Richard B the EMT

Rumor mill, basically, but I am not taking any chances. I'll be heartbroken if they decide tests go positive after consuming Cinnamon-Raisin bagels (with cream cheese). I'll only start with the Garlic bagels if Vampire activity is reported in my area (anyone have a current location on Count Vladimir Dracula lately?). To avoid high blood pressure, I am already not doing Salt bagels.

After the merger, even the fire fighters were saying the FDNY was 100 years of tradition unimpeded by progress, but the street corner "staging" of EMS was started way over 11 years before the merger. As I already said (somewhere), EMS was doing this before I came on board (11 years prior to the merger).

We had an unwritten policy. Whoever was driving that day controlled what was listened to on the music radio. I like the "Golden Oldies" rock and roll. By agreement, when we got to the patient, the music was turned off, and only turned on again after clearing from the hospital. One thing, though: On occasion, we'd violate that. Ever seen a 5 year old mesmerized by "The Big Bopper's" "Chantilly Lace", or a "Doo-Wop" version of "Unchained Melody"? Due to the movie version of "The Lion King", they already seem to know "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

On serving two masters...EMS saves lives, and the Clergy saves souls. Perhaps by doing one, you can do the other. Besides, a house of worship is not supposed to be a museum to the faithful. It is a hospital for troubled souls. Either way, Echoburger, good luck!

If you are moving "Petal to da Metal" despite all this site's admonishments against it, you might want to avoid this piece! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSKL5E3zSjs

As somebody already mentioned, you CAN do both fire fighting, EMS, and the ministry. I used to work with a Roman Catholic Nun who also taught at the local diocesan school, and still rode with my volunteer ambulance, where I met her in the first place. Going around religious lines (I'm Jewish, by the way), many in the EMS field consider it (EMS) their own calling!

Awolif9: First up, welcome to our forum. Next, as mentioned, admitting on an open forum like this is tantamount to professional suicide, for reasons posted by others. Yes, you can be tracked by things you mention that can and will be recognized by someone local to you. If your EMS agency has such, get into a sponsored program to get yourself off any "recreational pharmaceuticals," or get into one not connected to your agency. Seek help, and get the help. I would state that most here, if they found out they had a "druggie" for a partner, would ask to change partners. I have. View it as the partner's survival. If their agency is anything like mine (the FDNY EMS), they don't go after one, they always go after the team, and if both halves of a team are going to "go down", it better be for a damn good reason. A "toke-er" most definitely ain't!. Neither is ETOH abuse while on duty. As an avid viewer of 2 of the 3 CSI shows, 2 of the 3 Law and Order shows, and NCIS, and knowing that some of what they do is actually based on true facts, the "Lab Techies" can determine drug and alcohol usage from a hair sample, months after ingestion, injection, absorption, or inhalation. On presumption that you are a paid EMS service provider, you do want to keep your job, don't you? If you are an unpaid Volunteer, don't you want to preserve the good name of your agency, and allow their continued community support? "I'm not donating to the local vollie ambulance, as they have druggies on staff, which can be cause for many problems. I recommend you not donate any money to them either, Misters Trump and Rockefeller!" "Thanks for the heads up, Mister Jobs!"(It could happen!) In 1985, I signed a paper from my department, saying I could be confronted by a Lieutenant, Captain, or Chief, and told to "pee in the cup". They can do this unannounced, and I have no say, but to do it (it is also why I no longer can eat sesame or poppy-seed bagels anymore). If your agency does likewise, pal, you are GONE from the agency, and they usually contact the state Department of Health (DoH), who will pull your ticket (read license or certification). After all the effort and expenditure you've done to get the ticket in the first place, why would you want to mess that up? Partner, I am going to keep an eye on your postings, and hope to read that you've gone for help, in addition to whatever other subjects you post on. Again, welcome to the forum, from one of the persons posting the most on this site! Richard B, the EMT.

I don't have any actual documentation, and am speaking anicdotally (spelling?). The FDNY EMS, and the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS before it, have been using "staging" on street corners for longer than I have been in the department, and that is over 23 years. Perhaps we have something? The department has even updated it several times. Admittedly, it could be an attitude by those in charge, of "Why futz with something that works (or at least seems to be working)?"

BAAAAAAAA!! (lol)

Each FDNY EMS ambulance has a compliment of 9 persons, 2 per 8 hour tour, the other 3 on regular days off. Some of the crews are so "tight" over all 3 tours, they do a "to the walls" inventory on one shift, the routine fluids check on the next, and the vehicle washing on the third. Everyone replaces disposable supplies used, either ASAP to the usage, or at the end of the tour. If the crew comes back from a "late job", one that brings them back to the station actually into the next tour, some actually hand a "shopping list" of known needed to replace stock to their relief crews, or give a verbal report to the same effect. I feel I have to mention that the ALS supplies are transported vehicle to vehicle. If an ALS crew has to go into a spare vehicle, the BLS setup ambulance is converted to ALS in probably less than 5 minutes.

I favor the Leatherman. I am usually using the screwdriver "blades" to tighten something, and if I have to cut take-out food, as the knife they usually supply is never up to the task, I have a good blade to do it. As I write this, I am in "withdrawl", as I lent it out at an EMS Week event, and it didn't get returned. WAAAAAAAH!

My old VAC had a policy, even if you were riding 3 6 hour tours sequentially, with the same partners, at the beginning of each 6 hours, a "rig check" was to be performed, a checklist checked, as per NYS Public Health Law 800. FDNY EMS does much the same, but the tours are 8 hours, and the checklist is on the envelope in which you submit your completed call reports. You know the supervisor is going to see them, as the supervisor has to sign off on the envelope. You CYA, and so does the supervisor, who doesn't want "failure to supervise" charges brought against themselves. You know what rolls downhill!

