Richard B the EMT

I didn't play the video. The article states but does not indicate if Mr Sims was a member of that corps, normally authorized to drive said ambulance, or if he stole it outright, strictly as transportation, to get to his father's residence. Anyone have information towards this detail?

Possibly politics, and the statistics saying there are more cross-trained FD-EMS personnel around, then there are LEO-EMS personnel? I believe, either way, there's more cross-trained EMS-ers than there are "mission specific" EMS-ers here in the United States.

Forgive this international politically uneddicated commentary, but, is "fiefdom" an actual word to use instead of Provences, indicating what I perceive as an equivalent of States?

Off topic, but... Municipal EMS in NYC was originally a part of the Department of Hospitals. When they reformatted themselves in 1970 as the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, they renamed the ambulance services as the NYC HHC EMS, or simply NYC*EMS (insert a star of life between the 2 sets of initials). Our Chief of Operations reported to an HHC VP, and his boss, and HIS boss, on to the President of HHC, who'd speak with the Mayor. In 1996, Mayor Giuliani, in an effort to "pay" for votes from Fire Fighters (read as "Protect their jobs"), pushed through legislation at city and state levels, that allowed EMS to be removed from management by the HHC, and placed under management of the FDNY. Now the Chief of EMS Command answers to the office of the Chief of Department, who answers to the Fire Commissioner, who then has the mayor's ear. Thus, what is now the FDNY EMS Command, despite our requests to be such, has never been a "Third Agency" or "Mayoral Agency". We now return to the topic!

As Mark Twain said, so many years ago:

FDNY "standard" is the head-bed. At least we don't use sandbags, and haven't for roughly 2 decades. Also, within this last decade, we had the rolled blanket horseshoe method removed from protocols. I don't agree with that one, but until my instructors tell me otherwise, I'll live with it.

Could having been dropped on my head made me the person I am today?

Don't fail out the FDNY EMS just yet. The investigations come from the FDNY's Bureau of Investigations and Trial Services, known in-house as BITS. BITS also reviews the Fire Fighters when there are allegations of misdeeds done by them. I think the BITS, as well as the NYC Department Of Investigations, and possibly, as mentioned in the press, the Kings County District Attorney's office, are first, making sure that a case can be brought forward, and if the answer is yes, making it a solid case against the duo. If you cancel out the entire FDNY EMS...hey, we're talking about MY job, now!

After stumbling onto this old string, I have to ask, was the TV show Mr Penn was supposed to leave "House" to do, called "Trauma?" As for actors and entertainers becoming part of a sitting president's active political organization, if they are actually doing something, they must have some kind of "smarts", otherwise, it is just a figurehead or honorary position.

As mentioned in the article, and paraphrasing a bit, pouring coffee into a drunk won't sober them up, but will give you a wide awake drunk.

Reality? Man, what a concept! Welcome aboard!

I just bought a new webcam, but nobody seems to want to look when I activate it in the chat room. Just my luck, I guess.

You mentioned the femoral bleeding following the angiogram? I had it, too, following angioplasty (Cardiac Stent), resulting in me being hospitalized a week after the procedure, for a week. They called it an aneurysm/inbleed. When I needed another angiogram, they had an alternative entry point, via my right radial artery (at the wrist). No problems with the second procedure. My grandmother had an AMS from, amongst other things, a high fever. The staff at the ER thought she was an 80 year old with some form of dementia, until my brother in law, working as an X-Ray technician at that hospital, told them in no uncertain terms, that he knew her, and the AMS was NOT her regular mental status (Thanks, Michael). Then, she was evaluated, the cause of the fever discovered, and treated. She was successfully discharged a week later. However, due to the tale you just told about getting back up to Thunder Bay, and all that happened, now I have a reasonable idea why you call yourself the "C-Magnet". I wish your mom better health, and offer condolences to friends and family of the deseased family member.

That is only one. Was not there another case recently, that we took on here in EMT City, where a person got run over by the very emergency vehicle that was responding to him, right at the doors to the apparatus house?

