Eydawn

Sounds like meeting the other Michael was meant to give you a heads up... Allah is God... it's the belief system that is different. There is a clause somewhere about respecting those "of the book"... AKA those who believe in the same God but haven't reached the final stage yet... Allah smiled on that man by sending you... Wendy CO EMT-B

God damn it, Dust, quit breaking yourself! You're getting to be worse than *I* am and THAT takes work! Ruff... did he say how he did it?? Wendy CO EMT-B

Children! Knock it off! Lol.... Sorry mack, I read it the same way... those w/o health insurance all abuse the EMS system etc. and it seemed fairly broad to me... just sayin'. So are we talking socioeconomic status and poverty affecting our system, or universal healthcare? They're not one and the same... and how does that tie into mortality rates of EMS providers? What about somewhere like South Africa... do their EMS providers die a lot too? They have a huge poor population there... Wendy CO EMT-B

I think the issue is that not having universal healthcare is not the definitive cause of increased EMS mortality. It may be a definite contributing factor... but to say it causes it is unsupportable. Now, attributing increased EMS mortality to poor education, trauma shock-jock culture and unfortunate flying or driving incidents... you have an argument for that. The fact that the system that has these inherent problems in it is being taxed and its use increased by those without healthcare is a contributing factor... but you can teach people who run a high volume of calls to do so safely and decrease (not eliminate!) these kind of deadly accidents/incidents. Wendy CO EMT-B

Congrats, dude. Glad to hear it! Don't kill anyone, mkay? Wendy CO EMT-B

10mm? You mean a full CENTIMETER? *cringes* OWWW..... Sorry. Had to say it. I'm still in shock lol! Wendy CO EMT-B

Explorer Post 525's website: http://www.auroramedteam.org/ Venture Emergency Rescue Team (VERT) 911's page... http://www.venturecrew911.org/ I really have to say I'm biased towards my own... but check out both in case one set of leadership appeals to you more than the other. Venturing follows more strict scouting rules, whereas explorer posts pretty much do their own thing... but I like the protection that Safe Scouting affords within the Venturing setting. I also know that I wouldn't be half the EMT I am today without the training and nurturing that I received in my crew. I owe much of my critical thinking and empathy skills to the folks from that crew... older youth and adult leaders alike. Wendy CO EMT-B

Hi! You have two options that spring immediately to mind. Option 1: Venture Crew 911... meets at St. Anthony's Central on Monday nights in Auditorium A/B at 7:00pm. That's how I got into EMS... wonderful adult leadership. They take you and train you to the First Responder level, teach you BLS Healthcare Provider CPR... and there may or may not still be opportunities for ride-a-longs and hospital shadows. Adult leadership: Bobbie Sue Howell, Chris Weaver... Option 2: Explorer Post 525 (believe they're in Aurora).... Don't remember their adult's names at the moment, but it is late after all. One of the youth leaders is named Zeb, and he's pretty cool. Contact the Denver Area Council, BSA... they'll be able to give you specific contact info for 525 if that's what you want. I'd highly recommend my own Venturing Crew... but you want to attend meetings and see if they're what you want, lol. That is my bias... Also... if you're cool with grey zone PRN dispensation at scouting events, 525 is where you want to go. If you want to follow strict First Responder/EMT protocols and not have anything to do with PRN's, you want Venture Crew 911. Just a matter of opinion. PM me with more questions! Wendy CO EMT-B

Happy birthday and way to go! --Wendy

Uh... Ruff? That reaction IS pretty universal for ANYONE who knows ANYTHING about gestational development and childbirth.... Most of us don't go "Oh, a preemie, no problem" last time I checked.... I don't think anyone should jump all over this guy for saying he wasn't nervous. So he told the TV folks he wasn't nervous... who cares? He didn't say he induced labor and did a C-section, for crying out loud! And what did you all expect, anyway? At the EMT-Basic level, we're pretty much just told to catch and not drop. Clear airway, call for backup if problems. ?? You expected him to do...? Baby got born and didn't die, thank God that a healthy child was born instead of freaking out about his father's reaction... many are not so lucky. I agree as to the poor judgment exhibited by both parents as to traveling during the 7th month though... not the best idea in the world. Wendy CO EMT-B

