One Ambulance for too many people - Tehachapi Citizens double taxed - nrranch's Blog - Tehachapi News

Nov 30, 2006 at 09:11 PM : WOW I was going to...

WOW I was going to start this same blog myself! Mayben's number is 823-0164, Caudle's number is 822-2200. Tell them to stop handing out awards to Mr. Hall and demand him to provide the proper amount of EMS coverage. Just a few nights ago an unconscious lady age 65 laid on her floor waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance from Mojave. The Tehachapi ambulance was at CCI. This is a time sensitive issue, call today! We need and deserve two ambulances up here. The City of Tehachapi is waisting time an energy working on starting an unneeded fire department when they let this happen. Do they have your best interest in mind? Call today your life or your love ones life may depend on it! Kern County has 4 fire stations in the Tehachapi area. Hall ambulance has just one full time ambulance for the same area. That's down right criminal. When you have Mayben on the phone ask him when the fire station in Stallion Springs will be open full time.

Nov 30, 2006 at 10:11 PM : I will call. We all...

I will call. We all need to call. If you dont call and something happens you will not be able to complain later. Just imagine your child or your grand child hurt or sick and you have to wait 30 minutes because your ambulance is helping some child molester at the prison. Ask Mayben and Caudle what they are going to do to solve this issue and ask for a time line for when they will solve this. Ask them if they knew we only had one ambulance in the Tehachapi area. If they did know tell them they should be ashamed! Mr. Grimes just gave Hall Ambulance an award for great service for Tehachapi. WHY?

Dec 2, 2006 at 06:12 AM : This has been an issue...

This has been an issue for a long time. As I have posted before, Tehachapi is getting the short end of the public safety stick. I'm gonna leave the fire and law enforcement protection issues aside for a moment here, and just focusing on paramedic coverage...

Per the Halls Ambulance website at http://hallamb.com/Pages/milestones.html Harvey Hall first started providing service to the area in October 1979. Maybe some long-time residents can tell me what the population of the Tehachapi response area was at that time, but I'm guessing it was probably 1/3 of what it is now. Fast forward to now, and we still have one full time ambulance. FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS THIS TOWN HAS GROWN STEADILY -- WHY DOESN'T HALLS AMBULANCE KEEP PACE?!?

Short answer -- more money in Halls pocket. From a business standpoint, why would he put 2 or 3 ambulances up here when most of the time he can get by with just 1? That would be okay if he ran an ice cream truck company -- unfortunately, lives are truly at stake here. I'm sure I'm not the only one that hears sirens constantly (got to move away from Hwy 202, but that's another story...); just talking to our responders on occasion I know how busy they are.

Quick note here... my sources seem to be pretty reliable, but I may have bad information. If I can get any official word from the company, I'll be sure to correct any inacurate information Ive posted.

Apparently the company added an 8 hour ambulance during the day to at least give us a little more coverage, but the truth of the matter is that national paramedic to population ratios typically run anywhere from 1:10,000 to 5:10,000. Sadly, in our area, that ration is more like 1:35,000 (or 2:35,000, when we are lucky enough to have the short hour ambulance)

Consider the fact the Halls has two full time, 24/7/365 ambulances each in the following areas: Shafter, Taft, California City and Mojave. NONE of those areas have the population that Tehachapi has. Also, the Tehachapi coverage area is HUGE, covering: Bear Valley, Stallion Springs, Tehachapi, Golden Hills, Sand Canyon, Alpine Forest, Old West Ranch, Cummings Valley, the Prison (a LOT of people right there...), Oak Knolls, the Windfarms, Keene, Hart Flat, etc etc.   I was shocked when I learned this, and I hope you are too.

The Tehachapi crew has PRIMARY 911 response obligations pretty much from the Arvin cutoff at state highway 223 all the way east to the Cameron Road off-ramp between Tehachapi and Mojave. That has to be at least 20 miles worth of freeway alone. They have PRIMARY 911 response obligations to the area served by five different engine companies (Keene St. 11, Tehachapi St. 12, BVS St. 16, SS St. 18 and CCI St. 916), as well as small areas of four more engine companies (Arvin St. 54, Walker Basin St. 87, Mojave St.14 and Rosamond St. 15). Now consider the fact that Tehachapi Hospital has to transfer many of the more critical patients down to Bakersfield or Lancaster (or LA, or Fresno, or...?) and thats even more of a workload on the ambulance personnel.

