Richard B the EMT

Hello, Everyone. As always, these "news-blasts" are sent "blind carbon copy" for privacy concerns, and apologize for inadvertent multiple sends to multiple e-mail addresses. As of noon, 11-13-2012, the updates are as follows... Momma B is to be transferred back to the Assisted Living Center,from New York Hospital of Queens, later this afternoon,where we'll have someone keeping an eye on her for at least the next 24 hours. If deemed necessary, we'll extend that on a day by day basis. I feel a great deal of helplessness, having to do most of my taking care of her by long distance "remote control", but family members are all supportive of me, as her health proxy, While she was in the hospital, she's been visited by her son in law, grandson, and two close family friends, as well as my girlfriend and myself. My girlfriend and I continue the shuttle, every few days, between our houses in Belle Harbor, from the motel in Montgomery, NY, to check on ongoing repairs, and pull our mail from the mailboxes. Still under presumption the Breaker-box will need total rewiring due to salt water immersion, before we can power up and run the (hopefully) repaired furnace and hot water boiler (or more likely replaced units). We also stopped by the West End Temple Sinai Congregation, my house of Worship, and were amazed and dismayed by the multiple warps of the floors in both the sanctuary and auditorium. Our Torahs had been removed for safekeeping somewhere in Brooklyn, and were not harmed, however. Next trip to visit mom, and the Rockaways, barring unforeseen circumstances, is going to be Thursday, when I have a face to face at the house with the Flood Insurance Investigator. Good luck to us all! Richard B.

Note 60 Minutes story on my home community re Sandy. I know a few people in the video.

Just found out Doctors Without Borders is now operating within the Rockaway Peninsula area of Queens County, NYC, NY, my home area. Add them to the "$upport by Donation" li$t.

Forgive me, as I was venting with my last posting. Sister gave me grief due to a telephone fight she had just come off of. She's apologized. Unfortunately, all anyone can do for me, personally, is prayer, and at this point, all denominations (except those requiring human sacrifice) are being accepted. On the larger side, $alvation Army, American Red Cro$$, and other major di$a$ter a$$i$tance group$ could use donation$ to assist folks in all the affected regions.

The following placard was found attached to the front door. What was hand written is indicated as such here. Placard is in Red, probably to get our attention, and per neighbors, can be changed after a more full inspection by the engineers. It appears to be a standard form and format. This is quoted as it appeared, and there was no contact number. Unsafe Area Do Not Enter or Occupy. This area was found to be seriously damaged, or structures around area pose a serious hazard.Area is unsafe to enter or occupy as described below: (Handwritten) Undermined Footing-Front (Exposure 1) Do Not Enter, except as specifically authorized in writing by jurisdiction. Entry may result in death or injury. Date (Handwritten) 11-03-2012 Time (Handwritten) 3:30 PM Name and Address, Facility Fronting Unsafe Area: (Handwritten) (Redacted for my privacy) Inspected Under Emergency Conditions Inspector ID / Agency (Handwritten) D. Burkhart / DOB Do Not Remove, Alter, or Cover This Placard until authorized by Governing Authority. NYC Buildings. After fighting traffic all day to get down to my sister's house, then driving to mine and finding the placard,having to turn away 2 workers who were supposed to clear the basement with supplies I paid for, fighting the worst traffic jams I've seen in years to visit my mom, bringing my sister's mail to my nephew's house in the Bronx and having the GPS insist I go on the I-95 to get there, while seeing the roadway was better as a parking lot due to downed wires IN FORT LEE, NJ causing the backup, my sister calls and insists I give her the nonexistent contact number, and when I tried telling her there was no such number, got on my case! My brother in law got on the phone to yell at her, as I began to cry. I didn't need this crap with the strain I'm under, with putting mom in the facility, fighting the worst traffic jams I've experienced in years, watching the on-board computer tell me how many miles my diminishing fuel supply will take me, trying to do the right thing regarding my house, all while running on 2 dry squares of waffles and a couple ounces of orange juice, over 10 hours. PTSD? HELL NO! I am probably clinically depressed, and need to pursue the Employee Assistance Program.

If it had been held, the Marathon would have been yesterday, but I like your thinking, anyway. and yes, "bloomie" IS an idiot on personal relations at a minimum

That's what caused the flooding in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the late winter/early fall of the mid 1990s.

For all of us affected by Sandy, Good Luck to us all!

Suggest going to Youtube, look up Hurricane Sandy Rockaway. Unfortunately, lots of videos.

Controversy surrounds NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg, first from insisting resources needed for the 2012 ING NYC Marathon won't detract from Hurricane Sandy's recovery effort, then from his about-face and cancellation of the event. He had compared holding the event this year to the marathon in 2001. NO comparison! In 2001, we held it to indicate we weren't giving in to "the bad guys". There's no "bad guys" to impress after a natural disaster, just victims, of which I am one. Now, would be marathoners are complaining about the cancellation, due to the 5:30 PM Friday announcement. How dare they complain, as they were going to be running through some of the devestated areas, starting with the starting line in Staten Island. They normally close the Verrizano Narrows ridge for the race, which can block for hours any Island access of food, bottled water, pumps, or electric generators. It's been suggested the runners show a cooperative spirit by assisting in food and water distribution, or simply accepting their monitary lossesand go home, opening up hotel space for storm displaced families.

