Fire Service Based EMS

[Just Plain Ruff]

I cannot wait until someone tells one of those firefighters they have to take a transfer out of the hospital back to the nursing home or to another distant hospital at 3:00 in the morning -- "That's not my job!" Well, buddy, think again, that IS EMS' job! And you want to do it all -- Oh, No, just the "cool" calls! Can someone tell the IAFF that .... oh, that's right, NO ONE can tell the IAFF anything :-)

no the fire department in question referred to in the above quote will just contract out those types of calls to the IFT crews from a private service that does nothing but transfers. They still will get the cool calls and they will get to sleep thru the night when the IFT transfer crews are doing the work. I'll bet the fire department will find a way to bill the patient for the transfer anyway.

I can't see the video because it's blocked her but I understand the sentiment. It's a good thing that the fire service is so integral in the operation of quality EMS. Since they educated everyone out there about the dangers of smoking in bed, not putting a charcoal grill in their house to heat it and also not playing with matches they ahve just about trained themselves out of a job. There are fire stations in Kansas city that run nothing but EMS calls with a smattering of car fires, house fires and fire alarms but the ems calls account for nearly 98% of their call volume.

Blech

[Kiwiology]

Joseph Goebbels would be proud!

[VentMedic]

I dont know anything about hurricane andrew in terms of response but that was YEARS AGO!!! Tell me that private ambulances didnt make a response during and after Katrina!!! I mean damn I know alot of people that went from all the way the hell up here from AMR and other AMBULANCE agencies... I almost went to Galveston, TX myself.

That video is very misleading as it also spands with clips over 25 years. A few of the FDs I recognized have long since merged or consolidated with other services to become county services or whatever.

The Miami FDs learned some big and expensive lessons from Andrew about getting their equipment out of harm's way which included the rescue helicopters they didn't fly out.

The private ambulance services were stretched to the max evacuating NHs and hospitals all the way from throughout the Florida Keys to much of Dade county's coastal and low liying regions. That is a big order in one of the retirement capitols of the world. Andrew did not follow the projected path that most thought he would. Getting the correct patient with the correct paperwork to the correct destination is a tall order with just a few hours to accomplish it. Once that was done, they got their personnel and equipment/trucks out of the area because they knew what the aftermath would bring and they could not risk damage to either. Whatever damage done to the FD equipment had to be covered by neighboring cities and military helicopters. Unfortunately some of the military medical rescue helicopters were bigger than what the roof of Jackson Memorial Hosptial could handle but again the military brought their equipment/personnel in to move the damaged cars from parking lots for a LZ. The initial military response was from those already in the area as the Pres. Bush during that time was still not aware a hurricane had occured in Miami.

Each area also has an operations plan for who is to stay behind during the actual storm. That will usually includes essential county and municipal employees with a plan in place for before, during and after personnel. Nobody was on the streets except stupid reporters once the front wall was approaching the coast.

The FDs were able to hit the streets with enough manpower 1 hour after the storm. The private companies with their undamaged ambulances quickly mobilized to get those out of NHs and hospitals that were thought to be able to pull through a storm but ended up heavily damaged. The hospitals that were okay had to have some of their patients moved to make room for more injured and sick from the storm. Patients were moved to whatever location that could make room for them. This not only included Florida, but GA and AL as well.

Hurricane Andrew was a group effort and the logistics for the number of patients moved during that time by the private ambulance services is staggering.

Since Andrew, FDs throughout the state have revised their plans of operation to minimize their own damage and ensure personnel safety. While it may be cool to have a funeral with honors for your bravery, it kinda sucks to be dead because you didn't know enough to get out of the danger zone.

[VentMedic]

BTW, if you want to see what Miami looks like when the City of Miami FD announces it is accepting applications, check out the national news channels today.

Or:

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/MI111600/

Here's an article from surfer news for Miami Dade FR which will also be hiring soon.:

http://www.surfguru.com/surf-news/Miami-Da...cue-Hiring.aspx

Only nonsmokers need to apply...Paramedic cert preferable at the time of application.

[spenac]

Only nonsmokers need to apply.

Bravo. That should become the standard. I know way to many people that reactive to even small amounts of smoke so if they were in an ambulance with someone that recently smoked it could cause more harm. Honestly EMS needs to start setting the example regarding health issues.

[Diazepam618]

WOW, nice video a little bias I thaught.

[Medic349]

I say we start cross training janitors to become paramedics. After all, like he said, they would be better because they are trained in multiple skills.