Posted on 03/06/2016 1:42:20 PM PST by NYFreeper
Two Virginia volunteer firefighters were suspended for transporting an 18-month-old girl to the hospital in a fire engine last Saturday, ultimately saving her life.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
When it comes to medicine stick to your day job Yes most seizures are not life threatening but no most kids do not have them The post ictal state is not due to exhaustion but is a neurologic sequela of the seizure
However seizures can also be due to a head injury, a toxic ingestion, a brain tumor, meningitis, or lack of oxygen to the brain to name a few In that situation they are very much life threatening. A qualified medical professional needs to sort it out ASAP. In addition if the individual has several seizures in a row the condition is called status epilepticus and is very life threatening if not broken
Yeah, I get that the firefighters probably violated some protocols and they probably need to be administratively reprimanded in some way or receive some remedial training, but suspending them seems way over the top. From what I get from the article, if they didn’t do what they did, the girl would have died. It just the general lack of common sense in today’s government is what really irks me.
Listen. Let me say this as clearly and plainly as I possibly can. I’m a volunteer firefighter. I love the fire service. I love every aspect of the fire service. I have a lot of fire service training and a lot of time in the service. I’ve served as a line officer and as an executive officer and currently I’m an executive officer in my county firemen’s association and my local firemen’s relief association.
I’m also a volunteer EMT. I have worked part time with my regional EMS council for over 5 years. This in addition to my regular job. I know a few things about Fire and EMS. I don’t know everything but I do know a few things. I certainly know more than you do. You and Mom MD.
You are intitled to your opinions. We all are. But first of all from what I have read in the linked story the firefighters didn’t save this kids life. And second of all they went way beyond their scope of practice. It may make you feel good to be critical but those firefighters should have known better and getting suspended is nothing they could have been removed from the fire service all together.
Guys are always getting suspended it’s not that big a deal and we are men (even the women in the service). We deal with it like men. When you call the mayor to complain about the guys with their blue lights driving 2 MPH over the speed limit because you don’t want to pull over and let them pass you they usually get suspended. It’s not that big a deal.
Oh and one other thing. I’m not fat. I’m very certain that I’m skinnier than you. But still, have a nice day. And while you having a nice day, go ahead and join your local Fire or EMS or Rescue organization. They need big thinkers and doers.
Oooh. Big words. Now I’m impressed
Others in more recent times have not been as fortunate though. Barney will pull them over and despite the obvious urgent need such as bleeding to death would make the persons wait for an ambulance with the hospital literally only blocks away. Our nation is loosing it's common sense.
I live out in a rural area. The ambulance HQ for years was about 12 miles out on rural roads "IF" the one zoned for our area wasn't tied up on another call. Now it's staged about 8 miles out same roads. If it's busy the next close one could be up to 20 out. The hospital with me driving my vehicle is 15 minutes away on mainly good highway and interstate. 20 minutes would put me at a Level One if needed. In the near 30 years we were married I think I called an ambulance but once. The other times I rushed her in myself because it was faster and yes I was trained and qualified to make the assessments.
By this new prevailing logic a Rescue Squad rescuing persons in a flash flood would only be allowed to carry the number of rescued in their boat they had life jackets for.
The firefighters put saving life over liability. The insurers should cover life and death transports in any vehicle same as an private policy holder and liability medically fall under Samaritan Laws as far as any medical liability goes in doing so.
My area is VFD covered. They send out a SUV for medical calls though & not the truck. They usually beat the ambulance by 5-10 minutes. I know that because I called them several times for my dad and once for my mom due to falls at home.
We have lost all common sense now.
Thirty five years ago I lived about 20 minutes from Ft Bragg. A friend, also military dependent, came flying into my yard with her son, choking. We couldn’t dislodge whatever it was, I put both in my car, headed to Ft Bragg hospital, and contacted the MP’s on CB13.
They contacted the Highway Patrol who came screaming up, passed me and waved me to follow. Sirens all the way to the hospital with MP’s holding traffic at the lights and as soon as I entered emergency doctors running out. They had contacted the hospital for me also.
Less than 10 minutes door to door.
No one ever suggested I should have waited for an ambulance or waited for help. We didn’t used to be a nation of wimps and lawyers.
OK. nice story. What the parents should have done is taken the kid to the ED themselves just like you did.
I ran QRS (Quick Response Service) for years so I know all about getting on scene before a BLS or ALS truck. This has nothing to do with what happened here. The only time you put a civilian in a fire truck to transport to a ED is when you have command approval to do so, which is like almost never. And if you think that drivers get out of the way of fire trucks with lights flashing then you are crazy. And even so when EMS proposed to take over and they declined this is very poor judgement. Even if they were in the parking lot of the hospital they should have yeilded on this.
An ambulance when it’s on the way to the ED, they call the receiving hostital to let them know what they are bring in and to give the vitals and so forth. So the ED probably had no idea what was coming and it doesn’t seem like the FFs had taken any vitals or anything. This is not TV had it been a real emergency they might have been advised by the command Doctor to go elseware or to administer a certain meds. But they were freelancing so couldn’t do any of that.
Again, from what I read in the story the kid was not having a life threatning event. The Fire Service is as close to the military as you can get we have to have disclipline and sorry these guys messed up. If you want to get pissed off at something get pissed at the people who call 911 for a nosebleed. That is probably why the EMS unit was so far out, taking some loser to the ED for a hangnail.
Let it go.
Yes, when johny was bitten by a rattlesnake.
I would almost bet the county wasn’t covered with enough ambulances, the ones they had were on calls, and after the truck headed for the hospital one was found {cleared} from another call. I’ve seen one company take nearly 25 minutes in a city to get one free’d up to transport one of our patients to the ER.
Most cops I know in my area would do the same thing. Some rare exceptions see it as a place to show everyone their authority. Those situations usually have bad outcomes for the one needing helped.
It was a communications issue. The Firemen {Captain is also a DC Fireman}. They did the right thing for what information they were given upon two request for ambulance ETA and location. Here is a followup. The child was a bit more serious than the first page shows http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/101039391-story He had what he thought was a life or death situation and acted on it. Maybe he needs to be his county’s Emergency Services Director.
She was only a civilian. She was not some official’s daughter or granddaughter. Let her die who cares? And what difference does it make?
Lighten up Francis, I never said you were fat.
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