Wormtown Medic

Merry EMS Christmas

2011-12-25T08:13:00.001-08:00

Merry EMS Christmas

Christmas Day and I don't care
Workin' again, another gray hair
Carrying fat ass in my chair
It's a Merry EMS Christmas

Lots of calls, that's just my luck
Freezing my balls off in this truck
So you're drunk, like I give a F--k
It's a Merry EMS Christmas

Carrying a land whale on my scoop
Psych patient met us on the stoop
L'il old lady just cant't poop
It's a Merry EMS Christmas

Cannot wait to get outta here
Another late call is what I fear
Workin' Christmas again next year
It's a Merry EMS Christmas

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

Arlington St LODD

2011-12-10T05:18:00.001-08:00

UMass Memorial CEO

From John O'Brien

December 9, 2011

With sympathy and acknowledgement

The Central Massachusetts community is deeply grieved by the loss of a Worcester firefighter yesterday. Our sympathies and support go to the family of Jon Davies, his colleagues who were injured and all members of the Worcester Fire Department (WFD). While our work often brings death close, it is never more tragic than when a public servant losses his or her life in the line of duty.

We are focused on the City's firefighters and their loved ones, yet I also want to recognize the very important role that our own UMass Memorial colleagues played in yesterday's tragedy. The fire was first noticed and reported at 4:20 am by one of our paramedics who was at our UMass Memorial Providence Street EMS Station, which is adjacent to the rear of the triple-decker that was quickly fully engulfed in fire.

After reporting the fire to our EMS Communications Center, three of our paramedics and our EMS supervisor ran into the burning building before the WFD arrived. Our team made its way to the second floor where they assisted a resident to escape. They then tried to re-enter the structure to continue to search but were deterred because of the intense heat and smoke. As they retreated from the building, the first WFD unit arrived, and our EMS supervisor informed the firefighters about a potential second person in the building.

Our paramedics then proceeded to clear the adjacent triple-decker of occupants for their safety. There were several families in this building that were roused and instructed to leave. They opened our Providence Street Station to these evacuated residents as well as to any WFD personnel that needed shelter, facilities, etc.

Once out of the building, our EMS supervisor became the leader of the medical branch of the incident, fully integrating into the incident command system with the WFD. Later in the morning, following the collapse of the building, one of our paramedics entered the building to perform CPR on Mr. Davies while his colleagues worked to extricate him from the rubble. Our paramedics transported both injured firefighters and the deceased to our University Campus.

All five of our night-shift ambulance units and one of our day-shift ambulances were involved in the rescue, on-site medical care and transport. Yesterday afternoon, our team remained on-scene with one ambulance and one supervisor on standby for the ongoing fire operation and investigation.

Although the immediate focus of community grief is, and should be, the ultimate sacrifice made by Mr. Davies this morning, it is with great admiration and pride that I acknowledge the heroism of our own UMass Memorial EMS employees, who noticed the fire, reported it, without regard for their own safety entered the fire building and helped save the residents, and then tended to and transported the firefighters.

I know it is particularly troubling for our EMS team to deal with the death or serious injury of a fellow public safety professional, especially one with whom I am sure most if not all of our field personnel have worked with side by side. The men and women of our UMass Memorial EMS deal with this type of stress every day, and I appreciate the opportunity to acknowledge their exemplary work. Truly, UMass Memorial Health Care staff members, no matter the assignment, exemplify the fact that we have the "Best People" providing the "Best Care."

FF John Davies WFD R1

2011-12-10T04:50:00.000-08:00

Created by WEMS medic John Amann

Arlington St LODD

2011-12-10T04:49:00.001-08:00

UMass paramedics play a critical role

http://telegram.com/article/20111210/NEWS/112109973/1116

By Donna Boynton TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

dboynton@telegram.com

WORCESTER — State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said yesterday that Worcester Emergency Medical Services paramedics headquartered at the former Providence Street fire station were among the first to report the fire at 49 Arlington St. that claimed the life of Firefighter Jon Davies.

"They may not have been the first, and they may not have been the only ones to report the fire, but they have been critical in providing investigators with information about what they were first seeing," Fire Marshal Coan said, following a press conference.

He and Deputy Chief Geoffrey Gardell could not confirm that the paramedics played a role in alerting and evacuating the residents prior to the arrival of the Fire Department.

Fire Marshal Coan also did not elaborate on what the EMTs did see when they initially noticed the fire, saying it was part of the ongoing investigation.

"They are playing a critical part in the investigation, and played a critical part in reporting the fire," he said.

Worcester EMS is an ambulance service owned and operated by UMass Memorial Health Care and is under contract to provide ambulance service to the city. The city leases the station to the ambulance service.

Worcester EMS ambulances are based at the former Providence Street station, and they were in quarters and observed the fire, Fire Marshal Coan said.

The Providence Street station, nicknamed "The Rock," was closed in 2009 after serving as a fire station for 110 years. Closing the station was estimated to save the city between $85,000 and $100,000 a year in capital and operating costs. However, the measure was met with opposition from residents of the Grafton, Vernon and Union hills areas it served.

At the time, the Fire Department said fire response would not be diminished by the closing, and that sentiment was echoed yesterday by City Manager Michael V. O'Brien, who said the response to the fire was not delayed and was "under three minutes," in line with national standards.

Here is the audio. It starts with WEMS Capt. Soucie calling it in via radio:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo1JvSoCMdY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Paramedic Students

2011-12-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

This is the second day in a row that I have found a paramedic student asleep on a couch.

What a waste of time, these kids come ride at night so they can sleep? My preceptors would have eaten me alive if I was caught sleeping. He's lucky I'm not his preceptor, or is he?

This field has more chaff than wheat.

2011-11-29T05:28:00.001-08:00

Check out this alleged medic's follies:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20111129/NEWS/111299995/1101/local#.TtTLjh7NYh0.facebook

Wormtown SWAT

2011-08-24T11:30:00.000-07:00

Worcester PD Swat stacks up at the CT SWAT Challenge.

Wha....?

2011-08-23T04:43:00.000-07:00

Our mobile data terminal says to go this way. I just took the second left.

A ghost in "The Rock"

2011-08-04T10:42:00.001-07:00

WoMag pic

2011-08-02T13:47:00.001-07:00

I got a pic of a rollover in WoMag this week.

http://www.worcestermag.com/multimedia/photo-gallery/Photo-Gallery-Weekly-Pics-vol4-126316838.html?m=y&smobile=y&clmob=y&gallery=y&clmob=y&img=0

Like a heat wave...

2011-07-22T05:43:00.001-07:00

From yesterday at Telegram.com:

At UMass Memorial Medical Center, Mike Hunter, a paramedic and deputy chief of UMass Memorial EMS, and Dr. Marc C. Restuccia, emergency medicine physician at UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus in Worcester and medical director of Worcester EMS and Life Flight, said the emergency room and ambulances would be fully staffed. Six ambulances will be available, staffed with two paramedics each. The pair said they are in contact with Worcester city officials and are aware of the cooling centers opened up in the city.

"We just need to make sure that people get to where they are safe," Mr. Hunter said.

Dr. Restuccia and Mr. Hunter are also urging people to take precautions to stay healthy, such as not exercising outdoors during the height of the heat in the afternoon.

"And I always say, please check on your elderly neighbors, and those without air conditioning," Dr. Restuccia said. "Think back a few years to Chicago when many elderly died in a heat wave. Those were preventable deaths."

Wormtown medic:
Six ambulances is a normal staffing level. Five in Worcester, one in Shrewsbury.
We are actually short an ambulance today but we are sending a medic to a military homecoming. Contrast that with today's Boston.com:

Boston Emergency Medical Services has three extra ambulances, an additional supervisor, and an extra dispatcher working through tomorrow night, said spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan.

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

Stay Classy Wormtown

2011-07-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

A friend has started a tongue in cheek chronicle of Worcester's "classy" side.

http://www.stayclassyworcester.com/

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

Thank you

2011-05-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

EMS WEEK PROCLAMATION

2011-05-17T08:29:00.001-07:00

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

May 13, 2011

PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION--EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES WEEK

Each day, Americans rely on emergency medical service (EMS) systems to help them in their hour of greatest need. In communities across our Nation, we take comfort in knowing that well trained, caring men and women are only a phone call away from treating injuries sustained in a car crash, responding to a cardiac emergency, or helping a child with asthma breathe easier. When accidents and illnesses strike unexpectedly, EMS personnel are the first on the scene, and their timely actions often make the difference between life and death.

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics, and first responders serve on the front lines of our health care and public health system. Working with them are many others whose dedication makes the EMS system function, including emergency dispatchers, physicians, nurses, and researchers, as well as colleagues in the fire service and law enforcement. Our Nation's EMS system represents the American spirit at its best, with many ambulances in the United States partially or fully staffed by volunteers. They devote countless hours to keeping their communities, including often underserved rural areas, safe.

My Administration is committed to supporting the brave men and women who help keep America secure and resilient. This year, I signed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act into law, ensuring that rescue and recovery workers, and others suffering from health consequences related to the World Trade Center disaster, have access to the medical monitoring and treatment they need and deserve. As a Nation, we must never forget the selfless courage demonstrated by the EMTs, paramedics, and first responders who risked their lives to save others.

During EMS Week, we recognize the importance of ensuring our Nation's children have full access to high quality EMS care. Reauthorized in the Affordable Care Act, the Federal EMS for Children program works with public and private sector partners across the United States to make certain that all children regardless of where they live, attend school, or travel receive appropriate EMS care.

EMS agencies are an integral part of our Nation's health security strategy, and they help to build community resilience by strengthening all aspects of the emergency response system. Whether responding by car, ambulance, helicopter, boat, or plane, this diverse group of dedicated Americans provides crucial pre hospital medical care to fellow citizens when they need it most. This week, we take time to recognize the inspiring contributions of our Nation's EMS practitioners and honor their dedication to serving their country and fellow citizens.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 15 through May 21, 2011, as Emergency Medical Services Week. I encourage all Americans to observe this occasion by sharing their support with their local EMS providers and taking steps to improve their personal safety and preparedness.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

BARACK OBAMA

An ambulance short again

2011-04-04T09:17:00.001-07:00

But today we went down a truck in the city because a medic that works Shrewsbury didn't recertify her CPR card.
Maybe she didn't see her name on the list of people with expiring credentials posted at the stations. Maybe she didn't read the email telling us all to double check our cards because the state was coming. Maybe she just didn't care.
But it's ok, we had a city truck cover Shrewsbury while she got to go to a class on UMass time, then go back to work.
That's odd because I have been threatened with progressive disciplanary action if I didn't recertify on my own time. People have been sent home because of expired credentials.
If you can't be bothered to maintain your certifications, there's the door. It just goes to show, it ain't who you know...

Thanks WEMSRA

2011-03-14T16:59:00.001-07:00

WOMAG

2011-03-08T05:19:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, I was asked to contribute to this article.

A well researched view of Worcester's heroin problem by Jeremy Shulkin.

http://www.worcestermag.com/home/top-stories/Cheap-prevalent-and-powerful-117258508.html

I was also able to do a short interview with Mike Benedetti and Brendan Melican of "508: A Show About Worcester"

http://www.worcestermag.com/multimedia/videos/Video-508-inter-117307538.html

Welcome to Ratland

2011-03-08T05:09:00.000-08:00

Read how the Town of Rutland is trying to screw over one of it's injured firefighters:

http://centralmassmedics.blogspot.com/2011/02/forget-wisconsin-real-threat-is-in.html

Not much of a follow up:

http://telegram.com/article/20110308/NEWS/103080383/1101/local

What happened to KKK?

2011-03-01T09:35:00.000-08:00

Ambulances are white with orange stripes. As pretty as it is; if no one pulls over, I wouldn't be surprised.

The Job Never Gets Easier

2011-02-18T04:05:00.001-08:00

God bless the public safety and medical professionals that had to deal with this.

http://www.necn.com/02/18/11/Police-investigate-suspicious-death-of-4/landing_mobile.html?blockID=413174&feedID=4206

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

20 Years Today

2011-02-17T16:03:00.000-08:00

On 2/17/1991, I began my career at Worcester EMS. I am having trouble finding words this year.

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

Vintage Wormtown

2011-02-11T04:39:00.001-08:00

An old painting of Worcester seen at a patient's house. No idea when or where the view is from.

UMass Memorial ranks #1 in New England for surviving a heart attack.

