Richard B the EMT

You are all jealous that the voices talk to me, and not to you!

The chief broke Federal Communications Commission regs by cussing on the air, but under the circumstances, I probably would join the firefighters in paying his fine, if any is instituted. FYI: Earlier today (check the posting date), the FDNY Commissioner moved an Engine Captain, a Battalion chief, and a Division Chief from that fire, to other duties, I think, at FDNY Headquarters. So far, nobody has been demoted, fined, or put into some kind of "Siberia" posting.

Until the advent of 2 way radios, I am told the FDNY used to go to calls, and RETURN from calls, L&S. The way was, they couldn't be reached to be advised of another call while on the road, when away from the firehouse. Obviously, FDNY doesn't do that anymore, and I don't think anyone does, or shouldn't. As for having the L&S on all the time, it most likely would keep the service in the public's eye and mind: "Why is that bastid driving that blankety blank department vehicle got that freaking noise on for THIS time?"

In the drastically mixed culture that is NYC, I partially recalled that some groupings would avoid certain colors for ambulance uniforms. For example, if I remember correctly, Chinese people associate white clothing, as European based cultures associate black clothing, with death. Just food for thought

Hmmm, true, too on both counts.

Took me a while, but re the search for grape soda cans: If the patient spilled grape soda on himself, just might be the reason for the patient's purple color. HOWEVER, don't count on it.

Just stirring the pot a bit more: What ever the uniform turns out to be, are you going to have the name of the service on the back? If yes, will you be designing a patch to be sewn on? Or will you have it embroidered on? What style embroidery print? What size? What color? Member's name, and/or title? What, if any, emblem in addition to the department name, like a Star of Life, a type one, two, or three ambulance, a caducous (spelling?), a depiction of some well known tourist trap? A recognizable bridge (Roxbury <NY> VFD & VAS has a nice rendition on their patches of the Marine Parkway/ Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge)?

I think I am finally going to chime in on several topics covered in this string. 1) Scrubs: I see all types of people wearing scrubs, the majority of which are not even employed by a hospital. They tell me they wear it strictly for comfort. 2) Jumpsuits: My old VAS used to wear a kelly green one. Made us quite popular at the local Saint Patrick's Day parade. When we were in internal discussion as to go jumpsuit or not, the topic of jumpsuit color was raised. As in this string, red was rejected, due to the FD association, likewise blue as PD. Yellow? "Are youse freakin' kidding?" Orange was rejected, due to belief of that being the color of a Bureau of Prisons "guest" (supporting that, there has recently been a YouTube video, showing some prison in possibly the Philippines, where the entire prison yard is full of orange clad prisoners dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller"). 3) Jackets: Uniforms are meant to look alike, and the jackets and coats needed sometimes by those of us in colder climates are usually lookalike to each other. I am aware there are some here live in warmer climates, and have never experienced being on standby at a multiple alarm fire, with the wind blowing almost a blinding amount of snow in off of the ocean, where warm uniforms are a must. Society, at least that in which I live, has no restriction on how much clothing one can add when it is cold, but does have restrictions on how much you can take off when it is hot. 4) Polo shirts: my preference is no, they don't have pockets, and I [s:66b2aff091]use[/s:66b2aff091] need my shirt pockets. 5) Star of Life or Red Cross on uniform backs: Just something to have the bad guys spot you in their crosshairs of their guns. I now rate such as a bad idea, for that reason. 6) "Fire Engine Lime Green Chrome" uniforms: After the London Subway bombings, I noted on American TV coverage, most of the emergency responders, especially the LEOs, were wearing jackets in a checkerboard design of that color. They stood out, but I was unable to tell which of those wearing them were LEOs, FD, or EMS. 7) Badges: I like them as a quick on-scene ID. As for those who say that wearing a badge is going to attract gunfire from those thinking the wearer is a LEO, these miscreants will probably blast away at anyone approaching wearing anything bright on the left side of the chest, even if it is reflected light off some religious medallion, or a shiny shirt button. Some would fire at anyone approaching, period.

When I stated I purchased some state equipment list items, they went home with me at tour's end. I was "protecting" myself. The company I was then with, if it could have done so, would have sent each ambulance out with 3 wheels instead of 4. After I left, the company got hit bad by the state inspector, when they were caught passing off a D cylinder with regulator, at the foot of the driveway, from one ambulance to another as one left and the next arrived, which almost had 6 ambulances assigned the same tank and regulator had they not been caught. If I remember, the state "closed" the service down for a full "on floor" inspection. That translated to all 25 ambulances being lined up, and not being allowed to leave until being checked for minimum required equipment, and 4 didn't meet the specs, and another 3 were ordered off the road for replacement due to vehicle deficiencies (are brakes REALLY needed on a van?). NO! I was not the one to turn them in. I only threatened to go to Jimmy Breslin, then of the New York Daily News, but I didn't.

