Trucker 1 - Boy have you started it. I agree with Mings that we have the Best fire and ambulance crews up in Tehachapi. I understand what Boondock saint is saying about freedom of speech, and thank god that is what you are exercising. I will say though that I understand completely that this is not against EMS workers. Its against Hall. Thank god we have god crews up here and in other places where Hall is.  I am just glad though I dont live in the midwest and other places where the volunteer squad could take upwards of 30 minutes to get to your house. Ive been there and its not fun. Am I "educated" in EMS? Yes. Do I see a problem in Tehachapi? Yes we all do. But I also know why you would "Stop" an ambulance for something when nobody else knows why. I know mings is tired of sometimes waiting for a far away ambulance when his patient really needs it. I know there are times in Tehachapi that there are multiple calls and no ambulances because they are already on calls sometimjes at the prison or on a transfer down the hill, and that happens everywhere you go. Am I defending Hall Ambulance. No. That is for them to do themselves. Boondocksaint- I dont think Trucker1 was geting pissy and thinking its grade school. Trucker had valid points but it was put in the wrong context. Its like you said yourself "Freedom of Speech". The bloggers will respond to   Trucker1's comments just ike they respond to you. Colitas thanks for caring even though you dont live here anymore. Its Sunday, so lets all pray we get a second ambulance sooner than later.

NMedic, I would love to see some evidence of negligence suits being filed against the fire medics in LA city and county.  I'm not saying they don't exist, I honestly haven't seen any figures or heard any stories, but I am skeptical that the reason for more restrictive protocols in Los Angeles county is due to sub-par fire medics.  I believe it has much more to do with the other reason you addressed, that is, there are hospitals within a few miles of each other.  In regards to a tax increase for ALS service, we as citizens have no reason to fund a private enterprise through our tax dollars.  Reduntant, I know.  You just don't seem to understand that basic point.  Also, taxes won't necessarily increase if the Fire Department provided ALS services.  Any such tax would have to be approved and voted on.  Furthermore, the cost of care would also possibly decrease for those people calling 911 in need of ALS, as the fire department has no CEO's dependent upon how well the business does each year.

NMedic, the link would be appreciated.  I agree that a hospital facility is the most appropriate care, but as rural as our county is, the amount of facilities available is not going to increase much during the next 100 years.  I do appreciate your wish of luck with county EMS, it's darn hard to get people who are in bed with Mr. Hall to open their eyes and do what's best for the people of Kern County.  Anyone else reading these posts, please, please, please, please, please, never approve a tax which solely benefits a private company that is making millions of dollars off of hurt and sick people.

Nmedic must stand for "No Brains".  Before you start slaming LA County and City fire medics you better look at the company you came from.  I work for LA County Fire as a medic and we have 30 mins to Henry Mayo... it's not 5 mins away when your up in the Gorman area, Three points etc...   I have as other medics witnessed our share of stupid mistakes made by Halls medics.  For instance, one medic who finally lost his pm cert after pushing lidocaine on a 3rd degree heart block patient and put her into full arrest.  The idot then proceeds to do CPR all the way down from the gorman area by himself.  The call originated out of Frazier Park.  I asked him why didn't he stop at the Fire station in Castaic or call his dispatcher to have a squad meet him coming down the 5fwy?  He acted like a 6 year old... with the answer of "I don't know"?  So before you go off and start slaming County or City medics, Halls as well as other agencies have there fair share of piss poor medics too.  I am sure the company you work for in reno has a few as well.  Face it, no body is perfect not even in RENO.  Yes the County does have its share of crappy medics, but don't make it sound like we are all screwed up!!!!!!  I've been a medic for 17 years and I get pissed when I hear about medics on our job making stupid mistakes... 

Nmedic, You know talking to the guys here at the station they feel you must of washed out of either our tower or the cities tower and had to go out of state to get to get a job!  Otherwise you wouldn't be bashing either department.  So which is it?

 

Firemedic- You work for LA County but didn't you have a pic of power fan 408 as your profile pic? Sounds like someone here has multiple profiles.

This is all real simple, HALL ADD A DAM AMBULANCE, today i heard on the scanner that an ambulance was comming from Cal cCty to Bear Valley, what a joke

NMedic, I am sure REMSA is a wonderful company.  Do they pay more than 15 bucks an hour?  You may want to pass all their operational, logistical, and fiscal information over to Hall ambulance so they can improve the company for the benefit of the community.  Now speaking from experience.  I have worked at both the busiest, and most remote stations in Kern County as a Firefighter.  I honestly can't remember going on any less than two full arrest calls in a single month at any of those stations.  On the east side of Bakersfield we probably average 3-5 per month per shift.  We (firefighters) consistently see the medics on Hall ambulance rigs struggle to intubate patients.  Sometimes after pulling a combi-tube which is securing an airway.  I regularly see medics unable to establish IV lines while patients are extremely hypoglycemic.  While Hall has some quality, professional, experienced employees who are very enjoyable to work along side on calls, the company is also notorious for cycling medics through like an assembly line.  Why?  Well, crappy pay and crappy hours is one.  And most of the medics working for the company test their a$$e$ off trying to go to work for a fire department somewhere.  Until Mr. Hall can prove that he honestly has the best interest of the citizens of THIS county in mind, by placing more ambulances in areas that need them, and taking better care of the people who work for him, I will not support any tax to benefit his BUSINESS.