2011-01-27T07:31:00.001-08:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJDY0szM0Es&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

UMass State of Mind

2011-01-20T16:21:00.001-08:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ71SpYNnCo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

Continuing Education 2011

2011-01-07T17:02:00.000-08:00

Most classes are free of charge but some may require preregistration or book fees.

Saving Christmas

2010-12-24T04:29:00.001-08:00

This Christmas, I will be asked to visit close to a dozen homes. Not for celebration but desperation. I am working another major holiday. A twisted ghost of Christmas present, hope embodied and a harbinger of catastrophe.

I'm sure I will respond to the usual holiday calls that have become a running gag in my field. The Christmas code, the post ham heart failure, and the classic granny dump. Some serious, some not.

For me it will seem like just another day at the office; but for a few of the families I visit, it will be a holiday forever etched in their memory. A joyous celebration turned into a bitter annual reminder of tragedy. An anniversary of loss.

It's easy to forget the gravity of my situation. I have been desensitized by the repititious exposure to pain, suffering, and sorrow. It's my job, calm in the face of crisis. "We're doing everything we can" almost rolls off my tongue without any meaning or feeling. However, around the holidays it all seems a little more difficult.

But I am not without hope. We've put up the desktop tree and garage door lights. I have been given an opportunity to make a difference; I might prevent a death, mitigate an injury, or ease the pain of those mourning. Maybe save a life, maybe even save a Christmas.

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

Merry Christmas

2010-12-19T12:53:00.001-08:00

Since the founding days of this country; our armed forces have made sacrifices to keep us all safe and free. Take a moment to remember them this holiday season by praying for their safety or donating to any miltary relief agency.

Two of my favorites:

woundedwarriorproject.org
specialops.org

EMD? Really

2010-12-10T14:41:00.001-08:00

EMD-Emergency Medical Dispatch
A.K.A. The big lie.
A leading style of questioning designed to increase run numbers by sending the most resources to a 911 call. A nice idea ruined by th CYA crowd. I am sick of dropping everything and clearing up to race across the city for nonsence. I have deciphered a few of the more common complaints used. Feel free to pile on.

Abdominal pain=diarrhea
Baby not breathing=spit up while feeding
Difficulty breathing=vomiting
Chest pain &short of breath=pneumonia
MVA with entrapment=whiplash
Anaphylaxis=diaper rash
Possible CO poisoning=mass hysteria
Unresponsive=drunk
CVA=headache
Profuse bleeding=nosebleed

Rodney Witkos EMT-P/T

Cries Unheard

2010-10-30T07:54:00.000-07:00

The days here often seem to follow a theme. When patient's complaints are all similar. Like chest pain, or headache. But today death seems to be the common denominator. Two in a row, too late to help. But even sadder than that, is that their cries for help were ignored.

The first was an elderly gentleman, who cried out "help me" in the night. But his aide assumed he was talking in his sleep. The day shift aide called us when he didn't wake up.

Next, a woman in her fourties found deceased by her daughter. Empty oxy and elavil bottles beside her. Her husband tells me she threatened suicide twice this week but didn't think she would follow through.

When people cry for help, we can only help if someone is listening.

New Wormtown Medic Sticker

2010-10-18T16:29:00.001-07:00

See me if you want one.

How I roll in Worcester

2010-10-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

The results are in.

2010-09-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

The results from the 2010 CT SWAT Challenge are in. This year, I competed in the open handgun and open rifle as well as with my team. I came in 59th out of 130 in the open handgun shoot and 37th in the open rifle. My team finished a respectable 15th out of 40 teams. I can't wait until next year.

The results can be found here:

http://www.ctswatchallenge.com/results/2010-results/

Much Better

2010-09-04T07:37:00.001-07:00

Another beauty of a sign

2010-08-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Also from our favorite level 1 trauma center!

What the?

2010-08-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

From a Level 1 trauma center?
Shame, shame.

It sure is warm out.

2010-07-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

A/C full blast can't cool down a metal box in the hot sun!

Is this how you would fix a $3000 radio?

2010-07-05T03:54:00.000-07:00

My next fitness adventure

2010-06-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

Since I have had such great success with both P90X and Insanity, I have combined them with P90X+.

Grey is a P90X workout, red is a P90X+ workout and yellow is Insanity.
It should be a very challenging summer.

Are you kidding me?

2010-04-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was at St Vincent ER. As I sit in my truck charting, I see an EMT from a private service roll down his window and throw a banana peel out onto the sidewalk. I could not believe what I was seeing! Surely he was joking around and is going to pick it up. Nope, and the longer it sat on the ground, the more pissed off I became. Finally, I walked over, picked it up and threw it on the windshield of their ambulance. When their shock wore off, the other basic took it off and was a bit miffed, he said that wasn't cool and I could have said something to them first. I suppose I could have but I'm sure my flair for the dramatic left more of an impression. What the hell was this guy thinking? What if I had been a St Vincent administrator? How would that look for his service? As far as hospital administrators go, we are all just ambulance drivers and the color of our uniform doesn't matter. We don't need that kind of reckless disregard representing any of us.

My mentor, friend and hero.

2010-04-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

John Lynch Telegram Feature

John was one of my more intimidating preceptors when I was going through my paramedic school field time. He was the 3-11 supervisor at Worcester City Emergency Ambulance, the very place I aspired to work. We had brought an elderly male to Worcester City ER for CHF. On the dock after the call, he hands me the green ECG strip off the Lifepack 5 monitor. He asked me, “So, what is it?” I looked at the tracing for several minutes. I then told him “I think it’s A-fib.” He handed the strip back to me and said “You better look at it again.”

I stared at that damn strip for an hour. I measured it with calipers. I turned it upside down, I looked for groups. It was irregularly irregular. I folded it to line up the QRS complexes. It still looked like A-fib. About another half hour later, I go to John. I tell him, “I’ve checked everything and it looks like A-fib.” He looks at me with a devilish grin and says. “It is, you have to be more confident kid. “

Here is a worthwhile read about his story:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20100420/NEWS/4200370/1003/NEWS03

EMS Plates

2010-04-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

I still haven't seen any of these on the roads. Perhaps it's because there needs to be 1500 ordered before manufacture. Many of you may not be aware of these so I'm putting it out there.

Here is where you can order yours:

http://www.maemsfoundation.org/pages/1/index.htm

Stress

2010-03-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

I was recently interviewing prospective employees as a senior medic on the peer review panel. I came up with a number of questions to get the applicant talking and to try to get an impression of their experience level. I asked them “How do you deal with stress?” The majority of replies were “Good” or “I’m good with stress”.

Clearly these people had no idea what I was talking about. And why would they? Most of them have not been medics very long. Or they work in rural areas with low call volume. I wondered if they are really prepared for a position in a very busy urban system.

Much like Nicholas Cage in “Bringing Out the Dead”, I see ghosts. Not on the streets but in my memory of those streets. Every street I drive down in this city brings out a ghost. Calls gone well and calls gone bad. I frequently point out addresses to partners and say “Remember that call?” It is an unrealized hazard of a great memory. Some of them I don’t want to see, I would rather forget much of my experience here. Who wants to remember the smell of death, decaying bodies, the sights of suffering? But it has made me who I am, for better or worse.

But there are other stressors, the lack of respect and abuse of the system. There are also frustrations with shift work and working weekends. The lack of a real career ladder offers no hope of advancement or recognition. The job has become repetitious exercise in futility.

I have had my share of demons to fight. I have been burnt out. A firefighter told me once he brought a bucket to the call so he could pick up my compassion when I spilled it in the lobby. My anger has been an issue as has been my impatience. I am a can do person and I don’t do well when I’m not allowed to. Yet I am still here in this love-hate relationship with my career. I haven’t gone it alone though. I’ve sought out help when I need it. Knowing when to get help is half of the battle.

So here’s what I’ve learned. Stress is yours and no one else’s. No one can fix it but you. It’s up to you to do something about it. The ghost Rose, that haunts Nicholas Cage, says “I didn’t ask you to suffer, that was your idea.”

If you find yourself suffering from

Insomnia, change in appetite, aches and pains, frequent colds or illnesses such as back pain, digestive problems, headaches or feelings of intense and long-term tiredness.

Bad moods such as defensiveness, irrationality, being irritable, being critical, aggressive or overreaction and reacting emotionally, increased absenteeism and negativity. Or a loss of interest in things you liked previously.

It is time to do something about it. These symptoms uncorrected will harm your health as well as your career.

What can you do? Let’s start with the EMS diet. We all know fast food is crap, the 99 cent heart attack. Limit your fast and refined foods. Eat more vegetables, fruits and complex carbohydrates. Take a vitamin and cut the fat.

Sleep, EMS people sure frig this up. Rotating shifts and multiple jobs ruin sleep patterns. Get into a pattern and get at least 4 hours of continuous sleep. More is always better, we all know we need 8 hours.

Exercise at least 20 minutes, 5 days a week. I have been doing P90X, I have lost twenty pounds and feel much better about myself. The yoga has been the most satisfying. It brings balance and clarity. I love to bicycle when the weather is good and I have time.

Talk, let it out. Burying it only makes it rot. Talk to your spouse, friends or coworkers. Someone in the field may understand but try to find friends outside EMS as well. Seek out your employee assistance programs, most EMS agencies have something. If all else fails, see your doctor. Your PCP can refer you to specialized help.

When at work be accepting and flexible. Your way is not the only way. Try to establish a routine, a regular schedule or pattern of good habits. I try to get here early so I can get the checklist and narcotic log done before I have to start running my ass off. Communicate with everybody supervisors and peers, friends reduce stress.

Most importantly, maintain a sense of humor. Laughter is the best medicine and people will seek you out for it.

19 Years

2010-02-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to believe that I have been working here nineteen years. I remember my interview at Worcester City Hospital like it was yesterday. Those were the glory days of this job. It was a rough and tumble, by the seat of your pants EMS. Do no harm; always do what’s best for the patient. Things sure have changed.

The fire department never went to calls back then, only when we needed the Jaws of Life. A cardiac arrest got a second ambulance assigned to it for help. We are so busy now we can’t find two of our trucks available at the same time. We are busy 47 minutes out of every hour. I don’t know how they figure we have twenty minutes for the documentation of every call. Fire is now dispatched to nearly 20,000 of our 34,000 calls per year.

It’s good to have the help. Since our patients have doubled in size. I can’t believe how fat people are. There is no such thing as a “little” old lady. Cripes, I see morbid obesity in people in their twenties. When they get sick I get to carry them. Fat people should get the same disdain as smokers. Obesity now costs more health care dollars than smoking.

It was hard to get a job here. There simply weren’t any openings. People stayed here. It was a civil service job. Even when UMass took over, people still wanted to come here and stay here. We thought it would be a career now that we were state employees. That didn’t last long. The hospital was privatized, we lost our state benefits. Here is where it all went to shit. Corporate had stepped into our health care. It’s all dollars and cents, despite the fact it is a nonprofit hospital. It was no longer, do what was best for the patient. Dollars and no sense. The pay scale was attacked repeatedly by administration. Now new paramedics can’t even dream of making what I am making for pay. I am paid their overtime rate for doing the same job. I’ve just been doing it longer. The lack of parity is frustrating. The private EMS services pay more than we do now. So now we have a revolving door. People aren’t even finishing probation and they are leaving for other jobs. We have become the training ground for area fire departments. If you do a year or two at Worcester EMS, you can get a job almost anywhere. Then stay here per diem to keep your skills sharp. We have as many per diem employees as we have full time. But now they don’t all want to work in the bus city. Shrewsbury provides a good night’s sleep for the same pay. Why kill yourself in Worcester? That’s why we have been down a truck every day this week. Forty plus per diems and we can’t cover an open shift. Why do people want to work here? Just to say they work here? There are people working here that I don’t even know their names. I nearly cry over the friends that have been chewed up and spit out by this job. The ones forced to move on, never be heard from again.

FMLA- Family Medical Leave Act. Not fuck my life again. A good intentioned act to provide leave for pregnant women. Of course, corporate perverted it. Now, no matter how much sick time you have, you are placed on leave. If you don’t return after 12 weeks you voluntarily resign your position. Yup, that’s right. Fired. What a damn joke. 12 weeks is nothing. Try getting back to a job this physically demanding after an ACL rupture. Pro football players are out 6 months or more. I was back in 11 weeks and 6 days. A coworker recently had to do the same. That’s how health care takes care of their own people.

