So Important You Know the Difference between an EMT an EMT Advanced and a Paramedic

Trying to educate people,....

Please read this, it's what I've been saying from another view.
UNDERSTAND (BUT ARE USUALLY AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT)…

It's important everyone understand the difference between an EMT Basic, an EMT Advanced, and a paramedic.

There's a big difference between what a Basic EMT and an Advanced EMT can do in the field, a paramedic can do a few more procedures than an Advanced EMT, but the Advanced EMT can do most life saving procedures that can save a life right now.

According to the National EMS Scope of Practice Model.
An EMT Basic can do basic first aid and an Automatic External Defibrillator (anyone with CPR training) use an oral or nasal airway, but can't secure your airway to prevent aspiration of vomit and severe complications.

An EMT Basic can use an automatic or bag to assist ventilation. They can give you your own medicine, or over-the-counter medication with appropriate medical supervision.

An EMT Basic can give a Diabetic glucose (sugar) and someone having a heart attack an aspirin, and in case of a nerve gas attack they can give you atropine. They can also use anti-shock pants to split a lower limb.

EMT Advanced
An EMT Advanced can do all the above plus....
Advanced airway that can secure your airway.
Use suction on patients already with ET Tube
Insert IVs
Do bone marrow injections in kids
IV fluid therapy Medication Route or Trauma
Nitroglycerin for chest pain
Epinephrine for anaphylaxis Bee String Etc
Glucose for Diabetic
IV D50 for Diabetic
Administer breathing treatments asthma COPD
Narcan for opioid overdose
Nitrous oxide for pain

A Paramedic can do all the above plus.....
A paramedic can secure your airway with an ET Tube
Perform a cricothyrotomy if your skull is crushed can open your throat
Put a needle in your chest if lung collapsed
Use nasogastric tube to let air from stomach
Insert bone marrow cannula
Access large veins for IV Deep Veins Difficult in the Field
IV medications and drips
Infusion of blood or blood products

The few things a paramedic can do that an EMT Advanced can't, are not worth the additional cost and training for the majority of our EMS needs.

A paramedics skill isn't in what equipment or drugs they carry. A paramedics skill is in their ability to do rapid patient assessment, but get it right.

Back in the day, and in this case I mean not that long after Jesus day. Physicians were teachers, that sharing of knowledge was part of being a paramedic when I was trained.

When I took my paramedic oath, it said "I shall also share my medical knowledge with those who may benefit from what I have learned. I will serve unselfishly in order to help make a better world for all mankind" I take that oath seriously.

Sadly that section was replaced with a be nice on social media section.

In my opinion anyone who has been a paid EMT for more than 2 years without advancing to EMT Advanced or paramedic, has no interest in emergency medicine, and needs to move up or move on, we need more than Basic EMT's.

Why would someone NOT want to move up to EMT Advanced or Paramedic? Because they don't want to provide better patient care, they didn't want more money? Why?

EMS Is a Healthcare Career, Not a Fire Department Career

In case someone forgot the “M” in EMS, it stands for medical. EMTs and paramedics are technically classified as allied health professionals, which is a whole different field of endeavor than firefighting. Our true brethren are respiratory therapists, nurses, physicians’ assistants and the like. This means we operate in conjunction with other healthcare agencies, be they doctors’ offices, clinics, hospitals or health departments.

We need to start somewhere, and CPR instructors and a CERT team would be a good start to a better EMS system.

Do your homework look up Community Paramedicine its what we need to work towards.

Where To Go From Here

Where to go from here.... The lake Mohave Ranchos Fire District functioned pretty well for some 35 years. When the economy crashed many agencies had problems. It was a combination of factors that caused the problems.

There is some money in the budget, unused money for grants, two unfilled positions and $165,000 for another firefighter shift in Meadview that's planned.

There's the federal money for the land we cover, and half of Meadview isn't in the fire district, that need to be addressed.

You can't wear two hats, we need to separate fire service from EMS. The vast majority of calls to the LMRFD, 70% are medical calls.

We need volunteer EMT paramedics on the ambulance, and our paid firefighters EMTs or EMT Advanced  as support.

Forcing a firefighter to become a paramedic, is like forcing a construction worker to become nurses aid. Even if you manage to get it accomplished, it won't work well, or be very pretty.

