FDNY Gets Lost

[tskstorm]

Mistakes happen. Vanity addresses- buildings with special numbering that honor the company or builder can be confusing. New subdivisions spring up and are not listed on any map. Missing signs, poor lighting, bad or incomplete info from callers, 3rd party calls- there are a million reasons why things like this can happen.

As was mentioned, the best way to avoid these problems is to be familiar with your area. Do REGULAR area familiarization- keep an eye on new developments, buildings, new streets, road closings, etc. It's as much a part of your job as your medical knowledge- you can't help someone unless you reach them in a timely fashion.

For those of us old timers who started long before GPS, ONSTAR, and AVL's, we needed to learn where hospitals were at, nursing homes, the numbering system of the city, major landmarks and tourist attractions. Then, when you were assigned an area you needed to learn details specific to your district- dead ends, one way streets, cul de sacs, new buildings, alternate routes in case of road closures. Depending on your system- if you live in a large area, you can also easily travel great distances when call volume is high, so the more you learn, the better off you will be. It takes time, effort, and experience (just as with the patient care aspect of your job) is critical to being an effective, PROFESSIONAL provider.

Absolutely. I find some of the best ways to learn is to just drive around when not on a call, or to drive too the calls, under directions of your partner not a GPS you blindly follow but something that still requires thinking. I don't advise driving with a patient on board if you're unfamiliar with the area! I know when I first started I took a road map one night, and memorized the names of about 45 streets in order as they ran across the major avenues. This neighborhood had a tendency to rip street signs down to slow emergency responders to the fights/stabbings/shootings.

[HERBIE1]

Absolutely. I find some of the best ways to learn is to just drive around when not on a call, or to drive too the calls, under directions of your partner not a GPS you blindly follow but something that still requires thinking. I don't advise driving with a patient on board if you're unfamiliar with the area! I know when I first started I took a road map one night, and memorized the names of about 45 streets in order as they ran across the major avenues. This neighborhood had a tendency to rip street signs down to slow emergency responders to the fights/stabbings/shootings.

You are right- there is no substitute for feet(or wheels) on the pavement- figuring out best routes, ingress and egress points in large complexes, best doors, elevators, parking issues, etc. It is also essential to know your area when requesting additional resources, assigning hospitals in an MVI or mass casualty situation.

Here's an example of what happens when you become too dependent on technology. About 15 years ago, we went to a computer aided dispatch system, coupled with triage dispatch protocols. Before we went hi-tech, the dispatchers knew the city like the back of their hand. Response districts, landmarks, and they even knew which crews could be counted on to come up early for runs if things were getting crazy. A couple years ago, our disptach system went down for about 8 hrs and everything needed to be dispatched manually. Dispatchers needed to keep track of calls, crews, locations, etc. The vast majority of the dispatchers now were hired AFTER the automated system was implemented, and they had NO CLUE what to do. Within about 30 minutes, the city was up for grabs- crews crossing each other, passing one call enroute to another, duplication of responses, etc. Dispatch would ask a crew's location, but when they got an answer, they had no idea what it meant, or how far away they were to an incident. Response times soared, and luckily, to my knowledge, no untoward outcomes or lawsuits occurred, but it was a major cluster f**k. The old timers(now supervisors) had to step in and take over because they were the only ones who knew the city and what they were doing. These days, our dispatchers are like monkeys- a couple keystrokes and everything is handled for them. There really is no skill involved- responses are generated with the touch of a button.

[HellsBells]

I think there are distinct advantages and disadvantages to GPS.

For the past 3 years I've worked in a city of a million where we use GPS. In that time, I can think of about 3 occasions where it has gone down. The system is very reliable and very precise. I agree that area familiarization is a great advantage to crews, its not always possible in larger urban areas. Our system has become increasingly busy, and often we travel out of our zone to cover far flung parts of the city. I personally have a good sense of all the major routes and roadways in the city, but it would be impossible to have an intimate knowledge of all the smaller neighbourhoods within the city.

Wirh respect to the Fire Dept., they typically do not leave their service area, so there is no excuse for them not to be familiar with the area. However, it comes as quite a suprise to me that FDNY doesn't use GPS in their ambulances, particularly because they are facing much larger call volumes than my city, for instance.

[JPINFV]

I have gone through tom tom, garmin, and others, in dash and portable, ranging from $200 to $1000. I have the same problems with them all. So price has nothing to do with it. Knowing your area, means out of 1000, calls you need the map for 1 or less of those jobs. I have seen too many new providers come in and use gps to every call, including down the block from the hospital, and around the corner from our posting location.

