No. Good way to get stuck with their heroin needle.

Having watched this thread, I have come to a conclusion.....


Got a pre-existing medical condition that EMS might need to know about? Stop trying to re-invent the wheel and get the Med-Alert jewelry.

Keep a paper ID information card in one's wallet with all the info the fine EMS folks have listed here.

Maybe keep a USB drive with the entire medical history on your person, but DO NOT expect someone to plug it into the laptop on the bus in the field.

If you don't want to comply with those simple rules, hope your EMS crew is omniscient or deal with the consequences to you own health.

Hi Andy,

Thank you for the kind words , I always try to act professionally and do whatever is in the best interest of the patient (I also think it is critical to treat family members of the patient with the same respect). I became an EMT-A in 1975 (EMT-A doesn’t even exist any more) and an ALS provider in 1994, so I have been around and witnessed both good and poor patient interaction. I had many excellent instructors over the years and the best ones always stressed the following motto: Be Nice, Always Do the Right Thing, Always do what is Best for the Patient, and when you make a mistake, tell someone .

Unfortunately you will need to look for another provider , as is highly likely I will be relinquishing my Paramedic license (EMT-P) next year and downgrade to an EMT-B. The increasing recertification requirements in not only EMS, but on the Fire/Rescue side is forcing me to make some hard choices, but feel the time has come to relinquish my license. Since our team in involved in several technical rescue disciplines, maintaining proficiency in each while balancing work and family has become too much of challenge to do it all. Our Technical Rescue Team membership is 100% volunteer and since our community has gone from 100% volunteer ALS providers to 99% career ALS providers, the need to maintain my Paramedic license is not critical.

Pete

Generally, no, we don't dig in pockets unless you're unconscious or dead and there's nobody around. This is mostly to notify family. I don't recall ever looking for any medical info.

And we move another step closer to the end of volunteer emergency services in the USA. Pete, you're out for the same reasons I'm out. One of the long list of things that pushed me out the door was a class that I had to take - again - for "Rural Water Supply Operations". In 50 years, rural water supply has been the same. Bring Water to the Fire in Tankers. There's about 5 valid ways to pull from a water supply (pond, river, lake, etc.) and move that water to another place and unload it and spray it on a fire. Really, there's almost nothing new in the basic operational principals, and even so-called Big Innovation (like Vacuum tankers) are still loading water at point A and moving it and dumping it at point B. So why do I need another 40 hour class in this when I've taken Rural Water Supply 3 times before?

Then there's all the medical training, the auto extrication updates, the NIMS 64,354 level of training. The fire service is a dumping ground of regulations to prevent All Bad Things That We Wish Would Not Happen.

I miss helping people. I don't miss 400 hours a year spent in training.

Yep. We were supposed to be a combined, dual EMS/Fire department, built on a county-wide consolidation of the county EMS agency (paid) and the local VFDs. But our thankfully recently fired management managed to drive off essentially all the volunteers during the merger. We are running some one-person engines now as a paid department, and really need volunteers. But we are having a hard time recruiting new ones. After decades in EMS, I went through the fire academy at age 47. What fun!

Ugh. I did IFSEC national firefighter certification at age 38 and it was brutal. I'm almost 45 now, and I'd have a hard time with it if I didn't have 4 days a week steady training.

The thing that makes me worry is as I drive near my home on rain-slicked roads covered with leaves I realize that the most qualified person for an auto extrication within 12 miles of where I'm driving is ME. They are having more and more 911 runs scratch. In 2007, when I was a member, it was about 15 scratched calls. In 2008, it was 20. I've heard - anecdotally, but I have no reason to doubt the source - that there were 25 incidents this year where the station was dispatched and nobody was around to respond.

Now, between 4 stations there is about $20,000,000 worth of apparatus and equipment sitting in the barn - and nobody to drive/ride/respond. A one-person crew would be a step up.

You want to talk about big taxes, consider the cost for all-hazards response in rural areas if you needed a staff of 12 to 16 to run under 300 calls a year.

If you can figure out a way to scrounge up some volunteers, please let me know!

You may recall that I joined my local volunteer ambulance service about a year ago. I was an EMT in college (just had my 15h reunion) and I have been working my way through the recertification class over teh last six months. It's been a bear.

That said, at age 37 I am without a doubt one of the "young guys" around the station. I can think of one member who regularly shows up who is younger than me. While I like the idea that I'll probably be a chief in this department someday (who else is there?), this does not bode well for the future of volunteer EMS response a decade from now.

We're starting a major recruitment drive, but have not been able to come up with any really creative ideas on how to get people to vounteer.

If any other volunteer responders want to have a longer discussion of this issue, I'd love to join in.

Edit: BTW, I was approached this weekend by a retired FDNY firefighter asking me why we didn't do fire suppression so that his taxes could be lower. How are we supposed to safely staff an engine when we can barely staff an ambulance?!? I tried to recruit him, but he's in his 60's and felt that he "did his time" in The City.

Jesselp

Why don't we start a new thread over in Campfire.

Pete

To get back to the original thought of the thread, I ordered and recieved my new RoadID . I got the wrist elite this time, its a made of gel like the ubiquitous wrist bracelets and I choice the color orange.

I have wore the red ankle ID for years and its been great. Because I want to wear something more often than training and because I wear long pants when hiking, I wanted a wrist set up that wouldn't be hidden under pants.