I remember being pulled aside by my partner one day after a call. I didn’t start an IV on an asthma patient. He yelled at me and told me that’s not how we do things here. We have lost that staff leadership. We suffer from a general leadership void. Our chief quit wearing his uniform after a disagreement with the union. A move not taken lightly by the staff. Our deputy chief tries his best but doesn’t appear to have the support of the hospital or the staff. The program director is a policy generator. Memos come out weekly about a new policy and how the supervisors will be monitoring us for compliance. A private ambulance service mentality is overtaking the hospital based service.

A few things are better. The vehicles are new. Pretty much forced upon us by the Office of Emergency Medical Services. Our station was renovated. New tiles and paint. No furniture or time to enjoy it.

We will be moving into the Providence Street station. It has been a year and a half to get the job done. Partly due to this blog. I haven’t seen the place yet but hear it is very nice. Still no furniture or time to enjoy it. It will be our training facility so I am sure to see it at some time. It’s too bad the grand opening was for the area services and we weren’t even invited. That’s right, our own station. It seems some managers are more worried about training the area services than welcoming us.

Our year long embarrassment with the state and the local press over patient mistreatment by very small minority of staff has brought us more oversight. But oversight isn’t leadership. Some of our supervisors are great while some need work. It has been painfully obvious that they are not rank and file anymore and have become the mouthpieces of management.

We don’t get any more training, despite the new training facility. We have quarterly mandatory staff meetings. Mandatory means they have to pay us. That’s why they are only quarterly. One of those meetings is an annual retraining for RSI. We have a full time training person and a new facility. Where is the training? When UMass took over years ago we were promised training and research. Nothing ever materialized.

When I started here I worked an eight hour day. Four days on, two days off. It was awful, it seemed like you were always working. Then UMass switched us to a 12 hour schedule, three days a week. The last four hours was made up training or on committees. Life was good. Burnout was low. You actually had time to decompress after a lousy week. But people abused it and never worked the four hours. So we were given the horrible schedule we have now. Twelve hour and eight hour days, four days a week, every other weekend. We have begged for the return of the twelve hour schedule but it falls on deaf ears. Everything is about the dollar and negative financial impact. How much does a wrongful death lawsuit cost? Probably a lot less than three twelve hour shifts a week. But they insist on this schedule.

In 1991, Worcester City Ambulance staffed two ambulances twenty four hours a days and one ambulance sixteen hours a day. We responded to 14,000 calls per year. In 2009 Worcester EMS responded to 34,000 calls. In March, UMass will staff four ambulances twenty four hours a day in Worcester, one in Shrewsbury. Another ambulance will be staffed ten or sixteen hours a day, depending on what day of the week it is. I stated earlier how busy it was. This adds one additional ambulance between the hours of 3am to 7am, and 7pm to 2am. I work days, so it means absolutely no relief for me. My shift actually loses an hour of coverage.

We have moved to paperless charting. We have one notebook computer per crew for charting. But they don’t always work. The charting software clashes with dispatch software and monitoring equipment software. Charts get stuck in cyberspace and supervisors have to track them down. We get chastised for missing reports that aren’t missing at all, just stuck on a laptop somewhere. We can save ECG’s to the computer but they don’t go with the patient report and we can’t print them. So we still have to print them and leave copies with the ER. That is ridiculous. They keep updating them to include fields that the state wants to see data on. Like what device did you use to carry them to the ambulance?

Our vehicles are now equipped with GPS/mobile data terminals. They stink. The GPS has a “learning” capability that takes traffic patterns and previous responses into consideration when giving you a route to a call. This thing is so inaccurate that the supervisors and training department are telling new people not to use them for navigation. It has repeatedly shown me to drive in circles. If the system is inaccurate for navigation, how can it be accurate enough to assign priority of vehicle dispatch? The dispatchers and supervisors can see where every vehicle is on the computer or PDA. This will eventually lead to a system status management model. Get your truck and go hang out on the corner until you get a call. That’s pretty much how it is now but we are being dispatched from the last hospital we transport to. I tell new people, if you don’t bring lunch you don’t get lunch.

The protocols used to be a guideline for patient care. It was ok to go outside a protocol if it was in the best interest of the patient. Our medical director would stick up for you. Within reason, of course. That isn’t the case anymore. The protocols are rigid rules to be followed without exception. It is not do what’s best; it is do what won’t get you in trouble. Patient care has taken a backseat to patient safety. One idiot gives the wrong type of epinephrine. Instead of retraining and reprimanding that medic. The whole state has to use the idiot proof epinephrine pens. It’s better to bring in a fatality than a protocol violation. The state is reviewing every call of ours, scrutinizing them for protocol errors. Then screwing us for them. It has been rumored that the state scrutiny is due to an inspector’s personal vendetta against our service. But that hasn’t been proven yet.

I have to say, it’s not the job I signed on for. It has changed a lot and not much of it for the better. The system abuse is at epidemic levels. Acuity is in the basement. People call for the most ridiculous things. You cannot imagine the lack of respect people have for us. It is not patient care, it is patient carrying. Carry me or I will complain. It’s sickening. And I am sick of it. The stress is killing me at a faster pace every year. But I don’t know anything else. Or want to do anything else. I’ll be here another nineteen years. This is my dream job; it’s unfortunate that the dream is often a nightmare.

Ten years ago today

2009-12-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

My Thanksgiving Day

2009-11-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

Another Thanksgiving Day has passed. Again I was forced to bear witness to the hardships experienced by those less fortunate than myself. Therefore, I am thankful.

I am thankful that I don’t have to turn tricks to supply my heroin habit, or get beaten half to death in the process.

I am thankful that I don’t weigh six hundred pounds and need a special stretcher.

I am thankful that I don’t need Coumadin and that I know how to stop a nosebleed.

I am thankful that I don’t have to fake a seizure to get my family’s attention.

I am thankful that you listened to us when we said you needed to go to the hospital.

I am thankful that I know how and when to remove pacing pads.

I am thankful I didn’t break my leg in an embarrassing fall at Gramma’s.

I am thankful my children didn’t have fevers today.

I am thankful that I didn’t find my brother dead and alone in his apartment.

I am thankful to be alive and well enough to still help.

The Twenty Five Streets

2009-10-21T05:55:00.000-07:00

We have recently hired a few new paramedics at Worcester EMS. One of the challenges a new medic faces is street familiarization. Our medics come from all over New England and even the locals haven’t been really familiar with the city. I always joked that you only had to know 18 streets to get around Worcester. If the call wasn't on one of those streets, it was just off of one of those streets. After some careful thought, I found it was actually twenty five. Another problem was Worcester’s veteran named squares. No one calls it the intersection of Plantation and Franklin, it is called Brown Square. So I have added ten squares to my new city driver’s list of must know locations, and here they are.

The twenty five streets:
Belmont, Burncoat , Cambridge, Chandler, Grafton, Greenwood , Grove Hamilton, Highland, Lake Ave, Lincoln, Main, Massasoit, May, NE Cutoff (Mountain St), Park Ave, Plantation, Pleasant, Providence, , Salisbury Shrewsbury, Southbridge, SW Cutoff (Rt 20), Vernon,
West Boylston

The ten squares:
Kelly, Brown, Newton, Billings, Rice, Lincoln, Washington, Tatnuck, Brosnihan, Posner

The ugliest coat I have ever seen.

2009-10-07T09:57:00.000-07:00

Our handlers have decided to force a new uniform coat on us without the input of the staff. I thought it was an option but they took $350 of my annual uniform allowance and ordered me a coat. Well, no one asked me my thoughts.

I've heard all the ANSI arguments for increased visibility. I have been on the streets and highways for the last two decades and have done fine without it.

It has new high tech waterproof fabric, yeah right. I have heard that before too.

It is repels body fluids. So does my leather coat.

It isn't even our uniform colors. We wear brown. This coat is blue and yellow. Maybe it's a harbinger of things to come. FD colors? Medstar colors?

Hmmm, a copay.

2009-09-03T05:53:00.000-07:00

My friend Jeff approached me with an idea. If we charge a co-pay for non-emergent transports the abuse will be decreased dramatically. Hmmm, I kind of like it.

“What? A $20 co-pay for an ambulance? I could call a cab for that much money.”

Exactly.

Helping out

2009-08-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

I stole this from Central Mass Medic's blog:

"Helping a Helper

I really like this.
Michael Morse, author of my favorite blog, Rescuing Providence, linked to this site.

Besides just being a nice thing to do for someone who clearly deserves it (I can't even begin to describe the respect I have for working Moms and Dads who manage to complete something as daunting as Paramedic school), I think the writer is addressing a real need.
With the world's credit markets still frozen like the Siberian Tundra, school loans are becoming harder and harder to come by.
A friend of mine who runs a Paramedic program told me that the company that once financed the considerable cost of an education at his school notified six members of his last class at the last minute that the money they had counted on would not be coming.Those six are having to instead wait a few more years to attend school.
I love what's being done here, and I hope some Central Mass Medics readers might be able to help out even a little.To steal a little more from Morse's last post, here's a link that might explain why this is worth it. "

Count me in. I hope it turns into one of those crazy internet phenoms.

I was quoted...

2009-08-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

...in an article here last month about lightning. I'm no Matt Noyes but...
http://www.telegram.com/article/20090726/NEWS/907260449/1101/LOCAL

Thanks to Wormtown Taxi for pointing it out to his readers.
http://www.wormtowntaxi.com/2009/07/lightning-strikes-blogger.html

UMass Memorial #1 in cardiac survivability

2009-07-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

I guess WEMS doesn't suck as bad as the T&G would have you believe.

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090721/NEWS/907210419/

Here we go again!

2009-07-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

Another installment from T&G reporter Tom K-Y.

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090719/NEWS/907190373/

Here's the comments as of 2100 last night.
http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=reader_comments&article_ID=907190373&WT_article_headline=EMT censures spur action - -

UMass Memorial makes changes
Reader Comments

EMT's and paramedics handle hundreds of calls a week. Many of these are people who refuse to take care of themselves. They are overweight, don't take their meds as prescribed smoke and wait till the very last minute to call for an ambulance. When the EMT's get there they give them a hard time about going to the hospital, they lie about their symptoms and medical history and then expect these guys to risk their health carrying an obese person down 3 flights of stairs. Lets give these guys the benefit of the doubt as we see in the article there are always two sides. I cant believe how much this rag of a newspaper loves bashing cops, firemen, and EMT's. You know what they say if you cant do write for the T & G.
-J

Mr EMT, If you got the balls to sign your name, I got one of those stickers. If not, shut up.
-wormtown medic

Boston Medic: Poor you! Patients you transport do not THANK YOU?? Hmm, maybe because they are very ill, in pain, terrified, sick or dying! The one time I was transported, I may have said thank you, but I do not recall, I only remember the pain and recovering from emergency surgery afterward. Take pride in your job and quit whining.
-Thank you?

West Coast Rich -- UMassMemorial Healthcare was once The University of Massachusetts Medical Center, which was a state-owned institution.At some point -- someone else will have to supply the dates, but not recently -- the hospital was privatized. In the late 1990s it merged with another Worcester Hospital, Memorial Hospital (once known as Central Massachusetts Medical Center).The resulting, non-profit organization is UMassMemorial Healthcare. It's composed of several area community hospitals and a large teaching hospital affiliated with the state medical school (which remains a public institution).UMass University Campus is the region's only tertiary care center and Level 1 Trauma Center, and houses the LifeFlight air medical service, and UMassMemorial/Worcester EMS, the city's contracted 911 EMS provider and the successor to the city's ambulance service that was once run by the city DPH.
-On the EA

Hey Mr. EMT -- you can probably guess where you can go find that sticker.BTW, those stickers haven't been around for years, and they were a national phenomenon. Run a Google Image search and you'll find them in some interesting places. They weren't our creation and they haven't been around forever. Find something else to gripe about....
-On the EA

now you really have my curiosity up. about three people have said it's private. No one has yet said who owns this company. It's a simple question for someone to answer.Who is the owner resposible for the management, hiring, firing, training, etc?
-west coast rich

I have been in both sides shoes, as a patient twice and with patients needing transport. Both times when it was me as the patient there wasn't a need to be carried, but the EMT's asked me to, they were polite and understanding that I was safe to walk, yet both times I let them put me on the stretcher. I have also been with people in need that didn't want to be carried and they needed to be carried.I can see where any emergency worker is in a tough position dealing with a person in need and respecting that persons free will vs. everyone involved safety.A lot of you have raised valid points, some of you well I won't address those comments... To all of you until you have been in BOTH these situations please don't judge the patient or the emergency personal, there can be stress, concern, sometimes confusion and anger. All emergency workers regardless of training and experience find themselves making judgement calls that need to be in everyone's best interests, that isn't always going to be easy and they aren't always going to be right but WHAT'S IMPORTANT WHEN WE NEED THEM THEY ARE THERE!
-Been in these peoples shoes!