Back in the day, for me, it was, pay for a personal whatever, or risk losing your EMT certification when the state DoH would find you without required equipment list items. I am not saying it was correct, but it was as it was.

Now imagine the ETs on the UFO seeing those things, and believing that is what life looks like on this planet! LOL.

I don't know. [marq=left:a5a55203b7] THIRD BASE!!![/marq:a5a55203b7]

I don't recall the jurisdiction, or how long ago this reportedly happened, but... A driver was stopped for the red traffic signal, where the jurisdiction wanted vehicles to stop, when a police car, under lights and siren, pulled in directly behind him. He was going to make a right turn, anyway, from the right lane where he was positioned, so, with due regard for any other traffic or pedestrians (there was none), he slowly went through the light, and pulled over. Surprise! The police car pulled up in back of him, and gave him a ticket for going through the red light! "Your honor, I was fully stopped when the police car came into view, and I yielded right of way to them, as they were travelling at apparent emergency status." "Guilty as charged! Pay the clerk the cost of the ticket, plus court costs!"

I was wheelman on the ambulance a while ago, on a heavy rain day, during a new moon lunar flood tide. The usual streets flooded out, and I usually know where these streets are, as well as my partner. We had driven out into ponding water that was not going down the storm sewers due to stuff collecting in the catch basins blocking it, or high tide water from the Atlantic Ocean or Jamaica Bay back-flowing INTO the streets, to rescue at least 5 people from 3 separate incidents where the people misjudged how high the water had really arisen, and stalled out their cars in the middle of the temporary lakes. We got a "low priority" call, I forget what type, but by then, NYPD had put up barriers on several of the flooded streets, and what usually leaves that sector via about 10 traffic lanes on several now closed streets was redirected through 2 that remained open. Someone on this site, but a now forgotten string, posted an ambulance, perhaps in Italy, that was fighting traffic so heavy, other drivers couldn't move out of the way, causing the ambulance, with all lights lit, and sirens and air horn blasting, still took about 10 minutes to go an estimated 3 blocks. This bottleneck I was just talking about, with 2 lanes? Almost as bad. However, the Computer Assisted Dispatching system the FDNY EMS EMD uses, gives an estimated time of travel, from where the ambulance is supposed to be sitting, to where the patient is supposed to be, or gives the crews a 20 minute "window" to get there, before radioing the "delayed" unit for an update. I advised of the delay, later documented it on my unit activity logbook, yet, the next day, my Captain called my partner and myself in to his office to be scolded for the delay, and we barely avoided getting "Command Discipline" charges placed against us, on a priority 4 or lower call! I'll presume the computer's programming goes with some semblance of "normal" travel times, but doesn't allow for inclement weather, like the tornado that hit Brooklyn 2 weeks ago on the time of this posting.

Last person I heard about who did that, got a second letter, showing a picture of a set of police handcuffs. He paid the fine.

1) It might reduce injuries, but as others have pointed out, might create newer patient handling problems. 2) Very carefully! Real answer for 2) Food for thought: Ask doctors who specialize in motorcycle and motor-cross sports injuries, who are familiar with your protocols for handling spinal injuries, to help design newer protocols for dealing with injuries gotten when the newer "protective gear" is being used. If possible, get a "research and development" tech from the manufacturer to also assist in the creation of the new protocols.

