Since nothing much has changed since last year, or the year before, or even the year before that, I’ll just do an encore presentation of my EMS Week post from last year. Since I’m not working n the field I don’t see the emails from my former employer telling us about all the wonderful stuff the hospitals will be doing for us. Except if you work on the night shift, all you get is the empty boxes the food for the other two shifts came in.

This is the easiest post of the year to write, sadly. Why is it so easy? Because EMS Week is predictably repetitive. A half hearted, half assed, attempt by management and that of various hospitals to show their “appreciation” for what the field staff does.

I’m going to re run, excuse me, give an encor performance of my 2009 post. I don’t have to change one word because it’s still the same old thing when it comes to EMS Week. It’s like “Groundhog Day”, only without Andie MacDowell. I wonder if it’s different in other systems?

As predictable as seasonal allergies, ants in the pantry, or pot holes in New England, once again EMS Week is here.

EMS Week, meh. Give me Festivus any day.

It’s been a long time since I featured any country music here. Which might please some people, but since it’s my blog, I get to chose the topics.

Written by Kris Kristofferson (great lyricist, just an OK singer) in 1970, it was recorded by Ray Price later that year.

In contrast to the Kristofferson version, Price’s got the full Nashville sound treatment. It also hit #1 on the Billboard Country chart and #10 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Here is the original version by Krisofferson,

While a good part of the difference is in the arrangement, Price has one of the richest voices in music. It’s hard for him not to make a song sound great.

Commish kid burnt, out: EMT resigns following firestorm over his racist tweets

The shamed son of FDNY Commisioner Sal Cassano quit his city EMT job yesterday and was publicly rebuked by his father for posting racist, anti-Semitic rants on Twitter.

Joseph Cassano, 23, had resigned by noon over the hateful tweets, which were revealed yesterday by The Post.

And about two hours later, Commissioner Cassano gave his son an old-school talking-to in a scathing public statement.

“I am extremely disappointed in the comments posted online by my son Joseph, which do not reflect the values — including a respect for all people — that are held by me, my family and the FDNY,” the fire boss said.

So, how do they value EMS at FDNY? It’s an entry level training program with the goal being to get on the “real” job which is sitting around the fire house until one of the rare fires comes in. The only reason that EMS is the entry way to the “real” job is that it is part of a settlement of a number of suits claiming racism and sexism in hiring by the fire department. Apparently someone figured that putting the names of people who work in EMS for the city on the hiring list would fix the problem that has existed for years.

Maybe not,

The next bit comes from “The Chief” which is a newsletter available to civil service employees. Unfortunately for us, it’s behind a pay wall, so while include a link I can only quote very short parts of the letter,

Letter: EMTs Shortchanged

The author of the letter talks about the recent failure EMS employees who went to the fire academy and failed the physical fitness portion of the calls. He rejects, although I think somewhat tongue in cheek, the notion that this was done purposefully to make the entire program fail. He does however talk about the different working conditions and proposed an experiment,

EMS is a very different  occupation and is practiced under conditions that
would frankly be  deemed intolerable by most firemen! Let’s have an
experiment: Take a busy engine company and for the next 12 months, treat
them exactly as the department currently treats its EMTs and Paramedics. To
wit:

At the start of their tour, have them bring all their equipment and go sit
in the engine.

Take them out and away from the firehouse and park outside somewhere in or
close to their area.

Unless they are working, cleaning up (20 minutes max) or using the
facilities (bathroom same amount of time = 20 mins) they are to sit in the
engine and monitor the radio. No exercising outside or doing mutuals they
are to keep the exact same schedule, whatever that entails up to 24 hours
just sitting there. They are not allowed to go back to the firehouse and
cook or even eat a meal in the engine they have to eat out.

A “mutual” is a shift swap, where one member works for another, who presumably pays the first member back on a later shift.

The author also goes on to talk about the utter lack of preparation classes or guidelines given to the candidates during the five years that their entry to the academy was on hold by a federal judge.