U Mass Memorial Hospital IS privately owned. Only the medical school is run by the state.I see the paramedics every day when they come into our emergency room and know how intelligent, hard-working and compassionate they are. I consider them the unsung heroes of Worcester's first responders. It seems like the other guys get all the positive press while difficult, life-saving work the paramedics routinely do is rarely acknowledged.
-at last

where can i get one of those 'got shoes' bumper stickers?
-mr.emt

TO all the haters,Just like Police and firefighters, Worcester EMS have a very tough job. I would love to see some of you live a day in a paramedics shoes. You would go home crying from all the things they see and do. 10 complaints!!? that is not alot of complaints. I believe I am a healthy person and when I get pains any where I don't complain and call 911 for the medics. I have an idea stop crying and work through it. Just because you don't feel good is not a good enough reason to get a ride to the hospital by a (delivery person) as one clown stated. 'your job is not to diagnose the problem, it is to transport them' Ha that comment is a joke! The next time that guy needs to be 'transported' for chest pains (Medics don't diagnose anything, Don't hook up your EKG, don't check his oxygen level, Don't check his blood pressure' Just transport him!!!!! and let the Doctor diagnose him when he is already dead in the back of the ambulance because all the medics do is transport!!!!For the Rocket scientist, There is a reason you only have very limited training in first aid and medical responses! With that comment your common sense is limited too! You're the guy that probably chases radio calls and thinks you're a medic! Enjoy flipping burgers!!Just another one way liberal article!!
-65

And the woman who complained had no memory of the event. But her neighbor 'thinks' she walked.
-wormtown medic

You're right -- WEMS IS a privatized service.Which means the City of Worcester gets one of the best EMS services in the nation absolutely free of charge.You don't have to pay our salaries, our retirements, our worker's comp when we get injured. You don't have to contribute to the Worc County Retirement System or 111F for when we get hurt.
-On the EA

I did a google search on the ems program. It says that it is run by UMASS Memorial which, appears to make it a state program. Who do you think owns this?
-west coast rich

None of these medics deserves to be fired.All four are exemplary employees and are the kind of medic you want coming through your door when you're critically ill.In fact, the female complainant mentioned in the story went so far as to track medics Humphrey and Feeney down in the weeks after they saved her life to thank them, tearfully, for, well, saving her life.She also put up a tribute to both medics on her social networking site.Of course, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that said tribute disappeared right after Caywood's first article appeared in April, about a year after her 'incident.'It's also interesting that none of this appeared in the newspaper article.I'd be interested to compare today's Caywood piece to the 'confidential' report filed by the state compliance coordinator.Something tells me they'd be close enough to count as plagiarism, were that something newspapers cared about anymore...
-And You Thought It Ended With Ken Powers

Dear 'Do Your Own Job'EMT's and medicas ABSOLUTELY have to have MDs orders.... it called medical direction. Yes they have to do assessments but they DO NOT diagnose. And anytime an RN questions a paramedic or eludes you are not up there with the almighty we are classified as 'BUTT WIPERS' etc.. This is why some paramedics dont get the respect they deserve. As for this case, there are many facts not mentioned. UMass is #1 in the state #2 in the COUNTRY for surviving a heart attack and you can start by thanking the paramedics who look at the patients EKG and notice they may be having a heart attack. This allows for the pt to go directly to the cath lab. Time is muscle. The EMTs and Paramedics have a very difficult job and for what they are exposed to are grossly underpaid. T&G should be supporting the wonderful resources of this city and not reporting such an irresponsible story!!!
-Another RN

WEMS is a privatized EMS Service.
-It is a privatized EMS Service

I can solve this problem in four words:'Privatize your EMT sevice'
-west coast rich

Worcester EMS is now an even better organization due to this case. They have taken drastic measures and will continue to keep an closer eye on the cowboys that bring a bad name to the majority good medics here trying to do the most good.Now stop bickering and name calling. Its currently 72 degrees and sunny. Walk away from the PC.
-Massachusetts Medic

I totally agree with the comments referring to the fact that there is no safe,rapid way to extricate a morbidly obese pt out of a structure. Until then, we will have to rely on the old fashioned way. These few providers seem to have made a mistake. Lessons learned,improvements implemented. lets move on! To the 95% of the talking heads commenting here and there who have never carried a 400+ lb person down 3 flights of stairs that are only 36' wide(if youre lucky), in a 100+ yr old building,(with no street numbers) with rotting stairs,little or no lighting, on a 95 degree day. Or better yet,same scenario but in February when the outside stairs have 30' of snow piled high and still--no lights on. Oh yeah--add the oxygen tank around your neck, the heart monitor slung over your partners back, and an IV bag lodged somewhere. And then, once you get to the hospital, no thank you from said pt. So to all of those who are taking potshots at WEMS or another 'ambulance driver' (i prefer ambulance attendant or gurneyperson myself) you should keep your thoughts to yourself. Or better yet---schedule a night shift ride along and walk up a flight or two or 10 in our boots.
-Boston Medic

Hmmm, ok 10 complaints in 2 years out of approximately 60,000 calls. Something seems fishy here, it also appears that UMass maintains an excellent staff of EMT's and paramedics, some with existing problems. How about firing these people??? Are these people state employees??? That would make senses, as we know any level of government can screw up as much as they want and still have a job. All these people should have been fired including the mangers, what a joke!!! Great reporting on this, keep the heat on until all these people are fired and never allowed to be EMT's or paramedics again in any state!!!
-mike81m

-You put your foot in your mouth, you should follow your own advice. I doubt you know much more about this case than what you read in the article. I would never defend someone's inappropriate treatment of a patient.I agree that there appears to be a deriliction of duty but that is if you assume the word of the patient and reporter as gospel. There is only one side of the story presented here. Articles like this are what 'undermines the respect and prestige deserved by those EMS providers who operate according to those standards and are worthy to be called life savers.'
-wormtown medic

A wise person once said 'it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.' Some of you would do well to heed that advice.The issue here is a number of people, and I think it a small number, within WEMS have been derelict in their duty. Whether you like it or not, that is the phrase used to describe someone who has a duty to act according to set guidelines and principles and fails to do so. It is absolutely true, EMS workers whether private, municipal, fire based or otherwise save lives. They do so when they are able to apply their cognitive and psychomotor skills in accordance with standing orders, protocols, and standard operating procedures within their scope of practice.The poster calling yourself 'Do your own job', no one within EMS operates without the supervision of a Dr. In the EMS world they are called a Medical Director. An EMT whether Basic, Intermediate, or Paramedic cannot take any action without the approval of a competent medical authority. They receive this direction through 1) state protocols, 2) standing orders, 3) direct contact through Worcester CMED or via telephone.Take away the name of the company and the names of the two EMTs in this article and look solely at the scenario. The actions taken were inappropriate and would be a good case study for what not to do on an EMS call.Those who advocate for people based solely on their particular occupation rather than on the adherence to high ethical and professional standards have a very hollow case. Anyone who claims to be an EMS provider and tries to justify the improper actions of people who did not follow proper procedures only further serves to erode the public's confidence in a vitally needed service in addition to proving the ignorance of the author. It also undermines the respect and prestige deserved by those EMS providers who operate according to those standards and are worthy to be called life savers.
-You put your foot in your mouth

Whoa, this is a tough room to be a dead horse in. A rehash of old news. A fine piece of muckraking there Mr. Caywood. You will probably be the only one cashing in on this article. I work at WEMS and know the truth, one of the calls was reviewed at M&M rounds shortly after the incident and the medics were commended. Someone isn't being entirely truthful, I wonder who. The reason you didn't talk to the medics involved is because we are bound by regulations that prohibit us from sharing a patient's medical information, not because we didn't want to. These same regulations prohibit people ridng along as observers or I would invite you to come see how we really work. Ask The Center for Cardiovascular Excellance at UMass how we do with cardiac patients and you will be blown away. Ask your own Mr. Nemeth how we do, I'm sure he will back us too. Go ask about us at WoMag, go to any emergency room in the city, that is where you will find your pattern of behavior. Not in the minority of complaints or the biased view of a state investigator.
-wormtown medic

To Do Your Own Job,You're a little bit too sensitive! You say, 'Do your own job and stopping trying to comment on things you do not know about.' Yet you tell me to do what I do best 'wiping butts'. You are clueless to what I do everyday. Listen, I know that EMTs are highly trained, skilled medical progessionals just like me. Aren't we all on the same team here with the same goal of providing the best care to our patients within the scope of our own practice? Yes, when a patient rolls into the ER with chest pain, I do count on the EMT for report. My point was you are NOT qualified to diagnose the problem. Neither is a nurse. Only a doctor can diagnose.RN
-RN

I appreciate all the lives saved by these dedicated servants in our community. I for one can not thank you enough, not because I have used this service, but I work at UMMS and see the fruits of your labors. You are special men and women.
-EMT's do their best, Thank You so Much

M -- don't get ahead of yourself big fella. On a typical shift in Worcester, we move, carry, transport and otherwise move to the hospital AT LEAST 3 to 4 400+ pound patients per truck per shift (that's in addition to the 12 to 20 calls we already do on a typical 12-hour shift). They ALL get treated with dignity and respect, no matter the toll their treatment (some of whom go multiple times per month) takes on our backs and legs and arms. As I write this I can think immediately of a half-dozen regular patients who top 650 pounds, and a couple approaching 800. We are sympathetic to their condition, and if you asked them would tell you that we do everything we can to spare them embarrassment, up to and including sacrificing our own health and, potentially, careers. I have to wonder what compassion YOU have for the several medics per year forced to go out on extended medical disability with significant back injuries incurred while moving the morbidly obese?My guess is probably none.The morbidly obese are probably the single greatest challenge to street EMS right now, as no equipment exists to move them that guarantees the safety of the patient, and the crews working on them, while also facilitating a speedy exit in the case of acute emergency.Many patients have simply physically exceeded the existing technology, and that's a problem no matter whether you work on the streets of Worcester, Boston, Bumbleyville or NYC.
-On the EA

To the RN, Rocket Scientist and Others who do not and will never know the job that EMS do. To the RN you need orders from the MD to do your job, these EMTP have to do their assessment and determine the best treatment for the patient, without a Dr telling them what to do. These men and women say lives everyday and never read that on the front page of the T&G(unless they were fire personnel). Ms or Mr. RN just keep doing what you do best... WIPING BUTTS!!!!Rocket Scientist, I would welcome you to go to a house and carry an OBESE patient down 3 stairs never mind 3 flights, or 10 stairs. EMT's need to get the patient to the ambulance as time is so crucial especially cardiac patient and when your on scene time takes 30+ minutes to get this patient care, that is what causes damage. Having a patient walk so they can treat them ASAP is what matters. The others who stated 'A patient's Past History (P under the SAMPLE method) is only one part of the equation. You need to do a proper primary and secondary and get all of the information and put it in context to properly treat the patient.' Well I'm glad that you did your studying and can memorize. But can you use the skill that these men and women do daily?My mother has COPD and many other medical issues have had WEMS at her house on many accounts. I have witness them talking my mother into going to the hospital because she thinks it's just her anxiety. Due to them getting my mother out to their ambulance to treat her as fast as they can, they have walked my mother (who is overweight) down stair to do so. I thank them everyday that the talked her into going to the hospital and I know if the medic brought in a stair chair, cot or whatever she would change her mind and not go to the hospital, because she is embarrassed and feels that would bring more attention to her by bystanders. Do your own job and stopping trying to comment on things you do not know about.Thank you WEMS
-Do Your Own Job

Now that a potential cash settlement is involved for the 'victims' here, I'd like to say that when I was having chest pain, EMS made me walk down 7 flights of stairs, then go back up to get the stretcher they left behind. Then they made me walk down the stairs again with one of them on my back. Then they made me drive the ambulance to the hospital myself while they napped in the back. They made me hook up my own paddles to my chest and shock myself because they thought I was fine. Then they made me pull the ambulance over at a nearby tavern and made me sit there while they went in and drank on the job for over an hour. Then they billed me for damage done to the ambulance as I knicked the bumper backing it into the hospital parking space. Finally they dropped me at the back door of the ER and slapped me in the face before speeding away in the truck. I think I should be compensated. Doesn't matter that I'm 800 pounds and live on the 22nd floor. (How do I get upstairs if I can't get down?) Doesn't matter that I didn't want to go to the hospital and was combative and drunk when they showed up to transport me. Doesn't matter that they continued to act professional when I was acting like a five year old. I hit the jackpot when I actually did have a heart attack as it gave me the means to be financially compensated for inadequate treatment. It makes my other 753 calls to EMS for chest pain all worth it. WEMS- we love you, you know that we in the hospital couldn't do our jobs without you. You are all tremendous in what you do despite the garbage pay. Keep your heads up, all of you WEMS medics, this too shall pass.
-Grow up

