A simple plea for help

I'm sure I don't have many readers, but those that do see this, I need a lil help.

I need to find some examples of TEMS or swatmedic protocols. My FD has swatmedics, but no specific protocols for tactical medicine. I'm on with "Little City PD's" swat and they have no protocols or medical director (yet).

I've been a google whore for hours and can't seem to find any examples of TEMS-specific protocols out there.

Would you kind folks mind by helping spread the question? I'd really appreciate it.

Funny stuff on radio

Was listening to the car radio on the way to work a couple days ago. I have my favorite morning show that I always listen to. Lately, they've been giving each other lots of crap after their Christmas party. One of the guys was convinced to ride a horse, which he apparently has never done. Listening to them describe it had me nearly in tears.

Then they came up with a new description for morning rush hour, "beep n creep." They really hit the nail on the head.

Once at work, the funnies continued on our "real" radios. One unit had an open mic and you could hear them trying to sing with the radio. This was 2 guys mind you. Let's just say they certainly won't make american idol.

Later in the afternoon, a specialty unit was required to a scene but the crew assigned to that station was out on another call. There was a ladder already on the way to that station to cover the territory. Chief was obviously frustrated and finally told radio "there's a big red truck in that station and when XXX gets there, someone better bring me that big red truck."

We were all laughing....hard.

SWAT news

I met with the Captain over Uniform Division for "Little City PD" this morning. I was in the interview with him for almost 2 hours. We spoke about everything from my experience as an EMT, to what was expected of their swatmedics.

Things went beyond well!

He is going to work on getting me very basic gear, mainly a flightsuit (their swat uniform). I have been invited to any, every, and all swat training, as well as riding along with the officers on patrol. They are still new to the idea of having medics, so they will get any piece of equipment I feel is necessary to do my job. They don't appear to have a trauma medical control, so I may need to find a doctor willing to help with this.

As I attend more training and get more comfortable with both the team members and my duties, I will eventually go up for a vote. All team members are unanimously voted onto the team, and majority rules to kick you off (unless you are taken off the team as punishment). The Captain seemed to think I will fit in very well since I'm used to being around a bunch of guys in the firehouse. I'll be their first female swat member.

Once on the team, since I'm also interested in the tactical aspect of things, I'll be sent to the police academy. After completing the academy and being released from FTO, I will be elligible to attend the full swat school. After another vote, I can become a full swat operator (as well as medic).

Dear God, help me, I'm sooooo excited!

Imma jump in front da train!

Granted, it gets kinda cold here, but the day I'm talking about wasn't that cold. Maybe in the low-mid 40's.

As we're leaving the call of a 100 year old feeling sick (I would too at that age), we get sent to the transit station for a male down, chest pain.

We found him, along with 3 transit cops, in the bus loop. He initially admits he's been in the cold all day and just wants to get on the train or somewhere to warm up. We start talking with him more, trying to get the information needed for our paperwork. Meanwhile, the ambulance arrives and attempts to get a set of vitals.

When the medic goes to put the B/P cuff on the guy's arm, he made some smartassed comment about sitting in the truck where it's warm. The medic simply responded: "You've been out here for hours, what's 30 more seconds?"

I had to turn around, the 3 cops just started cracking up, and the pt tried to act like he was getting weak-kneed. It didn't work, and when he realized his act failed, he upped the anty.

"Put me on da train! Put me on da mutha-f***in train. Imma jump in front da train. Imma jump on da track in front da god-da*n mutha-f***in train!"

The cops, bless their hearts, started towards him to let him through the gates so he could access the train. I was just hoping he'd catch the 3rd rail so he'd actually have something to bitch about.

No, we didn't let him jump. *sighs*

We tried to help him onto the ambulance, and when he started being an even bigger pain, the other medic turned on her charm. They argued for a moment before we bailed.

The rest of the shift was uneventful, we even slept all night if I remember correctly.