THE MADNESS CONTINUES!

Does anyone else see a HUGE problem here? When my aunt & uncle first moved to the area in the late 80's, there were apparently two paramedics on the primary ambulance, and two EMTs on an on-call ambulance that was reportedly staffed most of the time. Now we have one primary ambulance and a secondary ambulance that is staffed on occasion. So our coverage has decreased as our population has greatly increased!

How often do you think that more than one incident at a time happens in the huge primary coverage area? Apparently it happens ALL THE TIME! A minor wreck with 3 patients can tie up two ambulances for more than an hour (and that assumes that the wreck happens when the second ambulance is stafffed)... what happens if you need 911 during that time? I guess you are up the creek, as they say. If you live up on Deertrail or Skyline or way out in Hart Flat, it could take 45 minutes for an ambulance to get to you on a clear summer day when the ambulance crew is available in town. Now what if you have to wait for an ambulance to come from Mojave, Arvin or Calif. City? I guess you could die, but what does that matter as long as Hall is able to continue living large in whatever ritzy part of Kern County he chooses to call home? That's more important than you or me, right? Right?

WRONG!!!

If you don't believe (or can't believe) any of this, call up Halls and ask. If you see him out and about around town, try to talk to Shane 'The Pain' Reed -- he was amedic for Halls years ago, and I know he'll tell it like it is.

I know this was long, but this is an important issue. I think I just may have to start my own blog on the issue.

The bottom line is this:

We need to speak up, generate some less than favorable publicity, and get this to change. Your life just may count on it.

Halls Ambulance contact numbers:
Administration:       661-322=8741
Public Relations:   661-716-4219

Dec 2, 2006 at 06:12 PM : Please don't hit...

Please don't hit me up at work. If you see me around town I can and will "tell you like it is." At work I have to be nice and forward all your questions to someone higher up. Sorry.

Most of what 'Bill93561' said is true. Tehachapi needs a 2nd full time ambulance, but calling Mr. Hall will not help. You need to call your government leaders and get them to do something about this issue. I also agree with 'anonymous' the City needs to be working on more important emergency service issues like this. This is a hot issue right now. Lots of stories and editorials have been written in the Bakersfield Californian this last week. Call City Hall and call the County BOS aka Mayben. Call Mr. Hall if you like but hey why should he change?

Hey this could make a nice news story. One that will not upset anyone local. One that may push Hall to do the right thing.

Dec 2, 2006 at 06:12 PM : Ok so Kern County Fire...

Ok so Kern County Fire has 4 Fire Stations in Tehachapi, the State has 1, and the City of Tehachapi has 1/2 of a station right? Most of the calls fire departments run these days are medical and car crashes right? With all this fire protection Hall Ambulance only has one fulltime ambulance. How does one ambulance cover 5 and1/2 fire stations? How does the City of Tehachapi and the County of Kern allow this? Why don't the City of Tehachapi start an ambulance service instead of duplicating fire service? Why don't the city council pass a resolution to make the County, make Hall provide the right amount ambulance coverage? Why don't the County Fire Department have Paramedics? Can the Newspaper find out how many times a week or day there is an ambulance call in the Tehachapi area and the prison. Can it find out how many times hurt and sick people have to wait for an ambulance from Mojave or Arvin? Maybe one of the firemen blogging on here can tell us anonymously.

Dec 2, 2006 at 08:12 PM : Tehachapi bloggers...

Tehachapi bloggers dont care. They dont care about this. They make post about 'going out of town' and 'needing a place to stay'. They will never take the time to make a post on an important subject like this. They will call about a wall near a backward facing building, but they will never take the time and call someone about this. Why should they, nothing bad will ever happen to them. Thats why Tehachapi City and Hall Ambulance does what it wants. No one cares if it dont effect them right now.

Tehachapi News will not do a story on this, its to hot for them. No one will know and no one cares. One day they will call 911 and they will be told to "Keep choking the ambulance will be at your house in 35 minutes".

Dec 2, 2006 at 09:12 PM : One solution for this...

