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Personally, I haven't put that much stock into these disaster response teams. In a disaster, pretty much, those who can walk out will self evacuate and those who can't, generally, there isn't much we can do for them. 9/11 had realtively few injuries. THat didn't stop a whole bunch of well meaning volunteers from pouring in and medical students setting up make shift surgery centers on the street, but all in all, few people got injured. People didn't need to be treated, they needed to be decontaminated and evacuated, and if you send a large contingency of civilians back into a disaster zone, you've just made the problem worse. Hurricane Katrina, again, same problem. It wasn't like there was a whole bunch of people who needed boarding and collaring and splinting, they jsut needed to be gotten out of the area. Sure, the people suffering from dehydration or exposure could have benefited from rapid medical intervention, but alas, that is something more along the line of ALS. So, in my cynical experience, the only way you can really make a disaster worse is by sending a horde of partially trained, ill-equipped, well meaning civilians into the area. In my opinion, CERT teams are the modern equivalent of "duck and cover" in the 50's, a program not designed to particulary be of any use in case of a disaster, but to help placate fears in an unnerved public.

Many times a dispatcher will say "use universal precautions" to the dispatched units. Its a subtle way to inform the crew of an increased risk of exposure.

Wait a minute, I thought Jesse Jackson and Marion Barry were the bad guys. When did I become the politcally correct/liberal boogeyman here? I assure you, captain, I'm far from being "politically correct". I'm just not an a--hole. Big difference! And I never called you a "bigot". I said you have issues, and seeing as my name came up about FIVE TIMES in your last post, which was supposed to be about people calling you racist, I reiterate my opinion. You have issues! I sense a real inferiority complex here. What happened, black guy take your girlfriend or something? Maybe you live in an area where you're surrounded by upper class intellectual types who get all hot and bothered by your Michael Savage rhetoric ans stuff, but I assure you, you're barking up the wrong tree with me.

This is my last word on the subject. Captain, you have ISSUES. I mean, I have read a lot of long winded self serving right wing carrying on, but yours really is just plain ANGRY. Sure, I can be an opinionated and intolerant lunkhead from time to time but, you, you're just so filled with anger. I reiterate my opinion that anyone who so loudly claims they are not a bigot but with real personal animosity attacks any such black politician, there's a little something going on upstairs. To answer your question, if my child was trapped under burning wreckage, I wouldn't be praying to anyone, I would be doing whatever it takes, and I really mean whatever it takes, to get them out. Thats because I know that bravery is a lot more than carrying a firearm or invading a country. Its doing what is right, no matter the consequences.

You know, it always amazes me when people accuse me of being a New York liberal, when it is pretty far from the damn truth, when actually I grew up in a very conservative atmosphere and consider myslef pretty conservative myself. This how I think I'm conservative: 1. I've worked full time ever since I've been 18 years old. I have never asked for a handout or cried unfair, ever. I accept what I earn, and I expect others to earn their keep. 2. I believe very strongly in personal responsibilty. People are responsible for themselves and their own actions, end of story. Thats why I'm not a fan of censorship, and I believe the notion of family values weakens individual responsibility. 3. I love my family very much. They are the people who come first before all others. 4. I was a Boy Scout at one point. 5. I'm heterosexual. Its fun. 6. I believe in a smaller government. Thats why I am so against the current regime. But, you see, unfortunately, you confuse "conservative" with "Republican". You can be a conservative and not own a gun and love Jesus. They are two different things. As for Southereners, I don't have a real dislike for them, I get annoyed when places like Alabama get 114% return on federal tax dollars whereas Northeastern states get 92% return, and the fact that a few of my relatives were offed by some Good ol' boys "just trying to maintain there own" back in the 60's during the civil rights drive, but other than that, I'm a you do your thing, I'll do mine type of guy. I'm sorry you're so oppressed and hated captainstandup. Maybe you can get a million man march going on Washington or something. :roll:

Actually, our EMS service is one of the most diverse in city and in the nation. Africans, African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Hondurans, Jews, Muslims, Irishmen, Italians, Greeks, I could go on. Try stepping outside your neighborhood sometime. There's a whole world out there! Its funny how you rally against all the "liberal parasites" etc, but you make no mention of war spending or government funding for corporations when it comes to spending my hard earned tax dollar. Give me a 1,000 welfare cheats an they won't even come close to what we've spent funding Halliburton and Blackwater. In my experience anyone who starts off with "I'm not a racist, BUT..." and then peppers their speech with "baby's daddy" and "my black friends", generally is. You can defend your stance with all the long winded posts you want, but as my good friends the Rolling Stones once said "I see your true colors, shining through."

Its okay, I talked to God this morning and he said he was cool with it.

You can never go wrong with duct tape and a sharpie.

Hey, captainstandup, I was raised by a single mother and I may have my quirks but I turned out pretty well. But you know what the hardest part of growing up in a single parent household was? It was pompous, self righteous "family values" types who look down on families that weren't like theirs. So, you and your 700 club buddies can go screw, as far as I'm concerned.

You know, I just made a joke about this before because I thought the idea of it was patently absurd, but of course, oh no, never can I just say "That's silly," and be done with it. There are people, right now, reading this and not seeing "what the big deal is" So, here we go. WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU PEOPLE? ARE YOU &%#ING STUPID? JESUS H. CRIMENY WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR HEAD? NO! DON'T ENDANGER YOUR KIDS BY DOING THE JOLLY VOLLEY THING WITH THEM IN THE CAR! ARE YOU DENSE? <huff> <huff> <huff> Okay. Look, there is a great big difference between taking a patients children along with you to the hospital from a scene AND YOUR OWN &%#ING CHILDREN WITH YOU TO THE CALL! GOD! Sorry... I'm sorry. I'm not sure the exact legalities of it from state to state, but basically, you'll have a lot easier time explaining why the unsupervised children of the patient were in the ambulance with you then YOUR KID in the front seat. Big difference. Huge difference. Huge enough that I think it would be plainly obvious to anyone even considering it, but apparently &%#ing not. You know, contrary to popular belief and what it says on your t-shirts, fires will be put out, and people will be treated and transported whether you respond or not. The world will go on, so take care of your kids first. Either that or give them up for adoption if your goddamn career/hobby calls to you that much. They'll be better off.

