Richard B the EMT

After working on ambulances from 1973, I have never been shown how to put on a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), and, while participating in a training seminar, one, and only one time, actually handled a hydraulic cutter/spreader to cut a car's drivers door off. The device was not a Hurst "Jaws Of Life", but a competing brand, and the instructor stated at the beginning of the session, that he was a salesman for that brand device being used, as well as an instructor.

Rdenman26 wrote, "Brixton was the only area in the UK that I know of were the Armed Response Units are routinely armed. " Would they call an unarmed unit "Armed" if they were not armed? Besides, the LEOs in England are so well known for being sans firearms, many are convinced, at least here in NYC, if an armed London cop simply pulled out an authorized firearm, even if the weapon is not discharged, he, or she, would have to write at least 6 different reports and forms to justify drawing the firearm from the holster in the first place! (Just a mention, my girlfriend and I loved that spoof movie by those guys who did "Shawn of the Dead" about the London "supercop" transferred to the supposedly quiet town that actually had a serial killing spree in progress. Those guys were armed with heavy weapons, not just handguns!)

Disclaimer: I am, and have always been, a civilian, can't read ranks from the shoulder patches, and am probably guilty of lumping all non Nurse or Doctor US Army Medical Personnel into the "Medic" category. Would someone from the US Navy/US Marine Corps side like to unravel the lumping all non Nurse or Doctor US Navy Medical Personnel into the "Corpsman/Corpswoman" category? I am presuming the US Coast Guard uses the same terminology and/or ranking system as the US Navy. Anyone from the US Air Force want to jump in, please feel welcome to do so!

OK, so far we have "frequent Flyers,""Transport Tommys,""Pain in the Butts" (keep it somewhat clean, folks), and "Mutts". Some also call them a variety of "Skells". What else we got out there?

They want to follow in the car, because how are they going to get our ambulance patient back home from the hospital after using the ED as the family doctor? On the subject of following the ambulance, I always, for reasons of simple safety, advise them to start out for the hospital "now", as, presuming the patient is stable, I'm going to be stopping at all red lights anyway. If the patient is not stable, and I would be running "hot" (L&S), when they get to the hospital, they get there, and they risk being in an accident if following an emergency vehicle, as we should have all been taught in EMS Driving School, nobody expects an emergency vehicle to be a part of a convoy, and will pull out immediately after the vehicle with the siren passes them, potentially hitting any following vehicle. As for the LEOs ticketing someone following an ambulance, from when I started in 1973, even though I know it to be the law, never seen anyone get pulled over.

In a recent posting, I saw a reference to someone who would use EMS to transport the individual from wherever, to an Emergency Department, where the individual would then sign out of the ED, and walk the remaining 2 blocks to his home, effectively using the ambulance as a taxi. As apparently, per the poster, the individual had done it numerous times, the poster referred to this individual as a "Transport Tom". Many of our systems represented here have problems with either people who misuse the system, or make many trips in a short period to an ED. My question is actually not on how to cure this admitted problem, but what nicknames you have for them. I already mentioned one: "Transport Tom". My agency nickname for them is "Frequent Flyers". What does your agency call those people who either misuse the system a lot, or even legitimately use the services of your agency more than once a week (had one, multiple times in a day!)?

I will presume your "Transport Tom" is also known as my "Frequent Flyer".

It seems to me, the original poster had a "Dr. (Major) Frank Burns", from the 4077th MASH unit, who, when anything went wrong, would always blame others, and if the patient died, would declare it to be "God's will." There, unfortunately, will be those doctors and nurses, who never take the time to learn the protocols used by the EMTs and Paramedics. There's also those who will argue on your usage of these protocols, which even you disagree with, but until the local DoH changes the rules and regs, you will continue to use the protocols. Their mistake is to argue it in front of the patients and their families.

Ai Caramba!