One solution for this problem would be for Kern County Fire to have a firefighter paramedic program. Unfortunately every time KCFD has attempted to have one Mayor Hall has fought it tooth and nail. This shows the obvious conflict of interest (corruption) within the Kern and Bakersfield city governments. All we are asking is for Tehachapi is to have sensible coverage, waiting for an ambulance to come from mojave, arvin, or cal city, when your having a heart attack is not sensible. The Board of Supervisors (Mayben) has wanted to increase protection by adding a tax to your property taxes. This is the wrong solution no other area has a special tax for its protection any amount is too much. We need to make sure the Kern County Board Supervisors are making Fire and EMS coverage a priority and not squandering our tax money and then taking more from our pockets to insure our protection. This lack of public safety awareness is apparent with the use of Prisoner fire engines. No other city or county in the State uses prisoner staffed fire engines like Kern County does. This allows the Kern Board of Supervisors to gamble your 911 need with prisoners rather than spending money on another fire station to cover that area and its a shame. We all can spread the word call Mayben or recall his election. We need a change its getting obvious that were not mayberry up here anymore.

Dec 2, 2006 at 10:12 PM : Hall...

Hall Ambulance runs in Tehachapi on average 6 to 10 medical calls a day. Most calls take 1 hour to complete. Calls out to the prison require the ambulance to transport to Bakersfield. That takes over 3 hours to complete. So the Tehachapi ambulance crew is working a call 6 to 12 hours a day. Some days less, some days more. So even if you get the ambulance 1st the crew is going to be tired and over worked. On average one person every two days is in need of an ambulance but has to wait for one from out of town. Paramedic's that live in Tehachapi are transferring to places like Boron because they are over worked and can't do that amount of calls day after day. Thank God we have the Fire Department up here to take up the slack. HALL is out to make a buck, not to help people. That's sad. Why is a private company in charge of emergency care? We need to be like real counties and cities and have the fire department take care of emergencies. L.A.city and L.A. county fire departments run all emergencies, from car fires to chest pain calls. They are there because they want to help people NOT to make a buck off them. Tehachapi needs 3 ambulances two in town and one out near the prison. An ambulance transport from a home in Golden Hills to Tehachapi Hospital will cost you $2,500 to $6,000. So an average of 8 calls a day at $4,500 a call is $36,000 a day for Mr. Hall. Oh but wait the prison pays like $8,000 per transport to Bakersfield and the ambulance goes out to CCI like 1 to 2 times a day. If you don't believe me you can go to the Kern County EMS web site to see the amounts Mr. Hall gets paid per call.

Dec 2, 2006 at 10:12 PM : Oh I forgot to tell...

Oh I forgot to tell you Kern County EMS that regulates Hall Ambulance is made up of all ex-Hall Ambulance employees. >>Mr. Mayben HELLO<<

Halls Ambulance contact numbers:
Administration: 661-322-8741
Public Relations: 661-716-4219

Mayben's number is 823-0164, Caudle's number is 822-2200.

Kern County EMS : 868-5200

Dec 2, 2006 at 10:12 PM : I want to make sure...

I want to make sure that the Great people working up here on the ambulance are not the targets of frustration. They work very hard and always do a good job they are however overtaxed. This blog is not slamming you its your boss were having the problem with and his refusal to help you. The ambulance crew being overworked and public are who suffers by not adding an ambulance or two up here. Come on Harvey you'll still drive a Mercedes and eat steak help us out.

Dec 2, 2006 at 10:12 PM : All of us that have...

All of us that have and work for "The Hall" know what you guys are saying. Don't worry about us we feel the same. The Hall drives a Lincoin Town Car not a Mercedes. His radio call sign is even "Lincoin One"

Dec 3, 2006 at 10:12 PM : while people are...

while people are taking the time to write, email or call the supervisors about the need for more medical services, we should hit them up about a full time fire station in Stallion Springs and Golden Hills.

Dec 4, 2006 at 03:12 AM : Oh My!! Well lets see...