Massachusetts EMS - You said your largest patient was over 600 lbs and you did not carry 'that'. Is a large person beneath the dignity of being referred to as 'her' or 'him'? I would not expect you to carry someone that large if they were able to walk down the stairs - but I would expect them to be treated with dignity and compassion. Your response makes me think you didn't have either of those for your largest patient.
-m

I work with the Umass medics every week and see the job they do. These are skilled, professional people doing a great job under difficult circumstances. Patients sometimes refuse to be carried, patients sometimes walk despite being warned of the danger, patients are sometimes less than cooperative. If the medics were to carry every patient that they transported the city would soon be without medics. Injuries would claim the vast majority of them. I think some of the critics are unaware of the volume of calls the medics respond to and the nature of many of these calls. It would be an understatement to say that some members of the public may not be aware of what constitutes a medical emergency. The people calling for help are most likely experiencing a true emergency or believe themselves to be but there is a huge difference between chest pain and a sore hand, say. Both patients may insist that they be transported and both may actually be transported but does any one think both should be carried down three flights via stair chair? The medics involved with Mr. Rondeau clearly made the wrong decision and were punished. Adjustments have been and continue to be made to the sytem. Designing protocols so broadly that all patients need to be carried is more about avoiding lawsuits than treating patients. Let's not blame the medics as a whole because as a whole they're doing a great job.
-Siding with the medics

Please comment only on the article.
-Lindy

My husband had need of the Worcester EMS on multiple occassions, and on every occassion they, the fire department and police department, arrived quickly and were very kind and professional. I am sorry for the other's losses however I can say that each and every time I had the occassion, and very stresful occassions that they arrived they took charge, knew what to do and listened to the specific needs that my husband had.
-Lo

Methinks Mr. Markiewicz smells a payday.
-Max Pixel

To Massachusetts EMS,Don't forget you'te an EMT. NOT an MD. You are not qualified to diagnose a patient. Your job is to get the patient to the hospital so the proper tests and diagnosis can be made. Patients with cardiac symptoms are to be 'ruled out' for an MI.
-RN

Massachusetts EMS Says: 'The thing is, if any one of you spent time in the field, you'd understand that a patient can actually say the wrong thing that makes you believe the situation isn't as bad as once thought. You could call in a chest tightness and by the time I get there, you tell me you have a history of anxiety attacks and that this feels like the same thing all over again. That comment just aided in putting any cardiac assumptions secondary to anxiety.'Massachusetts EMS, this is an ignorant statement and clearly shows you don't understand the purpose of a primary and secondary survey, a basic tenant of your job. A patient's Past History (P under the SAMPLE method) is only one part of the equation. You need to do a proper primary and secondary and get all of the information and put it in context to properly treat the patient.And by the way, anxiety is usually caused by stress. People under stress have been known to have heart attacks. I will add that anxiety symptoms are very similar to cardiac symtoms and what I've been taught and learned through my experience is that you treat for the worse case scenario. It is a 'ruled out process'.All you did is just make a negative case against yourself as an EMS provider by showing your ignorance. Your 'if any of you spent anytime in the field' statement clearly shows you're one of those people who thinks 'forget everything you learned in training, this is how we do it in the field' people.The fact of the matter is that the protocol, and this is not just in Massachusetts either, is that the patient is transported by the EMS people on a suitable tool for that purpose (stretcher, backboard, stairchair, whatever), to the ambulance. It is NEVER acceptable to make a patient walk to the ambulance if your transporting them. Stop making excuses for improper treatment. The public is counting on you to get it right.
-You put your foot in your mouth

So here we again. How about the Telegram does an article as to how many calls a year WEMS does, and how people abuse the '911 Cab' in the City. How about the state investigates the number of lives that they save every year ? How about Steve Haynes,again no call back,what was his reprimant for the last time this happened ? Enough is enough all you pencil pushers from the state need to hit the road again I am sure it has been a while and some of you have no EMS backround hmmmm amazing
-Dw

This article states that the patient who died, Mr. Rondeau, walked down 3 flights of stairs. It then goes on to state another female patient walked down a 'flight of 10 stairs'. Why does it fail to mention just how many stairs Mr. Markiewicz walked down when it was so specific with the amount of stairs the female patient walked down? Could be Mr. Markiewicz is exagerrating how many stairs his front steps have? Perhaps the reporter didn't get that fact from Mr. Markiewicz in his telephone interview.
-just sayin

Ok, first of all - not even the reporter who wrote this one-sided story knows exactly what went on that day. Seems he neglected to tell you one patient was over 400lbs. The other patient needs to get their story straight, it even states that the reason these cases are still being investigated is due to the patient and EMS story discrepancies. EMS personnel CANNOT carry everyone. My largest pt was 613lbs and I sure didn't carry that. It took 6 EMTs and 4 Firefighters to strap him to a backboard and slide him down the stairs. Took us 36 minutes to get him out of a 5th floor apartment. He had shortness of breath and coded by the time we pulled into the ER parking lot. You going to site me for taking to long on that one too? Let's time you.I also have words for the 'rocket scientist.' If you had bothered to read the article thoroughly, you would have understood that the line stating that the paramedics were 'trying to cover it up,' had nothing to do with these two patients. It was referring to the article that preceeded this one a few months back. Idiot.The thing is, if any one of you spent time in the field, you'd understand that a patient can actually say the wrong thing that makes you believe the situation isn't as bad as once thought. You could call in a chest tightness and by the time I get there, you tell me you have a history of anxiety attacks and that this feels like the same thing all over again. That comment just aided in putting any cardiac assumptions secondary to anxiety. I'm sure if the reporter had bothered to tell you how long these crews were onscene assessing their patients, the story would somehow have a different tone. The problem is, not ALL of the facts were reported. And since I was a journalist before I went into the medical field, I can hoestly tell you that selling papers, ESPECIALLY in a rough economy, will always trump factual accuracy. You just sell more papers when you have to apologize for the errors...
-Massachusetts EMS

Rocket Scientist, wake up and smell the agenda. This happended 22 months ago and just NOW makes the front page, right after a law suit was filed? This guy is jumping on the bandwagon because he smells a payday. If he was that concerned about the care he received he would have been all over this BEFORE he saw that there was a $lawsuit$ brewing.
-captain obvious

I have to get my two cents worth in here...when I was having exacerbated COPD and could not breathe easily, I was also walked out to the ambulance as well, bare-footed, in the slushy February snow.
-Sharon

I just wanted to thank the men and women of the Umass EMS system. I am no one special, when I was hurt and needed emergency medical attention,the paramedics who responded treated me like I was somebody. Thank you for making a bad situation that much better for me as well as all of the other people you have helped over the years.
-Ahhhh Worcester, we're almost there!

Obviously they knew they screwed up if they were trying to cover up their mistakes. It was not a witch hunt.Nice try.
-a Rocket Scientist

we as a americans are fat lazy people, god forbid you get some exercise and eat healthy so you don't have to worry about someone carrying you down a flight of stairs.
-silly goose

So we are talking 3-4 calls out of 30,000.... We had better get to the bottom of this!! In the meantime lets bash all paramedics, second guess all of their experience and insist that anyone who calls an ambulance be carried no matter how trivial the complaint or dangerous the staircase.
-enough already

Well, Rocket Scientist, if you knew what a witch hunt was, and had half a brain and could put two and two together and figure out why certain complaints lie dormant for two years, and aren't lodged until AFTER a front page hit job by this newspaper appeared in April, with the attendant threat of a multi-million dollar lawsuit, you'd probably come to the conclusion that you shouldn't believe everything you read in the paper...but then again, you already admitted you're no rocket scientist....
-On the EA

I have very limited training in first aid and medical responses....but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if someone is complaining of chest pains and possibly having a heart attack....you don't make them exert themselves by walking down stairs.I don't see how they figure $500,000 worth of technology will fix what common sense should already tell you.
-a rocket scientist

COMING SOON

2009-07-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Stickers! Get one for any size donation to IAEP Local 95.

Providence Street PIA

2009-07-15T06:58:00.000-07:00

Recently there has been a big push by our supervisors to stage a truck on the apron of the the abandoned Providence Street fire station. I didn't understand why, until Monday. While parked on the apron, because we still can't occupy the building, we were approached by a woman. She explained to us that she never sees any ambulances at the station so she and her neighbors have been calling their city councilors and state representative daily. They have been demanding the ambulances that the city promised them when they closed the fire station. I tired to explain to her that we have been there as our very busy schedule allows but she believes we have never been there until she started her campaign. I tried to explain to her we cannot replace a fire company but she did not care. She only wanted what she was promised by the city, ambulances at the station. We did not matter to her. She asked me how I liked it there. I told her we cannot get into the building and her response was "You don't seem to mind hanging out at Kelly Square." I replied if there was at least coffee and a bathroom here I may make more of an effort to be here.

Raising the white flag-

On the next day, Car Two noticed on his Fleeteyes program that no one was in Providence Street area so we were sent there. He didn't say where exactly so....

Here we are in front of 64 Dorchester Street. The residence of the woman who complains that we are never in the area. The next time she calls and complains, show her this. Of course we weren't there very long, precious down time wasted on political nonsense.

Since we had to respond to a call, another unit was sent to the station. After we cleared the hospital, we grabbed some coffee to bring to the exiled crew. We arrived to find the same woman yelling across the intersection, proclaiming that her calls had caused us to be there.

I was able to obtain some pictures taken of the interior. I wasn't surprised. The place is a dump. Years of neglect had taken their toll. I see why the city was so quick to send the firefighters to Franklin Street when they started complaining about mold issues and illnesses.

Here's the apparatus floor, plaster falling from the second floor ceiling down the pole chute.

Here is a second floor ceiling loaded with green and black mold.

Here is the ceiling above the pole on the second floor. Extensive water damage causing plaster to fall and mold growth.

There are numerous rodent traps in the building. The paint, probably lead based, is peeling badly everywhere. A third of the windows have been broken by neighborhood vandals. The longer the building is vacant, the worse it will get.

It is going to take a considerable amount of money to renovate this place. Money the city doesn't have right now. I first expressed my concerns with this idea almost a year ago, and it may be another year before anyone actually occupies this station again. I hope you're happy lady.

BEMS Chief to take FEMA job

2009-07-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Congrat's to Chief Serino, I only wish it were a WEMS alumni.

http://www.emsresponder.com/web/online/Top-EMS-News/Boston-EMS-Chief-Tapped-for-FEMA-Post/1$9872

MILTON J. VALENCIA
The Boston Globe

Richard A. Serino, the unassuming Dorchester native who climbed the ranks from Codman Hill to the head of Boston Emergency Medical Services over the past 36 years, has been chosen by President Obama to assume the number two post at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Obama announced yesterday that he is nominating Serino as deputy administrator of the federal agency. Pending Senate approval, the 55-year-old could be designing emergency response plans for major cities across the country and managing responses to disasters ranging from hurricanes to terrorist attacks.
In his new position, Serino would serve at a critical time for the country's homeland security operations and would lead an agency that has come under criticism for its poor response plans before, particularly the handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"I am honored, but truly humbled," said Serino, a father of three whose wife is an emergency room nurse. To think, he said, "I'm just a kid from Dorchester."
The opportunity came as a surprise. He received a call from Washington, D.C., asking if he was interested, to which he replied, "I don't know, let me talk to a few people about it." And within weeks, he was told the job was his if he wanted it.
Across the city yesterday, public officials and community representatives said the job was well deserved, crediting Serino with transforming a small emergency response team into a nationally recognized emergency management agency. They praised him for evolving personally from a young paramedic into a chief of a department that handles 100,000 medical calls each year, coordinates medical safety for massive celebrations, and manages major disasters.
"Richie's one of those special guys, always there," Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday. "He's thorough, astute, a big win for the federal government. You couldn't ask for a better individual."
Said Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser: "Rich has strong leadership, a great set of management skills he can take into his new position. I'm happy for the guy."
Tall and barrel-chested, Serino never shies from being at the center of command posts in the city's largest operations, ranging from the recent Green Line trolley crash that sent dozens of people to the hospital to preparations for celebrations following Red Sox World Series wins.
David Mugar, executive director of the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, recalled Serino as just a young paramedic patrolling in the early years of the Fourth of July celebration. Now in its 36th year, the event has grown to become the most famed in the country, and Serino and his operation have grown alongside with it, Mugar said.
Nearly four decades ago, Mugar pointed out, EMS had as few as two ambulances, while today Serino oversees a crew of some 300 paramedics and emergency management technicians.
"There's just no comparison today at all, and what I've watched is his ability to grow with it," Mugar said. "I've seen him get to the very top of the Boston EMS, and he brought everyone along with him. He's a leader."
Having held jobs ranging from EMT to superintendent to chief, Serino also serves as assistant director of the Boston Public Health Commission. He has spoken at Harvard and Boston universities about homeland security and emergency preparedness strategies and served as a national faculty member for the US Department of Defense Domestic Preparedness Program.
In addition, Serino has participated in senior leadership programs in national preparedness and homeland defense at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and at the Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security.
But in Boston, he is known as the chief from Dorchester, whose parents grew up in Dorchester, who went to St. Gregory Elementary School and then Catholic Memorial High School. He has two brothers, one who lives in Peabody and another on Cape Cod.
If approved, Serino would be based at FEMA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Much of his duties would be administrative. But the chief, who still recalls his days as a volunteer on one of the city's few ambulances decades ago, said he hopes to help on scene with some of the country's most critical events, as well.
"The biggest thing is you work with people, listen to people, build relationships," Serino said. "That's what I'll continue to do, work with people."