NMedic,  you fool no one.  You bleed orange and wear your colors on your shirt sleeve.  It's obvious who you work for and it's not REMSA.  Everything you have said here is right out of the Harvey Hall Propaganda Machine.  Anti-fire department propaganda at it's worst.  

First off, if your going to use an ambulance service as an example you probably should pick one that's farther away, so that no one here on this blog would know anything about it.  Your statements on REMSA are either totally wrong or only half-truths.  You see, my best friend works for CAREFLIGHT, which is a subsidiary of REMSA.  And I've worked for an Air Ambulance that transported patients into Reno on a daily basis.  So I know the system up there well.   My first item of rebuttal of your comments is that "there is no ALS in the fire services  in Washoe County".  Wrong, Sierra Fire District runs Paramedic Engines,  Incline Fire runs a Paramedic ambulance, and Reno Fire and Sparks Fire run EMT-II ALS Engines.  The EMT-II's can intubate, defibrillate,  Start IV's and provide ACLS cardiac meds, as well as  administer other emergency meds like D50, Narcan, Epi, etc.  Far from your claims of no ALS in the fire services of Washoe County.  You also claim that the Fire Services don't respond on medical aid calls.  Wrong again, buddy.  View the policy your self at the REMSA web site.  Fire responds on all Priority-1 calls and about half of the Priority-2 calls.  They don't go on the stuff like nose bleeds.  We have a similar system here, only it doesn't seem to make sense here all the time.  We actually have Code-3 Ambulance Only calls here.  Usually stuff like seizures and strokes.  You can thank Harvey for that one.  Great service to the community by pushing that  through our EMD dispatch system.

Mr. NMedic you try and compare Hall Ambulance to REMSA.  Sorry, but there is no comparison.  REMSA is a non-profit organization, franchised and over-seen by  Washoe County.  They pay their employees very well and turn over is very low.  Paramedic's start at over 40K per year while tenured employees can make over 100K with overtime.  They have the benefits and retirement to go with it as well.  That's why it's so hard to get a job there.   Yes they have very aggressive protocols up there.  Even ours in Kern County don't compare.  So, you slamming the LA County protocols is way off base.
In comparison we have our Hall Ambulance here which is a For-Profit organization.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  But in the medical field comes a certain moral responsibility to the community.  Some seem to put profit before that moral responsibility.  Hall Ambulance has the lowest wages for large ambulance companies in the state of California.  That's why they have such a high turn over rate.  I know, I worked there under those suppressed wages.  Even the guys on the street twirling signs make $10.00 an hour.  Our buddy Harvey starts his EMT's out at minimum wage.  Hall Ambulance deserves to make a fair profit at the end of the year.  But in doing so it should pay a fair wage as well.  There is just no comparing a non-profit organization (REMSA) to a for-profit business(Hall).

You also made a statement regarding the experience levels of KCFD paramedics and said we just teach EMT classes to the rest of the department.  Once again your wrong.  You see the Fire Department has a testing process and only hire the best-of-the-best.  It's not easy getting a job here.  I personally have been a Paramedic for twenty years and have worked for both Helicopter and Fixed-wing Air Ambulances for the majority of those years.  At KCFD we have over a dozen Paramedics in the field with over ten years experience.  A lot of us moon light as paramedics for other services including air ambulance.

Mr. NMedic, you and Harvey have nothing to worry about in regard to the KCFD "taking over services" from Hall Ambulance.  We don't want to take over anything.  We just want to augment the current ALS system in place.  You still get to be Medics and transport patients.  We get to provide ALS services  to outlying areas of Kern.  And the general public wins.  There are no losers.  Just more Paramedics in the field.  If you disagree with that then go back a couple of paragraphs and review "moral responsibility".

I could go on and on but I got tired of reading NMedics long posts.

Call your County Supervisor and advise them you don't want your tax dollars going to line the pockets of a FOR-PROFIT business (Hall Ambulance).  Let's spend our tax dollars wisely and augment our current EMS system with more paramedics in the field.

District 1, John Mcquiston,  661-868-3650
District 2, Don Maben,  661-868-3660  Tehachapi Area Supervisor
District 3, Mike Maggard, 661-868-3670
District 4, Ray Watson, 661-868-3680
District 5, Michael Rubio, 661-868-3690

PS-  I don't hide my identity and am willing to talk to anyone, anytime.