Oh My!! Well lets see here. Mayor Hall drives a Crown Victoria & not a Mercedes or Lincoln. Hall Ambulance has 1-24hr Unit and 1-12 hr unit in Tehachapi. Yes I admit the area needs at the least 2-24 hr units in the Tehachapi area. Medicone-please dont use "WE" when speaking about other Hall employees views. I know quite a few Hall employees that really love there job and how Hall operates. You are not even a Hall employee any longer yet use a picture from there???? Back to subject, sorry. Yes I see Hall going to the prison. Yes that sometimes leaves Tehachapi unprotected if the other unit is doing a transfer from Tehachapi Transfer Hospital. Maybe if the Ambulance was not transporting stubbed toes from the prison they could be here in town. As to KCFD having Firefighter/Paramedics- No Comment!. As to Tehachapi having there own ambulance. Cal City had there own years ago and now they use Hall. Yes, I know California City has their own Paramedics, but Hall does patient care and transport. KCFD has there own but utilize them to conduct EMT training only. I see one thing here. We can compare this with the Tehachapi City FD vs. KCFD debacle and Hall Ambulance vs. Tehachapi FD issue. KCFD has many resources from which to utilize. Hall Ambulance has resources from which to pull from. As you see from Hall website. They serve 87% of Kern County, and have done so for I believe 35 years!!! I think the owner Mr. Hall deserves a little credit for running a business like that for that long. I think he may just know what he is doing. Maybe we should concentrate our efforts on making sure the hospital gets built and hopefully not transfer as many patients out and hoopefully utilize those new directors this towns citizenry elected, and have them admit patients instead handing care to some other doc down below and just sit back and collect a paycheck. I love this town and I love the EMS, Fire & Law Enforcement we have here. They do an outstanding job!!! Hope this helps someone.

Dec 4, 2006 at 05:12 AM : Even...

Even "tehachapidad' thinks we need more then 1 and 1/2 ambulances and he talks like a Hall employee. Mr. Hall has what he does because he does not have the citizens best interests at mind. He wants to be rich and powerful thats it. 'tehachapidad' makes his "no commit'"commit about county fire having paramedics like it would be a bad thing. What they cant be good paramedics because they work for a fire department? Give me a brake all the good paramedics quit Halls and go to work as firemen or other things. What about LA and every other department that has them are they all bad?

The point here is Hall Ambulance is not doing what it should. Not in Tehachapi, Bear Valley, Pine MT Club or anywhere else for that matter. Dieing people dont need to wait for an ambulance from Mojave or Arvin.

Dec 4, 2006 at 06:12 AM : Anonymous, I am sorry...

Anonymous, I am sorry that you believe I dont like fire medics. I like firefighters. Some of my best friends are firefighters. My dad was a firefighter!!! I simply stated that we cannot compare LA County to Kern County Medics due to there levels of care available to the public. Kern has more agressive protocols. I have said for years to my friends that Hall needs another unit inTehachapi. Several of these friends are long term Hall employees who agree with me and the public in general.I welcome anyone that wants to to call Hall Ambulance and give them your opinion. I cant answer for them and what they have planned. If the citizens of this town want another ambulance than tell Hall!! And "Anonymous you sound as well that you are or have been a Hall employee yourself!!

Dec 4, 2006 at 06:12 PM : Medicone has been on...

Medicone has been on here for awhile. I believe he put that picture up in particular because at the time we were trying to hold the city council accountable for what they were doing with the Tehachapi City Fire Dept. . I believe he wanted people to know that he knew what he was talking about on a lot of issues having worked for Hall and with the firefighters of KCFD and the TFD. If I'm wrong he can correct me. I do not think his picture is hypocritical. He had it up long before this discussion started. May I ask why it even makes a difference? He's not bashing the employees so don't feel defensive. You have no reason to. The paramedics we have do an outstanding job, you guys deserve a pat on the back, and all we want is to lift the heavy workload you're carrying by adding another ambulance. So far I think were all on the same side here. Let's keep that in mind.

Dec 4, 2006 at 07:12 PM : I'd also like to...

I'd also like to add that I have heard some horrible stories about how Hall's greed has affected even the most critical patients. It honestly has made me sick. The patients health should come first. Who cares where the ambulance or helicopter is coming from!!! We are talking about someones LIFE!

Dec 4, 2006 at 08:12 PM : Ok EVERYONE tomorrow...

Ok EVERYONE tomorrow is the day that board of supervisors is meeting on the subject of ambulance response times in the county we need to call Mayben today. This needs to be a priority to make our public in Tehachapi get the service that we deserve. If Hall wont do it then the Fire Department should be given a green light from the supervisors. See what will happen when the Supervisors say KCFD can have a paramedic program. Hall will magically produce ambulances for our area. Public safety should be priority number one for any local government.

