Richard B the EMT

Not when walking amongst the cactus, or down a New York City street. One can be painful, the other...well, it can be painful when they beat you up, thinking you to be a pervert.

Manual stabilization, C-collar, KEDS (Kendricks Extrication Device), KODE (Kendricks Other Device for Extrication), or IDEA (Iron Duck Extrication Appliance), Long Spinal Board, Head-Bed. Oxygen (NRB @ 15 LPM, Canula @ 5 LPM if patient not tolerating NRB). Obtain V/S, and Hx, transport to Trauma Center. I may have left something out.

That makes uniforms? Perhaps in an office?

Therefore, except for the DOA, everyone from any and all vehicles in the incident go. If there was enough force to kill someone, all need to be checked, and presumed injured. Immobilize all.

The incident. NY State DoH likes covering it's butt!

Perhaps to be addressed in a different string, but, once we have the "work uniform" designed, what are we going to do for the "Class 'A' Dress Uniforms"?

Hmmm? I have to look that up in my copy!

I am probably putting my famous "New York 'Spin'" on this, but, State protocol, far as I know, if in a car crash, there is even one dead, all others from the incident get immobilized, and everyone, except for the DOA, goes to a trauma center.

Finesse, my friend, use the spring loaded centerpunch!

Grandma hurt her knee? I thought Grandma got run over by a reindeer, coming home from our house Christmas Eve? You may not believe in Santa, but as for me and Grandpa, we believe!

Unrelated item: Just did a survey of convenience stores, both connected and not connected with gas stations. Wawa was on the survey. We now return to the discussion, already in progress.

They be that, too!

A general rule I have been taught to follow is, for either trauma or medical calls, if the ALS time of arrival is more than the transport time to the nearest appropriate Emergency Department, scoop and run, treat the patient(s) to the best of your ability. If ALS can intercept on your way, OK, let them aboard, and let them do what they have to do. If ALS complains, they are fools.

I've been doing it so long, I now am being partnered with children of previous partners who were teens themselves when I first partnered with them. Most were not even gleams in their daddy's eyes. (Born in 1954, on ambulances from age 19 in 1973!)

Here in NY State, motorcycle riders must wear helmets. Unfortunately, some I have seen feel that wearing it over their arm is enough. Not on the head? Must be a well protected elbow. Notify the trauma center we're bringing in an organ transplant donor. Again!

I feel you did nothing wrong. I also mention, while awaiting additional units to respond in, I have placed patients already on the Longboards, on top of vehicle hoods and trunks. The person who complained about the patient not being ready to immediately be placed into his ambulance was wrong. I think, as someone else already posted, this person was simply wanting someone else to do his job, and he was lazy.

I also take exception to the phrase "at all cost". We have 6 missing in a mine collapse a few weeks ago, status on posting date is still unknown, 3 died while attempting Rescue/recovery. Oh, also, I never got beyond "Tenderfoot" in the Boy Scouts, but most in my family think by being an EMT, I am still trying to be a Boy Scout.

Is there truly military intelligence? I have a friend, was a nurse, an EMT, a volunteer Paramedic in the Israeli Army during the 1973 war (wounded in combat!), who, when she joined the US Navy, was made a ... (Drum Roll Please...) Signalman!

"When a jet crashed due to a pilot doing something stupid, the rescue/recovery crews usually find only blood and feathers all over the cockpit, but no brains" (Attributed to "Grandpa," a recurring person quoted in the Navy/Marines "Stars and Stripes" military newspapers.)

Once a week? I thought once an hour, on a good day. Last time I checked, the "TK" was still last ditch effort after direct pressure, elevation, pressure point, and pressure bandage, "when it becomes a choice between losing the life or the limb." Unofficially, add the "diesel drip" therapy, but I live and work in an area where the nearest ED is no more than 15 minutes away from any point in the city.

Welcome to the madness. What service provider do you work for? I'm FDNY EMS

Remember that this is from 1975 to 1977, when I was young(er) and stupid(er) than I am now, also, it was a private ambulance service not in the 9-1-1 system. Brooklyn, NY, Holmes Ambulance Service (defunct), I'm "teching" and Dave's driving our converted van ambulance. Harold the dispatcher calls us, Dave grabs the "mic", and we are told there's a Cardiac Arrest at a non hospital care center. In the middle of Queens! Lucky for us, we're right by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Dave acknowledges the call, throws the "mic" into the hook, and throws the van into gear. Bad as that POS van was, we burned rubber leaving the parking spot, and join the Sunday Afternoon traffic flow. I won't say we were travelling too quickly for the road, but John F Kennedy International Airport's tower reported an unidentified RADAR contact following the BQE, the Long Island Expressway, and then the Grand Central Parkway, loosing the contact near the 180th Street exit. I will say we were probably doing the "century" for most of the trip (read that as 100 MPH, I did say I was younger and stupider then). I left the alleged safety of the seat belt ('taint no safety at those speeds!) while on the way, to put the CPR board, Bag Valve Mask, O2 tank and regulator on top of the stretcher, and resumed my seat and belt. A trip that, without lights and siren, or exceeding the speed limit, should have been a half hour, was completed in 10 minutes. On arrival, we had the stretcher out almost before the wheels stopped turning, shanghighed an elevator that food services had under key control, and almost took the door off the hinges as we exploded into the room, to find... An 80 something year old woman, who confirmed that she was the patient we were supposed to pick up, but advised us she was supposed to be going in for testing, to be started early Monday morning! Timecheck: about 2-30 PM Sunday! We went looking for the charge nurse, who answered the question of "Why did you call it in as an Arrest?" replied "We wanted you to get here quickly." For an ambulatory patient going in over 12 hours prior to prescheduled cardiac testing? Dave didn't give me a chance. He verbally raked her over the coals, picked up the phone to call Harold the dispatcher, and after explaining the conditions, handed the phone to the charge nurse, who got reamed a second time by Harold. We transported the lady to the hospital, without lights, without sirens, and kept out of sight of the military jets looking for the UFO in the skies over Brooklyn and Queens! You know you cannot make this stuff up!

I don't think I have heard of this organization. Where, geographically, are they based?

A friend living in Israel once translated it and sent it to me, so, this story has probably been around the world a few times over a few decades. YET... It is still funny!