Richard B the EMT

# your defib consists of a pair of jumper cables, a marine battery, and a fish finder. Why a fish finder?

BLS logging in on this one. Could it just be a coincidence of a spontaneous pneumothorax, at the same time as that Gun Shot Wound to the head?

Are we getting into an international battle of how to treat? Wow, I hope not! As I said earlier, until those of the higher medical authority tell me otherwise, I will follow my local protocols until such protocols are changed. Plus, I reiterate that my protocols may be different from yours, and another member of the EMT City may have yet a third and different version. That is why it is called a LOCAL Protocol. Until your local higher medical authorities change your protocols, follow them, and when they get changed, if they get changed, follow the new ones. That way, locally, you cannot go wrong.

I am expecting my update fillers to my copy of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Laws, and the NYC supplement as well. When I get it, I'll post it, chapter and verse.

A friend reported to me that, when being put under anestesia, the doctor was telling a dirty joke, and he fell asleep just before the punchline!

This seems to hint at the old adage that there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Scenario: Nerve gas plume from tank car. Helo pilot declines emergency ops center order to stay out of area, and flies thru the plume. Pilot suffers effects of the nerve gas, and crashes into an occupied school building, killing self, camera crew, and 30 school children sheltering in the building. Back in the 1970s, the "dean" of New York City radio station traffic helicopter pilots, one Fred Feldman, broke off in the middle of a traffic report, as he had just gotten an order to clear airspace over a hostage situation he hadn't even known was in progress. (PS: He flew and reported, no second person on the chopper with him) I remember the days of the incident, there was a lot of lead pollution in the air (translation: Shots Fired by and at police!) If the man who would create the "Shadow Traffic Network" could stop in the middle of giving a live report, why can those who follow not do the same? In the 1980s, several hundred swimmers in the Atlantic Ocean off the beach in Rockaway, Queens County, vicinity of "Rockaway's Playland", needed rescue, as all got caught up, and pulled out to sea, in a "Rip" current. The news helos swarmed the area, and actually interfered with rescue operations, until the NYPD and US Coast Guard ordered them to either leave the area, land, or they would be shot down! The News-copters all backed off! So, in my opinion, if anyone risks themselves or others by putting a civilian helo in a civilian area that has potential dangers as spelled out to them by an authorized emergency agency, or the military, and still violates the airspace, start with the pilots losing their pilot's licences, and then impose a hefty monetary fine.

The old NYC EMS Headquarters building had an asbestos problem in a bathroom behind the EMD calltakers. Want to know how I found out? A WNBC-TV4 (New York City) news reporter went, with camera crew in tow, into the bathroom, flailed at the asbestos pipe covering, on camera, until a dust cloud was visible, and then turns to the camera, and says "This is the asbestos problem at the EMS Headquarters in Maspeth." I have a "closed without prejudice, subject to reopening" line of duty exposure report on file because of this, as do all personnel then working in that old building.

If the patient has a green complexion, and elfin ears, perhaps it is a relation to Star Trek's Captain Spock. Vulcans do have green blood, ya know. lol

OK, now we have allowed for inflation and COLA (Cost OF Living Adjustment), and broken even. And yes, it was a good time for a smart- aleck mood!

It was an interesting video, but then, does anyone remember when "Murdoch" and his partner dropped the strecher with the fat woman on it, when the stairs broke under them? The strecher bounced down the stairs, and rolled down the street, with the woman screaming all the way, until, perhaps a half mile later, it hit a parked car, and the car's hood popped open. Then, before Murdoch could extricate his partner from the stairs, the partner got bitten by a rat? Mother, Jugs and Speed, Fox Studios, 1975. Murdoch was played by a post "I Dream of Jeannie", pre "Dallas" Larry Hagman.

Uh... I remember reading that studded snow tires need to have the studs installed prior to use. Also, I remember reading of someone in dispute with the folks who pay his expense account, justifying "Stud Service" for his car! lol

Well, dat is why youse guys needs to does likes I does, and use da spelcheck before youse sends out a posting!

I'll try to parphrase the local protocols: Try to administer orange juice to the patient. If the patient cannot hold the glass, it is safe to presume that the patient cannot swallow. If this is the case, then do not administer anything by mouth.

My historians advise me that some actor, back in the 1930s, doing the voice of a villain in the "Lone Ranger" radio show, actually said, on the air during a broadcast, "I hear a white horse coming!"

"Bucket Fairies" may be based on the oldest type of fire departments, the "bucket brigades". "Vanbulance"? Perhaps I show my age (yet again), but I think that was either an ambulance manufacturer, or a specific model ambulance from a particular manufacturer. I sometimes slip, and call my EMS vehicle a "bus". One of my buddies, from prior to the FDNY/EMS merger, sometimes would be called directly on the NYPD portable he carried with him, to respond, prior to being called to the assignment by the EMD. He told me that one time, an NYPD car's team called him, telling him to "rush the bus," an obvious term for "get over here, yesterday preferred". He told them he was delayed enroute. When asked why, he told PD "I have to stop at the transit depot for a bus, I'm in an AMBULANCE!"

Did the one who was conscious have previous "experience" with drinking? One of the outlawed campus "events" has been binge drinking in frat (and sorority) houses, for kids who may have never drunk any alcohol before in their lives. Yes, alcohol poisoning remains a big campus problem.

I can only hope that this was on some closed set for the filming, or a hidden camera gag show. I agree that there is a sizable segment of the general public thinks this is the norm, not the irregular or staged as some kind of joke.

Windsong, you are CRAZY! At least that is why you fit in so well with the rest of us here. A rigged deer singing the "Dreidl Song"? Oy Gevalt!

OK, I am now going to go completely on memory, and admit this information might not be reliable. Liquid seeks the lowest levels of it's container due to gravity. Blood is a liquid. Shock is generally when the blood reaching the brain is of insufficient quantity. Trendelenburg position puts the brain at a lower level than most of the rest of the body. Blood seeks the lowest level of the body, which is it's container, which in trendelenburg position will put more blood to the brain. When in trendelenburg position, the internal organs below the diaphragm will follow gravity, and press against the diaphragm, which can cause some difficulty breathing. I do not recall anything on patients in trendelenburg position having any changes in their blood pressure, but, as I indicated at the beginning of this entry, I am writing from memory, without any textbook(s) in front of me. Also, I am due for my EMT refresher classes.

My comment on opinions was more geared to the doctors. Until they finish their research, and convince the people who write the standards of care I must follow, I will continue to follow O2 therapy as per the protocols I currently operate under. Sidenote: I honestly cannot remember the last time I even saw a venturi mask, let alone used one.

While I may not need anything further on Fick, I at least looked at it. I need nothing further on it, but for those with the interest, I won't stand in your way.

I'll use the polite version: Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one.

That was Tallahassee, not South Beach?

On #36, I have a problem: the time is not midnight, but 3 AM.