Army medic '86-'93. BLS: '89-'00, ALS: '00-Current with NREMT.

During Army drills in Germany & Belgium I transported one patient in Belgium and 2 in Germany. Then in 2017, I was friendly with a Medic in Hammerfest, Norway and rode 3rd on their rig. That gives me 3 foreign countries of ambulance transport.

I’ve worked EMS in MA, RI, NH, FL with total state transports of 11 states.

I am still NRP, but, currently running “Uber” ambulance at BLS level (At Medic pay due to credential level). Woot!

I love & respect everyone that’s still hustling the streets.

I wonder if I can keep it up doing the easy work for 13 more years. Giving me a grand total of 50 years on an ambulance.

Lift smart, protect your back! I strongly suggest good massage therapy!

  • conditional_soup@lemm.eeM
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    1 year ago

    Holy guacamole! That’s impressive! Back care is absolutely critical; I’ve been in for 13 years, and every time I get a new guy, I always make a point of teaching good lift habits and explaining why they’re good habits. You’ll get away with a bad lift, but you won’t get away with 300 of them.

    I’d love to pick your brain, if you’ve got the time.

    • What are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen in prehospital care?
    • What trends do you see happening?
    • Do you have any strong opinions on our therapies or practices in the industry over the years?
    • If you could change one thing about EMS in the US, what would it be? and finally,
    • What do you think is the biggest challenge or problem that needs to be solved in EMS today?
    • 😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈@lemm.eeOP
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      1 year ago

      Hey, smart lifting is definitely critical. You can’t just reach into the shit and yank someone out with brut strength.

      I’ve routinely went for massage therapy if i feel any tweaks in my body. I loved massage so much i went to school and i have my LMT(licensed massage therapist).

      • Biggest change was stopping the routine use of backboards. Even years ago there were plenty of times that i wouldn’t use the spine board because it was obviously detrimental to my patient.

      • Trend: doing “Sepsis Alerts” as important as Stroke Alert or Trauma Alert.

      • C-Pap was a game changer. Patients were so much improved by delivery to the ER.

      • We need more aggressive phone triage and not being afraid to delay a response or at minimum make it a non-emergency response. I know some places have “on the quiet” slow roll responses.

      • EMS overall is having trouble getting people into the work force. I’m sure Fire EMS still manages fairly well, but, private companies or 3rd party companies like Boston EMS are struggling to get new people in the door.

      Stay safe! Stay well. Get some massage work if you’re ever feeling achy. It’s awesome!

      • conditional_soup@lemm.eeM
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        1 year ago

        Thanks! I’m grateful for having been around to see most of these changes myself. I definitely agree that better call triaging is important, I think that if you really look at the cost/benefit, we’re really causing a lot more harm than help with how often we send ambulances lights and sirens.

        As for private EMS, I can speak to that. Private EMS has more or less made this bed for themselves through years of consistent and deliberate choices, and now they’re having to lie in it. I know that EMS isn’t an easy business, and you’re not exactly loaded with cash in the best of times, but I’ve seen (like, literally seen it) ambulance services refuse to make improvements that were free or relatively low cost because they get stuck in the mindset that they pay their employees to come to work to get their behinds kicked. I have to say that there was a large amount of pointless suffering and more or less constant begging for more and more sacrifices, varying by employer, and when it came time to ask the company to reciprocate, you get a big ol’ handful of nada. I mean, not every private ambulance company I worked for was awful, some of them truly are wonderful little operations where everyone feels like family, but those were the exception to the rule. I saw my older co-workers, did that calculus, and decided that wasn’t sustainable as a career, and I think I’m not the only one. I know that a few companies have finally been provoked into making some changes due to the shortage, but I still get the vibe that most of them are still just sort of waiting for the disposable employee dispenser to start working again.

        For everyone’s sake, including their own, I hope it doesn’t. I hope the private ambulance industry is forced to sit down and actually square themselves with the problem of how to treat employees better and retain people. The ambulance companies will be better off for it, the EMS system and its patients will be better off for it, and the providers will be, too.

        • 😈MedicPig🐷BabySaver😈@lemm.eeOP
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          1 year ago

          Well, it’s the entire worker dependent employers that need philosophical changes to how to teat emplyees. I don’t see that improving ever. Far more bad places than good.