Dec 4, 2006 at 09:12 PM : One reason for having...

One reason for having your local fire department provide advanced life support is due to the fact that they always arrive before the ambulance. With our current situation Stallion, Alpine, Brite Valley, Cummings Valley, Bear Valley, will wait for 10 to 25 minutes. Wouldn't it be nice to be administered life saving drugs or pain saving drugs before the ambulance can get there. The other good reason for having your local fire department is that they receive no monetary benefit from providing this service. Too many times the ambulance will administer treatment and drugs that are not needed and always try to transport even if it is not needed. Our Firemen would not do this to us due to the fact that it wont make a difference for their departments budget.

Dec 4, 2006 at 09:12 PM : well then, this is...

well then, this is getting kinda ugly. Private ambulance service versus county provided emergency medical service (fire medics). those in the private sector have a more personable attitude towards their patients due to the fact that they are doing this job because they love it. if you get fire medics in here like la city or la county they will be here for the money they get paid, and believe me they get paid well. in cal city they have fire medics that don't transport, they treat and then hand over care to the private medics. the private medics actually care for their patients, in my experience the fire medics care for their wallets. you can say that the private medics try to transport even if the patient doesn't need it but my question is this, If you don't need an ambulance Why did you call for one ??? they get 911 emergency calls for broken nails and minor cuts on the finger or hand, then when a real emergency comes out the ambulance is busy taking care of this bull$%&@ and your at home dying. Its true that Hall needs to provide more ambulances to this area. some say only one more i say this community needs at least two more and a short hour car as well. We as a community can type on this blog thingy all day and nothing will come of it. make phone calls and push till we get what we want

Dec 4, 2006 at 11:12 PM : Rage you think fire...

Rage you think fire medics don't love their job? Believe me when I say every firefighter loves his job more than anyone could know. Transport is not the point its the fact that people will receive care long before the one ambulance we have here arrives. If in your experience you've seen fire medics that only care for their own wallets then i would question what that experience is? A fire medic would make the same money no matter how many calls they run or people they transport. We are not talking about or comparing to L.A. city or County this is Kern and here the fire service does much more with much less. In this county the time has come to operate like every other in California with fire medics and transport by whatever ambulance happens to be there. Mr Hall has only his own greed to blame for helping the county board realize our need.

Dec 4, 2006 at 11:12 PM : Hmmm. Has anyone ever...

Hmmm. Has anyone ever thought that their "Firefighters"!! What if all the local "Firefighters/Paramedics" are enroute to a structure fire with all these "Lifesaving" drugs in there engine and a person in town is having a heart attack? I guess Hall would have to go give them there meds and transport them to the hospital. Sure it wouldnt be free, but really. What is your life worth? You ever think that with this fire study that Tehachapi City is doing that it would cost a little more for the department due to the FD having to pay for Medic School and all of the equipment and that yes initally may be passed on to the taxpayers! Also certain County Departments like Los Angeles are now billing for care they give if it is Advanced Life Support with a Paramedic. Basic life support and you would still receive a bill from AMR or whatever company would have thay service area. Also like I mentioned you still get a bill from the private ambulance company in LA County and other places because very few municipal/county departments transport. LA City and Long Beach do but most contract out to private providers to handle transporting patients. So let me just say I love the KCFD. I am not going to worry about them becoming Fire Medics. We will just have to wait and see. I think the topic of Hall having a second full time ambulance in Tehachapi is key and needs to seriously addressed. Call Mayben, Call Hall and let them know your feelings.

Dec 4, 2006 at 11:12 PM : The point is that if...

The point is that if Hall will not fulfill an obligation out of common courtesy and humanity then another entity (KCFD) will have to step up because people are waiting too long for ALS care. Greater Tehachapi has grown and needs to expand its services.

Dec 5, 2006 at 02:12 AM : I hope everyone...

I hope everyone realizes that EMS nationwide is an abused service that is utilized by a lot of people to have a back door entrance for ER's so that they get faster service. Paramedics are overworked everywhere running frivolous calls for illnesses and minor cuts that can be handled by the persons PMD or an urgent care. Paramedics are tied up all the time all over the country running these dumb calls while the real sick people have to wait for another ambulance from further away. Its not just locally. Ambulances are not express lanes for service in the ER. They are utilized way to often for calls where they could be used other places. EMS workers nationwide will attest to that. I hear it all the time. And no I am not an Ambulance driver.

