Posted on 04/04/2015 12:40:46 PM PDT by Dallas59
Even in the private sector, this lunacy prevails. For example, I'm not allowed to send emails to my hourly employees after working hours because it would constitute "overtime" for them to read them. So if I compose emails after hours, I have to set them up to go out for delivery at 9 the next morning.
Yes, my company was sued for this in a class action. All those poor employees getting "stressed out" by seeing emails from their boss after hours.
And you must be a perpetually offended paramedic!
“The paramedics main function is rendering rudimentary first aid”
Really....rudimentary? The one phrase shows you are just talking out your ass. Probably a chest thumping fireman.
Said it before and I’ll say it again...keep putting the wet stuff on the red stuff and thumping your chest...I’ll save more lives in a month than tHan you will in your whole career.
Now back to your recliner...Jerry Springer is on!
I knew it! You are a paramedic.
Nothing wrong with that of course but I do think you are too quick to take offense. Maybe rudimentary was a poor choice of words but what I meant by that was that the firefighters add so much more to the “bag of tricks” involving in the saving of lives. So having them on hand is very beneficial for the paramedics.
Thanks for what you do.
There’s a fairly complicated calculus involved. The number and location of fire stations affects response time to fire calls, so you can’t get a reduction there to offset the cost of hiring paramedics to handle medic calls. You’d still have the same number of firefighters, but they’d be sitting around waiting for fire calls. Bottom line, in most cities, the cheapest way to provide the service without compromising fire suppression is to have the firefighters do both functions.
Actually transporting patients (i.e. ambulances) is a different issue, and many communities contract with private ambulance companies to perform that service.
You're absolutely right but we'll leave your comment for another thread. This one is about these fire fighters..............
My father-in-law was a chief.
They take a truck and their gear so that they can bug out directly from the grocery if they get a call.
Taking a car, going back to the hall, getting their gear would take time and cost lives...so much for “tax money.”
He’s got the personality for the job.
Paramedics offer far more than “rudimentary first aid.” You demean the entire profession with that remark.
How does a fireman respond from his private car to a call? He needs to be with his crew at all times.
Yes, it’s better to have them around and not need them than to need them and not have them around.
In many cities, there are more fire stations than ambulance stations. Initial treatment is therefore done by a firefighter/paramedic on the engine. The patient is then turned over to the ambulance crew for transport. Paramedic care is far more than rudimentary: they administer medication and fluids, read cardiac monitors, administer electroshock, etc. Their care is coordinated by a local hospital base station by radio. The goal is to get the patient stabile prior to transporting. The days of firefighters just being EMTs are pretty much over. It’s hard to get hired as a firefighter without a paramedic card.
As you mentioned, the extrication gear on the engine can also come into play, as does the personnel. A full cardiac arrest with CPR in progress make require three or more medics, as does a situation where you’re hauling somebody down a flight of stairs.
So, chances are good the truck will get there before the ambulance, you may need the staffing, and if one of them gets in an accident, the other will still get to the patient.
There’s nothing rudimentary in the skill set today’s medics are expected to mnage. From an increased pharmacopeia to more complex treatments it will not be long until being a paramedic will require a 4 year degree.
Firefighting, OTOH, is at a bit of a crossroads. Budget weary governments are looking at what Firefighters do, and how much they cost. This is the only reason many fire departments have acquired EMS,to maintain heir budgets. Problem is, EMS is considered the redheaded step child of the fire service...looked down upon and minimized in both attitudes and budget. EMS typically does 75% of the call volume in a fire deprtment, yet gets less than 15% of the budget.
Firefighters are necessary...no urban area can exist without a dedicated force...but that force can and should do more than wait for the next fire. Either they can explore and embrace those changes wilingly, or they can have them forced upon them.
It might make sense to combine the firefighters and paramedics into one department as skills overlap in many areas. Obviously we would still want to still send a fire truck with the ambulance in medical situations for reasons discussed above. Then you would need specialization between firefighters and the EMTs but they would complement each other in most situations.
Most on-call volunteers carry bunker gear in their cars. As long as the engine’s on scene when they get there, they’re good to go.
Are you the “out of line” police? You must be a busy Barney.
I’m in Southern California, where we have just about every imaginable permutation of emergency medical care. I’m pretty fond of the dual function firefighter/paramedic concept. When a city reaches a size where every station has a staffed paramedic ambulance, I don’t mind them running Basic Life Support calls alone.
A lot of City fire departments are fighting less fires because the Fire Codes are so strict. However, the country-side Volunteer Fire Departments are doing a lot of firefighting because homes out in the country aren’t subject to as strict Fire codes, plus the occasional grassfire.
We respond to 80-90% medical calls. Normally there is 3 on the truck and 2 on the ambulance.
Two people cannot run a “bad call” effectively. Many times, the patient is wedged between the commode and the wall in a 4’ square bathroom or the wall and the bed. First you have to drag them out to somewhere to work them. This poses a problem when they weigh 300lbs.
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