Please Read the Article but also the comments, see what paramedics think about being cross trained.
Thoughts on Forced Fire EMS Cross Training

Okay it's hard to find firefighters here, but we don't need firefighters, we need EMT's. By requiring the EMT's on the ambulance to be firefighters, we pretty much limit our volunteer pool to men.

Lets face it, not many women want to be firefighters. The vast majority of firefighters are men, with less than 4% in the United States being women.

Medicine on the other hand is made up primarily of women, nurses, physicians, OR techs. According to the Journal of Emergency Medical Services women make up about 50% of today's EMS services.

So by requiring the ambulance EMT's to be firefighters we severely limit our volunteer pool. We may have a wealth of experienced women with a medical backgrounds out there who have no interest in being a firefighter. We'll never know unless we ask.

I would change the volunteer EMT policy allowing volunteers from the 2200 square mile ambulance CON, rather than the 144 sm fire district. This would not only give us more volunteers to draw from, but cover the ambulance area better with volunteers spread out.

I would work toward Arizona's new Paramedicine Program where paramedics can do more primary care. By treating chronic conditions at home, checking on surgery patients and changing bandages before the infections and ambulance ride.

It's new, and legislation needs changed so paramedics can bill Medicare and insurance.

I know it's about money, but if we don't put lives first, it will cost us more in human lives, and lawsuits if we continue to have one firefighter show up at fires and serious vehicle accidents.

Please read Why this is so important to me

Unless we train and hire locals who know Dolan Springs and Meadview, we will always be looking for people, because they will come get experience and go on to more calls and more money.

I just believe the people deserve better care.

Jay

It's About Money I Get That.... But the Real Bottom Line is Do People Feel Safe

It's About Money I Get That.... But the Real Bottom Line is Do People Feel Safe? With around 80% of calls for medical services, why require EMT's to be firefighters?

We all want Dolan Springs and Meadview to grow and prosper. One thing we need is for all those tourist who visit and spend money to feel safe.

Until a few weeks ago when people checked the LMRFD web page, it told them the LMRFD had 7 Advanced Life Support ambulances, 4 fire rescue vehicles and lots of paid and volunteer firefighter EMT's and paramedics.

Today it says the LMRFD has 2 ambulances, actually we only have one that's being used.

When someone planning on a visit to the Grand Canyon, especially those with medical problems or children, check on EMS in the area what will they find.

At the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, the NPS has 75 EMT's and paramedics protecting visitors, and River Medical has a full time ambulance in Ashfork.

When they check the West Rim, Dolan Springs, and Meadview and find there's only one ambulance covering the 100 miles from Hoover Dam to the West Rim. That's if it the ambulance isn't gone, or out of service because the firefighters are out on a fire.

With all that's going on in the world today, people are conscious of what law enforcement and emergency services are in the area they're traveling.

Where would you take your family? North Rim lots of NPS rangers, and 75 EMTs, or one part time ambulance?

It's about money, the money we spend to keep people safe, and the money tourist spend in our area.

Town Hall Meeting October 6th Please Attend

There will be a Gown Hall Meeting on October 6th at 6:00 PM in the Dolan Springs Community Council building.

Consolidation and other options will be discussed.

Please attend, this is very important.
We stand to end up with no representation on the fire board.