Question: Was the water cool or bathtub warm? (Thinking possible mammalian diving reflex) Statement: I feel this is a fresh water drowning, as there's no salt as from the ocean to change the body's blood chemistry via osmosis in the alveoli of the lungs. Statement of uncertainty: I do not know if pool-type chlorinated water is unhealthy over the percentage usually used to keep pool water at a healthy level. Can anyone enlighten me?

In the FDNY EMS, we are "posted", or as we now tell walk up complainers, we're "staging" on street corners. Only a few units actually are at a building, and can turn off the ambulances for extended periods. We do not have the capability to plug the ambulances into a "shore line", or power it from the building's electrical supply. In the heat of the summer, if you are lucky, you can possibly have a shady tree to park under, but the vehicle radio and computer link, and now the GPS vehicle locater, will still be drawing power. In the winter, if you think I'm sitting 8 hours on an overnighter on my street corner, in 0 degree temperatures, think again! My engine is going to remain on except when I am in a patient's residence, and if I leave the vehicle's warning lights on, using the security stuff built in, I'm still going to leave the engine on. I have twice, on different vehicles, turned off the engine, and sat for an extended period, only to not have enough juice to turn the engine back on. One time, was just as we got assigned a call, the other, we just wanted to go someplace to get some lunch. Different field supervisors "jump-started" the ambulances, and we went back into service.

1) Samuel Mudd was an admitted Confederate States of America sympathizer. 2) He did treat John Wilkes Booth, but Booth was a stranger brought to him by other sympathizers he did know. He was simply being a doctor to a patient. 3) Mudd was given the pardon for assuming the position of the Chief Medical Officer of the prison he was incarcerated at, on the death of the actual CMO, from the epidemic then sweeping the prison, possibly saving several thousand other prisoners. He was simply being a doctor to a lot of patients who, like him, were federal prisoners. 4) It is my understanding, in those states that still have Capital Punishment (the "Death Penalty"), if a prisoner injures themselves prior to the implementation of the sentence, the medical crews are to "patch up" the "dead man walking", that the state can have the "satisfaction" (my wording) of killing the prisoner. I would use as an example, if Joe Blow is to die in the electric chair at midnight, but suffers an Acute Myocardial Infarction at 2357 hours, any standby medical crews would do CPR and defibrillation until 0000 hours, when the prisoner would get the chair's final and fatal electrical jolt. 5) Re Bin Ladin: 5-A) I would attempt to save his life, that he could serve out whatever sentence would be imposed on him by either a civilian federal court, or military tribunal. I see no way he'd "walk". 5- My opinion is, if we execute him, his followers, who already hate everyone who is NOT one of his followers, will rally behind him as a dead martyr, and we might end up with some event that makes the September 11th Attacks look like a child's party. Therefore, WHEN we find him, if alive, he should be given consecutive life sentences for each death. That would be at least 343 consecutive life sentences, just for the FDNY and FDNY EMS, and the 19 of those who he ordered to fly the planes into their targets.

"Mother, please! I'd rather do it myself!"

A kiddie pool, for initial rewarming of a frostbite/hypothermic patient in a facility? Let's face it, sometimes we got to improvise, and that sounds like it was a good idea. Sidenote: Keep an eye on the temperature of the water, too hot and you burn them, and the patient is, in essence, a piece of ice in the water, so keep it warm enough.

Hmmmm.... From the mouths of children...

I feel that a female acting as chaperone is more for the emotional well being of a mistrusting female patient, due to possible things done to the patient both connected and not connected to the case at hand.

OK, on that, I am kind of in the middle on this one. I eat venison every now and then, less than one time a year. I like it. However, I don't think I have the "heart" to kill the deer myself. As for those who do hunt, all I can hope is that they kill only enough to feed themselves and family, not just for trophys for the wall. The trophy can come later.

"F" Class? Must be a Canadian thing, that needs translating on the US side of the international border. Is the "F" class drivers license similar to a Commercial Driver's License, like what you might need to drive a Greyhound Interstate Bus a Mayflower Moving Van, or the special one for heavy equipment, like a construction crane or "backhoe" earth-mover? Or is it something akin to an "unclassified" chauffeur's license, indicating the bearer uses the licence to drive a taxi, basically earning a living with said license?

OK, culling from several threads to comment here... For any female patient, attempt to have another female, preferably adult, accompany the patient. Emphasis "attempt," and don't delay transport unnecessarily awaiting one. When transporting an unaccompanied female, or a minor aged person, especially when your radio communications are recorded, use that recording to your advantage. Put over the air your unit, destination, current mileage (down to the decimal point!) and the time. On arrival at the destination, again on the air, your unit, the mileage at the destination, and the time. If you have a Computer Assisted Dispatch system that allows it, enter the mileage at the start of the transport, and again at the destination, the CAD system will automatically "time-stamp" it.

Someone said mass stupidity? What about mass hysteria, or contagious hysteria, two names I have for the same thing? It is believed that is what may have caused the original complaints against some of the women who would be killed at the Salem Witch Trials.

1) Anyone who comes from anywhere else than wherever you come from, will have some "unusual" accent. They will also say that of YOU! 2) I like the Yankees, because I like tradition. I also like the New York Mets, as, from 1969, "Ya Gotta Believe" and I do! I also like any team BEATING the Dodgers, as both my parents came from BROOKLYN!!! (O'Mally, youse should rot in HELL!)

While I was not thinking that, you are correct!