When the current rules regarding FDNY advancement were put into place, it
was generally believed that those FDNY/EMS employees would not have long to
wait between the time they were hired and their admission to the academy.
Who knew that a judge would halt all hiring for 5-7 years? Even the most
motivated of people must have grown discouraged by the events that
unfolded. To the best of my knowledge, this department made no attempt to
reach out to these members specifically or any FDNY/EMS MOS to encourage,
motivate or train them, outside of the annual medical day.

One would have thought that the department would go out of its way to
actively encourage members to meet the physical challenges of the job:
After all, they knew these members would show up at the academy sooner or
later. Those in the upper echelons of the department were aware of this
situation and have known (or should have known) that the failure to do this
would result in this awful merry-go-round of failure. I’m going to use a
word I’ve oft heard bandied about this department in other fields:
pro-active.

So, let’s recap. The son of the current Fire Commissioner only took a job in EMS so that he could become a fire fighter later on. He hates EMS, seems to hate his patients, and maybe even his co workers. He puts all of that on Twitter and somehow doesn’t think that anyone will find out. Where, oh where, would such attitudes come from?

My advice would be try very hard not to get ill or injured in New York City.

Old maps result in hour-long ambulance delay

It took ambulance staff nearly one hour to reach a man suffering from chest pains in southern Sweden because their maps were out of date.

You just can’t trust those old maps. No matter how much you beg, plead, cajole them, they insist on staying outdated.

The 34-year-old man called emergency services in Skåne, south Sweden, after experiencing breathing difficulties and chest pains.

But his address was not listed on either the paper or digital maps used by the ambulance services hired by the Skåne Regional Council (Region Skåne).

The incident happened in June 2012. The man managed to call for help but it took ambulance service personnel 10 minutes to respond as they were in a basement washroom with no reception.

So, the patient called 9-1-1 and gave them his address. Which wasn’t listed on either the paper map or the electronic one. That’s once the crew actually got the call because they were in a basement room with no radio reception. Who’s running this outfit, Harry Fishbine?

And so the blame game begins,

The council said the explanation for the Skåne ambulances using erroneous maps was that Falck Ambulans, the ambulance service company that the council currently hires, is using the same maps used by the previous company, Sirius.

“It is our responsibility to follow up on this matter,” Poul Kongstad, clinic head at the Skåne Regional Council Prehospital Care Centre, admitted to the local newspaper Skånska Dagbladet.

But he added that Sirius failed to update its maps despite several requests and that Falck has fallen short on its promises to update the maps.

“Falck has told us that they use updated maps. We have received an indication before that that was not the case. We pointed it out at the time and presumed that it was corrected,” said Kongstad.

So the old ambulance company used the outdated maps, which were passed on to the new ambulance company. Even worse, the government officials responsible for overseeing the private ambulance contractors didn’t bother to check to see if any one was actually updating the maps.

Well, Mr. Kongstad, you know what happens when you presume, don’t you? You end up explaining to the media and the public how you failed to do the job.

No doubt Mr. Kongstad is in line for a raise and a promotion.

In other Swedish ambulance news, there’s this,

A heart patient died after ambulance drivers who received the high priority call just as their shift was ending decided to swing by the station to change drivers, delaying their arrival to the patient’s home.

As tempting as this is may be, and even if the delay didn’t change the outcome, You. Just. Can’t. Do. This.

Read the stories at the links and then click on some of the other stories on the pages.

Sweden is one weird place.

Garlic smuggling?

(NECN/NBC News: Audrey Washington) – To say George King III is proud of his 1916 Model T Ford World War I ambulance is an understatement.

“This is the most accurate and most interesting project I’ve ever been a part of,” King said.

The ambulance is only one of 63 vehicles selected to be a part of the procession in President Barack Obama’s inauguration parade on Jan. 21.

The way things are going, we’ll all be using ambulances this old before we know it.

Politics aside, it’s a pretty neat project.