October 5, 2008 House Fire

We'd just gotten back from a medical call and completed our paperwork. I was still sitting in the office with the OIC (officer in charge) and we heard the rip-n-run kick over. All calls we are dispatched to are printed on the rip-n-run. Me and the OIC walk out there and I grab the paper...

"OOh, fire........................Oh shit it's across the street!"

We took off for the truck, I had it cranked up before dispatch toned out any stations yet (whoohoo). We pulled out of the station and as we crossed the intersection, we were able to see the smoke and glow from the fire.

As we pulled up to the house, it was burning the fuck up...there's no other way to explain it really. So, I'll let this blurry picture do the talking for me. The houses on either side were major exposure issues as well, the one to the left was already catching fire.

I shifted the truck to pump mode, turned on the generator, and hopped out. I pulled about half of the 200' crosslay (preconnected attack line) onto my shoulder and took it as far into the yard as I could. I ran back to the truck and finished pulling the rest off and then ran to the pump panel and charged the crosslay. I pulled the other crosslay and set it near the house to the left, thinking it would be perfect for the exposure once we got more units onscene. I didn't charge that crosslay yet though.

Back at the truck, and as more units are arriving, I pulled and passed off one of the 2 1/2" attack lines, and hooked the end to a discharge (those lines aren't preconnected). I knew I'd have to wait until I had water from the hydrant (positive water supply) to charge that line. About this time, I also ran out of tank water. We carry 500 gallons and the person riding tailboard had been dumping the water on the fire (pointless) instead of protecting the exposures (what we're supposed to do).

I notified command (guy in charge) that I was out of water as I was throttling down the pump (I had throttled it up to put more pressure on the crosslay). Another driver was working on my water supply and I made sure my truck was ready for water. I *think* this was about the time I took the picture above. I also set up my command light, it's a huge bank of lights on top of the truck.

There was a major misunderstanding, aka, rookie that didn't know what to do, when it was time to charge the supply line...so getting the supply charged took a few minutes. I also didn't help that command was running his mouth on radio and wouldn't shut up so we could call the rookie at the hydrant and tell him to charge it.

FINALLY got water into my truck and charged the 2 1/2" line. Someone pulled the other 2 1/2" and I tried to charge it, but quickly realized there wasn't enough water from the hydrant, so I had to shut that line back down. The captain who wanted the other line yelled for me to charge it again, I told him I couldn't and why, then keyed up my radio and advised all units onscene that there was extremely low pressure off the hydrant. It's the nice and formal way to say "don't ask me for any more water, this is all I've got!" Of course, I immediately had 4 guys at my pump panel trying to troubleshoot what I was doing wrong. I was doing everything right, there just wasn't any pressure to be had. They left me alone and a crew was detailed to walk the supply line and make sure it wasn't kinked (kinks can drastically reduce the pressure). It didn't make any difference. I continued doing what I'd been doing, giving them as much as I could without cavitating my truck (cavitation is trying to put out more water than you're taking in).

Now, it's been 21 minutes since we were dispatched. It seems like a very short amount of time when you're there, but looking back as I'm writing this, it seems not a lot got done.

Really, about this time is when I ran out of things to do. I've been told that the first 20 minutes are crazy for the driver, and it was right-on. Nobody was allowed to go inside the structure until most of the fire had been knocked down, so there weren't any SCBA bottles to swap out. The driver that had helped with water supply had been getting water bottles or gatorade for the crews working as soon as the air truck got there. There wasn't really anything for me to do, so I just continued monitoring my pump panel and watching the scene.

Side Note** I just realized I never posted this, I initiallywrote about it in a different journal, but completely forgot to copy it over to this one.

Dispatchers

I've been up all night thanks to not feeling all that great. I've been entertaining myself by playing on a few websites I haunt and reading random blogs. It got me thinking (the blogs that is).


We all have them, sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them. I'm sure the feelings are mutual.

I happen to be close to 2 dispatchers, one is like a father to me, the other, a best friend and nearly sister.

