Katiebug

Thanks for the link Vent. I just read most of it and it's just like it was reported. I'm seriously beginning to believe the New World Order conspiracy. Is another revolution on the horizon? I have thought for some time that we were becoming socialists, but now I'm thinking it's becoming more tyranical. 1984 is 2009. Orwell was a little off on the date. Here's the question of the day... How many here would assist the government with forced vaccinations? I'll be the first to say I will not.

AAHF Home About Us Take Action Campaigns Media Center Resources Quick Hits Get Involved ANH-US Home Mass. Alert: Bad "Pandemic Bill" Mike Adams at Natural News first brought this to our attention. The Massachusetts Senate has passed a bill that violates the very rights that Massachusetts residents fought and died for during the Revolutionary War. The action now moves to the Mass. house. We hope our Mass readers will take action to prevent this very bad legislation from becoming law. The Senate bill (Pandemic...Response Act) says that during a declared public health emergency police may arrest you without warrant if they have “probable" cause to think you are not complying with orders, including verbal orders, from the public health commissioner or local public health authority. You can then be imprisoned for not less than 30 days or fined $1,000 a day. Any order is considered valid if issued “in good faith". You may also be detained for as long as necessary for the public authorities to "convey information to you regarding the disease". You must also furnish whatever identifying information about yourself is requested. The bill further states that public authorities have the right to enter your home without your consent, to "investigate" your home, to "decontaminate" it, to close it, and to require your evacuation from it. You may also be ordered to submit to a physical examination, treatment, or vaccination. You may refuse the examination, treatment, or vaccination while the authorities obtain a judge's order. Meanwhile you will be quarantined. Quarantine (for an indefinite period of time) might be in your home, but the state has the right to move you from your home and “confine" you in “other private or public premises". Even if confined to your home, it may of course be impossible to obtain food without violating the quarantine. The state is authorized to demand your personal medical records. Such information shall be kept confidential “except" when the public authority deems it "necessary" not to keep it confidential. The state may require all licensed health practitioners and even social workers to carry out assigned orders. They may be forced to administer vaccines. Anyone not complying will lose their license. None of these personnel if volunteering will be liable for any of their actions. The state may also “restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons". No one of course objects to sensible measures such as dropping mandatory attendance at school during a pandemic, but an unlimited right to prohibit assembly clearly violates the first amendment of the constitution. Our founding fathers from Massachusetts would be astonished beyond measure to read this Orwellian legislation from the cradle of our liberties. We should all now be watchful for similar bills in other states. If you are a resident of Massachusetts please click here to ask your Representative not to support this bill. September 15, 2009

What he said.

I mean AK. Spell check on the iPhone is not always a good thing.

AM is correct. I just got my ACLS re cert from another paramedic six days ago. In fact, it was a paramedic that taught my paramedic class and gave us our original cert. You should call BS on that and see what happens.

Refusing care during a medical emergency is unethical. Period. Although it is not always illegal. Usually private services that do 911 have a contract with the county they serve. They are paid a set amount annually and they can bill for whatever they can get. The annual fee paid by the county ensures emergency service to all its citizens. Refusal of a 911 call in this case is illegal, immoral and a breach of contract. Private services that do not have a contract with the county they serve have a right to refuse service to anyone if there is a valid reason. Non payment for services rendered is a valid reason. It is up to the county to ensure EMS is available to its citizens. That's what taxes are for. It could be argued here that EMS has a duty to act or that everyone deserves the same treatment regardless of ability to pay and so on and so on. All that is good and fine and very idealistic. It is also socialist. While I personally would help anyone that needed it, if I reasonably could, that reaction from me would be a direct result of my spirituality. As it stands, (for now anyway), we are capitalists here in America and the dollar will unfortunately override compassion sometimes. It's business survival. You can't help anyone if you can't pay your bills. The system needs to be improved, but you can't bash a business for protecting itself.

4C6, I agree. It would not be ethical to deny emergency care to anyone. If it's an emergency call. I say again that there are valid points on both sides of this argument. What about routine transports for people that require an ambulance? Who should transport them if they can't pay? Me, as a tax funded employee? A privately owned ambulance service? As a society we have a responsibility to our fellow citizens, but who should fund it? Nobody does anything like that for free for long. They just can't. As a matter of fact, is it ethical to require a private business to respond to emergencies for free? Where is the line?

Wow. That is a question that has really good points on both sides. I work for a municipal 911 service that does not bill for DNTs. As a result, we get a lot of, "I just wanted to get checked out", or "His sugar is just low. Just wake him up and we'll take care of him". I get lots of refusals AMA just because they needed my advice on how to handle an issue. We have a few pts that call regularly for assistance with things like, "I can't get off the toilet", or "I'm having an anxiety attack". Our chief has told these people that if they continue to call EMS for these issues and sign refusals, they will begin recieving bills for our services. Now, while I am pretty tired of responding weekly to these same people for these same issues, it's still not fair to bill them. Why? Because we still don't bill anyone else for DNTs. These "frequent flyers", if you will, are not abusing the system. They really need help. They just don't need to go to the hospital. A nursing home maybe, but not the ER. Now, I work for a tax funded, municipal service. I have a responsibility to the general public to make good on what they pay me for. Let's say for the sake of argument that I owned a private service that relies on payments for services rendered for my livelyhood. I have to pay an EMT and a paramedic, fuel,vehicle insurance, malpractice insurance, maintenance, overhead (building rent, utilities, uniforms, supplies, overtime, continuing education, health insurance for employees), taxes, Accounting, etc., etc. As most of us know, most private ambulance services survive off of Medicare. Medicare only pays about $200 per transport. So if I am transporting a patient that can't or won't pay for my service while I could be transporting a patient that does pay, then I'm really losing twice in one transport. I'm not making that much per transport anyway. My survival depends largely on volume. As a private business, it is my responsibility to my business and the people that work for me to remain financially sound. Otherwise I'll have to close my doors. It's just survival. Although I do understand where you are coming from.