So... how many 100's of square miles of packed suburbia should I know when the main streets don't have any sort of systematic naming system (i.e. 1st St. 2nd St, etc)? Sorry, but the entire "know your area" breaks down when your company takes calls over a large area and you don't know what part of that coverage area you'll be in until dispatch gives you your first post or call of the day.

[Don1977]

I don't think GPS is the best also, a Pittsbugh paramedic was showing me a call address and the "cross streets" on the MDT map they have last saturday which is based off of GPS, the address he was given was actually 2 blocks from where the"blip" on the map showed it and the one cross street was 5 miles away! It was nowhere near the street! The good thing is this was his district and he knew where to go, I made the comment to pull out the good ole map book!

This is not the first time this has happened to the city. We have had trucks get lost at work taking patients to and from places because the GPS was way off.

I'll use good ole Rand McNally anyday!

[tskstorm]

So... how many 100's of square miles of packed suburbia should I know

As many as you can, which is the entire point.

[JPINFV]

As many as you can, which is the entire point.

Quick... memorize as much as you can in this region. Borders of the area where calls are being taken is the 710 freeway to the west, San Clemente to the South, and the North-West to South East mountain area (basically that swath at the top that isn't built). Now I'm not going to tell you whether I'm going to put your unit in Long Beach, Whittier, Anaheim, or San Clemete (or anywhere else in this area). Additionally, while you may start off in one part in the morning, you might end up in an entirely different area in the afternoon. Oh, and since this area is memorizable, you can't have any maps or GPS (to be fair, I prefer maps over GPA anyways).

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=33.67864,-117.869568&spn=0.571398,1.234589&t=h&z=10

Personally, I'd settle for the hospitals (around 40 all in all), major facilities (SNFs, etc), and the freeway system.

Edited May 11, 2010 by JPINFV

[HERBIE1]

So... how many 100's of square miles of packed suburbia should I know when the main streets don't have any sort of systematic naming system (i.e. 1st St. 2nd St, etc)? Sorry, but the entire "know your area" breaks down when your company takes calls over a large area and you don't know what part of that coverage area you'll be in until dispatch gives you your first post or call of the day.

Obviously if your response area includes multiple cities/towns/counties, then knowing each grid system(if they have one), local eccentricities, hot spots, buildings, etc will be impossible. The point is, you need to know the areas you work in most often.

Every day try to learn something new about your area- a new street, a new access road, a better route to get to a hard to find area, etc. Taking an extended period of time to arrive at a call because you got lost makes you look silly and puts your patient in danger. Many times dispatch has a large map or computer display even if your apparatus does not. ASK them if you are unsure of where you are going. It's a helluva lot better than driving in circles because you can't find an address. Have dispatch check with the caller if possible to see if they have special access instructions on locations that are unfamilar or hard to reach.

[stcommodore]

They think they can do it all, with a declining budget at that! The last few warm days we were averaging 4200 calls a day, Even in a city with 250+ ambulances, that's still a lot of calls per unit! It is actually overwhelming, too often we hear on the radio, "any units available in the borough I have 5 priority assignments holding, and a total of 12 holding" Had there been more units available this problem would not have occurred.

Or our equivlant engine company/first responders being dispatched on "medical assignments" in otherwards there are no suquads avail. It's not unheard of for this to happen at night when we work with nearl half the squads they have in the day. But we have run out of squads on multiple occasions during the day shift. My first call last night was easily 10-12 miles from my station, so knowing your "local" is impossible when your local is "river to river and airport to airport" aka the entire city.

[Richard B the EMT]

FDNY and FDNY EMS have GPS, just it doesn't tell crews where the call is and how to get there. The GPS shows the EMD and the Fire dispatchers where the nearest unit to the reported address is, so they can be assigned. It is a part of the Computer Assisted Dispatch system we use.

Word I heard is, the next generation of Communications Radio/CAD we get is supposed to have a turn by turn directions capability, but it is going to be a while, as due to budget cuts, 20 fire apparatus are either going to be shut down from 1800 to 0600 hours nightly, or closed down, period.

By the way, I know my territory fairly well, but if I leave my district to go to the Trauma Center, I can get "snagged" in the Trauma Center's district to handle an assignment. The GPS tells the EMD I am the closest unit, which at that moment, I might be. I freely admit I don't know that territory well at all.

Maps are assigned to all FDNY apparatus. The one assigned to my ambulance keeps disappearing, so I carry a personal one, never more than 2 years old. Call it a cost of doing business, for tax purposes.

There is a lot of new home construction going on in my "hood", and I hope the mapmakers are keeping up with the new street names being installed with the new dwellings. I am also aware that some of the mapmakers have put nonexistent streets onto their maps, under the theory that if the street shows up in a competitor's map, they can sue for plagiarism.