You mention NYC. The FDNY EMS Command runs 3 eight hour tours a day, per "full time" unit. Figuring only a regular work week, a crew person works 8 hours, midnight to 8, 8 to 4 (1600), or 4 to midnight (2400). Gotta mention that we have overlapping tours, there's no time all the ambulances are at the station for tour change all at the same time. We work 5 days on, 2 off, another 5 days on, and then 3 off. You can figure that for whatever day of the week, you will be working it 10 consecutive weeks in a row, and off for 5 consecutive weeks. That way, nobody can complain "Charlie always gets off Wednesdays, and my wife wants me to take her to a midweek matinee of The Producers." You can schedule that for when you come into your Wednesdays, if there are any tickets available. You are usually "married" to your tour, so you always work the same time of day or night, and usually with the same 2 partners as they go into either their 2 or 3 days off, and the other one comes back from days off, and they work together when you are on YOUR days off. (Example: I'm "A" platoon, Phil is "B", and Herb is "C". This week, I'll work 2 days with Herb, then 3 with Phil, be off for 2 while Herb and Phil work together, then work 3 days with Herb, 2 days with Phil, and be off for 3 days while Herb and Phil work together. Whoever is just back from days off, by mutual decision, drives, the other "techs".) Theoretically, we get a half hour off for meal per tour, but as we usually are handling one of those one point three million calls a year, we can and do file for the half hour as O/T. This means while we work 40 hours standard, unless we file for it (meal money), we actually work a 37.5 hour workweek. Don't worry, after 22 years, I still get confused sometimes. Anybody working tour 1 (midnights) or tour 3 (evenings) gets Night Differential for hours worked after 7 PM (1900), or before 6 AM (0600). Strangely enough, if you work a late call, or actually work a second consecutive tour (partial or full), after 8 hours, it is considered O/T, and is usually figured in half hour increments. You might not even make it to the 40 hours, and still earn O/T in this manner. We had a "minuteman" (someone who comes in exactly on the hour of the tour change, and not one second earlier) who started coming in 5 minutes late. My lieutenant told me, even though my shift was over, and we could see him down the block parking his car, to file for the half hour covering my "relief's" tour. I got paid several half hours of O/T, and the minuteman had to explain to the Captain why 2 people were getting paid for doing the same tour! As for "mandations", when we would be forced into doing O/T due to someone's unscheduled absence to "maintain coverage", we used to work 4 hours, unless we were O/T whores looking for money, and would work longer, up to the entire 8 hours of that tour following your regular one. After the EMS/FDNY merger, suddenly, we HAD to work 6 hours O/T of the 8, or in inclement weather (read expected snowfall of 5 or more inches, or that much already on the ground), the entire 8! FDNY EMS has a program, where there are Known Vacancy Openings (KVO), like someone taking a vacation, you can volunteer for them. As long as you bid for 4 a month, even if the KVO falls through, unless some citywide emergency happens, they cannot ask you to do another O/T tour, unless you actually want it (you dirty O/T whore, you! LOL). Regulations within the department state you cannot be mandated more than 4 times in a regular workweek, so if you want to try for 5, you would risk disciplinary charges. There were a few geniuses tried something, which has since been outlawed. Saturday 1600 to midnight is the last tour of the week, and Sunday 0000to 0800 is the first, on a new sign in sheet. These crazies would work the Saturday day tour as "regular", the evening tour as O/T, and, with the clock restarted for the new week, the Sunday midnight tour, also as O/T, in essence, working a "24" (at least MOST of these folks would only do this when the Sunday was also one of their days off, to recuperate).

Really deep: I used an "Aluminaut"and the "Glomar Explorer" to dredge that one up.

"Silence is so fragile, you shatter it merely by saying it's name" (Attributed to that most prolific of writers, "Anonymous")

Perhaps someone can verify this for me: In order for the various states in the US to qualify for certain Federal monies geared to road building or maintainance, they had to rase the minimum age for drinking to 21.

Could SOMEBODY please tell me what "bigeminy" is, I'm dying from the suspense?

Through my other than medical reading, if your radio gets hit with an Electro-Magnetic-Pulse, consider that radio "fried", as well as the ambulance's communications, computers, and the computer that helps run the engine of your car and ambulance. EMPs, first discovered during "in atmosphere" H-Bomb testing in the Pacific, in, I think, 1963, burned out a lot of the "state of the art" (for 1963) electronics and electrical systems on the side of the state of Hawaii nearest to the bomb test site. This included overhead wires for both phone and power, street lights, house wiring, and the electronic medias. Due to a ban signed in the UN, the US, which had signed on, could no longer do nuke testing in the air, which seems to be the only time the effects are observed, and not observed in underground testing. Link to EMP at http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm . Link to EMP at http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm In movies, the EMP has been depicted in "The Day After", "The Atomic Train," and "Godzilla 2000" (don't hold me to the year), where an experimental manned flying device is disabled by an EMP, which revives ol' Dragon Breath, only moments after the flying device had seemed to kayo him. Godzilla then drops a building on the craft. Yeah, I know, I see a lot of movies.

..."bigeminy"... Wozzat? (I suspect I may be kicking myself when the answer is published)

MrMeaner, you are too late. I had the displeasure of seeing US flag design condoms as far back as 10 years ago.

Only halfway in jest, may I suggest covering the kevlar gloves with white cotton gardening gloves? At least they won't look threatening, unless the EDP thinks he is a weed in a garden.