Richard B the EMT

Good luck! Just mentioning, the Fire Department of New York City, which operates the municipal EMS system, does hire non-United States citizen personnel, but, as someone else mentioned, they must have proper visas to work in the US.

So now we have at least 2 who are, IMHO, "Double Dipping".

Sounds to me that the guy is "Double Dipping".

"One with the tiger"? Remember from childhood the following? There once was a lady from Niger Who smiled as she rode on a tiger. They returned from the ride with the lady inside and the smile on the face of the tiger!

At least it isn't, as far as I can tell, a case of someone in an FD deliberately starting a fire in an abandoned building or vehicle, just so the department would have a fire to "train" on. Over my years in EMS, I've heard stories from VFD members, as well as read in the newspapers, and heard stories on TV and radio. Most of them had the "aronist/rescuer" both bounced from the department (thank goodness!), and brought up on criminal charges.

I've voiced my opinion for many years, that, after only a year on the job, anyone could write a book based on exerience, which the public would dismiss, as, "That couldn't happen like that." On the other hand, a handful believe that actions such as filmed in "Mother, Juggs and Speed", or worse, "Bringing Out the Dead" is actually the norm of EMS.

Perhaps the equipment has improved over the years, but the last automated BP units I recall seeing all had notifications on them, "Not for use in moving vehicles".

Admittedly, I have no actual scientific basis, but per department policies, administration of nebulized Albuterol for EMT-B personnel is the mouthpiece. Mask administration is currently restricted to the Paramedics. As for not allowing the patient to talk? During any episode where Albuterol has to be administered, most patients wouldn't want to talk. Edited for content

My brother wrote a book on John W. Cambell. A few years ago, the book was extensively covered in a column in Fantacy and Science Fiction magazine.

Empire State Building http://www.esbnyc.com/buy_tickets.asp?gclid=CL7-q9ntxbICFYFo4AodJiAARg Staten Island Ferry ... http://www.siferry.com/ I stand by my statement of addresses.

I own item 30! Great for hauling in groceries from the car.

Just throwing into the mix, what if a #6 gets flipped over, reading now as a 9, or the reverse? As for finding someone mowing the lawn during a snowstorm at 3 AM? Obviously not bloody likely. Perhaps I'm kind of biased against the farmland folk, but even here in New York City, you knock on a stranger's door at 3 AM, asking for directions, there's a chance you're going to be looking down the barrel of some kind of firearm, or being targeted by a pepperspray, or even in the crosshairs of a TASER, as some folks are just not that trusting, be it 3 AM or 3 PM. I've none of these (well, there is that Louisville Slugger, and a 9 iron golf club), and I'm friendly...to a suspicious point. By the way, I noted that no one responded to my question of what is at 350 Fifth Avenue, NYC. That's the Empire State Building.

Fire Fighters showing up in uniform, with the apparatus, to talk to politicians? Reminds me of election eve. Rudy Giuliani had just been elected Mayor of New York City, and the cameras kept showing FDNY Fire Fighters dancing at the victory party. How did I know they were Fire Fighters? The turnout gear and helmets were a clear give-away. Less than a year later, the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation was forced to yield control of the EMS to the FDNY, in the "Merger". That was when I became an FDNY "member".

PM me with names. I may still have known them.

After the merger, Station 41 (Rockaway) got renumbered to match with the Fire Battalion it was in. The new number was Station 47 (Rockaway).

I wish I could say "BS" to these statements, but I know they were true, at least in 2001. A few years later, when the FDNY put Engine 265, Tower Ladder 121, Battalion Chief 47, and EMS Station 47 (BLS units 47 Adam, Boy, Charlie, and ALS units 47 Willie and Victor, with supervisor unit "Conditions" 47) all together under the roof of a new building (first "combined" house in any of the 5 boroughs of the city of New York), after both FD and EMS chiefs had approached all personnel to ask if they had a problem working with "the other guys", offering anyone who wanted "out" a transfer to station or apparatus of choice, we all were kind of walking on eggshells for the first couple of months, but seemed to be getting along. I say "We", because I was on 47-Adam-3 (1600-2400 tour) when we all moved in. It is my opinion, and observation, that a Fire Department that REQUESTS to expand operations to include EMS, seems to work better together, than when the Politicians TELL a Fire Department to expand operations to include EMS, especially if existing members of the existing EMS are "grandfathered" in. Negative attitudes by Fire Fighters revolve around "THEY didn't have to go through the same training as WE did, so how can WE respect THEM?" This is a 2 way street, as long as EMTs and Paramedics regard, and refer to, Fire Fighters as "Knuckle-Draggers", "Rubber", "Bucket Fairies", and other put-down terms. Due to trying to show and obtain mutual respect, you'll note I capitalize any and all references to other EMS, FD, LEO (Law Enforcement Officers) or Hospital ER/ED personnel.