Here it is. http://www.partiallyclips.com/pclipslite.php?id=1395&b=1 EDIT: Sorry bout that. It appears that I can't do it either. Thought copy and paste would do it, but I guess not.

First, a preface: My first day on an ambulance, I didn't even know how to operate the stretcher. I have worked with many great, (and not so great), EMTs and paramedics since then and have come a very long way. My progress is due to the grace and kind teaching of those I have worked with as much as the experience I have attained. I include those on this site in my long list of teachers with a special shout out to chbare. I love you man. Now, I have to agree with tniuqs. Don't eat the young. This is a great learning op for the OP. And for the record, I have no idea what INR is either. I'll click the link to it in a minute. OP, what kind of moron owner doesn't let the ambulance crew communicate with the ER? What are you supposed to do if you need online medical direction? I bet there's a legal issue with that. Also, you have to let them know you're coming and what you've got. Is the owner even an EMT? He has to trust you guys to do what you are trained to do. As for SNF and dialysis RNs, getting a good one is a crap shoot. Same way with us though isn't it? Sometimes you just have to pick up the slack for others where your patient care is concerned. It just sucks like that. At least you are here trying to better yourself like the rest of us. This is a great place for that if you can take the occasional slap to your ego. I've had mine slapped a few times. I have to agree with the poster that stated dialysis patients are very sick people. I started my career doing dialysis txpt too. It's one of the things that inspired me to become a paramedic. My wife and I met at a dialysis clinic. I couldn't count the times I diverted to the ER both before and after dialysis treatment. A thourough assessment is so very important to these people. Many times the dialysis staff forget how sick they are too. They are subject to a myriad of other health problems that you should always be on the lookout for, ie: DM, cardiac issues, neuropathy, infections/sepsis, etc. Keep on keeping on OP. Never get too comfortable in your job or take things for granted because as soon as you do, you will be thrown a curve ball that will humble you. Happens to me all the time. Especially now that I do 911. If you post a real life scenario here, make sure you have done all you could think to do for your pt, or you will get ripped a new one. Don't take it personally, let it make you better the next time. Nobody here knows who you are.

Um... How are you going to fit a 620 lb woman in a stair chair? Even if you could, what is the weight limit on your stair chair? A man sack is the only way to go. Thank goodness I work for the fire department and I can call out as many engine companies as I need to get the job done. That is not a happy scenario.

Dave Barry's colonoscopy journal: ====================== I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis . Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!' I left Andy' s office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America 's enemies. I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began mypreparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-literplastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons). Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon. The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, 'a loose, watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground. MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but: have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet. After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough. At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said.. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked. Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand.. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this is, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house. When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' had to be the least appropriate.. 'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like. I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ. ABOUT THE WRITER Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald. On the subject of Colonoscopies... Colonoscopies are no joke, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous..... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients (predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies: 1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before! 2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?' 3. 'Can you hear me NOW?' 4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?' 5. 'You know, in Arkansas, we're now legally married.' 6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?' 7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...' 8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!' 9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit! 10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.' 11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?' 12. 'Now I know why I am not gay.' And the best one of all. 13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?' No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.392 / Virus Database: 270.13.50/2296 - Release Date: 08/11/09 06:10:00

Neither one of those remedies are lethal. People will put their foot in kerosene after stepping on a nail to prevent tetanus. It does work. The other treatment you mentioned is called candelling. A wax cone is used. When the larger end is lit, a vacuum is created that pulls wax and other debri from the ear canal. That's an interesting assignment and it will be fun to look some stuff up.

Get to climbing. Take a rope and a harness with you.

Hooah.

My impression is that Dust was laughing at someone implying there could be reperations paid to EMTs and that a company might actually apologize to us or the public. If you are correct in your findings, let us know ASAP please.

I would say that I need more information please. The sooner the better so that I can protect myself. What did you find?

She was ignorant of the fact that she was covered in poop. It's unfortunate, but a fair statement. It's one of those scenarios that's very sad, but also a little funny in a Monty Python sort of way. Like laughing through the tears.

Wow. Am I that old? The Allman Brothers is one of the best bands ever. Download the song Blue Sky. Guaranteed to make you feel better.

Is there something you would like to talk about? Remember the Allman Brothers song: Youre my blue sky, you're my sunny day. Lord you know it makes me high when you turn your love my way. Turn your love my waaaaaaay, yeah.

Don't worry about your local protocols right now. Protocols vary greatly from place to place and don't always jive with national standards. For right now, just learn the book. That's what you will be tested on. Good luck.

Congratulations! Hope you guys are always happy together.

If in fact you are suggesting that there should be any delay whatsoever in removing the animal from the child's finger in an effort to be more humane to the animal, then yes, we will disagree strongly. No animal ever comes before the welfare of a person. Period.

If they are so pissed at the doc, then perhaps they should offer a better solution. It's a turtle for Pete's sake. It's an animal that's biting a human child. People need to get a grip on reality.

PETA will be callng soon and demading the doc apologize to the turtle for sedating it. I don't know of a number unless you call a vet's after hours emergency number. What the doc did would be logical to do in the field. A little diazepam should have done the trick. At least I assume it will work on reptiles. What's a safe dose for the turtle? I don't think I would care. If two or three mg gives it respiratory depression, I'm not doing mouth to mouth.