Lake Mohave Rancheros Fire District To Whom It May Concern,

Lake Mohave Rancheros Fire District
To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Rebecca Smith and I am a 10 year resident of Dolan Springs Arizona. Two of my sons are serving in the United States Military. My oldest son serves as a Navy SARS member, the other is a newly enlisted member of the Army. My sons believe in Democracy and the Democratic process and are willing to lay down their lives to ensure that you and I always have the ability to speak and act freely. We are free to do something or do nothing. We are free to criticize or to build up. We are free to act responsibly or to hand our responsibilities to someone else.
Regarding the plight of our Fire District;  yes, a board dropped the ball. Some of the same people who SERVED on that incompetent  board are now telling you to consolidate! No responsibility, just let someone else clean up the mess. Yes, some chiefs helped to bring us to insolvency, they are GONE!  We now have an opportunity to do it right. In spite of what you are hearing, we DO have the money and we ARE capable. We have new faces in town and these people bring fresh ideas and energy.  Some of these people are well educated and have served their communities in prior areas.  They can serve here just as well.
Consolidation has been the plan all along if you go back and read the minutes. The idea that we just had to get out of debt so we could 'decide' what we wanted to do was false. This decision can, and may be made by an outside board, and one man with the approval of our supervisors, none of whom live here. This is OUR community and it is time we start acting like it.  A decision made in this manner is a slap in the face of the Democratic process which my sons are willing to sacrifice their lives for.
 To the NACFD board members, are you willing to by-pass the Democratic process in order to take possession of this fire district?  If the decision is made in the aforementioned manner, that is exactly what you will be doing. It was stated in the August NACFD board meeting that consolidation had to be a unanimous vote in order to avoid an election because the fear is that the majority of your own community would not support the consolidation. How is this Democratic???
To those saying that we are trying to undermine the consolidation; after doing further research, we are blatantly and openly opposing the consolidation, not undermining it. We are not ashamed and do not need to hide and undermine this effort. We are more than happy to share our finding with all who will listen at a town hall meeting on October 6th at 6 o'clock p.m. at the Community Center in Dolan Springs.
To the community;  how dare ANY of us sit on our rumps and not participate in this process, thus rendering my sons efforts pointless!!! We must be anxiously engaged in the pursuit of bettering our communities and ensuring that we leave something worth having to our children. I am sick of hearing that we do not have anybody who is willing or capable to serve on a board. I am also tired of being told that procuring volunteer fire fighter/EMT's is next to impossible, or that we cannot staff our district without consolidating with Northern Arizona Consolidated Fire District. That is FALSE information. The only proof we have to show for the inaccuracy of these beliefs is if we all begin to step up and take on our responsibilities as community members. We can rebuild this town. Maybe our supervisors and some of our neighbors do not believe in us, but I do! Do you?

When Seconds Matter

This blog is about educating people about the rolls of fire service and EMS in rural areas. People need to understand firefighter safety, and what firefighters, EMT's, EMT Advanced, and paramedics can, and can't do.

Everyone tells me when people moved here they knew what we had. Not True, for over 2 years until August the LMRFD web page mislead people telling citizens and tourist the LMRFD had 7 ALS ambulances, 4 rescue vehicles and lots of firefighters.

Time, in some calls every second counts, the difference between 5 minutes and 30 seconds, and 6 minutes can mean the difference between life and death.

I was so disappointed in our EMS crew responding to a heart attack at 48 mph the other day. On a call 10 miles from the fire station the difference between 48 mph and 55 mph is 1 1/2 minutes. That 1 1/2 minutes could well be the difference between life and death.

Most EMS calls are routine calls were two ambulance attendants can handle the situation fine. But there are those calls were you need more people, that's when every second matters.

This is no time to realize that you need help, then call for assistance from firefighters to move or load a large patient, or do CPR in route the hospital.

Working in law enforcement and EMS I've seen a lot of people die because of something simple could have been done, and someone said no.

Some patients, especially those with serve trauma you know won't survive no matter what you do, are many times eerily calm. Sometimes even trying to calm you as you try to work faster, all the time knowing there's little chance they will survive, and you both know it.

The patients who are the most frightened are those who can't breathe. These patients are scared to death, and you can tell just looking at them.

They're usually sitting up in what's called the tripod position, trying to breathe, their eyes are open wide and when they look you, there's no need to ask how they're doing.

For the first patient all you can really do is stay close and be there, but the second patient you can help.

To make someone who's short of breath wait any longer than absolutely necessary, is wrong. Waiting 30 - 45 minutes is torture when someone close with oxygen or medication could ease the suffering.

Some medical emergencies do require rapid response, assessment, and treatment....
Below are a few........

Sudden Cardiac Arrest (different than a heart attack)
A sudden cardiac arrest is when your heart has an arrhythmia, or bad heart rhythm.

If your heart goes into Ventricular Fibrillation, or Ventricular Tachycardia, you have 6 minutes to have a paramedic apply a defibrillator, or a citizen apply an AED. After 6 minutes your chance of survival drop's to near zero.

Anaphylactic Shock
NOTE ARS 36-2226 Exempts good Samaritans from liability for giving Epinephrine Arizona Anyone can give Epi in Arizona

If you give kids birthday parties then you know a lot of kids have food allergies today, other's are allergic to bees, cats, or something.

A lot of parents carry an EpiPen that contains Epinephrine to reverse the allergic reaction. It's important an EMT be close to make sure mom gave the shot, and follow up with respiratory assistance and transport to the ER.

