Richard B the EMT

Works the same going from the warm room to cold outdoors. Glasses with wipers, displayed by Sir Elton John, courtesy the Dawgpound. See http://www.thedawgpound.com/2009/10/more-about-windshield-wiper-glasses/

I was going to pull the information of what an EMT is responsible for in New York State, but someone beat me to it by posting the NYS DoH site for you.

EVOC, or equivalent classes, are not a part of the current NY State EMT training. I had taken several one day combined lecture/big parking lot EVOCs over the years, until I got the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS employment. There, a part of the pre-employment testing was a test drive at the EVOC facility, which at the time, was a runway at the former Naval air Station-Brooklyn (Floyd Bennett Field). I actually got lucky, as the guy who ran the EMS EVOC, a Tony Feminella, decided to take me off the site, and into real traffic in the Flatbush, Mill Basin, and Marine Park areas. I passed, but, as a part of the then 4 week New Employee Orientation Program (in my case, NEOP 85-02) I spent a week chasing after flying traffic cones, even during a thunderstorm, on that damned runway. Tony told us there were about 600 traffic cones on the mile long course, and we'd get to be on a "first name basis" with them, and we did! Most of us from the "Green and White Days" know of what I speak. (To quote Tony, "Watch Out For The Kids!") It wasn't an automatic pass, either. There were at least 3 in my class that passed everything but EVOC, and had to "Re-Tread" the entire 4 weeks, obviously including the week at EVOC, but pass it they did. Nowadays, while they no longer have the runway, they run on "streets" in an unoccupied residential area at Fort Totten, in Bayside, Queens, but they have some computer driven simulators, that, except for imitating the "G" forces of actual turns, can be more emotionally straining than actual street driving, although without bent bumpers. Politicians and TV Newspeople have attempted the simulators, and failed miserably, so the newer folks on the job don't feel; so bad. IMHO, on-line EVOC classes have their place, but it better be augmented with time actually on a driving range.

1) My experience with type one ambulances, the rear view mirror does not give any sort of clear view into the box from the cab. One couldn't determine what the tech in the back is doing, by the tech in the front. 1-A) In "Mother Juggs and Speed", Speed was driving a type 2, when he saw Murdoch raping the unconcious overdose girl in the back. 2) This (hopefully now "former") Paramedic has confessed to inappropriate touching. Hell, in the right lawyer's hands, even a sternal rub could be considered inappropriate touching. 3) "Bubba" is ironing his fancy red ballroom dress, waiting for this guy!

Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS) I understand. AAS, not so much. Someone please translate? Then, there was the group of new recruits, being confronted by the USMC Master Gunnery Sargent. He asked how many of the recruits had finisned High School, how many had started college, and how many had graduated college. Then he asked how many had been in Post-Graduate Studies. One man had been in Post Graduate Studies, and the Master Gunnery Sargent asked him if he'd earned his PHD. Answer:no. The Master Gunnery Sargent then presented the man with a PHD: a Post Hole Digger.

If we are talking telephone or Skype, no problem, but if not using electronic or face to face, perhaps both of us are in trouble.

Tats and piercings are definately NOT my "thang". However, I note all the Viagra and similar products advertized on the TV state that if the errection lasts longer than 4 hours, the user should contact a doctor. I have friends tell me, if their errection lasts longer than 4 hours, he's calling everyone he knows to brag about it!

Lady, you're crazy, but that's why we love ya like we do!

Dwayne has it correct. There are always those who like spreading the male bovine excrement to unknowing people, but insiders can usually spot them. However, when I make a mistake, or don't know the correct answer, my chances improve when I ask questions, as our original poster (O P) seems to be doing. Seth, while I am on that, if you want to make the investment, and it is somewhat large, see if you can get a copy of either or both of the following EMS Textbooks, or get your local library's copy: Emergency Care, Emergency Care and Transportation of the Sick and Injured. Both books sell for about $45.00 (EACH) in US currency. Also, just from the BLS, or Basic Life Support, others here might recommend other texts

You're just jealous that the voices DON'T speak to YOU! LOL

See, Seth? There's a point regarding international system comparisons, from one of the 2 guys I had mentioned from Germany/Bavaria.