Not funny in the LOL sense, but I almost caused the loss of a contract with one nursing home, because I took vital signs! When directed by the company (a non 9-1-1 server, mostly doing non-emergent transports on pre-arranged schedules) to do the V/S in the ambulance, instead of the patient's rooms, I had nurses actually follow me out to the ambulance, and bang on the 'lances windows, demanding to know why my partner and I were stalling taking the patient to the hospital! We finally started transporting, but stopping on the roadside for the minute needed to do the V/S, out of sight of the sending facility.

Now, if it is lightweight in it's own right, and powered assist, also, without need to recharge the drive too often during one call...? I do, however, echo the lament if the device has potential for the crew to carry a distance once level ground is attained, at risk of back injury, then perhaps not!

On the topic of refusing transport, I was sent this link to a "MyFoxCleveland" investigative report, on misuse of 9-1-1. It holds almost as true in my New York City, as well as possibly, and probably, in your localities, around the world. I hope everyone finds it as interesting as I did. Link: http://www.myfoxcleveland.com/myfox/pages/....1.1&sflg=1

I remember the quote. It was said by the judge in a murder trial, played by Fred Gwynn, in "My Cousin Vinnie", as he didn't recognize the Brooklyn regional accent used by Joe Pesci, as "Vinnie", saying "youth." It would be Gwynn's second to final role, as he would die soon after. I will always remember him as Herman Munster, the father in the 60s TV show, "The Munsters".

Would this actual area 50 be at Groome (Groom?) Dry Lake Air Base?

I am regarded as being weird, so I say, especially around non-EMS people, "Kilo Kilo Kilo Alpha Eighteen Twenty Two." (We're up to "F"? I remember "A.") Let's face it, even in our type work, there's a big number of people neither know or care about the ambulance standards, or even the manufacturers. Case in point, I asked a crew about their E350 based ambulance, which I later found out was a Canadian designed type 2, they had no idea that the entire ambulance was NOT manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. "There are AMBULANCE manufacturers? But this is a Ford!" On a different reference, even the Conspiracy Theorists have to admit that "Area 51" has to be next to an Area 50, and "Hangar 18" is next to Hangar 19. Therefore, on paper, anyway, there must be a vehicle "spec" known as KKJ-A something or other. It makes sense.

For just the reasons Dale posted, it gives a false sense of security. "I don't need a seat belt while in the back, the nurse catcher will get me." Also, even a well constructed net? Someone will be hitting that net, with momentum, and mass. Will they be hitting it at an angle that won't cause whiplash, or other injuries? What about a second crewperson in the back, crashing into the first? My girlfriend is a small person, barely weighing 100 lbs, and I tip the scales at north of 350. I do NOT want to think of what would be left of her, were I to be thrown into her at 60 miles an hour. Just some points to ponder.

By my rating system, which has a great deal of room for improvement, a service that provides services as a part of a 9-1-1 system is an "Emergency" agency, be it a municipal, or private contract, provider. By the same token, not all calls are true emergencies (not by a big size). Non Emergency Transfer/Transport service providers are for the most part, just that, non emergency service providers, but it does not rule out that they might have to upgrade a call to an emergency, as the patient downgrades, for lack of a better terminology. Somewhere, on other strings, I mentioned an NYPD cop, who told me NO ambulance needs lights and sirens, as ambulance services are a 'Demand" service. You need an ambulance, you "demand" it, via a call to their base, or a call to the Public Safety Answering Point via the local 9-1-1 system. You know I never held to that. My house is burning, so I "demand" fire fighters respond to put the wet stuff on the red stuff, save me, my family, and my residence (with contents). I am being robbed at gunpoint, so I "demand" that the LEOs respond to protect my life, my money (what little I have), and my possessions, and remove from the population of my town, the dirtbag that had the gun pointed at me. Sanitation (the garbage men and women), on the other hand, is considered an emergency agency, at least here in New York City. Other than they are the ones with the snow plows, to keep the streets open to traffic during snowfalls, I am trying to come to terms with that. (Yes, I realize they remove garbage that could otherwise turn into a health hazard, but there are areas of the world where common folks transport the garbage to the dump, themselves)