Mom's are mom and the last thing they would ever do is hurt their child. Some not wanting to hurt their little boy or girl, wait to use the EpiPen to see if they improve. Sometimes they wait too long, and it's too late, the lungs are too tight by the time they give the EpiPen.

Drug Overdoses
Many older people today take pain medications, please keep your medications locked up, and away from kids.

Overdoses, especially for opioid overdoses there's a wonder drug called Narcan or Naloxone. If you get there in time you can reverse the effects of opioids in seconds.

Not all overdoses are people abusing drugs, accidents happen, children get in to medication.

In the video below Narcan is given to an unresponsive patient with CPR in progress, you'll be amazed at how fast Narcan works.

Narcan Being Given Narcan


Trauma
Take aspirin for your heart? Warning... What protects your heart from clotting, also make's it difficult to stop bleeding in trauma.

Most trauma is not life threatening, some trauma is. If you have internal bleeding it can be life threatening. If it's serious internal bleeding the only thing that will save you is rapid transport and a surgeon.

The four firefighters we would have can't save your home, and in some cases with two firefighters can't save your life.

Meadview Meeting September 21st

Good turn out at the LMRFD fire board meeting today. I was disappointed there wasn't more support from Dolan Springs.

For those at the meeting who Ellen told this was a hate site, it's not. I try and provide accurate information, and apologize for her unprofessional conduct. We need to be able to agree to disagree without name calling.

Please if you're reading this for the first time, start at the beginning.

Someone said no volunteers have signed up in Dolan. I told them people can see the budget for training in 2015/2016 was zero, so why sign up with no money for training, and no scheduled training.


When asked if the Kingman Miner was correct that his budget dropped from 5 million dollars a year, to a little over 2 million a year.

Chief Moore said that wasn't correct, but didn't know what his own fire district budget was.

If you're new to this blog please read these important posts..

Why This is So Important to Me

Why Would Any Paramedic Move Here?

Fire Staffing is a Need, Not a Want

What You Need To Know About Two Man Response

These will give you an idea of some of the problems operating with no volunteers.

The fire district is 144 square miles, the ambulance CON is 2200 square miles. When someone in command sends OUR tax supported firefighters 50 miles out of the fire district for a sprained ankle, and your home burns down, or family member dies, how long before someone files a lawsuit?

Search for firefighter staffing lawsuits, and delayed response lawsuits. With one maybe two firefighters what's our legal and moral liability for people who die waiting for help?

I don't know, but it's something we need legal advice on. An Oregon Fire department was fined $50,000 for violating the two-in-two-out rule, getting firefighters and citizen killed.

The two in two out rule was called the most significant advance in firefighter safety in decades. But it takes 4 firefighters.

Jay

Good Business Decisions From NACFD? I Don't Think So!

If we consolidate will the NACFD make good business decisions for us? In a recent article in the Kingman Miner With Fire Trucks Relocated, Residents Worried About Coverage Chloride residents weren't happy with their consolidation with NACFD.

The article said the NACFD's budget went from 5 million a year, to a little over 2 million a year.

My question is, if the NACFD can operate 9 fire stations, an administration building, and lots of firefighters on a little over 2 million dollars a year, why can't we run 2 fire stations and a couple firefighters on over 1 million dollars a year? Doesn't make sense to me.

At the September community meeting Chief Moore said the NACFD doesn't want to just expand. So please, tell me how consolidating the NACFD with the Chloride fire district was a good business decision?

The Chloride fire district only pays $24,700 in fire tax to the NACFD each year. That's not $24,000,000 a year, that's only $24,000 a year.

That's enough for 1/2 a firefighter a day. So in my opinion, that wasn't a good business decision.

I'm tired of double talk answers. At a recent fire board meeting when I told Chief Moore that if Rosie's and the gas stations on US93 paid tax to the fire district at the same rate I do, they would pay $10,000 a year to LMRFD.

Chief Moore told me to be annexed into the fire district the property had to be contiguous, or touching our Fire district. That is true.

What the chief didn't tell me was that the businesses could pay a subscription service fee equal to the tax. He also didn't tell me that when he took over the LMRFD he stopped taking subscriptions. Another business decision I don't agree with.

The businesses are out of the fire district argument doesn't work. When Rosie's burned the LMRFD responded. Did we get paid on that fire?

MISTAKES In INFO FROM COMMUNITY MEETING
At the community meeting they handed out a lot of information. Two of the pages had calculation mistakes making it look better if their favor. I hope this was just a mistake.

