Richard B the EMT

At such time I find out for myself, I'll let everyone know.

Well, if you include the medication for seizures, Peanut Butter Balls... Ouch! I Yield!

Pursuant to my last posting on this string, I also ask BushyFromOz and AussiePhil to chime in on answering my question, please? Or anyone from that region of the world.

From BibleGateway.Com I have even tried talking "South in the mouth" out loud, but cannot determine any baseball references. Care to explain?

Hospital announcement: LOL Anyway congrats to all involved, and good luck trying to sleep! Babies have a built in alarm for parents sleeping, similar to the food sniffer that alerts dispatchers there is food in the ambulance, ya know!

Timmy, you stated this rider was given a bottle of Jim Beam, and he was only 15? Is there any minimum legal drinking age in your country? Here in the United States, the age is 21, somehow tied into individual states getting Federal monies for highway building and maintenance, which would not be paid out if the state had anything lower. This has been in effect for at least the last 20 years. Just stating the case, not mentioning pro or con on the issue.

Perhaps if it is a Bridge Too Far, or a Bridge Over Troubled Waters.

Someone mentioned the stunt of turning off the ambulance batteries, and switching on all the lights and the siren? One of the first group of NYC Paramedics, from the famous "Jacobi One" class (NYC EMS famous, anyway), when he was a lieutenant, on doing a field patrol, found an ambulance team on a call had not locked the ambulance doors. He turned off the batteries, switched on all the lights, turned the selector knob on the radio from the borough frequency to the city wide frequency, put it up to full volume, and set the siren to "Yelp". He then drove around the corner. A few moments later, he heard a siren yelping, followed by the unit calling in they were enroute to the hospital, heard on the lieutenant's portable radio, now set to city wide. City wide advised the unit they were on city wide, and not their assigned borough, and the unit was then heard giving the signal on the correct frequency, as heard on the Lieutenant's mobile. The lieutenant waited until the crew signaled they were at the destination hospital, drove up, and found the ambulance, either again or still, unlocked. He repeated what he had done before. When the same result happened, as the ambulance crew cleared from the hospital, he put over the air, on the borough frequency, for the unit to go to the station (at available status, of course). When he asked the crew if anything unusual had happened, the crew started to say "nothing", when the lieutenant interrupted them and said, "Twice?" The crew got the message, the lieutenant didn't have to write them up, and the leaving of the doors on that ambulance open stopped.

Somewhere on the site, there is mention that Viagra is used by the Israeli Air Force as a "Stay Awake" stimulant by their pilots. What is not so well known is, a truckload of Viagra, enroute to the El-Al Airlines cargo area at Kennedy Airport, was hijacked. The PANYNJ (Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) Police and the NYPD announced they are looking for 4 hardened criminals. (First part, true, second part, not so. LOL)

1) Yes, ambulances were formerly a mainstay of the funeral home business, as who else had a long vehicle where you could lay down a patient or a corpse? 2) The original municipal EMS station in Staten Island was a historic building, in the regard that it was the first morgue to have the refrigerated holding chambers in the entire United States. Regrettably, the building was lost in a fire some years ago, and the station moved to a new building across the street onto the grounds of the Seaview Hospital. 3) The municipal EMS station at Queens General Hospital is on one end of a building that, last time I was there, was on the opposite end of the building from the Queens County morgue. Separate entrances, at least, also on the exact opposite ends of the building, with no garage space for the ambulances. Due to construction, I do not know if any of this remains the case for the building's current usage. 4) One partner I worked with, who admitted to be in the FDNY EMS as a stepping stone to follow his dad, a FDNY Captain (if memory serves me correctly), into the fire fighting side of the FDNY, gave me some concern on one response. At a time we still transported DOAs to the morgue, my unit was assigned to transport a shooting victim from the scene of the shooting (after the CSIs and the NYPD Crime Scene Unit were done), to the aforementioned Queens County morgue. This type call is done with absolutely no L&S, as it should be. It also is the only call where we don't have to have an EMT or Paramedic in the back with the "patient". Most at my station regarded this EMT as "strange". My voice was added to this, when, in order to continue reading his studies needed to become a fire fighter, he decided to ride with the deceased, so he could continue reading! There was no directive saying he couldn't do this, so I drove the ambulance, with him in the back, reading, accompanying the occupied body bag.