Dec 5, 2006 at 04:12 AM : "Rage&quo...

"Rage" aka Hall Ambulance employee, if your going to bash someones profession at least have a profile with a name on it.

I am a Firefighter and I love my job. I have worked years as a volunteer for free. All Firefighters come into the profession because of the love of the job and to help people. We get payed the same if we go on a medical aid call or not. We are not out for our wallets. Private ambulance companies are out to make a buck. Care Ambulance giving their paramedics $100 for every IV started is an example of that. When that Paramedic starts that IV to get his $100 then Care Ambulance charges more money to their costumer. aka victim! Hall had a program and still might, that the Paramedic with the lowest dry runs ( a call where they don't take a person to the hospital) gets a nice prize. That is motivation to "talk" a patent into going to the hospital even when they don't want to or need to. IE: Paramedic RW in Arvin telling patients " You called 911 so you have to go to the hospital"

No one on here said anything bad about Hall Paramedics. They are just asking for more ambulance coverage.

"msjanell" there are some very good Hall Paramedics and there some very bad ones. That goes the same for LA County Medics. Do you know, or have you even seen a LA Medic in action?

The point of this blog I think was to talk about the need for more ambulance coverage, not who would be a better paramedic. If Kern County had a paramedic program it would have good paramedics and some not so good paramedics. That's the same as what Hall has now!

I work as a Firefighter, I also worked as a Paramedic for Hall. I certified as a Paramedic at age 20. I could not buy beer but I was pushing meds. With a Fire Department Paramedic program I would not have been doing work as a Paramedic at that age.

Dec 5, 2006 at 04:12 AM : tehachapidad- If all...

tehachapidad- If all the County Fire Paramedics where responding to a house fire, they would move a crew to Tehachapi from Bakersfield. Just like they do now.

The point of this thread is_ Tehachapi is getting screwed on Ambulance coverage by Mr. Hall! Not that you or any of your counterparts are good or bad paramedics.

Dec 5, 2006 at 05:12 AM : Rage&nbs...

Rage I have seen your "more personable attitude towards their patients" attitude. I was a patient of Halls. The paramedic was a skinny guy with very short hair and glasses. I think it was Ciff. He never told me his name. The only thing he said to me was that I should have not have called so late at night. 11:45pm He put me in the back of the ambulance and we parked in my driveway for 20 minutes. When we got to the hospital he didnt even remember my age or why I called. Then I got my bill from Hall it was $3,875.00. I spent 3 days in the hospital with a cardiac problem. The Hall Paramedic was short, he was not nice and he didn't do anything for me. The Firemen where nice, they put me on oxygen, they took my blood pressure, they got all my information and my medication and gave that information to the Hall paramedic. If I could I would have gave the $3875.00 to the firemen and called a cab. The paramedic didnt even give me oxygen in the back of the ambulance but I spent the next 3 days on oxygen in the hospital.

I didnt want to say anything about how I was treated but your post put me over the edge.

Lets keep this thing about how many ambulances we have, not who has a "more personable attitude towards their patients" . I dont think you will win.

Dec 5, 2006 at 06:12 AM : I will say that Hall...

I will say that Hall needs more Ambulances up here! We are way under protected, and believe me I know Hall employees think the town is too. Are LA County Medics as good? Well they passed the same test to become medics that Kern medics do. The LA County ones just cannot utilize there skills like Kern ones can. I love this town and thats why I live here. I have family, children and friends that live here and we all deserve better. Even your enemies deserve better because they are humans too. We all know private ambulances are out to make a buck. Thats how they survive. Does anyone know that some Hall employees still qualify for Food Stamps and Welfare when the owner lives in a new house? Its sad. We need more ambulance coverage here in the whole Tehachapi area. The 1 full time and 1 part time ambulance are not enough. KCFD - if not having full Firefighter/Paramedics Engines. Then maybe just have Paramedic Assessment Engines in the rural areas where its harder to have more ambulance coverage. I know there are plenty of capable KCFD medics out there. How about staffing a paramedic on the KCFD Helicopter 408? That would be helpful too. If us the citizens want change then call our County Supervisor Mr. Mayben and call Hall. Did everyone see the news tonight? Pine Mt Club received a new 4wd ambulance from Hall.

