MVA Gear

[Chief1C]

an extrication suit is just another wanna-be FF thing to me.

That was a general list. You can leave the ear plugs at home.. But you never know when they might come in handy. Gloves, boots, suit, helmet, goggles. I wear all those when we're extricating a patient. There are always pieces of glass and metal flying around, unknown fluids, heavy tools being dropped.

I feel that Rescue and EMS sort of go hand in hand. If you're cross trained, and responding with an agency that provides both EMS and Rescue. It might be necessary to come prepared to provide said services.

[Richard B the EMT]

A year ago, the FDNY purchased what looks like fire fighting coats, pants, gloves, and boots, for all the field EMS personnel, which are rated as PPE, or Personal Protection Equipment. Per the printed material that came with it, it is good for protection against Blood Borne Pathogens, "Flash" fires, and most of the sharp edged stuff you'd be risking getting cut on, in an extrication. It also states, quite clearly, that it is NOT for use in such as a structure fire.

If I heard correctly, it cost the city of New York roughly $1,000.00 per set, per FDNY EMS Member Of Service. Also, if I heard correctly, as every MOS got one, but was supposed to get a second set for use while the first one would go in for gross BBP Decontamination, or to the "Asbestos Laundry", and nobody was given a storage/carry bag for the PPEs, as so they would never have it in their personal lockers, or in their privately owned vehicles, the OSHA might still have a major fine working against the FDNY.

EMS is supposed to wear this heavy gear on Multiple Casualty Incident calls, or any call where there is risk of BBP contamination. Wait one, but is that not each and every call we go on? Most of you know we work 8 hour shifts, and are "staged" from street corners, so we have to wear this stuff for 8 hours straight? You'd best stay upwind of me on a hot summer day, I'm probably going to be smelling a bit "ripe".

FDNY, the "Uniformed EMTs and Paramedics", and the "Uniformed Lieutenants and Captain's" unions are "in discussion" on this, while still "reasonably" following OSHA's guidelines

If you watch the news from New York City, you can tell the difference between the Fire Fighters, and the EMTs and Paramedics of the FDNY. FDNY is in the black protective coats, pants, boots and leather helmets, EMS is in the yellow (gold?) coats, pants, bumble bee yellow and black boots, and the plastic orange helmets. Officers still wear white helmets, both FDNY and EMS.

So, at the aforementioned price, best hope for the department to purchase your PPEs for you. They will LOVE you if you supply your own, and they don't have to pay for it, but then, if you get hurt, it's AMF-YOYO (Adios, Mo-Fo, You're On Your Own) as there's no control if they don't supply the outfit, and claim you were using "sub-standard" PPEs, even if it's a personal purchase from the same vendor/supplier as the department.

[Dustdevil]

You can leave the ear plugs at home.. But you never know when they might come in handy.

I know exactly when they will come in handy; when I am working a 24 hour shift with a beached whale of a partner who snores so loudly and incessantly that it is impossible to sleep otherwise. I never work 24s without earplugs.

[ilparamedic07]

[/font:878f414047] I work for a small ambulance provider in central Illinois. As of yet we are only provided with a blue jacket that is bloodborn pathogen resistant and waterproof but provides not much protection otherwise. Recently we had an accident where an elderly male had rolled his vehicle leaving it lying on the drivers side with him trapped and his arm stuck under the vehicle. Myself being the youngest Paramedic on duty drew the straw of getting to crawl into the vehicle to join the police officer/first responder who was holding cspine. Due to the close quarters and my size i cant imagine myself fitting in that vehicle in full turnout gear, however some form of jacket and pants that would be tougher than my ems duty pants and shirt would be greatly appreciated. One thing i can say for turnout gear however is that it is very nice during extrication during winter weather.

[WestSideBorderPatrol]

Just this past year my service finally got away from issuing the EMS only people fire gear. Now we have pants and a coat to wear that are custom fit for each person.

[web:437b75c673]http://www.globefiresuits.com/lifeline/products/ems-gear/ems-jacket.asp[/web:437b75c673]

[rat115]

We have reflective vests (nice bright yellow and orange) that we are mandated to wear on all MVAs after we had a few close calls. They say here I am, but they have decreased the number of close calls. Beyond that, we don't have anything else that's required. I keep a light jacket in my car in the summer to wear to keep debris off of me.

If I'm in the vehicle and FD is playing with their toys to extricate a pt, pass me the ear protection. It doesn't keep me from hearing the pt and keeps my hearing intact. I can pull it out as I get into the ambulance and need my stethascope. If I'm in the car with cutting going on, I'm under a heavy blanket with the pt to keep most stuff off of me. I do like to grab the saftey glasses that fit over my own glasses to prevent glass getting around my glasses or damaging my lenses.

[afd1307]

The Globe gear posted a couple posts before me is what my service uses. We have dark blue jackets and pants, a blue helmet, extrication gloves, goggles, and fire fighter style boots. The boots are too bulky, I prefer my Rocky boots.

We are required to wear the jacket or a vest on accident scenes, and all gear when in active extrication. When doing patient care inside the vehicle, I do not wear the extrication gloves, seems common sense to me.

We do keep the patient in mind during extrication and will cover them with a heavy duty thick blanket or a fire fighters jacket that is not in active extrication activities.

We keep our gear in the station as we do not do active patroling. We sit at the station and wait for calls to come in and grab the gear when needed. This works well for us as our crews change sometimes per call. I do think we should carry it on all calls just in case we come across something or get called to another call when back in service after a call.

[AZCEP]

We do keep the patient in mind during extrication and will cover them with a heavy duty think blanket...

I, for one, wish more departments would issue one of these to their employees. Maybe we could make it part of the uniform.

[Chief1C]

Clearly a typo.. On that note.. We use a fire blanket, cause ya never know what you're cutting into with these new cars!

[mediccjh]

At my full-time job, we have EMS Rescue, so I rarely go in the car; if I do, I have a helmet and goggles, and am under a blanket.

In PA, I have a rescue jumpsuit, helmet, goggles, gloves, and a Nomex hood.