First, if I understand you correctly, you handled a lot of calls during your first several years at your volunteer service, and when you followed the suggestion of others to cut back your hours and/or number of responses, the same people criticized you for doing it? Throw it back in their faces, saying that you were following their suggestion, or better yet, take it up with the chief operating officer. Then, take what other suggestions being offered by the EMT City members you feel might best improve your situation, and discuss them with either the full membership of your organization, or at minimum, that chief. Second, I consider myself, with some college under my belt, but no degree, to be somewhat educated (even if it is the school of hard knocks, which so many of us attended local chapters), yet I use the spell check before I send a posting. Consider it an automatic "proofreading", which sometimes still doesn't know what the proper spelling of some words I use. You're new here, you'll learn the idiosyncrasies of the system (spellcheck corrected the word "idiosyncrasies" just now, but doesn't want to allow me to keep as a single word, "spellcheck").

Try this schedule on for size: Work 8 hours a day for 5 days, be off for 2 days, work another 5 days, and be off for 3 days. That is the current scheduling for FDNY EMS. At least you always work the same time of day, Overnights, days, or evenings (for argument's sake, say that equates as 0000-0800, 0800-1600, and 1600-2400). You end up planning in advance for anything you and the significant other might want to do together. It does kind of bring up the old story... A guy I used to work with would quite often call in for a day off, explaining that "Klopman was playing!" It never seemed to follow any pattern, just a sudden call that "Klopman was playing!" We tried to figure it out, as there was nobody by that name on any baseball, football, hockey, basketball, rugby, tennis, cricket, or soccer team we found listed in the newspapers or on line. Eventually, we found out Klopman was in a symphonic orchestra. We asked, what instrument Klopman played, but were told,"Who cares? When he's playing, I'm with MRS. Klopman!"

I had the misfortune of being injured on the job, at the FDNY EMS Station at Kings County Hospital, while being a participant in a city wide drill. I was Transported by an AMR type 2 ambulance, working under contract to the Kingsbrook Jewish Hospital and the NYC 9-1-1 system. This ambulance had something I first heard about somewhere in this website: a "Nurse-Catcher". First time I had seen one in person, and the crew had never heard the term before. For the uninformed, it looks like a cargo net, set towards the head end of the "crew bench", and presumably for catching anybody falling towards the front end of a suddenly de-accelerating ambulance. Seat belts are better, per myself, and a host of others on EMT City.

[marq=left:26a74e4ab9]OH[/marq:26a74e4ab9] [marq=up:26a74e4ab9]MY[/marq:26a74e4ab9] [marq=left:26a74e4ab9]GOSH![/marq:26a74e4ab9]

For a reference to the actual vehicle, now in a LACoFD Museum, link to http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr38/475199961/ Also, I am told there is a model of both the rescue and engine available from a company called Code 3, but I will let youse guyz google for it!

Don't forget for his fear of rats (rodent type), he killed one, barbecued it, and ate it!

For longtimers like me, "Johnny and Roy" are Demigods of the EMS Universe! Yes, it was Kevin Tighe, played Roy Desoto. The actual firehouse pictured there is now called, in honor of the late director of "Emergency!", the R. A. Cinader Memorial Firehouse, as told to me by a FF/PM assigned there, who was at one of the FDNY funerals in Brooklyn, NY, following September 11.

I saw a video clip of G. Gordon Liddy, one of the Watergate conspirators, taped from his radio show. This is a former FBI agent, people, and he told his audience that if you ever shoot at a LEO, to aim for the head, as there is rarely any armor there, or the face if they have a helmet. Whose side is this former agent on? This is worse than the idiots who tell people, to get an ambulance sooner, tell the dispatcher someone is having a heart attack, or to get the cops, that there are shots being fired. I don't mind telling you, even though I never met the man, or anticipate meeting him, he scares the crap out of me, even now!