Lone Star, I hope that is the limit of your stinging commentary. I'm just buzzing in anticipation of the described next opportunity. What is the matter with you, got a bee in your bonnet? Don't worry, I'm not bugged by it. FYI, the Bumblebee (the insect, not the Transformer) is aerodynamically incompatible for flight, as the body is too big for the available wing surface to provide lift. However, nobody bothered to tell the bumblebee, who just flew away.

On another string, we have had a discussion on crude alarm systems built into coffins, so that if someone accidentally got buried alive, they'd be able to ring a bell. This happened enough that such systems were created and used roughly 200 years ago. But, in keeping with the OPs story, this was un-BEE-lievable.

Back when I was working in the EMD, a caller requested an ambulance to take him to a particular psychiatric hospital, as "They have the equipment to block my life signs from the Christal Star Ship there." On arrival, the NYPD and my field crew advised there was nobody at the scene. This left three possibilities: 1) The man changed his mind, and left the scene, 2) The call was bogus from jump street, or 3) The Klingons found him prior to our arrival and snatched him! While admittedly humorous, I actually did field that call!

EMSDoc mentioned the Nassau County (NY) PD. I live in the next county. The way they operate is, on medical calls, a Paramedic or AEMT drives the ambulance to the scene, and is met there by a Nassau County Police Officer. The person driving the ambulance, a civilian employee of the NCPD, assumes patient care duties, and the NCPD LEO takes over as the vehicle operator. I don't know if the LEO is trained to First Responder level, but will presume (for now) that they are. After driving to the ER, the LEO is either picked up by his partner (presuming 2 man patrol cars), or is driven back to the original scene by the Paramedic, to recover the cop car. I know several towns in Nassau County do this within their areas, using "town cops" in the same fashon. This is in addition to VFD based ambulance services in these towns, with a few independant community based VAS or FACs.

A Pensie Pinkee, Spalding, or Spaldeen?

OK, folks, we all know and understand (or at least I hope we do), every jurisdiction has different numbers of "Standing Orders" available before contact to their On Line Medical Control is mandated. Somewhere they all end up in a "Mother/Father, May I?" scenario. OLMC is a nice thing, and is there to be utilized. I also understand, some jurisdictions do not have an OLMC, and field personnel are trained to higher levels to make up for that. Army Medics and Navy Corpsmen (and presuming that the word exists, Corpswomen) fall under that classification.

A mud pit? At least we know where the melted half of the snowball went to.

Does that include reruns of "Johnny and Roy" on "Emergency!"? I am one of untold thousands who got the idea to become EMTs, Paramedics, or Fire Fighters (separately or cross trained) by watching that show.

If you recorded that episode of SVU, play it back, and review for the following:. Olivia, after declining medical attention for herself, climbed BACK into her wrecked car to attempt stabilization of Elliot's pregnant wife during extrication/disentanglement, and yes, she was guided by the paramedics in starting an IV. Mrs. Stabler delivered her baby, with the paramedics assisted by Olivia in the ambulance, and then went into cardiac arrest, to be defibbed while the ambulance was still enroute to the ER. She would be revived in the hospital, off screen. As for the helicopter, it had been sent to bring Elliot back from making an arrest of a murder suspect somewhere in Suffolk County. Elliot's wife was never in a helicopter in that episode, and as such, never met Rabbit, from the medical error filled "Trauma". Olivia, Elliot, Fin, and Munch must have had some medical training, as they almost always seem to be the ones drawing blood for DNA samples. Let's keep the two shows separate.

Out pops Pamela Anderson, wearing a NON form fitting "Muumuu", declares that she is a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and harangues you for wearing a snuggie made from fur. She is using language that would make a stereotype longshoreman or US Marine blush. (Pops a 2 bit piece into the slot)

That takes me way back, as I had the Trauma 1 model, without the under-side tray. Stolen from me around 1977.