After being involved for 38 years, I STILL don't know everything. No one here does. We just know vast segments, some better than others. With the overlap of segmented knowledge, I feel confident that, while you'll not learn every last iota of knowledge, your understanding of the EMS world, populated by EMTs and Paramedics, Doctors and Nurses, will be enlarged, and better understood. As for opinions, they are like noses, as everyone has one. Some of us will agree on a particular item, others, not so much (some will take exception to that last statement). You'll see disagreements over "newly proven by science" versus "we've always done it THIS way". Perhaps oversimplified, it's just all of the EMT City residents being human. I do remind you that, due to this being an international site, that some practices are going to seem quite liberal, and others very restrictive. I always say that local protocols rule. Protocol rules can be different as you cross county/parrish, state/provence, and international border lines. At least 2 of the guys are from Germany/Bavaria, and their protocols are far different than what I can do, in and around my own New York City region (with some similarities, I'm sure). Some of the Paramedics have large numbers of "standing protocols", where they rarely have to contact their On Line Medical Control Doctors, while others have to get "Mother/Father, may I?" approval for almost anything. Due to ongoing changes, as we find out about them, information and practices will change. Now that I've placed all that on you, Welcome to the EMT City!

Some strike the motherlode. You did, I didn't. Even Ralph Kramden said that Alice was originally attracted to him due to the (Gotham Bus Company) uniform he was wearing.

AK, I've had a few Badge Bunnies try to work me, while my Lady J was alongside me. I shut them down with a public display of affection with Lady J. As for mixed BLS/ALS teams, FDNY EMS doesn't routinely do them, as it's always EMT/EMT or EMT-P/EMT-P. The only time they would do the mixed teams would be when half of each team was unaccompanied, the supervisors wanted to keep one of the 2 units "out there", and the team would act as a BLS team, unless the team was on an assignment with another, full ALS team; then, the mixed team EMT-P would act as an ALS provider, the EMT to the extent of their BLS protocols. ChBare, just remember that it sometimes is better to have loved and lost. Much better. The first woman I asked to marry me, in 1973, responded with the "Let's just be friends" speech. She's now on her third marraige, and never to the guy who everyone, including me, thought she was "supposed to" get married to, after declining my proposal. (My "rebound" was a wasted 9 year interstate (she's Teaneck, NJ, I remain Belle Harbor, NY) engagement that never went anywhere. Following that, I've been "with" Lady J from December 1988, but we're both a bit "gun-shy") Dwayne, the only rock younger than me that I know of, is Chris Rock.

That has been known to happen. I just cannot lift, due to my back and knees. Thank you. Being one of those obnoxious jerks who love talking about themselves, or their percieved views of the world, I seem to have found a home here. Also, when called on my errors, when explained, I admit them. While I never got further than "Tenderfoot", Momma B feels that my entire EMS life has been as a "boy scout", helping people.