EMS Memorial Bike Ride

2009-05-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

This year WEMS paramedics Linda Dillon and Russ Smith will be riding in the last east coast memorial ride. The ride starts in Tarrytown, NY and ends in Roanoke, VA. You can follow along here:
http://muddyangels.org/?p=529

Good luck and a safe ride.
Here's a few pics from the road:

Starting out-

Maryland SP Dedication -

Washington, D.C.-

They Made It!

Arriving at The Hotel Roanoke.

Great Job! I rode this ride in 2002 and know how challenging it can be. Thank you for representing those of us who couldn't go.

WEMS EMS Week Con ED and BBQ

2009-05-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

The Telegram article

2009-04-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Found at Telegram.com:

WORCESTER —
It was Mother’s Day last year, and Joan S. Rondeau was at work caring for elderly residents of a local nursing home when she got a telephone call that filled her with dread.
It was her daughter on the line. Mrs. Rondeau’s husband, Charles, wasn’t feeling well but was reluctant to go to the hospital. He had broken out in a sweat and was short of breath. “Ignore what he said. Hang up and call an ambulance,” Mrs. Rondeau instructed her daughter. A colleague gave her a ride home from work. She dashed up the front staircase of the Winfield Street three-decker and found two UMass Memorial EMS paramedics steadying her stricken husband as they walked him down the three flights of stairs — a violation of state standards of care that was later left out of their written report. Half an hour later, Charles F. Rondeau was pronounced dead by an emergency room doctor at St. Vincent Hospital at 2:34 p.m. on May 11, 2008. The 48-year-old parking lot attendant had suffered an “extensive anterior wall myocardial infarction,” a massive heart attack, according to medical records. After his burial in Hope Cemetery, as the initial numbing shock wore off, the grieving family began to question why a man complaining of chest pains and so clearly in distress would be made to exert himself by descending three flights of steep stairs. It didn’t make sense to them. “Even a little kid knows that when you’re having a heart attack, any movement is going to make your heart beat faster,” said Mrs. Rondeau’s son, Shamus Waller. Mrs. Rondeau’s daughter, Aisha A. Waller, noticed in the medical records a handwritten report from the ambulance service indicating Mr. Rondeau had been carried down the steps by the paramedics. She said she called in June to question the discrepancy and spoke to the chief of UMass Memorial EMS, Stephen Haynes. “I told him that was not true. He asked me how I knew that, and I told him I was there. He said he’d check and that he’d get back to me,” Ms. Waller said. “While I was talking to him, I didn’t feel like he was taking me seriously.” Mr. Haynes never called back, she said.
The family contacted a Boston law firm and in late December, on the advice of their lawyer, complained to state regulators, triggering a state Department of Public Health investigation that began in January. The four-month investigation uncovered serious, widespread and persistent problems within the ambulance service that extend beyond what happened to Mr. Rondeau, according to a stinging Notice of Serious Deficiency issued by the DPH earlier this month. The state notice and investigation report did not identify the patient, nor did UMass Memorial Medical Center officials in interviews, but the Telegram & Gazette learned his name through other means. Among the more troubling findings of the investigation was the written report of the medical call, the “trip record,” had been falsified by one of the paramedics to show that Mr. Rondeau was carried down from the third floor in an extrication device called a stair chair. When pressed by the state investigator, the paramedics later admitted that Mr. Rondeau in fact had been walked down the stairs, as the family had said. The paramedics, Seth Peters of Worcester and Jonathan C. Hanson of Princeton, told the investigator that they walked Mr. Rondeau down the stairs because Worcester firefighters hadn’t yet arrived to help them carry the stair chair, according to the state investigation report. That turned out to be another lie. The state investigator, Renee D. Lake, determined through dispatch records that Worcester Fire had arrived at the home at 1:47 p.m. — five minutes before the UMass ambulance. What’s more, Worcester Fire Department audio recordings showed that Capt. John Horan of Engine 4 had radioed the ambulance from the Rondeau’s apartment to notify the paramedics en route that the patient was experiencing severe chest pains, difficulty breathing, profuse sweating and had a history of heart disease. On the audiotape, one of the paramedics can be heard acknowledging receipt of the transmission, according to the report. In 2007, the city signed a five-year contract with UMass Memorial Medical Center to provide ambulance service for city residents over the objections of fire officials, who had sought to take over responsibility for EMS services in Worcester. The investigation report by the DPH’s Office of Emergency Medical Services faulted UMass Memorial EMS and the two paramedics for failing to provide care for a patient in accordance with state treatment protocols and for knowingly making false statements in a trip record as well as in interviews with the investigator. The apparent cover-up attempt prompted the agency to refer the two paramedics, Mr. Peters and Mr. Hanson, to the DPH’s Office of General Counsel for suspension of their EMT certifications. The suspensions were pending as of late last week, but both men were fired by UMass Memorial EMS this month after the state report was issued, a spokeswoman said. “We don’t often see falsification of documents,” said Abdullah Rehayem, director of the DPH’s Office of Emergency Medical Services. “What the EMTs had done was severe enough for us to make the recommendation we made in the report.” Mr. Peters, who wrote the trip record, did not respond to a call requesting an interview for this story. Mr. Hanson, who has an unlisted telephone number, did not respond to a note left at his home. According to the state report, Mr. Peters told the investigator that he mistakenly wrote that Mr. Rondeau had been carried down the stairs out of force of habit, because the practice is so common, and because he was in a hurry to get the paperwork to hospital staff. But the problems uncovered in the investigation went beyond the actions of the two paramedics, both of whom had no previous record of state disciplinary action. The notice of deficiency lays out a list of serious problems, including failure to ensure personnel meet state regulations, failure to comply with state laws, failure to provide personnel with appropriate policies and failure to maintain an effective quality assurance program. The ambulance service also was criticized for not ensuring that its paramedics consistently begin advanced life support on first contact with a patient, rather that waiting until he or she is extricated to an ambulance. All of the shortcomings outlined in the report had been previously identified during an annual licensing inspection in April 2008 and were supposed to have been corrected, according to DPH. “In summary, the Department, through this investigation, has discovered that as a result of UMass Memorial EMS not adhering to it previously submitted Plan of Correction, it cannot ensure that its personnel are in compliance with the Statewide Treatment Protocol,” the notice of deficiency concludes. As a result of the doubts raised by the investigation, the DPH suspended the ambulance service’s permission to perform rapid sequence intubation, an advanced medical procedure to quickly insert a breathing tube in the field. Although the procedure wasn’t necessary in Mr. Rondeau’s case, the deficiencies uncovered in the resulting investigation prompted the suspension, officials said. “That step was taken because we were unable to determine that quality assurance measures were in place,” DPH’s Mr. Rehayem said. “We found it necessary to terminate the project temporarily. That project has since been reinstated for UMass Memorial EMS.” After the T&G began inquiring about the case, and nearly a year after Mr. Rondeau died, UMass Memorial Medical Center e-mailed a memo about the incident and the state report to its physicians and staff on Wednesday evening. The memo, sent under the name of Dr. Walter Ettinger, the Medical Center’s president, praised the hospital’s paramedics but acknowledged an “isolated incident not in keeping with our standards of care.” The note to staff did not address the broader lack of compliance with standards, regulations and treatment protocols detailed in the state report. In an interview, Dr. Ettinger expressed his deep sympathy for the Rondeau family’s loss, but he disputed the state’s claim that the ambulance service was beset with problems and had failed to comply with its earlier correction plan. Dr. Ettinger said UMass Memorial EMS officials didn’t get a chance to speak with the investigator before she filed her report and could have clarified many of the issues she raised. “We believe it was an isolated incident. We have no evidence that this at all reflects the care we deliver or the standards our professionals are asked to meet,” Dr. Ettinger said. “When we found out about this, those paramedics were terminated.” Dr. Ettinger said hospital officials only learned of the incident after the state issued the notice of serious deficiency earlier this month. But the Rondeau family maintains UMass Memorial Medical Center would have known about it last year had Mr. Haynes, the ambulance service chief, followed up on their complaints. Mr. Haynes told the state investigator that he did not have enough information from the family to investigate the call any further and that he did not speak to either of the paramedics or take any other steps to address the family’s concerns, according to the report. “The impression we had here, and we looked into this thoroughly, we did not know about this particular incident from the family. The impression was that somebody had called and just asked what our policies and procedures were,” Dr. Ettinger said. Aisha Waller said that characterization is not true. Dr. Ettinger said he couldn’t discuss whether Mr. Haynes or any other supervisors had been reprimanded or disciplined as a result of the incident. “I can assure you we have done everything to prevent this in the future, and that everybody who is accountable is being held accountable,” he said. The DPH’s Mr. Rehayem said that, as of last week, the ambulance service was in the final stages of finalizing a new plan of correction to address the issues raised by the investigation. By coincidence, its annual license inspection was scheduled to begin this week as well. Mr. Rehayem said the service need not have corrected all the problems detailed in the report to get its license renewed, but must show satisfactory progress toward full compliance with the various laws, regulations and treatment protocols. Meanwhile, with the first anniversary of Mr. Rondeau’s death looming three weeks away, the Rondeau family remains tormented by one final question: What if the paramedics had followed the proper protocol and carried him down the stairs in a special chair? “It seems like to me my father would still be alive if they had done their jobs right,” Mr. Waller said. “It makes you wonder how many others?” Mrs. Rondeau reflected. “Not saying that they do this all the time, but when people call saying they’re having chest pains, you have to take that seriously. It can be a matter of life and death — as we found out.” Nearly a year later, rows of sympathy cards remain neatly lined up on a kitchen counter in the family’s third-floor apartment. Mrs. Rondeau said she has no plans to put them away any time soon. The family’s lawyer, Andrew Meyer of the Boston firm Lubin & Meyer, said he expects to file a medical malpractice lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court within the next two months. Mrs. Rondeau, who is struggling to hold the family together on her modest salary as a certified nursing assistant at Parsons Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, said she’s dreading Mother’s Day next month. “Mother’s Day is going to be a very difficult hump to get over because it’s going to be a year since he’s been gone,” she said. “I don’t want to go into the depressed mode I was in when it first happened,” Mrs. Rondeau said. “I’m not saying I want to just get over it fast, but I have to earn a living by myself now. I have to function.” Contact Thomas Caywood by e-mail at tcaywood@telegram.com.

So you're a medic?

2009-04-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

What makes people think they are EMS experts?
I routinely arrive at a call and begin getting directions from family members, firefighters, and bystanders. And it's usually nonsense. What the hell did you call me for if you all know so god damned much?
I like to think I am quite competent. I have been doing this job for over twenty years. I don’t need some firefighter to come running over and show me how to buckle a stretcher strap. I needed the help carrying granny’s 400-pound fat ass down the stairs. Where were you? Making sure the truck didn’t roll away? Telling the family how you wouldn't be there when the budget cuts roll around?
I walk up to a door and the family tells me, “You need to bring the chair.” I do? Why do I need a stair chair for a nosebleed? A coworker was recently reprimanded because the family didn’t like how a patient was moved. What the hell? Who made them the masters of loads, lifts and carries? Do they have any training at all? NO!
Still, people insist on telling me where to park the ambulance so I don’t hinder traffic, or block a visiting nurse’s escape. Did anyone bother to think I have to carry someone a block now to get to the ambulance?
Carrying them past the fire engine, past the police cruiser, past the concerned passerby’s cars. I tell you what; here’s my coat. The keys are in the truck. I’ll go get a coffee and when you’re done come get me. Since you’re such an expert. Better yet, go tell the police officer how to direct traffic, tell the firefighter where the hose needs to go, go tell the mailman where to send the mail. That’s absurd, right? You have no idea how to do their jobs. Guess what John Q. Public? You don’t know how to do mine either. So step back, shut up, and stay out of my way. If I want help I’ll ask for it.