As most of the EMT City folks in the US and Canada know, the eastern seaboard suffered a massive blow due to Hurricane Sandy. Power, and thus heating systems, are off line for a few million people in several states. My neighboring community of Breezy Point (AKA Point Breeze) suffered a fire that distroyed 80 to 100 homes, dispite best efforts of the Point Breeze, Rockaway Point, Roxbury VFDs and the FDNY. The Rockaway Beach area suffered a fire in the business district, taking out numerous stores along Rockaway Beach Blvd from Beach 113th to 116th Streets. Belle Harbor lost a local eatery, that took out at least 6 homes behind it. The Rockaway Boardwalk had sections moved over 3 blocks, punching holes in buildings as they went by, Cars are piled up on top of each other from the storm surge, which must have come in like a Tsunami, estimated as a 14 foot high wave. Momma B, Lady J, her brother and I evacuated to an aunt's house in Flushing Sunday night. Power went off 6:50 PM, Momma B, disoriented by the different place, and in the darkness, fell, 911 called, transported to hospital, checked, X-Rayed and cleared, but the quartet then relocated to a cousin's house in Forest Hills. After 2 nights there, for her safety, Momma B was entered into an Assisted Living Center, arranged by my sister in law in North Dakota, and after that, the brother went to a friend's in Brooklyn, Lady J and I are now 2 nights at a Super 8 motel in Montgomery, somewhere near Newburg's Stewart Airport, NY, arranged by my sister currently located in Vermont somewhere.. The water came up so high, with the house side door already 8 inches above the driveway, and the driveway at least 2 feet above the street, the high tide mark was at the doorknob. Water marks showed the level almost to the first floor. The front foundation is undemined a bit, and everything in the basement was flushed onto the basement stairs, or piled in front of the gas meter and circuit breaker box, and filthy black ocean bottom sand is covering everything. I'm presuming the furnace, hot water boiler and the freezer need replacement, as well as the external unit from my central air conditioner. That sand, in the streets and sidewalks, varies from a sprinkling to several packed feet deep. I know of 3 deaths on the Rockaways Peninsula, and the papers report at least 40 deaths from Virginia to Connecticut. Tolls may still rise. I know I'm not the only EMT suffering, as well as the other coastal living EMTs Paramedics Fire fighters and LEOs, but wanted to let all know I am still alive. Good luck to all of us affected by Sandy.

Well Done!

Imagine the lost and found: "Dear Sir or Ms, An item with your name on it was turned in to our office. If you do not retrieve the item within the next 30 days, we will be forced to sell it at public auction."

Lady J and I say to that, "OYYYYYYY!"

Crazy as I may be, I'd never do an EMS tour for a 25th annivirsary

I've been both "patient's family" and "the patient" a few times. Even called 9-1-1 for Lady J's dad, who had a degenerative disease, fell out of the wheelchair one evening. When they called me at home for assistance in getting him back in the chair, that's when I saw the decubitus (pressure sores) on his butt. Had a bit of a time explaining to the responding crew why I was on the scene, until they understood I was the one had called 9-1-1, and the patient was my girlfriend's dad.

As of the 11 PM newscasts, here in NYC area, a cold front that might have kept the 'cane away stalled, with the computer models saying the cane will probably hit lower NJ Monday night into Tuesday, but due to the expected hight wind patterns associated with it hitting lower and upper New York Bay, my hometown of the Rockaways, and the rest of Long Island, with a lunar high tide for more fun, I await another "mandatory evacuation" order from Mayor Bloomberg. Damn. The Army Corps of Engineers just started pumping dredged sand onto my eroded beach, damaged by Hurricane Irene last year.Hurricane Sandy is gonna do some additional big time damage. As for any evacuation, got to see if my aunt will take me, Momma B, Lady J and her brother in again, possibly with one more evacuee, a mutual friend of Lady J's and mine. Side note: My sister has a second house in Vermont, wanted us to relocate there for Irene. Then, the local roads and bridges by her home got washed out over there, from the rains, as mud colored the Hudson River red for the next couple of weeks. I'm updating my "Go Kits", and hoping all I'll do is unpack it, unused.

They should contact the FDNY EMS Operations, for some information regarding "9-1-1 Receiving Hospitals" utilized by the NYC 9-1-1 system, going out on diversions.

My deepest condolences. My mom told me, just before her father died, she had returned from the Army in 1945, married to my dad. Spur of the moment, they decided to have another, religious marriage service in his room. She said he came out of his delirium long enough to enjoy the ceremony, and died the next day. Perhaps this was something similar.

Hey, wait a minute! I thought that was the city of Chicago, Illinois during the 1960s decade?

When are they coming out with the Spanish and Spanglish Drunkenese to English versions? Need them in my Primary Area of Response, and soon will need the Russian Drunkenese version, due to new population influx.

My late father lost his leg to a combination of Diabetes and an infection from a nail through the bottom of his shoe. He did live for several more years, using a prosthetic leg. He's the one told me about the guy with Gangrene, who needed his left leg amputated, but the doctor took off the wrong one. Keeping the man under anesthesia, they took off the correct leg. The man sued for malpractice, but lost, as the courts determined he didn't have a leg to stand on.

Somewhere, there's another guy, did the stunt with plastic garbage bags filled with helium. His problems started when the ground teather broke, as he wasn't intending to do more than float at an altitude of 15 feet! His flying beach chair actually went out over some body of water.

I only found out the day prior to the jump, he was the guy with the "backpack Jet plane" from a few months back.

Just thought of someting, which I do, sometimes. When I'm doing the initial knock at the door, or ringing the bell, sometimes I used to say "Fire Department", other times, "Ambulance Service", or simply "Ambulance." Most people don't respond to someone at the door saying "Emergency Medical Service". FYI, I was FDNY EMS. With new partners, after the assignment, I'd advise them not to do any "drop the patient" gags again, as noted here, it can upset the patients, besides,I only drop patients on days ending in the letter "Y".