staff during the average work shifts during the week. They just have the neighboring services adding an excellent incentive that might allow their service to go to a partial paid service without as much fight (now) about the overall costs of the implimentation. I hope they're able to pull it off.

Jim, I'm so sorry to hear of your wife's illness. Praying for strength for both of you and the rest of your family. I hope and pray that you're able to get the help you need, financial and beyond, to get your family through this. Ratty

When my oldest son was dx with ADHD, I was warned to watch for adverse reactions to Benadryl. They told me to wtch for him getting more hyper than normal, anxious, or signs of allergic reactions. He didn't have that reaction, but I understand it's fairly common in those with ADD and ADHD. I've also got a coworker who can take the dye-free Benadryl for about 3 days before she has to stop taking it. After about a day and a half, she starts noting itching in her throat and ears, anxiousness. After day 3, she gets the same reactions from the Benadryl that she gets from the stuff hat she's taking it to deal with. I've never seen anaphalyxis from using it, but I wouldn't doubt that it is possible. (After some of the allergies I've seen, including soy allergies, I don't doubt anyone saying they have an allergy to something. I just find out how they react to it.)

You sure he was waving and not shaking a finger at you? (j/k!) Oh, that's a nasty feeling. The bottom dropping out of the stomach and the adrenaline rushing at the same time. Dang it, Herbie1, you beat me to that answer!

I agree with you on ESO. We used Ortovis before we went to ESO. Most of the time, it's great. We have guys who leave out a lot if they don't have the Q&A controls, so this system helps a lot. Thanks for the clarification. Sorry if I messed up your poll. If it were possible to get out dispatch center onto something like the MDTs mentioned here, I'd push for it for all of our county services. It would help tons.

Timmy, your post has gotten some excellent responses. Something that caught my attention on 2nd reading was the combination of your comments about old war stories and the combination of his being over zelous and then freaking out when the littlest thing happens. This sounds like he's trying to keep himself in the game and my have some psych issues. I'm wondering about PTSD. When they're not dealing with the issues, they will not take care of themselves. Hence the constant productive cough and his body oder. Have you, perhaps, seen other earmarks of depression/PTSD in this guy? Here, the constant productive cough would be enough to force someone onto a time out until it's dealt with. That could possiblly cause a transmission from him to a patient. Until it's known that it's not contagious, we would not allow him on the ambulance. If he's not concerned about himself, I'd be concerned about the patient from a supervisor's point of view.

Gotta wonder why the other forums I'm on don't have a problem with topics going SO FAR off as they do here. Scuba....did what you suggested. Sent admin 10 different ones. Go figure that Ridryder was one of them that was the worst at being WAY off the topic. I agree there are different ways to get information. This is one that can be excellent sometimes. I'd like to see it more often. I also agree that there's some awsome people on here.