out of service ambulance reporting

[tamaith]

Hello, I have a question. How do i report an ambulance company that is making the employees ride in an ambulance that should be out of service. ( missing equipment), in Pennsylvania. I could not find a helpline.

[Chief1C]

Depends what's missing.. However, call your EMS Region. Or George at the state EMS Bureau. 717-787-8740 That's a published number, so it's okay to post. Or go here:

http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/cwp/view.asp?a=170&Q=246137

Find your regional office information, and call them.

[tom5706]

Define "missing equipment". How do you know it is missing??

[tamaith]

missing is broad sorry. 1 or 2 n.c. & nrb ( adult) o2 main empty no full ones at the base ( staff will grab extra port) no ped bvm. no pen light. no cleaning supplies to clean equipment ( b/p cuff stretcher) no long cervical collar only 2 universal. staff told me they get yelled at for not leaving on time when they are trying to refill the ambulance as best as possible . cause they will be late to pick up a pt. no red bio haz bags. b/p cuffs that work. seat belts for crew some work some don't. horn / manuel siren / ligohts, some work some don't. o2 keys harnest for on board suction.(no support it will just dangle in the air then eventually fall off.

[Chief1C]

I'm also in PA; and I'm our supply guy. So I know "the list", have it down. Only 1 of each size oxygen delivery device is required. Adjustable collars can be used to replace all sizes of singles. Used to say "Small, Medium, Large:, b/c they expected soft collars to be used. Or the flesh colored foam, "philly" collars. Now, you only need 3 Adjustable; and a pediatric adjustable. The other stuff; just needs to be fixed. If it isn't safe, it shouldn't be on the road. That includes securing objects, they check that now, and they will have to be secured for Act 09. Suction.. If it's a plastic container, you might be okay. Well, it'd have to be, b/c a Rico wouldn't work if it wasn't secured b/c the lid wouldn't seal. Call the state, don't use your name. Be honest and very giving of info.

[tamaith]

thank you for your help.yes i don't wont to give my name or cert # ( anything that would come back to me) i understand private bls transporting owners are doing it to make money ( its a biz) but when the equipment is not working or shortage of the equipment the owners are putting a huge risk of danger to the crew and the pt's. the crew may loose his/her cert not the owners most of the owners are not even emt's . so they pay a fine or company goes under the following wk they apply under a new name. sorry for the rant. it just pisses me off sometimes that there are owners would rather save maybe 5,000 so to speak a year than put it back into the company .

just so we are on the same page, when you say only 1 size of each o2 delivery size is required you mean 1 main o2 and 1 port . if thats the case half the time the main is empty partially because of staff bieng to lazy to change ( which is blows me away) but also i have visited that base and the main o2 is empty on the ambulance because there are no full ones available.

one more thing while its still fresh in my thoughts. hot fills. is it illegal or just dumb to fill the port without placing the empty port while filling up in a trash can with cold water? i ve seen some ppl fill the port o2 using the cascade system without placing the empty in some sort of barrier in case it explodes. what is the proper way to fill a port ? how long should it take in general? i ve seen companies fill it 2 min and place in the ready to use bin.

[stcommodore]

I'm a medic in PA for the reference. You gotta expect a certin degree of "problems" when you work for these fly by night transport companies. Even in the big city we have supply and apparatus issues that comes with trucks that average 8,000 calls a year and roughly 20,000 miles on the road each year. There are better ways to go about bringing change then calling the state, make sure you exaust all these options up to and including getting a different job before you call the state. Remeber EMS in any area is a small family and everyone knows everyone so the actions you do now could effect your career in the future.

[Chief1C]

I dunno what they'd go into, our trans-filler is only about a foot long. I have never seen or heard of putting the portable cylinder in a can of cold water while filling it. Though, I've never had a portable cylinder get too hot that I worried about it exploding. We put our SCBA cylinders into steel tubes to fill them.

[tamaith]

ok. yeah they don't use anything to fill the port. place it on the ground, fill , next..... the owner of the company has been notified by the staff about the equipment but doesnt' really do anything. so i think the staff is tired and thinks maybe if the company would get a visit then maybe the problem would get fixed.

[Richard B the EMT]

There was a company that I used to work for, emphasis USED to work for, that tried sending units out on the road, missing state required equipment. They got nailed by the State DoH for attempting to pass the equipment from an inspected ambulance to the next going in for their inspection. The DoH ordered them to shut down for a day, so all the ambulances could be in the building at the same time, and not sent to the streets until checked out. They nailed a bunch of the ambulances for non-compliance, and a few were condemned as unsafe for use, and needed to be replaced (age, rotted floors, other stuff).

As the crews forced to either work or be laid off for using the unequipped trucks also got fined, I was so glad I wasn't there anymore (No, I was not the one dropped the dime to the DoH, but I should have been!)