Also keep in mind this could be something other than an inhalation type exposure... what if she got bitten by a centipede or spider, or other nasty creepy bug? When you're moving furniture, sometimes you find things you never expect... I also would like to know if she has any seasonal allergies, or family history or allergy/asthma.... and what her friend uses to clean the carpet. And if either of them is a smoker. Did you look for signs of any sort of bite or sting anywhere? I know you didn't see any obvious urticaria. I'd probably be giving Epi as well (were I educated well enough to do so!)... but I'd have a high index of suspicion for other causes. Wendy CO EMT-B

God be with his family and those who knew him... Prayers from Wendy here in CO. --Wendy

Way to go doczilla! I didn't know you weren't totally done before, I envy you! Wendy CO EMT-B

There ya go. That makes a heck of a lot more sense! I knew it couldn't be what it sounded like.... Wendy CO EMT-B

Ah, but if it's too fast legally for the ambulance, it is also too fast for you. Ruff, you tried to make a good point about how it is justifiable to report bad driving/speeding when you observe an ambulance being driven by an idiot... but you shot yourself in the foot with your anecdote about how you went about doing so. You should have included the disclaimer of "Ok, this was stupid, and not the right way to do this, but this is what I did one time." Holy logic FAIL! I know you speak from experience and your base message is "You take the risk, you reap the consequences." But I have to say, back to the original discussion, I think the storm officer did something pretty dumb! Since he wasn't a cop... he should have just reported it instead of taking matters into his own hands. Wendy CO EMT-B

Now, in a perfect world, we'd never have to go faster than the posted speed limit because we'd live in Europe or Japan where they rely on natural selection to take care of bad drivers... and where driving is a privilege, not a right. Sometimes it is necessary to drive with the flow of traffic in order to not cause an accident, which would damage you and your unit. Speed itself is not the most dangerous factor in an accident; speed differential between colliding objects is... I can't tell you how many times I've had near misses while going the speed limit, and how many fewer times I've had near misses when I'm following the flow of traffic (within reason, that is). Of course, with a high center of gravity and a heavy arse truck, you're going to want to drive a little more conservatively! I'm not condoning speeding if your company policies state not to speed. But I'm also in favor of using judgment while driving, rather than blindly adhering to policies. Wendy CO EMT-B

Yeah, I gotta agree with surfer bum here... WTF were you doing chasing them and following them at the same high rate of speed? I don't care if you were driving a Ferrari, that's meant to go that fast... you were breaking the law too! And if you went past them when they slowed down, weren't you still speeding? I have to say, I would have simply called in a report of aggressive/over the speed limit/dangerous driving to the non-emergent police line, and given them the license plate and location of the ambulance. Then, I'd have called their supervisors and given the super a heads up about how badly their employees were driving... same report as given to the police. Not tried to catch up to them because I thought they were going too fast. Holy logic FAIL, batman! Wendy CO EMT-B

Oh heck no. Dwayne's already got his woman. I'm just saying, someone prevents Dwayne from coming home, I gotta figure out who's responsible and how to get weapons through airport security... Hell hath no fury as a woman pissed at whoever harms her friends... Wendy CO EMT-B

Another question... was this a highway highway, or one of those "it's technically X highway in this state" type situations? I know a lot of rigs will purposely *not* use L/S on the highway, even for emergent transports, because it throws drivers off and the speed factor is not a good thing. Wendy CO EMT-B

I already posted that, dangit n0! Would you post that in the Denver Health: how not to drive thread too, since it offers more info than I had from the Fox News story? Wendy CO EMT-B

I had a course titled "safe driver" for my company and it didn't do BEANS for my driving ability or judgment. It was a joke. Bad videos, and a drive test that a moron could pass. I think a lot of this just comes with experience. I know I've improved my driving skills since I got my license... because I'm older and think better. Wendy CO EMT-B

Maintain IV access, monitor airway, get him to definitive care or hand off to an ALS unit. If he seizes there's nothing I can do as a Basic to intervene... and I am not seeing anything I can further treat. Wendy CO EMT-B

ARGH, y'all, it's called polarizing weather extremes due to median atmospheric temperature increase. Global warming is so passe... :roll: :roll: :roll: Wendy CO EMT-B

If the toilet base is dislodged and he's NOT in full spinal precautions he should be... Any history of opiate use? Recent pain scrips? Any idea what his "normal" BGL is? It varies per person... Wendy CO EMT-B

I'll bet the student reconsiders an EMS career... Come on. Can this get worse? I mean... good lord! Let's go roll the ambulances over and even further screw Denver's coverage... Wendy CO EMT-B