The "Rock" saga continues.

2009-03-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

According to today's telegram.com article found here:

http://telegram.com/article/20090312/NEWS/903120613/1101/LOCAL

“UMass will begin staging ambulances, when not in service to or from a call for a medical emergency, on the apron of the Providence Street station, effective Friday,” Mr. O’Brien said. “UMass will fully occupy the Providence Street station upon completion of the renovations.”

Wow! I get to park outside the station and wait for calls. Fortunately, it won't be a long wait. Our current call volume and staffing level prevents us from sitting around.

In case of emergency...

2009-02-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

My partner and I responded to a man down call on Main St. near the local shelter. On arrival we found a fifty year old male who was well known to us for his alcohol abuse problem. He had fallen and suffered a suturable laceration over his right eye. He didn't want to go to the ER but we convinced him to go and get sutured.
It was a rather busy afternoon in the ER so we were directed to triage where he was assessed by the nurse. She then directed us to registration before we were to take him to the waiting room. I need a copy of his demographics, so I stayed with him for the process.
The registration secretary asked all of the usual questions, name, address, etc.. Then she asked him, "Who do you notify in case of emergency?" Without hesitation, he points at me and slurs "These guys." I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard.

2009-01-31T08:42:00.000-08:00

Found here at The Worcester Telegram:

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090130/NEWS/901300628

A little baby in a big, big hurry

FIREFIGHTERS HELP WITH HOME DELIVERY
By Linda Bock TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

lbock@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Earline Aubuchont watched “Amazing Births,” a show dedicated to dramatic stories of labor and deliveries on the Discovery Health Channel Wednesday and thought, “You only see this on TV.” Now she won’t have to watch that show again, because she had her own “amazing birth” yesterday. “I guess I’m one of those people now,” Ms. Aubuchont said from her maternity ward room at UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus yesterday afternoon. “It’s amazing that he’s here.”

She delivered her second child, Arthur John Stebbins Jr., a 6-pound, 19-inch healthy baby boy in less than 30 minutes yesterday morning at her home with the assistance of two paramedics, four firefighters, and police Officer Albert J. Cosenza. Her husband and first-time father, Arthur J. Stebbins, and her 14-year-old daughter, Tricia Aubuchont, lent moral support. Ms. Aubuchont, 38, wasn’t due until Feb. 7, but she thought the baby might arrive during the Super Bowl on Sunday. She said yesterday began as an ordinary day. She woke up in her home at 557 Southwest Cutoff and began to make coffee and to wake her daughter for classes at Worcester Technical High School. Then labor started. Around 8 a.m. her husband called 911. Ms. Aubuchont said her first labor had lasted about three hours. “I knew I deliver quickly, but I never thought I would deliver at home. It was so fast,” Ms. Aubuchont said. “My daughter watched me deliver. I had the baby, and sent her to school. She wanted to go to tell everyone about it. It kind of worked out with the two-hour (weather) delay.” Ms. Aubuchont said the labor and delivery was a total blur. “I was not calm,” she said. “I think the police officer held my hand and helped to keep me calm. He kept reminding me to breathe.” Firefighters who arrived on Engine 15 out of the McKeon Road fire station thought at first they could take Ms. Aubuchont to the hospital to give birth, but were concerned because of her advanced labor. “She couldn’t have made it to the hospital,” Fire Capt. William M. O’Connell said. “She was having strong contractions, and we tried to hold her off until the paramedics arrived.” Capt. O’Connell said he and Firefighter David McAtee and Firefighter Brian Saksa had been in similar situations, but it was a first for Firefighter Jackson Lowbridge, who is a new recruit. “It looked like a pretty healthy boy,” Capt. O’Connell said. “It was textbook.” One of the firefighters drove the ambulance to the hospital on Belmont Street so that Worcester EMS paramedics Rich Nydam and Andrew Joseph could tend to mother and baby. Mr. Nydam said he has been at four “field” births, but it was a first for Mr. Joseph. Mr. Joseph caught the baby after Ms. Aubuchont pushed him out. She gave birth on a couch. “The whole labor — from the time the water broke — was less than 30 minutes,” Mr. Nydam said. “The baby had a nice, strong cry. Babies are born kind of blue, and he pinked up right away. I told her, that’s a keeper.” Mr. Joseph said Ms. Aubuchont did all the work, and he was just happy to help. “I was definitely nervous on the inside,” Mr. Joseph said. He has six years’ experience, three of those years as a medic. “Anytime you encounter a situation for the first time, you get a bit nervous.” “This birth had no complications,” Mr. Joseph said. “It was a beautiful boy.”

A logo?

2009-01-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well, what do you think ? A blatant rip-off of Destination Worcester and Wormtown.org.

It might make a cool t-shirt.

2008-11-28T05:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome home!

The new Franklin St. fire station.

A clip of the bands departing:

A windmill in Worcester?

2008-10-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

As I drove down Houghton St. in the predawn light. I could see something different about the skyline of Vernon Hill. I first thought it was a crane, as I got closer, I could see it was not a crane, but a wind turbine.

How long had that been there unnoticed, I wondered. In a blog dated:

Michael Grandone ⋅ September 23, 2008

"This includes the Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School. Through a collaborative with the state’s renewable energy development agency and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the high school has raised enough money to actually change the sky."

If we had a large tract of unused land, we could build a wind farm on one of Worcester's hills. What about the airport? A 1000 foot hill, perfect. Acres of wind turbines providing renewable energy to the city. I'm no expert but I would guess that a wind farm would make more money than an airport.