Dec 5, 2006 at 06:12 AM : I agree all...

I agree all firefighters enter into the profession with the intention to help people and do so with devotion and selflessness. If someone becomes a firefighter to "take care of his wallet" then your in the WRONG profession as most of us will never be considered rich. The base pay is not what people think, base pay would be considered on the low end of the pay scale for the average Tehachapi resident. To get in the middle or higher end of the middle class a firefighter must work sometimes close to 2,000 hours of overtime. Working that much means spending 5 months a year at your home and the rest of the year on a fire or at the station. I'm not complaining as I love that lifestyle just stating how it works out for most. This discussion was never intended to bash the paramedics in fact if you read we all have given them praise. The simple fact is that Hall Ambulance has chosen to ignore the growth and need in Tehachapi and other communities. Our county needs to step up and tell the special interest of Hall Ambulance that its time for more ambulance coverage in Tehachapi or the KCFD will provide it.

Dec 5, 2006 at 06:12 AM : "Did everyone...

"Did everyone see the news tonight? Pine Mt Club received a new 4wd ambulance from Hall." See you raise a little Hell and things get done. Pine Mt. Club started talking about Kern Fire Paramedics last year and now look. Same thing in Cal City they start a paramedic program the next day they had 2 ambulances!

Dec 5, 2006 at 06:12 AM : Its really sad how the...

Its really sad how the private EMS services work. The same thing happened in Cal City when they staffed a EMS helicopter. The community desperately need a helicopter and no private ambulance service would move in until Cal City FD was proactive and staffed their own. Guess what happened next!!!!! a private co. moved in to give them competition. Why do we have one company with a monopoly in Kern Co. shouldn't another ambulance company be able to come here if Hall wont provide needed service.

Dec 5, 2006 at 06:12 AM : citylady- I know that...

citylady- I know that they move engines up. I was just simply stating that why these engines are being moved up what are we to do if we don't have any coverage? I understand all that. I know what the thread is about as well. I was addressing some things brought up by others in this thread. Believe me I want more ambulances up here as well.

oldtehachapinative- I feel for you and having a bad experience. Did you file a complaint with Hall? No person deserves bad service.

Rage- I dont agree with you on Fire Medics and there wallets. Yes I agree that they get paid more than private medics do, but you get good & bad no matter where you go and EMS is unfortunately one of them. Its a dog eat dog world and I can say that not all private medics love there jobs. Thats why the medics & EMT's use private ambulance for stepping stones to county and city fire jobs.

Lets just all get back to the real point and see what can happen if we all stick together and get Hall to get another 24 hour ambulance up in Tehachapi or better yet Golden Hills. It will benefit us all!!!

Dec 5, 2006 at 08:12 PM : OK, seems to me there...

OK, seems to me there are a few bloggers on this site that have obviously been brainwashed by Harvey Hall. Harvey Hall leads by fear and intimidation, suppresses the work force and has the lowest paid employees (in comparasion by company size) on the West Coast. This County needs to come into the 21st century. Why does the local ambulance dictator think that the ambulance providers have the right to have the only ALS (for those not in the EMS industry ALS refers to a paramedic level of patient care) services in the County. Back in the seventies when EMT's were the latest trend in EMS they didn't just train a few guys to the EMT level then leave the rest at an advanced first-aid level. No, they trained everyone to the EMT level. I don't know how many times I've been on calls with multiple ALS patients and only one Hall paramedic was on scene. Which patient do you think got adequate patient care? Right, none of them because the only medic on scene was overtaxed. I'm not saying that the ambulance companies should not provide paramedic services, just that we need more of them in the field. Any ambulance responding on 911 calls in the County should be at a minimum at the paramedic level. Imagine that same call with multiple ALS patients, with ambulance medics and fire medics all patients would get good ALS patient care. The first in ambulance could even begin transport of some of the patients without delay before additional ambulances arrived. The problem is with Harvey and his perceived power of having the only paramedics on scene. If we are to bring this County out of the back woods era this mentality needs to go away. Unfortunatly I don't think anything will change until Hall gets out of the ambulance business.