"You give credence to Mr. Guy cause he supports your views and automatically I am a fraud because I don't share your views."

Get used to it, that's (unfortunately) the way 75% of the people are on this website, just look at some of the immigration "discussions."

This is a large problem that has many parts.  Am I against ALS fire?  Yes I am, but only because it doesn't fix the problem.  It only slows it down. 

NMedic-

You are absolutely right about us needing a better hospital and a plan for that is already underway. I don't think anyone here thinks that this will "fix" the problem, but as you said it will slow it down. With waiting for ambulances from Mojave and Cal City becoming more and more frequent to those of us in the Tehachapi area and then as you pointed out being transported down hill to Bakes. I'll take "slowing down" over what is currently in place.

 

I have worked with MrGuy at Hall and have ran calls with him after he got picked up by fire. MrGuy is a very good paramedic and has better skills then most private ambulance paramedics. NMedic your right having fire medics will not solve Tehachapi's EMS problem. It will not make Tehachapi Hospital better. What it will do is guarantee ALS ( paramedic care) about 10 times faster then Hall currently provides it in places like Bear Valley, PMC and so on. Your right Bear Valley's call volume will not support a full time ambulance and neither will PMC's. Having Fire-paramedics will be a big improvement over what we have now in both locations. If we are going to have to pay a tax for paramedic care, I much rather have it go to a government agency, not a private company. I currently work for a private ambulance company, and I know what is true and whats hype. NMedic talks a good talk but most of what he says is false or only 1/2 the facts.

Support a fire paramedic program! You will get more for your buck!!!!!! Faster care and more control of your tax dollars!!!

I 100% agree with medicone! A Firefighter Paramedic program will not solve all the EMS problems in rural Kern County. It will however make things better. Most communities in Kern County have a Fire station, but not an ambulance. If the Fire stations had a Firefighter Paramedic, advanced care could be started many minutes sooner then it is now. Our tax dollars need to stay in public hands. I have talked with many Hall Paramedics and they also support a Fire Paramedic program.

As far as NMedics clam that "fire medics are not as good as ambulance medics"  he is way off base. That's like saying a Doctor at KMC is better then at Mercy, because he sees more patents. Or the guy in the green ambulance is better then the guy in the orange one. Just because where you work or how many people you treat does not make you any better a Medic then anyone else. Some medics suck and some are very good. We have both working in Tehachapi for Hall. They run the same amount of calls, have the same protocols, but they are all very different in skill.

I have been a paramedic for both Hall and now Fire. I know both sides on this story.

I have seen what Mr. Hall does year after year. He stated he will put a 2nd ambulance in Tehachapi way back in 1993. We are still waiting!

IF we give Mr. Hall $125 per lot for a paramedic ambulance, what happens when that ambulance goes on a call? I know, NO ambulance for an hour or more. The Fire station is always staffed.

Here is your one sold reason NMedic,  ALS Care will start sooner with Fire Medics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, there have been a lot good points brought up here on this blog.  The NMedic dude is right fire medics will not solve all of the problems with pre-hospital care in Kern County but it definitely will help.  Hall ambulance provides one ambulance to serve an area covered by four County Fire Stations with the cover ambulances coming from long distances in the desert.  Add a few Fire paramedics to the mix and the public gets ALS intervention much quicker.  How anyone could be against that and still sleep at night just boggles my mind.  The local ambulance provider looses nothing.  Their revenues are not affected in the slightest. Case in point,  today in Keene we had a critical motorcycle patient that required immediate ALS treatment for a pneumothorax (collapsed lung),  but we had to wait over 20 minutes for the Cal City cover car in Tehachapi to show up.  My hands were tied by local bureaucracy at it's worst.  It really bothers me to have a skill that I cannot use because of politics.  Just ask the family of my patient today if they would like to see more ALS service providers in the County.

NMedic, your story has changed so much in this blog I'm not sure you even remember who you are or where you currently work.  Yesterday I couldn't click on your username for more personal information (I'm not sure if it was just my computer or what).  But today I can, but there is still no real info there.  Just click my username and it will tell you exactly who I am and where I work.  Unlike you I am not hiding behind my computer. 

Yes NMedic, you are allowed to say anything you want on here, It's you First Amendment right.  But I too have the right to debate anything you say and will continue to do so with the credibility of my name to back up my statements.  You?  Not so much.

Nmedic, obviously you could not hang in a fire dept or a police dept for that matter as you are so anti fire als.  All your info is way off base as to what is going on up here.  You keep making excuses for everything and your solution is your thesis and links to whatever.  Hall = profit and ego, the fire dept wants better patient care.  Listen to mrguy, Shane, and Swi.  Obviously they know what they are talking about....