My other dad is a great dispatcher, loved by all. He is one of the senior guys at 911 and can handle anything thrown at him. He is also a FTO and is trying to make supervisor. I can recognize him on the air both by his voice, and his little quirks. I've been to his house, hung out with his family, and been mugged by his dogs (I have pictures to prove it). His daughter called me "sis" the first time we met (she's around my age). I've exchanged god knows how many messages on the computer when we both had time to be bored, even if only for a moment.

My best friend is also a FTO and from everything I can tell, a great dispatcher. You see, we don't work for the same department. I've spoken with people that do work with her and they love the job she does. She is my partner in crime, especially when shopping for birthday gifts. We've been the shoulder to cry on about calls or whatever, and the ear that listens when you need to vent about work.

Both of these people I love to death and am proud to say I'd work with them in my ear any day.

BUT...There are so many more out there!

A couple years ago, the partner and I checked out on a 911 hangup call. Long story short, I'm sure I gave the dispatcher a heartattack when I had to yell (yes, yell) for help. We were in a fight and there was also a pit bull attacking us.

"Rescue X, radio...We're in a fight, there's a dog, I need PD 10-18!"

She paused, but was calm, cool, and collected in her response. I could hear the urgency escaping her when my chief and a few other nearby units called her requesting our last known location. I hope she gave the city that was handling the PD response a good ass-chewing later. They were supposedly dispatched when we were, and we had to drive past their precinct to get to the call.


A couple months ago when I totalled my car, I'm sure I gave another a little heart-attack.

"ABC 911, what's the exact location of your emergency?"

"Radio, I'm an offduty ABC firefighter, been involved in a 41I (accident w/injuries) at "Maindrag" and "Cross-street". I'm in a (car description here) and was hit by a (other car description here). I had Engine X on -21 (phone) with me when it happened and they're already enroute, I need PD."

....(long pause).........

"What's your name and #?"

I'm glad I had a good idea what info she would need, and I still believe I gave it to her in a decent manner. You bet your ass I was excited, but I wasn't too fast because I didn't have to repeat anything or answer any further questions. Maybe it's from dealing with crazy stuff onduty I was able to control myself enough to do what needed to be done.

I had a double-whammy on that one though. My other dad was on fire/ems dispatch and he had to dispatch the call. My phone went nuts. As soon as I was done with the police officer and everything on the scene, I was loaded into the ambulance. I called dad at his console (he'd texted me the # already) and told him what happened and that I'd be ok. I also asked him to thank whoever took the call and tell them I'd be ok, just sore.


While I don't know what it's like to field calls or be a dispatcher, I do have a great appreciation for the job and how it works. My department doesn't require or even recommend that we sit in at radio. I chose to. At least 5 times now.

I understand what it's like to never know what happens next. On our old CAD system, I would sometimes look up what calltaker handled the call and send them a message with what I could relay. I always got a thanks in return. I can't do this as easily with the new system, it loses many messages, or won't stay connected. At least I try to bring some type of closure to the person who had first contact.


I know we all get grumpy with radio, and sometimes radio gets grumpy with us...Many times, it's neither one's fault (crappy area for the portables or similar). I just felt like saying thanks for what you do.


You may know where you are...God may know where you are...But if your dispatcher doesn't know where you are when you scream for help...You and God had better be on good terms. 10-0

Work lately hasn't been overly interesting. I'm in a new area and it's taking some time to get used to. New territory, new trucks, new crew, it's a different world. I was in my old station over 3 years and it was my home. I miss (some of) my crew the most. More than anything, I regret the timing of me being transfered. My crew was my family and I wanted to spend the holidays with them (considering I work thanksgiving and christmas eve this year).

So far, things are going good. Like I said, it's just taking a little getting use to.I *may* have found a swat team to get on with. They currently have 2 medics, but both are only trained cops, whereas I'm an EMT. I met their chief years ago and he's a great guy, takes care of his men and stands up for them. I need to call a Sgt sometime this week and see about meeting whoever I need to meet. Even if I don't get to work with these guys, maybe I can get my foot in the door enough to play bad guy whenever they need to train.