Which one of the bald goateed guys in a kilt?

In a career that started with training in 1973, I have been approached by numerous former patients, or family members, thanking me. I do have to tell them, for the most part, due to the call volume I have handled, I cannot and do not recall all of them, and just mention that I hope I did right by them or the family member. Do many of you get the "you made my family member so comfortable for what turned out to be their last ride to the hospital before they died" speech from the family member or friends?

Admittedly different categories, but my mom is driving a 17 year old Toyota. So? The ambulance works (or at least it did until the accident), and nobody seemed to be complaining. As long as it was not an old fashioned Caddylance (I miss working in one of those!), why not? Saves the purchase price, until and unless the maintenance costs are costing more than a new purchase would.

We have already seen the swallow-able pill sized camera used instead of the big devices for endoscopy, so this seems to be a continuation of medical device miniaturization. We have not yet reached the science, as far as I know, to do the "Fantastic Voyage" miniaturization of a mini-submarine for injection into the bloodstream. Wow, the concept was explored back in the 1960s, in, of all places, an annual physical of --- George Jetson!

Just mentioning in passing: Abner Luima (spelling?) a decade ago, was assaulted in a police station by officers of the NYPD, who had pushed the handle of a plunger up his anus, causing internal damage. Several NYPD police officers went to jail because of this. Also, in the news nowadays in NYC, another man has claimed to have been assaulted, similarly, by cops sticking an expandable type police baton up his rectum, also causing internal damage. The grand jury has indited several officers, and, as of this posting, are awaiting trial dates.

You just reminded me of an incident from a few years ago, and also was pre September 11, 2001. While not recalling the specifics, one of the ambulances from my station was stolen while the vehicle and crew were on a call. The ambulance was, however, recovered quickly, undamaged, and with all equipment intact, as the teen thief just took it for a joyride. Afterwards, someone taped a "For Sale, see crew of (the ambulance's radio designation) for details" sign on the vehicle, photographed it, took down the sign, but posted a blown up copy of the photo on the wall in the lounge, which we always referred to as the "Usual Suspects Wall of Shame". Doesn't every EMS office have some version of the Photo Wall, under whatever name?

A shoe won't hurt? Doubt that. You've never had a boot fall off the table, or other elevated platform, while polishing the boot's mate, landing on top of your unshod foot? Heck, I've had that happen a couple of times when polishing up my black leather NuBalance sneakers!

I almost forgot, in New York State, it used to be, if one had at least 5 years as a volley fire fighter, it exempted you from Jury Duty. As stated, that is no longer the case, with the law having only been changed in the last decade or so. Please don't use this as fuel to bash either vollies or fire fighters.

Baloo the Bear, Disney's "Jungle Book", based on the Kipling writings.

I thought Nowhere had no beginning, no end, and no middle? That was why it was nowhere! Must be near Brigadoon, Scotland.

Well, I have only threatened to put on my combat boots and do tap dances on someone's head. First, I have to learn to tap dance!

You beat me to it. At the time I viewed it, Santa and "North Pole Aviation One" were somewhere in Algeria. Nice use of a simulated Satellite tracking program.

First off, someone translate LOSAP? Second, I understand one can take some kind of tax credit at a set formula for vehicle miles traveled regarding volunteer work. Third, both paid and unpaid EMS personnel can get some tax credit for products and training, listed as a cost of doing business. Your agency wants you to carry a stethoscope and scissors, but won't supply them? It goes under CODB. There's probably more, localized as to location in the country, or what country.

Does anyone wear EMS clothing? You know, Eastern Mountain Supply? And then, there is the EMS, Environmental Maintenance Service, a HVAC repair service (Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning). Use the full name, not just the initials, people!

I had a new partner who left one of our new 2 way radios in a patient's house. He almost got written up for the infraction, and I almost got written up, as the senior guy, for allowing him to leave it! I had told him not to take the radio off his belt. Anyway, neither of us got written up, as, after the tour (this was the last call, anyway) he went back to the house, and literally staked it out until someone came home, went inside, and gave him back the radio, which he then returned to the hands of the lieutenant threatening to do the writeup. Those radios, by the way, cost roughly $2,000.00 each.