All EMS personnel in large cities have variants of this. My old district was served by 4 BLS and 2 ALS units, covering an 11 mile by 1 mile isolated area, the Rockaway Peninsula. Some times, the Boro Command, or the Queens East dispatchers (on their own initiative), would redeploy "inland" FDNY units to cover, if and when it got busy, or Jamaica Hospital based units. Laws got to be changed. A drunk, sleeping it off, or homeless person sleeping on the street, doesn't want any EMS bugging them, but a well meaning John Q. Public sees them, and calls 9-1-1. We have to respond. If we determine that they are alcohol impaired, we must take them, I know I'm not the only EMS crew person that had to drag a patient out from behind a lineup of cars in the driveway to the ambulance from their residence. But an area of Detroit's size and population served, optimally, by only 44 ambulances, 22 on the road at any one time, but further cut down to only 18? NYC sometimes throws 18 ambulances, mixed BLS and ALS, to multiple alarm fires, heavy Multi Casualty Incidents, and obvious major incidents, along with one or more of the Major Incident Response Vehicles, each MIRV capable of care and transportation of 5 stretcher patients at one time. 18 ambulances? We'd jump over the nearest, and bring them in from further away, and other units would temporarily be responsible for larger areas then normal. I recall 4 simultaneous MCIs, 2 in Brooklyn, one each in Manhattan and the Bronx. We handled them, but, while probably slowed down somewhat, still handled the "regular" caseloads. If money is being misappropriated from ambulance purchase, maintenance of the existing fleet, and new crew hiring, the City and State attorneys should prosecute someone, just not the EMTs and Paramedics that are usually the only faces the public gets to see, up close and personal. Sorry, but even someone who declares "No New Taxes", if the ambulance is delayed for them, would say "raise the taxes" to prevent EMS from NOT being around to rescue THEM. Addendum: My area of NYC used to be served by 2 hospitals, but now it only has one, and that one also serves nearby Nassau County. Ambulances have to travel further to an ER/ED when the one local hospital gets jammed and slammed, so everyone is awaiting bed assignments in an ER/ED. Delayed in the hospital, then travel time back to Rockaway, over one of only 3 roadways in or out of the Peninsula.

I've been in from the Fall of 1973. Obviously, between the 3 of us, we've seen and done a lot, and some of us can and will continue (body falling apart, can't lift anymore). Little brother "eCamp91", just find a good balance between EMS and EMS related activities, and everything else. I'm one of them old farts who sometimes forgets one doesn't discuss an abdominal evisceration with colleagues, while eating at McDonald's, amongst other things, due to my (saying it in print for the first time!) thirty NINE years EMS involvement.

The ethics question arises, so are we just creating specific organs via cloning, or entire persons? If entire persons, what are we doing to the clone when we "harvest" a specific organ? Just throwing it out there for discussion.

Say, do you know an EMT City Poster named ERDoc?

There were 2 Paramedics from the FDNY, 1 from Hunter Ambulance/Ambulette Service (Inwood, Long Island, NY), 1 from Forest Hills (Queens County, NYC, NY) Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and I am uncertain how many other EMTs or Paramedics from within the NYC 9-1-1 system members outside of the FDNY. There were also several off duty EMTs and Paramedics from volunteer squads, working their regular "day" jobs. All told, depending on who you ask, or the information sources, we may have lost up to 18 EMTs or Paramedics, either working the call, or simply just being at the World Trade Center when the planes hit (possibly even on the planes themselves). This is NOT taking into account how many EMTs, Paramedics, Fire Fighters, LEOs, and construction/demolition personnel who have died, and are dying, from varients of (generic) "Trade Center Cough".

If anyone should look at the National Safety Council's publication, "Safety + Health", September 2012 edition, I have a letter to the editor published. This is the second time I've been published in that magazine. I've previously been published in "JEMS" (Journal of the Emergency Medical Services), "Popular Communications", "Monitoring Times", and "National Communications" (radio hobbyist magazines), the "Newsday" newspaper, and, back in 1974, the "Long Island Press". I've also appeard in both the "Dear Abby" and "Anne Landers" columns, related to my being an Emergency Medical Technician. Aside from Dr Bledsoe (obvious DUH, he writes for JEMS, as well as creating EMS textbooks), anyone else here had a letter to the editor, or had an article published?

No problem. I thought you were saying "Fire Fighter-Paramedics" a "creature" that doesn't exist in the FDNY.

PattonEMT, perhaps I misread what you posted, but, for the record, my FDNY lost 343 members, 340 Fire Fighters, Lieutenants, Captains, Chiefs, and the Chief of Department, 2 Paramedics, one of which came onto the job with me, in my EMS Academy class, and Father Judge. Even if members of the FDNY have cross training from outside the NYC 9-1-1 system, EMTs and Paramedics are not Fire Fighters, and Fire Fighters, even if trained to EMT or Paramedic level, if assigned to Engine Companies, only operate to Certified First Responder-Defibrillator level of "Scope Of Practice".

My responses to some are in Bold, Italics, and Underlined. 1 Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. Been there, done that!. 2. Nothing worse than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. Been there, done that!. 3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. Zzzzzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzzz 5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? Even Martha Steward admits she doesn't know how. 6. Was learning cursive really necessary? NO! I print so I don't have to tell anyone what I wrote. 7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. What about starting the return trip? 10. Bad decisions make good stories. Especially when talking with the personnel department at the potential new job why you left the last one 12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again. I think I'm quoting George Carlin, saying, "I'm not buying anything else until they stop inventing, so I can catch up" 13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to. Been there, done that! Even on an EMT City posting. 15. I think the freezer deserves a light as well. I concur. 7. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option. Don't care about that, just why does it always direct me to the county to my west, when I want to go north in my own county, or east to the OTHER next county? 18. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. Been there, done that!. Wait, there's a difference? 20. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters! I concur, even been one in the line. However, I've been the "jerk" cut off, when on a Lights and Siren run. 21. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. At least until they stand up on their own, and march themselves to the washing machine. 22. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time. Not everyone. Some have the alarm clock on the other side of the room, after a turn at the desk. Tripped a few times, too.