CT SWAT Challenge AAR

2008-09-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

This week, I had the pain and pleasure of participating in the Connecticut SWAT Challenge as a team medic with the Central Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council SWAT Team.
It all began on Tuesday the ninth. The team assembled at Auburn PD at 0600 for the ride to Simsbury, CT. We would be competing against thirty three other SWAT teams.
We arrived to find it had rained during the night, making the parking areas a mud bog. Tow trucks were busy pulling out stuck vehicles, some of which were very large SWAT command vehicles. Tuesday was an easy day; we set up our tent and checked gear. We found out we were going to need two snipers. Great. We didn’t have a dedicated sniper with us; an operator was going to fill in with a sniper rifle. We’ll get by though with a little help from Metro SWAT.
There were two competitions, the Smith and Wesson handgun shoot, and the Trijicon rifle shoot. The prize for the top handgun shooter was a new Smith and Wesson handgun. The prize for the rifle shoot was a Trijicon scope. They also gave away a handgun and scope to a random shooter that didn’t win. I shot the handgun course in a light rain. You had to use a provided Smith and Wesson M&P 40 cal. Pistol at four targets at varying distances. I shot well, being one of few who hit the smallest clay target, just not well enough to win.
Shooting was suspended when a deluge came over us. Heavy rain and wind threatened our tent but it held together. We didn’t have hotel rooms yet to run to so we rode out the storm. The rain let up after lunch and shooting was resumed. The rifle shoot was similar to the pistol shoot. You used a provided rifle with a Trijicon TA31 scope. You shot three targets at varied ranges from prone, kneeling, and under a four-inch high platform. I was very impressed with the scope’s versatility. It had a Doctor Optic red dot sight mounted atop it for use at close range. Again, I shot well, but not well enough.
I spent a good amount of time talking to the 80+ vendors that were there. I think every aspect of SWAT operations had a vendor. Anything from tactical uniforms to performance enhancing supplements had a representative to assist and educate you. They gave out the usual shwag and also generously donated prizes. Lots of prizes, over $80,000 worth. We had a number of mandatory demos to go to. We were shown how to fast rope from a portable tower, put on air packs, and breaching doors with shotguns. All things we will need to know for tomorrow. Not every one was familiar with this stuff and the staff didn’t want someone’s first time seeing it, in competition.
We made our way back to the hotel. We stayed at the Avon Old Farms Hotel. A very nice luxury hotel in Avon, CT. It was very odd to see two Bearcat armored vehicles holding a SWAT Challenge banner in front of the main entrance.
Wednesday, September 10th. The real competition begins. We had to report in at 0750. I woke up with a sinus headache and had to find a store for Motrin since I forgot mine at home. The rain had trashed the parking area so no team vehicles were allowed off the pavement. We parked by the CSP range and humped our gear over a mud bog to our tent, a minor inconvenience. Our first competition came around 0900. The times were actually up to an hour later because stuff happens at an event this big, vehicles get stuck, tires go flat, things get forgotten, etc. A moment of silence for New Haven Sgt. Dario Aponte, who was killed in a cruiser accident early this morning.
The Tyco/Scott Mystery Challenge was a sort of hostage rescue scenario. All operators had to wear Scott air packs. A sniper shot initiates the team movement. The team then shotgun breached a door into a small building filled with smoke, recover a friendly, and move out the back to engage targets. Then pull a dummy onto a litter, cuff it, and carry it to the start line where one operator runs up a tower, shoots a target, and fast ropes down to stop the clock. Like all the challenges this week, this was challenging and fun to run. We thought we did well but could be faster.
Around 1030 we were off to the U.S. Armor Hostage Rescue Challenge. Again, a sniper shot starts the event. The team then moves to a row of four windows at different levels to engage targets downrange. Then the team has to go over a six foot wall to a Z shaped balance beam, then walk over a three foot see-saw, (which almost took my nose off when the guy ahead of me went over it), to a steel door. One man rams the door open, I throw distraction device through the door, aiming for a barrel. If it goes in the barrel you get a time bonus, I missed the barrel. After the bang, the team moves through the door and onto tow swinging platforms and engages handgun targets. After all shots are fired we pick up the 175-pound dummy hostage and carry it to the start line to stop the clock. This was another physically challenging event. It looks so much easier from the sidelines. After running the event in 50-pounds of gear, every team comes to the finish line out of breath.
We were served lunch each day by the Fraternal Order of Police. We had hot dogs, cheeseburgers, chip, beans, and drinks. Our next challenge wasn’t for a few hours so we had some time to peruse the vendor tables and joke around at our tent. A ton of great stuff was raffled off in the vendor tents, Revision eyewear, Arcteryx rainwear, S&W handguns, Glocks, and Sigs. The vendors just keep throwing stuff up for free, they’re amazing. A few of the team members not competing came by to watch and cheer us on.
Next up was the Remington Sniper Challenge. We didn’t bring our regular snipers due to schedule conflicts, so one of the guys had a rifle and was going to fill in. But now we need a second sniper and a second rifle. Luckily one of the guys has had some training and was willing to step up and give it his best. We asked another Massachusetts team, Metropolitan SWAT if they could lend us a rifle. They agreed and gave our guy a few pointers. The Army reserve team was also very helpful in providing some tips and tricks of the trade. Our two guys had four minutes to shoot a number of targets at varied ranges from varied positions, one of them from an uneven rooftop prop. The guys had one target left when the horn went off after the four minutes. They came in seventeenth, not bad for a couple of rookies.
At about 1430 we headed over to the EOTech Rifle Challenge. As the name would imply, it was all rifle shooting. I thought we would be at a disadvantage since we were under the impression that no optical sights were allowed, not true, just nothing greater than four-power magnification. Too late, left my sight at home, good thing I’ve been practicing with the iron sights. Anyway, we were told there where red, white, and blue targets, and we would only shoot red targets. A sever penalty would be incurred for shooting the other colored targets. A sniper shot starts us off, two guys head for a barricade and engage targets, when finished, the team moves up to a wall with three holes at different heights for one guy to shoot targets through. After he shoots, I drag the dummy to a sign on the ground and engage three sets of targets. Soda bottles hanging on strings filled with colored water forty to fifty yards away. Two shots standing, two kneeling, and two prone. I shoot the first two and they rupture violently from the water pressure in the bottle. I hear my team cheering, I shoot the next two bottles with the same result and now even the range officer is yelling “Nice shooting right there”. I hit the last two bottles sending water spraying and the crowd cheering “And that’s a medic shooting!” Next man up has to drag the dummy to another sign and shoot then we all drag the dummy back to the barrier and run to the start line to finish. We shot very well, and did it very fast. The excitement gave me a headache you wouldn’t wish upon an enemy. Luckily one of our guys found his stash of Motrin and hooked me up. We happy to learn we came in third.
We were served a BBQ tonight. We had pulled pork, chicken, fiesta corn, and cornbread. It was a great meal. There were also a number of raffles; they gave away some great stuff, including a GSG5 rifle and a Yankee Hills AR-15 upper. I had the opportunity to fire a number of suppressed sniper rifles, MP5’s, AR’s, and handguns. I tried the new KRISS Super V 45 submachine gun. This was a very cool weapon to shoot. It was small and comfortable to shoot. The action, safety/fire selector, and magazine release were all easily manipulated. It fired semi, two shot burst and full auto. The full auto seemed real fast. It was fed by Magpul modified Glock 21 magazines, and I witnessed on failure to fire while it was test fired. I would have liked to try it with a suppressor.
Once it got dark, it was time for the Optical Systems Tech/ITT Night Vision Night stalker shoot. Operators were given different weapon sights, illuminators, and night vision devices for testing. Shooting in total darkness is an opportunity a lot of us don’t often get. Fear not the night, fear what hunts at night.
We headed back to the hotel around 2100. The feared PT Challenge is on every one’s mind. We all call it a night. No beer, no socializing, rest for tomorrow is more important.
Thursday, September 11th.
We have two events scheduled for this morning. First is the First choice Armor/Z-Medica Vehicle Assault Challenge. Unfortunately, the Metacon Gun range has suffered terribly from the rain and vehicle traffic. What was a nice green field is now a mud pit. The tow truck was bringing in the vehicles last night but got stuck so it was decided wisely to forego the vehicles.
Our start was delayed for a 9-11 memorial. It is customary at the club to come down and fire some rounds off to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks. A lone member came by and was then joined by a shooter from every team. Simultaneously, they fired their salute and then quietly left the range.
This challenge had a lot of targets. It started when the sniper fired. The team then rammed a door and threw a distraction device. Two riflemen and a hand-gunner took cover behind a barrel and engaged targets. When finished the team moved to the swinging platform where two operators with handguns engaged targets. When finished, I ran over to a dummy victim that had an injury that needed to be addressed. There was a tactical medic there to oversee care. Once the wounds were packed and dressed, the team had to take the dummy back to the start where the riflemen, would engage more targets and then run to the finish. This one went really fast, and my rifle shooting was again flawless.
The last shooting challenge was the Glock Handgun Challenge. You guessed it, all handgun shooting. A three-man team with a shield starts on the horn. They advance to a door, ram it and throw a DD into a barrel. Then go through the door and engage a row of targets. Move to the next position, reload and move forward shooting on the move, then backward shooting on the move. Reload and move to a barricade shooting three hostage targets. Then move to a litter with 200 pounds of weight on it. Put the ram on top of it and don’t drop it or get penalized. Move with the litter and shield to forty yards and engage targets the back to the start line where the three members of your team repeat the course. We did this one faster than most but our accuracy suffered. We had a great time running the course. We had a great time on every course.
We head back to our tent and break it down. The PT Challenge is a few miles away at a West Hartford reservoir. My anxiety level for the last event is high. I used this event as a goal to train for. We arrive at the reservoir and change into running shoes. We fill Camelbacks and wait for our 1445 start. At that time we are called to the start line with another team.
Station 1- Pugil sticks
For one minute, a member from each team stands on a platform and beat each other. The judges wanted to see enthusiasm and they did. You didn’t think two type A boys would go easy on each other did you?
All teams must carry one pack with a twenty five-pound weight in it for the entire event. You can pass it off to another member if you get tired, but it has to go the whole way. Each team must also carry their guidon. After that is a short run up a hill to Station 2-Kettlebell.
A gentleman with a thick Russian accent greets us with a 72-pound kettle bell. “A little gift from Russia.” That’s two pood for those of you that don’t know. You take the kettle bell and run 50 yards and run back passing to the next member of your team until everyone has gone. Then it’s a very short run to station 3-Bunji.
You hook a large Bunji cord to your belt and run as far as you can, placing a cone at that point. Then run back to the start with the Bunji pulling you down, touch the ground and go get your cone and bring it back to the start. Then run to station 4-Tractor Tires.
Your team must flip three large tractor tires fifty yards without rolling them, and then move them back to the start. Now run a short way up a hill to station 5-Pushups.
Forty pushups with one hand elevated on a brick, alternating hands every ten pushups. Now run over to station 6-Knee Kicks.
Run fifty yards then one person holds a pad while the other does twenty knee kicks, and then run back to start and switch for twenty more knee kicks. Run to station 7-Firehose Crawl.
Unbelievable, this sucked. You had to crawl through a fifty-foot length of culvert pipe while some sicko fireman blasts and inch and a half hose down it. Once a couple guys got through we were allowed to block the stream with our bodies for the other team members. Now run over to station 8-Fireman’s Carry.
Carry your teammate up a steep fifty-yard hill and run to station 9-Bus Crawl.
You had to low crawl a slalom course of cones under a school bus then run to station 10-Sand Bags.
All team members have to climb a steep root ridden, rocky, muddy hill. Four members must carry forty-pound sand bag. Now run to station 11-Car Tire.
Take a car tire and throw it as far as you can and repeat to a flag 75 yards away, then throw it back to the start. Run to station 12-Log Carry.
Carry a five hundred pound log fifty yards up a steep hill and back. Then run to station 13-Team-mate on a Pedestal.
Carry a teammate on a pedestal fifty yards around a cone and back to the start. Run up a long hill to station 14-Puzzle.
One member must complete puzzle blindfolded while being directed by teammates. I kind of missed this one. I was about to pass out so I leaned on the fence and caught my breath while they did the puzzle. No run down the hill to station 15-Tire Hammer.
Each member must strongly hit a tire twenty times with a sledgehammer. When finished, a long run to station 16-Rope Climb. Any number of teammates must make four trips to the top of the ropes and team must consume four donuts before moving on. Not so easy when you’re starving for air. Short distance to station 17-Log hang.
One teammate hangs from a log while two others carry it on their shoulders fifty yards. Now another long run to station 18-Zip line.
Two teammates travel hand over hand on a cable two hundred feet and back. Now a run through the woods to station 19-Log Chop.
Teammates take turns chopping a large log in half. Right next-door is Station 20-Mud Crawl.
A twenty-five yard low crawl through the mud. Not to worry, station 21-Culvert Crawl.
A ten-yard crawl through a culvert under the road, did I mention the roaring brook that runs through it as well? There were a few stones in there that dug up our arms a little. Run down to station 22-Litter Carry.
Carry one teammate shoulder high on a litter through waist deep water for fifty yards. The bottom was very silty and uneven adding to the difficulty. A short run to station 23-Fast Rope.
Run up the Patriot vehicle and slide down the rope. The finish line is now in sight and you can hear the crowd cheering the teams on. It gives you the strength to run down to station 24-The Wall.
All team members, pack, and guidon over an eight-foot wall. Now sprint with your head high to the finish. A total of six miles later.
We placed 18th in the overall competition.
This was the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. I was winded very early in the run and my team carried me a long way. I could not have done it without their motivation. As bad as it was, I was not going to quit. I told my team leader they would have to carry me off the course on a stretcher before I quit. I walked a bit, I sang cadence, and kept drinking. Two hours and four minutes later, we all crossed the finish line. They told me on the run, pain is temporary, pride is forever. I will forever be proud of that run. We didn’t do great, but we finished.
Back at the start, team pictures were taken. Everybody changed clothes for the award dinner. I kept re-hydrating. My sergeant made me get checked by the medics before we left. They were great. They thought I was crazy to be 45, a year post knee surgery and try something like this. I guess I am. Because next year, I’ll be 46, and I’ll be back.

WoMag, CT SWAT Challenge

2008-08-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

I had removed the Providence St. Station post earlier this week. Imagine my surprise to see it printed in the 8/28/08 Worcester Magazine Blog Log. I thank WoMag for their interest, I am sure it will bring a few new fans. I have since reposted it.

On Tuesday September 9th, Wednesday September 10th and Thursday September 11th, the West Hartford Police Department is once again sponsoring the 4th annual Connecitcut SWAT Challenge. This SWAT Challenge is the 3rd largest in the United States and features 34 SWAT teams from across the Northeast competing head to head in all live fire events, performed in full call out duty gear. These teams will compete in 8 grueling events designed to test their skills and fortitude while emphasizing teamwork and tactical prowess. Additionally, there will be over 80+ law enforcement companies represented at the vendor exhibition show which runs Tuesday from 0900-1700 hours, Wednesday 0800-1700 hours and Thursday 0800-1200 hours. These companies represent the best in law enforcement and will offer some of the most up to date and cutting edge technology that is available to today’s Officers. Even better, the event is FREE and OPEN to any law enforcement officer, as well as the general public. There will be raffles, give aways and hands on demos for those who attend. Food will be available as well. Come and support the men and women whom you serve with, as all of us come together during this week of remembrance. Tuesdays Open Shoots are available to ANY active SWORN Law Enforcement, Corrections, Federal or Military Officer. The shoots are on a first come-first serve basis with sign ups starting at 0830 hours on Tuesday September 9th. We hope to see many of you there at this unique and challenging event.

I will be there competing with my team. Thursday is being billed as " The toughest PT Challenge in any Police or SWAT Challenge in the United States." A 6.2 mile obstacle course with 18 testing stations along the way. I will have something to write about after that. You can check out their web site at:

http://ctswatchallenge.com/

I hope you come cheer on these elite law enforcement professionals.

Providence St. Fire Station

2008-08-28T13:16:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

http: / /www. telegram.com/article/20080805/NEWS/808050651

From the Telegram article:
"Instead of relocating both firetrucks now at the Providence Street station, to make way for UMass Memorial Health Care EMS taking over the building, District 3 Councilor Paul P. Clancy Jr. suggested keeping Ladder 5 at the station, where it can be paired with a UMass Memorial ambulance. In return, he said, the city could offer to garage one of UMass Memorial's ambulances at the McKeon Road fire station. "

Well, that's funny. We were moved from McKeon Rd station because there was no room. Yeah, no room for EMS.

So now the community is up in arms that Chief Dio wants to close their beloved, albeit, condemned local station. Answer, "We'll put an ambulance in there. That should quiet the masses"

Well let me tell you how it really is. I get my ambulance at shift change. I do a checklist, if I am lucky and don't have to leave right away for a call. Then it's from call to hospital to call to hospital all day long. I will return to the station at the end of my shift. We will not be at the station waiting. We're too damned busy for that. We have already responded to 22,000 calls this year. Not a lot of time to be sitting in a fire station easing John Q. Worcester's fears of conflagration.

"UMass Memorial EMS, meanwhile, would take over the building and garage two of its ambulances there, as well as provide dispatching services from it. All costs associated with operations of the building would then be assumed by UMass. "

What a deal! We can take over the bill for a decrepit, old building the FD doesn't want anymore.

"By closing the 109-year-old Providence Street station, referred to as "The Rock" by many neighborhood residents, the city will be able to save $85,000 to $ 100, 000 in capital and operating costs a year".

See? What a deal! EMS is going to pay that for a station that has no one in it ninety percent of the time.

Why not keep the Rock intact? There was a fire station downtown, remember? Engine 1, Ladder 1, and Rescue. Why not put them in the new Franklin St station? Why not put EMS there, since it's such a prime spot for first response? Yeah, that might happen.

This is not the first time EMS has been the pawn in WFD administration's game. We spent a summer at Webster Square when they were temporarily closed. We did a tour at Tatnuck too, same reason. To appease the angry masses. I don't think we really ever made a difference, we just occupied the public's mind until they forgot what they were angry about. I'm sure the crowds on Vernon Hill will forget too, and we'll be out the door again.

New Blog

2008-08-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

A coworker has put up a new blog( Central Mass Medics). Maybe I'll finally get motivated to work on mine more often.

2008-06-27T06:13:00.000-07:00

As I drove to work this morning, I was listening to Zito and Jen ( WXLO 104.5 ). Jen was talking about the car accident on her street last night. Then they discussed how they both hate to see an ambulance and know someone is in need. Then Zito said to say a little prayer that it's nothing serious.
Please don't, I see way too much not serious. I'm trained for serious. Call me when it's serious. Let me be when it isn't, so I can be there when it is.