Sorry I got of of the subject of the blog but that needed to be said. If you want more ambulances based in the Tehachapi Valley all you have to do is push for Fire Paramedic services and Harv will put another ambulance up here. Cal City Fire started ALS services on their engine and Hall put another ambulance in Cal City. The citizens of Pine Mountain Club were pushing for a Fire based paramedic and Harv put an ambulance in Pine Mountain Club. So get on the phone and start making calls in support of Fire Department Paramedic services and it won't be long before there's another ambulance based in Tehachapi.

Yes, I used to work for Hall (I was a medic at 20 too, Shane). Yes, I'm now in the fire service. Yes, I feel like I have my hands tied behing my back by Mr. Hall when I'm waiting for 30 minutes for his ambulance to arrive.

Dec 6, 2006 at 06:12 AM : Mr Guy, You are right....

Mr Guy, You are right. Many times Paramedics are over overwhelmed on a scene of a call with several critical patients. Its part of the job. You know that. The thing is that it is not just in Halls response area. I have worked for Liberty Ambulance in Ridgecrest, and many a times the "One" medic on scene was overwhelmed with multiple patients while the second ambulance was waiting to be staffed by someone coming from there house to the ambulance station. The same thing is possible in Wasco with Kern Ambulance who sometimes has to rely on Hall Ambulance out of Shafter or Delano Ambulance out of Delano to be backup on a call. Lake Isabella has Care Ambulance and who responds up into Tulare County while sometimes leaving the whole lake area unprotected. And they have patients who have to wait for 30-40 minutes for sometimes just the first ambulance in the Lake Isabella area including Kernville/Weldon to be staffed by backup crews from home. People need to realize that it is not just a Tehachapi problem. It is a county wide problem!! We need to have a definite second unit full time in Tehachapi and I think the KCFD/Bakersfield City/Tehachapi City/Taft City FD need to all have Firefighter/ Medics on there engines/trucks. California City has Firefighter/Medics and they do a great job! They use Hall for transport, but still have patient contact. I know that in Lancaster/Palmdale there are times when LA County FD is on scene of a medical aid waiting 20-30 minutes for a AMR unit because all of AMR's units in the Antelope Valley are on calls and there backup is coming from Santa Clarita area. And AMR staffs 10-15 units a day down there, with only 2-3 of those ambulances being Paramedic level care. Simply put. Yes Tehachapi needs more Ambulance coverage. The area is getting bigger by the day and we have long out grown our 1 full time ambulance and 1 part time.

Dec 6, 2006 at 09:12 PM : You're very...

You're very right, this is County wide problem. I was just using Hall as an example because he has been to loudest political voice in opposition of any paramedic services outside of the private ambulance providers. The mentality of the single medic just needs to go away. It's just a power thing with the private ambulance companies in Kern County. They think that if there are public agency paramedics on scene they will loose scene control of patient transport decisions. Who would you rather make the those decisions? A public agency paramedic (who has no monetary connection to where and how the patient is transported) or the private ambulance paramedic (who is under pressure from the owner to make decisions based on revenue). Anyone opposed to better patient care in the field needs to take a closer look at their moral values. This County has a long way to go, but I hope we are headed in the right direction.

Where'd ya go Bob (aka Robert), let's debate this issue.

Dec 6, 2006 at 06:12 PM : The reason Hall is...

The reason Hall is used as an example is because this is TEHACHAPI news and Hall is Tehachapi's service provider. I really don't care about other parts of the county its up to them to fight for their protection. I really care about Tehachapi and the fact that Hall is not on par with the growth of Tehachapi. Firefighter paramedic, another ambulance service, or another Hall unit whatever just get more up here.

Dec 7, 2006 at 09:12 AM : Tehachapi Bloggers...

Tehachapi Bloggers don't care! People are dieing in Tehachapi every month. The newspaper will not do a story. People will call about a wall behind a new store but will not call on this. Bloggers will blog about dogs, bike rides, dumb videos but wont make a post on this important subject. Come on guys this is our town. This is are lives we are talking about.

Dec 7, 2006 at 06:12 PM : The Bloggers are...

The Bloggers are not really the problem its the leaders of our community and the news paper. This should be FRONT PAGE news. Response time to Stallion Springs, Alpine, and Bear Valley are immoral and unprofessional.