You're still kind of new to the site, so you didn't know to use the search function to find previous entries on this topic. However, I digress, and will respond to the question. I became a part of the EMS community, as it was something to do on a Tuesday. At the time (1973), I was a college student at Long Island University, Brooklyn Center, Zeckendorf Campus, and attending Mondays, Wednsdays, Thursdays and Fridays. A class I took on Thursdays had one day the professor didn't show up. We found out the next day he had died of a Sudden Cardiac Arrest, in a restaurant across Flatbush Avenue from campus, and 3/4 mile from the nearest hospital, which didn't run an ambulance. The 9-1-1 ambulance that responded, took over an hour to arrive. Some months before, a buddy of mine was riding his motorcycle, leading 2 other Parks Department seasonal employees back into our community, who were driving his Plymoth Cricket, when the car somehow failed to negotiate a turn in the road. FDNY responded immediately, as they heard the crash from their firehouse, but the local 9-1-1 ambulance base, while only a mile away, took over a half hour to respond. Around this time, in the fall of 1973, a group of concerned persons decided to form up a Volunteer Ambulance service, had started fundraising, had use of 2 "demonstrator" ambulances from a friendly dealership, and were posting noitices around the community asking for help. I was sitting on the fence about joining, when my buddy called me up, and decided for me, that WE would be joining the still forming group, which would become the Peninsula Volunteer Ambulance Corps. I, at then age 19, wanted to drive, under the impression that all traffic would clear for me, my lights and sirens.Gee wasn't I uninformed back then. The group's founders told me they wouldn't let me drive until I was 21, due to "Insurance rules", but I could become an EMT. "What is a EMT"? I asked. From the spring of 1974, until the winter of 1996, I "teched", drove, dispatched, knocked on doors and danced in the streets for fundraising, was made quartermaster, dispatch training officer/radio officer, alternate and regular delegate to the New York State Volunteer Ambulance and Rescue Association (District 4, NYC metropolitan area), elected to Comptroller, and was even the Chief of Operations. The training led to employment at a series of 5 different private, non 9-1-1 Inter-Facility-Transport ambulance services, and finally, in June of 1985, to the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS, which was "merged" into the FDNY in 1996. PVAC would eventually close down, due to what I refer to as the lack of the "M&Ms", as in Members and Money. You need one to get the other. This happened in 1996, several months after the EMS/FDNY merger. Due to assorted injuries, I was forced into medical retirement from FDNY EMS Command as of October 5, 2010. However, as I mostly worked the "4 to Midnight" tours, and the Continuing Medical Education classes were at night, I am now attending a bunch of these classes, as my NY State EMT "certs' are good through 2015. The buddy who made me join? He dropped out of the "biz" after about a year and a half. After these 38 years, I wonder if my partners along the way would shake his hand, or punch him out, due to me!

As of the time I read this, names had not yet been released. However, I extend my condolences to the personal and departmental families of the deceased.

(Incert picture of John Wayne as a Cavalry Captain) Old Guys RULE!

Unless it is posted on another string, or was edited out, where did the information that the OP is 16 come from? All I have read is that he is a new dad.

The old story is, the man was being given the Rorshack (spelling?) inkblot test, and each one, the man responded that the image was something of a sexual nature. The "Shrink" finally asked him if everything reminded him of something sexual, and the man said, "Well, YOU'RE the one showing me the dirty pictures!"

Someone commented in a different string that we of the EMS community have a nasty habit of "eating our young". Sometimes our City members do that to both new EMS personnel, or just new members of this site. Generally speaking, and specifically in regards to forum postings, I encourage everyone speaking to remain in constructive criticism, such as saying that someone is incorrect due to this and that specific, not incorrect because they're (insert insulting discription of choice). My apologies on the attacks the OP is referring to, on behalf of myself and the other longtimers of this web site.

In the comical, remember that denial is NOT just a river in Egypt. Yes, it must have been a hard truth to the guy, but sometimes it takes a knowledgable semi-stranger to steer even a frightened person in the right direction, and always hopefully in time to correct whatever the situation. I fell asleep in the dispatch center of the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation EMS, a while prior to the FDNY merger, and a Paramedic, looking in on the heavy snoring I was doing, suggested I get checked for Acute Sleep Apnea. When I did, I was told that I was having periods of not breathing lastiung up to 60 seconds at a time. Although not asked for, he saved my life!

Congrats on your "Promotion". I take it that this is your first progeny?

Perhaps I'm being a bit too flippant, but there's always "Judge Judy"...

My angiogram turned into an angioplasty, as I now have a cardiac stent in me. Is the procedure going in via the radial, or femoral artery? Not to scare you, but having had both, and complications from the femoral artery procedure, if you have any choice, go the radial procedure.