Richard B the EMT

Actually, a slight bit older. Figure me as a May 1954 edition.

That reminds me: Did Ralphie ever get that air rifle for Christmas? And someone keep his brother away from that flagpole in front of the school!

There is always going to be the allegedly true story of a woman who, after giving birth in the elevator on the way up to the delivery ward, was crying her eyes out, due to her embarrassment. The OB Nurse told her, "It's OK, it's not like that poor woman who gave birth a year ago in the hospital's front courtyard." The woman started crying harder at hearing this. The OB Nurse asked, "Why, what is the matter?" The woman answered, "That was me, too!"

For the uninformed, the Key-less Run On systems allow the engine of an emergency vehicle to keep running with the keys removed, allowing heat or A/C, and the emergency lights, to remain on. The systems are set up so as to kill the engine (and in some brands, sound an alarm the vehicle is being tampered with) if anyone tries to steal the vehicle. This is because you need the key back in the ignition, in the "run" position, and, as most vehicles need to have the brake pedal pressed before the gears can be shifted out of "Park", the kill (and alarm feature) are activated when the brake pedal is pressed. FYI.

We always refer to "would have, should have, could have." This is a tragedy, but not necessarily an avoidable one. I had an ambulance stall out on me. Got back downstairs to the ambulance, which I had left running with a "Key-less run-on system" activated, and found the locked up ambulance sitting "dead," beacon lights still turning, but really slowly. Not enough juice to restart, but luckily, we had the supervisor in the area with jumper cables. The patient was a non life threatening injury case, who was unable to walk. Our delay on the scene was only 5 minutes. Had this been, per CUPS status, anything above "potentially unstable", yes, this call would have been a problem. I also remember on the old show, "Emergency!" only 2 times they transported without an ambulance. One time on top of "Squad 51" with a woman in labor, as a wildfire bore down on them, and the other, a CPR call where the ambulance got into a "T-bone" accident, and they transported on top of "Engine 51" in the hose bed, instead of waiting 15 minutes for a backup ambulance. However, that was the fiction of TV, not reality.

34 years working, numerous OB-Labor and OB-Complication calls, numerous close call OB-Out (delivering or delivered) responses, but only 2 that I delivered. I have 2 pink storks for display on my uniform, now if I could wear them without violating the rules...

I am going to hope that, if no voice response to the request for reset, the dispatcher gets a clue, and starts responding the cavalry. Better, calls in the cavalry and then asks for the reset. It is always easier to cancel everyone responding than to start them out in the first place.

Weyland, back when you were in High School, per the year of graduation on your web page, the schools probably still had classes in firearms handling and safety, probably in good relations with the National Rifle Association. Obviously, I am in a different state than you, different rules and regulations. From when my elder brother was still in Brooklyn Technical High School, in the mid 1960s, I don't think they taught that, at least within New York City. But then, again, one of my lieutenants mentioned she had taken a High School course on firearms handling, in one of the nearby counties to New York City, taught by the father of the actors, the Baldwin brothers. She is at least 20 years my junior, as you also must be. So, per the statement of demonstrating how to tear down, clean, and reassemble an M-1 .30 carbine in a school, think of it as "that was then, this is now", and "that was there, and this is here." Yes, times have changed, and the jury is still out as to if it changed for the good, or the bad.

As I understand the combination of American Red Cross, American Heart Association, NYC REMSCO (Regional Emergency Medical Service COuncil), FDNY and NY State Public Health Law protocols, laws, and practices, here in NYC, choice 2 would seem to be the only option. Mobey, could you please try to post your state, county, and departmental protocols in regards to this matter? Just comparing notes, for your locality, what you did might be allowable, where as already noted, here by me it ain't!

I had forgotten that other line, with the beer!

How many "Darwin" type deaths were preceded by the deceased saying "Hey, watch me do this..."? We will never know!

You started CPR on a known DNR for the benefit of the daughter? I don't know if local protocol in your area says so, but using mine, if CPR is started, it continues until physically unable to continue, relieved by equal or higher trained personnel, or until told to stop by an MD. I am going to hope I misread that CPR was started, and then discontinued while enroute to an ED, without On Line Medical Control's authority.

I just figured it out: Multiple Personality Disorder. I have it. (So Do I,) (Me too)

MPD?

Just remember that there are lies, Damned lies, and statistics!

Well, there's me, DustDevil, WANTYNU, dahlio, vs-eh?, JPINFV, Acosell, and who ever is in the chat room right now... Don't mind me, this time, I'm just being silly.

Is there any documentation supporting this? None mentioned in the article. [marq=left:0c9595c28e]LOL[/marq:0c9595c28e]

Italics on the quote are mine. You are making my point, stuff that is supposed to work, should work, no questions asked!