On the page titled Personal Cost Analysis January 2015 with "Current" in the top right corner. They told us the cost for full time firefighters with John and Chief Moore was $802,795.71. That wasn't right, when you calculate it correctly the total is $859,327.00 not $802,795.71.

The other page titled LMRFD Projection W/Fire Chief Instead of JF NACFD with "Stand Alone" in top right corner. This page tells us the cost full time firefighters and a fire chief would be $852,786.52

So when you recalculate the employee cost with the fire chief it was actually $6541.00 less than the current figure.

Someone please tell me why the administrative assistant is paid $16.20 an hour, when a firefighter paramedic with 2000 hours of specialized training only gets $13.95 an hour?

Spending Other People's Money....
The information from the September community meeting also said the LMRFD needs a new ambulance.

It says the chief wants to spend $75,000 on a new truck chassis to put one of our old ambulance box on, so they wouldn't have to spend $150,000 on a new ambulance. In case you don't know a truck chassis is just the truck part with no box or bed installed. We put our old ambulance box on the new truck part.

Again I don't think that's a good business decision. There are many nice used ambulances for much less of OUR tax money. This is an example of a 2006 Ambulance with only 26000 miles for $20,000 Not $75,000 for a chassis, or $150,000 for a new one. It's your money, what would you do?

There's nothing wrong with the ambulance above, except how the Federal Government works. If you get $100,000 this year, and only spend $80,000, all you get next year is $80,000. So the feds get rewarded for not saving money, and someone gets good deals.

They also donated six of our AED's Automatic External Defibrillators to Kingman schools. They cost $1500 - $3000 new, they only had a $200 trade in, but it will cost a minimum of $9000 to replace them, and we needed them here.

We were broke and they give them away? Why didn't they sell them on eBay? Worse yet, there are no AED's I'm aware of in Dolan to save people from sudden cardiac arrest.

Consolidation is a bad idea in my opinion. The only acceptable way would be to separate the fire service from EMS.

We have no supervision, look how the firefighters treat people.

No matter what the Chief said, the NACFD wants to expand their district.

The LMRFD operated fine for 50 years until we stopped paying attention. Were paying attention now, and we need to keep control of our fire district.

We need local volunteers who care about the people, not arrogant firefighters who disrespect the citizens asking for help. If NACFD takes over how far do you think complaints about firefighters would go?

We paid off almost $1,000,000 over the last two and a half years, and we need to thank John and Chief Moore for their help.

The chief tells us he can't fill 2 positions he has open. I did a search for firefighter jobs in Dolan Springs, Mohave County nothing. Unless you search for "Lake Mohave Ranchos Fire District" job, you can't find the job openings.

The LMRFD survived for 50 years growing with the community needs. It wasn't just a bad board, but also a failing economy, and lack of citizen interest.

We're paying attention now, so please read the whole blog, give the other side a chance.

Jay

Fire Board Meeting September 21st

Please attend the LMRFD Fire Board Meeting 1:30 PM September 21st at the Meadview Civic Association 247 Meadview Blvd

This is very important, we need to ask some questions.

Jay

I'd rather have a hill billy in a pickup truck who cares, than a paid EMT in a fancy ambulance who doesn't

The more I thought about how the firefighters we pay $77000 to $88000 a year were treating people, the madder I got.

The attitude of the firefighters is unacceptable, the chief said they were mad. I'm sorry but if you work in public safety or emergency medicine you don't get the luxury to be mad, people's lives are at stake.

The LMRFD firefighters are paid more than anyone else in Dolan or Meadview. That's almost $90,000 a year to be a firefighter in Dolan Springs, and they're mad so they respond to heart attack call at 48 mph. Tell a lady to not call until her husband was dead when she tried to give them his DNR, Do Not Resuscitate orders.

On some calls it takes the firefighters 5 minutes and 25 seconds to leave the fire station after receiving a page. The NFPA standard for Turnout Time, the time it takes from when they receive the page for a call, to when they are in route is 60 seconds, NOT 5 minutes and 25 seconds.

At 7:20 or so in the morning the ambulance got a call at mp5 on US93. After turning North on US93 law enforcement on scene asked for an ETA. The EMT told the dispatcher their ETA was 45 minutes ot an hour. Dispatch told them to cancel, Lake Mead was going to respond.

What do you think? It was 7:30 in the morning and they get off at 8:00. They were 36 miles from the call at mile post 5 on US93, at 69 MPH it would take 33 minutes, at 75 MPH 28 minutes, and at 80 MPH only 28 minutes. Are they really that bad a judge of distance and time, or they didn't want to go on the call.

When the lady at the community meeting went to the fire station to give the EMT's a copy of her husbands DNR, and the EMT told her he didn't want it, to just wait until she was sure he was dead to call, that was just wrong.

An EMT should never do anything to violate the trust a patient has in them. To do so violates everything we are taught as EMT's and paramedics, and damages us all as professionals.

A DNR is a Do Not Resuscitate Order telling EMT's not to use life saving methods.

It DOES NOT mean for EMT's to do nothing. Many cancer patients suffer severe pain, and the EMT had better treat them like it was their dad dying of cancer. Make them comfortable, take care of the pain, and if they should code on the way to the hospital, follow the DNR and do nothing life saving. Just hold their hand and let them know someone was there who cared when they died. People arn't afraid to die, people are afraid to die in pain.

After thinking about how she was treated by the firefighter we pay over $77,000 a year, I got mad. If we consolidate we lose control. If NACFD takes over without volunteers for backup, we can't even fire one of these guys.

If I need an ambulance, I'd rather have a hill billy in a pickup truck who cares, than a paid EMT in a fancy ambulance who doesn't.

The mindset of a firefighter is that of public safety. Firefighters are required to be EMT's. The mindset of an EMT is that of a health care professional, and their primary concern is patient care.

On the worst day of my life, when I have to call 911, I don't want someone coming to help who had to take the test.

In the article Firefighters Don't Fight Fires it tells us over the past 35 years fires have decreased by more than 40%, while carrer firefighters increased by more than 40%. Medical calls on the other hand have gone up, so to justify all the money fire departments got into EMS.

Problem is firefighters don't want to be ambulance attendants. Read the Links to Firefighter EMS Links page look at the What Firefighters Think About Being Forced to Be EMT's or paramedic's.

Over 70% of calls for service to the LMRFD are medical calls. We need to seperate the ambulance from the firefighters, and use volunteer EMT's to run the ambulance. 

I don't know about you, but I don't want some EMT who drives up here from Lake Havasu to help the poor folk in Dolan Springs, then drives back home to Havasu.

Firefighters should be required to live where they can be at the fire station within 30 minutes in we need them. Not 100 miles away.

What We Need
What we need is a volunteer community paramedic program Rural Assistance Center Community-paramedicine program information.

Dolan Springs Meadview White Hills are in a special taxing district. We need to educate the people and those who agree draw a boundary and vote for an effective EMS system and a clinic.

Need Volunteers for CERT Citizens Emergency Response Team

I spoke to Mike Browning at Mohave County Emergency Services. He said there will be a training course for a local CERT Team, or Citizens Emergency Response Team coming up in January 2016.

It was apparently setup for Chloride, and training will be in Chloride or Kingman. If we get enough people, we may be able to talk them into having some classes here.

He needs around 20 people. So now is the time to show everyone there are good people in Dolan and Meadview who will volunteer.

The fire district needs to support a CERT team. I guess we'll see who wins the consolidation and if we really get volunteers.

Mohave County CERT Team Information

Contact Mike Browning

• Emergency Mgmt. Assistant Coordinator, Mike Browning, (928) 757-0930
• mike.browning@mohavecounty.us

Please if you contact Mike to volunteering let me know at leapspeaker@gmail.com

Thanks

Jay

Fire Board Meeting September 21st Meadview

Please attend the Fire Board Meeting September 21st @ 1:30PM at the Meadview Civic Center 247 E Meadview Blvd Meadview AZ

The course our fire service and ambulance takes will decide the fate of many of our friends and neighbors when they call 911.

Will you get a firefighter who's required to be an EMT, or an EMT who's a healthcare provider?

Here's an article on how some firefighters feel about being an EMT. In my opinion any firefighters who are required to be an EMT, and haven't advanced to paramedic in a short time, to provide better patient care, and make more money, have no interest in EMS, they're firefighters, not healthcare providers.

What Firefighters Think About Being Forced to Be EMT's or Paramedic from EMS World
Forced EMS is a killer. Just having to ride the meat wagon as an EMT is bad enough, but here in PG they changed the job title of Firefighter to Emergency Rescue Technician. Upon being hired you have to sign a contract saying you will acquire your Paramedic certification in a certain amount of time which is 3 years I think. This certification has to be obtained on your on time and expense. This has killed recruitment and retention here. They have already lowered the entrance exam score in order to try and attract more people. When they do get a class, by the time it’s time for them to have their Paramedic certification they are leaving for surrounding departments that don’t have this requirement. 
PG is now being used as a stepping stone. Get hired by PG, get trained and get some time on the job and head for greener pastures when it’s time to become a Paramedic.
EMS has always been a part of the service but it’s crazy to force people that want to be a firefighter to become Paramedics also. 
http://www.firehouse.com/forums/t35852

Article about Chloride's Consolation with NACFD

This is an article in the Kingman Miner about Chloride and how they feel about consolation with NACFD

With fire trucks relocated, Chloride residents worried about coverage

Good Turn Out at Community Meeting

There was a good turn out at the community meeting. The LMRFD provided everyone a thick packet of information, unfortunately the information I had asked for wasn't included.

 The good news is that a focus group being setup to gather facts to help us decide on what course to take.

The focus group will provide the information they gather at a Town Hall Meeting October 6th. I'll post more information on time and place soon.

Jay

Links To Firefighter EMS Links

Links to Firefighting and EMS Information.

It's about educating you about what firefighters and EMT's do, and how they do it. The more you know, the better decisions you can make about what direction our Fire district should take.

Check back as I will add more links.

Why We Need To Take the Fire Out of Fire Department

What Firefighters Think About Being Forced to Be EMT's or Paramedic from EMS World
Forced EMS is a killer. Just having to ride the meat wagon as an EMT is bad enough, but here in PG they changed the job title of Firefighter to Emergency Rescue Technician. Upon being hired you have to sign a contract saying you will acquire your Paramedic certification in a certain amount of time which is 3 years I think. This certification has to be obtained on your on time and expense. This has killed recruitment and retention here. They have already lowered the entrance exam score in order to try and attract more people. When they do get a class, by the time it’s time for them to have their Paramedic certification they are leaving for surrounding departments that don’t have this requirement. 
PG is now being used as a stepping stone. Get hired by PG, get trained and get some time on the job and head for greener pastures when it’s time to become a Paramedic.
EMS has always been a part of the service but it’s crazy to force people that want to be a firefighter to become Paramedics also. 
http://www.firehouse.com/forums/t35852

http://www.emsworld.com/article/10323946/the-redheaded-stepchild-does-ems-belong-in-the-fire-service

http://connect.jems.com/forum/topics/is-hospitalbased-ems-a-better

My Note: I've known a lot of firefighter paramedics over the years. Some love firefighting, some love EMS, and most are great at one or the other, but not both. When it comes to your life, you really want someone who loves their job, not someone who had to take the test.

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This is a MUST Read Article

Six Minutes to Live or Die
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/ems-day1-cover.htm

Map of LMRFD showing the checker board mess in the Meadview area ... you need Windows with Silverlight to view the map. The Fire District is Shown as Red polygons via a Graphic Drawing

Firefighter Line of Duty Deaths.. When Firefighters Die
As a deputy sheriff we were concerned about officer safety at all times, it seems like firefighters would put safety first.

http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/firefighter-fatalities

http://www.firefighterclosecalls.com

Got Tired of Asking For Public Records

I've asked the LMRFD for documents to help us make good decisions. So far I've got a few documents, but have been given excuses why I can't have other documents.

The law is very clear on public records, citizens can review public records for free, and the cost for copies of documents must be reasonable.

When I asked for the LMRFD SOP or Standard Operating Procedures Manual this is what I was told, "Like I said, I do not have a copy of NACFD's SOP's.  The SOP's for the LMRFD from 2.5 years ago, which may or may not be relevant at this point,  are 124 pages total.  I have not found a way to quickly download and send them directly from our reporting service.  I will need to print, scan and email them.  I am hesitant to do that, not knowing if they even apply any longer.  Ellen"

These are public records, our public records. No one has the right to decide if a public record is "relevant", they only need to follow the law and provide access at a reasonable cost. $2 per page is not reasonable.

I'm sorry she doesn't know how to operate a computer, but printing documents is a very basic computer skill, citizens shouldn't be charged high prices because she's incompetent with computers.

I have filed a complaint with the Arizona Ombudsman's Office to gain access to public records we have a right to see.