Type and crosses take about 2.6 secs. I don't care if the Terminators are coming over the next ridge, the chances of you being in a position where whole blood is readily available, you need it, and for some god blessed reason they just can't do a type and cross, is really, really, really, really, really slim. I know you increase the chicks-dig-danger-factor, but seriously, its not necessary.

Forget the kids. I'm bringing the family dog along on calls. He can hang his head out of the window of the ambulance.

I stopped reading JEMS for two reasons. One was a scenario where they presented an EKG that was almost completely flat, yet claimed it was a ventricular rhythm with a pulse. I remarked to my partner that if anyone had a pulse with that you should be searching for a stake, mallet, and some holy water. In addition, as Dust mentioned, I find they pander to the "Backboards can save lives, really", I-just-got-my-patch-and-I'm-a-hero set. Yes, JEMS, we know that your advertisers have warehouses full of brightly colored beeping things to move, but its still wrong to try and convince Skippy the wonder EMT he needs to buy one.

One of my favorites and a nice rebuttle to that malarkey. WARNING HEREBY NOT NICE LANGUAGE.

Just a reminder, Good Samaritan laws and a heart full of good intentions will not protect you from a SEMI UP THE ASS because you wanted to play hero on the side of the highway. I'm going to revise standard approach to patient care to start reading as thus: 1. Scene safety 2. BSI. 3. Throw nurses off scene. 4. Throw doctors off scene. 5. Throw do gooding people who may or may not be EMTs off scene. 5. Airway 6. Breathing. 7. Circulation.

I'm with Dust. Burr holes all around. I'll go get the cordless drill. Look, if ALS is three minutes away, I think hanging out for three minutes isn't going to make a difference. Then when he starts seizing and choking on his own blood and saliva you won't look so stupid when you pull into the ER making fart noises with the BVM. What's so frustrating about this, anyway? Its called rule out AMS secondary to head injury. Its pretty run of the mill.

"Wanted: Paramedic. Do boring nonsense 99% of the time, be scared out of your wits other 1%. Pay: bad, recognition: less, bonus of being able to run occasional red light. Quick hands, strong stomach, essential, brains preferred but not required. Mentally stable law abiding citizens need not apply."

You know, I'm surprised no one has asked the obvious. "What were the girls doing on the roof of the car in the first place?" Is this like common practice in everyone elses area or something? Secondly, this is a community for professional EMTs and Paramedics to compare notes and give each other a hard time. That being said, if you write a post about girls falling off of roofs with scratches on their ankles, people will give you the brush off. If you wish to discuss a call you are on, be sure to include the good stuff, like vitals, what the final disposition was (i.e. boarded/collared/transported/released) with an intelligent question or insight added. You'll get a much better reception. Lastly, we ain't just Jews and Christians. I think we have some Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists, and I am more than certain a few Rastafarians kicking as well.

Brentoli, I think you meant "commendation," not "condemnation", unless you are unhappy with us staying on topic for 9 pages.

Hmmm, so many names... Lance B. Savealot. I am he.

There's paragod clubs? Where do I sign up? I guess when our threads integrate opinions from doctors, nurses, and medics with years of field experience, some people may be excluded, so in the interest of including all: HEY IMA EMTB I HAVE NINE SAVES THIOS WEEKE AND I SAV TEH PARAMDICS

Chosen sport. Heh. You see, when professionals practice their sport, they use appropriate equipment to prevent injury. When stupid suburbanite youngsters try to get a subarachnoid hemmorhage so they can have the mad skillz to impress the ho's, they are just being dumb.

I guess they get it from the same place those guys outside the abortion clinic and on the 700 get it from. You know, because I actually work with real live gay people, I've noticed that there are quite a few who pretty much do come to work, go home, and live their own lives. The ones you see on TV all the times are the ones who can afford to show up wherever cameras are because they don't need to be at work, just like those a--holes outside Terry Schiavo's place, its not like any of them had work to go to in the morning. The other thing I've noticed is that if you're not gay, then the gay agenda doesn't affect you at much, or at all, for that matter. I've also noticed that the people most opposed to the gay agenda seem to always be "man's men" who enjoy hunting, alone, in the woods, with other men, hanging out at the firehouse with their 'guys', and such. Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

A couple of other things you have to remember. In an MCI, the approach to the patients is slightly changed. The overall scene and the coordinating the appropriate resources becomes the top priority for the first due unit, rather than individual patient care. If one ALS provider starts relaying information while the other starts START triage, rather than going through individual patient assessments, they are doing the right thing. The other thing is that if these competitions are anything like I've seen, you are usually given patient information prior to starting, such as "Patient X is a 44 y/o male who is breathing adequately and has an impaled object through the chest," so often times it is unneccessary to do because you already know. Lastly, everything in ALS is just an extension of the ABC's. Intubation is done to correct and airway problem or a breathing problem, an EKG is done to find and correct a circulatory problem, etc. Unless they were giving an anti emetic to a patient in respiratory distress or something.

I still say it was coxsackie B4 virus. It was and you all just don't want to admit it.