It doesn't matter what of the 16 points of the compass you come from! Youze guyz already know I'm from Noo Yawk Ciddy, and woik dere, yet, when I was in da old pre-merger EMS, and woiking in EMD, I had to have dat one explained to me, too. Da patient and family waz born and raized Bronix (Bronx) people. (Deliberate misspellings to imply NYC regional speech patterns. Ya gots a problem wit dat?)

We've mentioned the pretty little red buttons on the Motorola portables, so I'm chiming in again on them: When we first went to these particular model Motorola radios, they had just been placed back in service after previously reported problems were supposed to have been "fixed." Seems a crew from my station felt threatened by the friends/family/bystanders in a city housing project, and pressed the red button. Nothing! They never lost voice contact, as they continued hearing the dispatcher and the other units on frequency. After they packaged the patient, and exited the building, THEN the portable made the contact, and dispatch asked them if they were all right. That "Emergency" signal had been hanging for about 10 minutes! The reason I am aware of this, is the crew was still filling out a multi-page "Field Feedback Report" on the incident, and the lieutenant was filling out an "Unusual Occurrence Report". That Feedback paper is usually 1 page long, but the crew was over-emphasizing everything, and in way greater detail than usual. They were supposed to have gone home 2 hours before I was to have started, and willingly had done so, OFF THE CLOCK!

Civilians! Can't live with them, can't go up side their heads!

OK, the reason of "so the public won't know what we're talking about" really never held water, for the reason stated. I was taught the reason for the codes was to minimize the time on the radio air, due to the number of mobiles and portables growing larger, and sharing the airwaves, for the most information being given in the shortest time to the largest number of radios, going both dispatch to units and units to dispatch. If staying on "company frequency", as mentioned somewhere (not searching, lazy today) either on this or another string, as long as everyone within the company uses the same code, no problem. The problems will happen when we go multiple agency, either type or specialty of agency, as nobody "speaking the same language". Proof is, I think I was the one mentioned the 10-13 is used in weather report requests in some locations, and a LEO emergency request for backup/assistance in others. If a cop is asking for a weather report, perhaps he is asking wind speed to allow for SWAT sniper fire accuracy (it could happen, right?).

"Quick, what's the phone number for 9-1-1?"

There are radio systems with an emergency button, which automatically displays on the dispatcher's Computer Assisted Dispatch screen, which unit the radio is assigned to, and their last signal from that location, accompanied by an alert tone in the dispatch center. Good dispatchers will call PD, then verify with the crew if the signal was transmitted in error. Then, there is an older system I have heard about, where, if the portable has not moved in a set time limit, it beeps. If, after that, it detects no movement, after a 5-10 second interval, transmits a distress signal, similar to the other system I just mentioned. I think it is similar to the PASS device on an SCBA, just uses a radio instead of just screaming locally. As for the radio terminology of "Pan Pan Pan", I believe that is mostly used to announce a mid-air emergency on a plane. "Mayday" is good, and for those still using Morse Code (not on our radios, I hope), the old S O S signal of 3 "Dits", 3 "Dahs", and another 3 "Dits" probably is still around.

Village EMT wrote: EMTD29 Wrote: OK, now I take a stab at this. In the NYC area, the FDNY Fire Fighters are supposed to be trained to state certification as "CFR-D" (Certified First Responder-Defibrillator), which is something like American Red Cross Advanced First Aid, with FR2 AED training. As far as I know, they all got this training, and are maintaining their certifications at this level. Then, we have the EMT-B (Basic). As indicated, the AED training has been incorporated into the EMT-B curriculum, so there are no longer any EMT-D. My name tag says EMT-D, so if you want to buy me a new one...didn't think so. From nearby "upstate," and Nassau and Suffolk Counties (Long Island), we have the EMT-CC (Critical Care) and EMT-IV (that one should be obvious), which are, I presume, an equivalent of an EMT-I (Intermediate, midway between "Basic" and "Paramedic". Nassau County also, if memory serves, has EMT-A (Advanced), or A-EMT, which was explained to me as being another level of Intermediate. However, when a Nassau County EMT-CC, EMT-IV, or A-EMT crosses the county line into the Queens County areas of New York City, they are no longer recognized in these titles, and are either just EMT-B or EMT-P (Paramedic). I had mentioned a long time ago, using this department only because of it's proximity to the Queens line, that if an Inwood, (Nassau County) NY VFD Ambulance crew of A-EMTs starts an advanced treatment on their side of the line, there is no problem, but if the same crew starts the same procedure a block further west, in Queens County, they are, if only technically, practicing above their level of training, as they, again, technically, are now only EMT-Bs when in NYC. On that last... Charles Dickens wrote: