Ep 9 I Am A White Cloud

by Ron on Wednesday, August 4, 2010

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[audio:09_IAmAWhiteCloud.mp3] (43:05) Show Notes

This week we talk about Ron’s super power, being a white cloud. Another ambulance shift with almost no calls again. We talk about 24 hour shifts and last minute calls. Lots of questions answered in this episode as well.

Is a Basic just a paramedic assistant? National and State EMS organizations, are they worth joining and do they do anything? Advanced airways, Good Bad or Indifferent? When should you call a helicopter? And where can we find the last chapter of Kelly’s book online?

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  • Cameron

    Hello again,
    I thought the part on helicopters was interesting. I have worked in some rural areas, where we used heli’s a lot. Just the other day we ran a girl who ejected from roll over with isolated femur fx, so we put our flight for life chopper on immediate go. Our agency is nearly all basics, and took us about 14 min in the engine to get on scene, and the chopper landed about 4 min after we got there. It would have taken us at least hour or more to get to trauma center on ground.

    Also, i have used them in Alpine Rescue’s. For the terrain we were in it would normally take us 2 hours via truck on a pretty dangerous road to reach the high staging area. So we have a Lift ticket program to fly SAR members up in the medic choppers. So usually those calls are DOA, but if they are alive we have the carry out to the vehicles, then 2 hour decent, then about an hour to regional trauma center which is level II. SAR team has a 2 hour delayed response, but once called the bird can be at command in 45 min, and can evac to hospital in about hour from advanced staging area.

    So some people never use them, especially not like that Trauma show on TV lol, but others would be severely hampered by there loss.

    (Most rural places I’ve seen staff only basics as paramedics want the action in a city, so if you want great hands on pt care and assessment that’s my recommendation)

  • Christine Springfield

    Just wanted to say thanks for the responses!

    Concerning the national/state EMS organizations, I was very active in TAEMT back in the early 1990′s and was curious to see what the current situation was on both levels. I also wanted to have y’all address the topic so that other new EMT’s know what they are, how they work and whether they are worth joining. I have already joined NAEMT again and was really wondering about EMSAT… their website was a bit confusing and outdated. You both answered my questions very well, so thanks!

    Your information about using helicopters was also spot-on. There was a short time that flight services were offering incentives to ground services for calling for their services. Thank goodness that existed for only a very limited time before the media shut that down. The benefits of calling for a helicopter in an urban situation are pretty rare. In the rural or frontier environment it’s a true life-saver. Helicopters fill an important role in EMS but are used inappropriately many times, in my opinion.

    Thanks again for the information you two are sharing!

  • Ken Reed

    Ron/Kelly

    Great show this week. I am going to be taking my EMT-B course in Sept. I was reading the course outline and it list 4 hours of water rescues. Did you have to do this in your class & how did that go??

    Thanks

  • http://www.ambulancedriverfiles.com Ambulance Driver

    Ken Reed :Ron/KellyGreat show this week. I am going to be taking my EMT-B course in Sept. I was reading the course outline and it list 4 hours of water rescues. Did you have to do this in your class & how did that go??Thanks

    Ken, it’s not a DOT requirement to include hands-on practice in water rescue, but it certainly does make the class more interesting.

    At a previous employer, our service area included a large lake, and we ran a number of drowning and boating/skiing accidents every year.

    Water rescue for my EMT classes there was both necessary, and very enjoyable for my students.

    In other places with other needs, it might be other forms of technical rescue, like familiarization with high-angle rescue techniques, or vehicle extrication, or hazmat responses.

    How you structure your class depends in some part on the local needs of your community.

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