Jay

The World is Watching 1500 Views Nine Nation's

The world is watching our little community's EMS Problems. I'm surprised how many people are interested in our community's Fire EMS troubles.

In a month 1500 people have viewed this blog from the US, Japan, Germany, France, Poland, Philippines, Ukraine, Malaysia, and Belarus where ever it is.

Please keep reading and sharing the information.
Don't forget the Fire Board Meeting September 21st

Jay

Community Council Meeting September 12th 9:30 AM

Community council meeting September 12th 9:30 AM

Please attend the meeting, this will be about the LMRFD and its important we voice our opinions.

We currently have no volunteer program as it was changed recently turning volunteer firefighters into support personal.

Volunteer Pool The valuable resource LMRFD forgot, women

Volunteer Pool

Until a few months ago, about the time I started going to fire board meeting's and asking about volunteers, Meadview had six volunteer firefighters, but they were recently changed to support personnel because of insurance costs I'm told.

At the fire board meeting the chief said he wasn't opposed to volunteers, but at the same time, he took our few remaining volunteer firefighters and changed them to support personnel.

It's our fire district and anyone who wants to volunteer should be asked their skills. Lots of people have computer skills, yet we were paying for an IT guy.

I'm sure they're a lot of smart people around with a lot of valuable skills, but you have to be open to suggestions.

It's our fire district and we need to get involved and pay attention to how it's ran.

VOLUNTEERS and WOMEN
We keep hearing how hard it is to get volunteers in Dolan Springs and Meadview. So again we need to think out of the box if we want to cover 2000 square miles.

The vast majority of calls to the LMRFD, 70% are medical calls. We need volunteer EMT's on the ambulance, and our paid firefighters on a paramedic squad as support.

 Okay it's hard to find firefighters here, but we don't need firefighters, we need EMT's. When we require the EMT's on the ambulance to be firefighters, we pretty much limit our volunteer pool to men.

Lets face it, not many women want to be firefighters. The vast majority of firefighters are men, with less than 4% in the United States being women.

Medicine on the other hand is made up primarily of women, nurses, physicians, OR techs. According to the Journal of Emergency Medical Services women make up about 50% of today's EMS services.

So by requiring the ambulance EMT's to be firefighters we severely limit our volunteer pool. We may have a wealth of experienced women with a medical backgrounds out there who have no interest in being a firefighter. We'll never know unless we ask.

NO Standard Operating Procudures for LMRFD -- No Rules No Job Description for Firefighters? WHAT

Apparently there is no guidance, rules, or regulations for the firefighters to follow in the LMRFD. No wonder they do what they want.

On August 27th I told you I had requested the LMRFD Standard Operating Procedures, or SOP. The SOP is something every agency must have.

The SOP tells firefighters how they should do everything from how to wear their dress uniform, to how they are to drive vehicles, and the chain of command.

This is the reply from the LMRFD

"Like I said, I do not have a copy of NACFD's SOP's.  The SOP's for the LMRFD from 2.5 years ago, which may or may not be relevant at this point,  are 124 pages total.  I have not found a way to quickly download and send them directly from our reporting service.  I will need to print, scan and email them.  I am hesitant to do that, not knowing if they even apply any longer."  
Ellen

Since it's still the LMRFD, and NOT the NACFD yet, the SOP from 2 1/2 years ago is still valid. The firefighters still work for us, and we have a right to a current copy, an old copy, or any copy of the SOP for the LMRFD.

I'm tired of being told we can't have public records. If they don't want to tell us what's going on now, if NACFD takes over, Dolan and Meadview will get even less information.

Like the others at the last fire board meeting, I've let calls for the chief, and never received a call back.

This is more mismanagement, I don't know of any agency that doesn't give employees copy of their SOP on the first day of work. By not giving firefighters an SOP they have no guidance on how they are to operate vehicles, wear uniforms, or keep equipment clean.

Worse yet, with no rules, you can't get in trouble for doing something if you didn't know it was wrong.

We need to know if the firefighters were ever given an SOP, we need a copy of the SOP so we know the rules too.

UPDATE.  Who's Hiding What
The LMRFD apparently doesn't want us to know what firefighters are supposed to do. Rather than let me review the SOP they want $248 for a copy of what every firefighter should have.

It's OUR fire district, withholding public information isn't right.

We should be able to review documents without it costing $248...

What are they hiding?