Air Ambulance Crash Leads To Safety Questions - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston

[Guest guest]

Interesting

http://www.click2houston.com/news/16726989/detail.html

[Guest guest]

You know what the hardest thinmg for me on this story... It says in part that

air medical personel are better at the job than ground. I am not taking this

personally but I know(as we al do) several " flight paramedics " that went to the

same type of school I did to get my cert.I have taught several people who have

become flight paramedics I know the education that they have.

DONT BE MISTAKEN. I am very proud of thier achevements and also to have been

apart of the upbringing. but they are the same medic no matter what type of

tranportation they use to get a patient to the hospital as any medic that does

not put on a flight suit to go on a call. Yes I agree that their are other

courses that many take to inhance the knowledge or in some cases simply that add

another card and a few more initials behind thier name. Maybe as a whole we need

to advance what we are teaching?

A paramedic should not be judged by thier ability not by by the vehicle they

transport in.

Just my thoughts

Terrell

For what its worth

Terrell EMT-P CC...,...,...,.,....( all the other things that still mean

I am a paramedic)

[Guest guest]

> It says in part that air medical personel are better at the job

> than ground.

> I am not taking this personally but I know(as we al do)

> several " flight

> paramedics " that went to the same type of school I did to get my

> cert.

That isn't the only part of that individual's testimony that smells

of fish, and it certainly isn't the only part of this story that is

typical of news media creations.

While I agree with Mr. Bledson that EMS helicopters in general are

misapplied and overused, I see certain situations where a helicopter

is the best option. This situation, if the reports are correct, was

almost certainly a misapplication of resources that ended tragically.

I would ask the same question as Mr. Bledson; when will we open our

eyes? Will we ever?

The statements quoted in this video seem very much anecdotal in

nature. I would ask the gentleman speaking to provide citations so I

could verify his assertion that flight medics provide greater levels

of care. As you say, Mr. , many ground transportation medics

have the same training as the flight medics these days. It therefore

seems that ground medics could provide similar levels of care. I

sense a bit of bias, or perhaps ignorance, on the part of the

gentleman.

Additionally, while I know we have many ground ambulance accidents

and injuries, it seems a bit rash to call EMS a more dangerous

profession than fire and police " put together. " It might be true, but

I'd have to see that cite as well.

Larry

[Guest guest]

Larry,

That statistic is ALMOST correct.? The number of transportation related deaths

per 100,000 workers annually?for Fire, Police and EMS are:

Fire:~5.5

Police: ~6.1

EMS: ~9.8

-Maguire, Hunting, & Levick, Occupational Fatalities in Emergency Medical

Services: A Hidden Crisis, ls of Emergency Medicine, Dec 2002

I do find it odd that in days of numerous helicopters falling out of the

sky...that the Association of Air Medical Services is busy being concerned about

the safety of ground EMS...petitioning the NTSB to investigate ground ambulance

accidents, etc....I wouldn't think they would be wasting time worried about us

lesser ground folks...unless of course we were trying to shift focus off of

something...

No one in?our industry (which by the way is HUGELY transportation...) is doing

this well.

Dudley

Re: Air Ambulance Crash Leads To Safety Questions -

Houston News Story - KPRC Houston

> It says in part that air medical personel are better at the job

> than ground.

> I am not taking this personally but I know(as we al do)

> several " flight

> paramedics " that went to the same type of school I did to get my

> cert.

That isn't the only part of that individual's testimony that smells

of fish, and it certainly isn't the only part of this story that is

typical of news media creations.

While I agree with Mr. Bledson that EMS helicopters in general are

misapplied and overused, I see certain situations where a helicopter

is the best option. This situation, if the reports are correct, was

almost certainly a misapplication of resources that ended tragically.

I would ask the same question as Mr. Bledson; when will we open our

eyes? Will we ever?

The statements quoted in this video seem very much anecdotal in

nature. I would ask the gentleman speaking to provide citations so I

could verify his assertion that flight medics provide greater levels

of care. As you say, Mr. , many ground transportation medics

have the same training as the flight medics these days. It therefore

seems that ground medics could provide similar levels of care. I

sense a bit of bias, or perhaps ignorance, on the part of the

gentleman.

Additionally, while I know we have many ground ambulance accidents

and injuries, it seems a bit rash to call EMS a more dangerous

profession than fire and police " put together. " It might be true, but

I'd have to see that cite as well.

Larry