Guest guest Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Having worked both sides I can tell you that not all emergencies are the same, putting the wet stuff on the red stuff is a whole different animal than assessing an unconscious person, etiology unknown who is crashing. I've seen grown, strong, courageous men; who spit in the face of danger tremble at the thought of taking care of a child, OB patient, or a gross disfigurement. We can argue till the cows come home, but if you really want to help EMS and garner strength in numbers and become as powerful as the firefighters do the following. 1. Join NAEMT, we need strength in numbers and lobbying power in DC 2. Join NAEMSE, as other entities figure out what we need in terms of curriculum, and how we are going to train in the future, we need a strong voice in how that content is evaluated, presented, and what it's impacts are. 3. The most important thing you can do is lobby and write to your congressmen, senators, any politician who will listen. EMS needs to get the hell out of DOT. EMS only gets 4% of available funds out there, probably because of where it sits. Where do you think fire sits? That's right, US Fire Administration-FEMA-DHS, see a pattern here? EMS needs its own dept. within DHS with an assistant secretary reporting directly to the DHS secretary. Think about it, DOT was a great place to start, when the " White Paper " came out around 1967 or so, our focus is different now and we need a bigger stronger house to live in. Just my tirade, I'll get off the soapbox now. Rick Tappan GWUMC 202 994-2085 Re: Paramedic Shortage Even though I work for I fire department, I feel comfortable saying that there are many FD's without EMS trying their hardest to get their hands on the business. They have already proven that they can handle emergencies and they are already established. Larry D. ___________________________________________________________________ Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand. Now includes pop-up blocker! Only $14.95/month -visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Having worked both sides I can tell you that not all emergencies are the same, putting the wet stuff on the red stuff is a whole different animal than assessing an unconscious person, etiology unknown who is crashing. I've seen grown, strong, courageous men; who spit in the face of danger tremble at the thought of taking care of a child, OB patient, or a gross disfigurement. We can argue till the cows come home, but if you really want to help EMS and garner strength in numbers and become as powerful as the firefighters do the following. 1. Join NAEMT, we need strength in numbers and lobbying power in DC 2. Join NAEMSE, as other entities figure out what we need in terms of curriculum, and how we are going to train in the future, we need a strong voice in how that content is evaluated, presented, and what it's impacts are. 3. The most important thing you can do is lobby and write to your congressmen, senators, any politician who will listen. EMS needs to get the hell out of DOT. EMS only gets 4% of available funds out there, probably because of where it sits. Where do you think fire sits? That's right, US Fire Administration-FEMA-DHS, see a pattern here? EMS needs its own dept. within DHS with an assistant secretary reporting directly to the DHS secretary. Think about it, DOT was a great place to start, when the " White Paper " came out around 1967 or so, our focus is different now and we need a bigger stronger house to live in. Just my tirade, I'll get off the soapbox now. Rick Tappan GWUMC 202 994-2085 Re: Paramedic Shortage Even though I work for I fire department, I feel comfortable saying that there are many FD's without EMS trying their hardest to get their hands on the business. They have already proven that they can handle emergencies and they are already established. Larry D. ___________________________________________________________________ Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand. Now includes pop-up blocker! Only $14.95/month -visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Having worked both sides I can tell you that not all emergencies are the same, putting the wet stuff on the red stuff is a whole different animal than assessing an unconscious person, etiology unknown who is crashing. I've seen grown, strong, courageous men; who spit in the face of danger tremble at the thought of taking care of a child, OB patient, or a gross disfigurement. We can argue till the cows come home, but if you really want to help EMS and garner strength in numbers and become as powerful as the firefighters do the following. 1. Join NAEMT, we need strength in numbers and lobbying power in DC 2. Join NAEMSE, as other entities figure out what we need in terms of curriculum, and how we are going to train in the future, we need a strong voice in how that content is evaluated, presented, and what it's impacts are. 3. The most important thing you can do is lobby and write to your congressmen, senators, any politician who will listen. EMS needs to get the hell out of DOT. EMS only gets 4% of available funds out there, probably because of where it sits. Where do you think fire sits? That's right, US Fire Administration-FEMA-DHS, see a pattern here? EMS needs its own dept. within DHS with an assistant secretary reporting directly to the DHS secretary. Think about it, DOT was a great place to start, when the " White Paper " came out around 1967 or so, our focus is different now and we need a bigger stronger house to live in. Just my tirade, I'll get off the soapbox now. Rick Tappan GWUMC 202 994-2085 Re: Paramedic Shortage Even though I work for I fire department, I feel comfortable saying that there are many FD's without EMS trying their hardest to get their hands on the business. They have already proven that they can handle emergencies and they are already established. Larry D. ___________________________________________________________________ Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand. Now includes pop-up blocker! Only $14.95/month -visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Rick, I hear you. Many individuals, regardless of basic or paramedic are not comfortable with working a child or OB case. Many firefighters get the certification because they have to or they got to improve their chances of getting a job. There are some FF's that are good at doing rotations on the engine, but I think the best paramedics are the ones assigned to the medic fulltime. I also agree that EMS needs to get away from the DOT. There was information that surfaced last year about the government creating a separate dept. for EMS. I don't know where it stands now, but I remember there was opposition to it. EMS needs to unite. Larry D. ___________________________________________________________________ Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand. Now includes pop-up blocker! Only $14.95/month -visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Rick, I hear you. Many individuals, regardless of basic or paramedic are not comfortable with working a child or OB case. Many firefighters get the certification because they have to or they got to improve their chances of getting a job. There are some FF's that are good at doing rotations on the engine, but I think the best paramedics are the ones assigned to the medic fulltime. I also agree that EMS needs to get away from the DOT. There was information that surfaced last year about the government creating a separate dept. for EMS. I don't know where it stands now, but I remember there was opposition to it. EMS needs to unite. Larry D. ___________________________________________________________________ Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand. Now includes pop-up blocker! Only $14.95/month -visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 Rick, I hear you. Many individuals, regardless of basic or paramedic are not comfortable with working a child or OB case. Many firefighters get the certification because they have to or they got to improve their chances of getting a job. There are some FF's that are good at doing rotations on the engine, but I think the best paramedics are the ones assigned to the medic fulltime. I also agree that EMS needs to get away from the DOT. There was information that surfaced last year about the government creating a separate dept. for EMS. I don't know where it stands now, but I remember there was opposition to it. EMS needs to unite. Larry D. ___________________________________________________________________ Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand. Now includes pop-up blocker! Only $14.95/month -visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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