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Well I read Donna C's post and will say she was pretty accurate in her information of the events of the call. I should know... I work out of Station 5. Her details of the communications were pretty accurate, down to the mention of powerlines and trees! I think she must tote a Fire radio in her pocket or something.

Per privacy laws I can not discuss patient information.

There were valid reasons why Air-Evac was first called and also why they did NOT transport the patient. The decision to come to Station 5 and land a helicopter DID NOT affect the outcome. There was little delay in geting the helicopter here as the 10 minute time frame donna c mentioned included the time the ambulance was on the scene, which was just a a mile from the station.

We have had two accidents today, both within sight of the station and we again called Air Evac.

Why?

We have a state wide system that handles trauma related incidents. When we arrive to find a potentially serious patient we must enter them into the TCC (Trauma Control Center). All state EMS response agencies must now do this. The TCC takes the patient information you have and then located the closest, most appropriate hospital and tells you to route the patient there. It is up to us to figure out how they get there. In most major trauma cases we will be sending them to Huntsville or Birmingham.. which is quicker by air. The reason for the system is simple, the TCC has a computer that tells the operators in real time which hospitals have room for more patients, which ones have the appropriate doctors on staff, and which ones are set up for that injury. Example ... a burn victim. Waste your time if you send them to ECM. Closet and most appropriate .....Vanderbilt in most cases. This is why we call air evac. Now in some cases air evac may arrive and see the patient as too unstable to transport by air, thus forcing the ambulance to transport anyway. There are several things that can not be done for a patient while in flight. This is most often the reason for waving off a flight on scene.

People please understand .. we are highly trained and competent people. We have the safety and wellbeing of the public in mind at all times. We dont care who has Insurance and who doesnt. When you see us doing something it is for a good reason, not just because we thought it seemed cool. When we block the road at a wreck .. it is for our safety. Please respect our decisions as we do not come to your work place to tell you how to do your job.
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Doesnt that make 3 times AE has landed at Station 5 in the past 3 days or so?

Excellent job guys. You should know by now, no matter how fast we respond or how well we do the job in front of us....there is going to be someone that is complaining about something. You shouldve been faster! You need to drive slower! why are you blocking the road over a little ole wreck? why did you have to break my window? It usually isnt a THANK YOU...it is a WHY DIDNT YOU DO IT THIS WAY? But you know, we still love doing what we do...and always strive to do the best we can to HELP YOU.
thanks for taking the time to post this. now maybe the folks outside the medical community will know what we all deal with. I've said the same as you, we don't care about insurance status. its our jobs to take care of patients. my hat is off to those in the field. you all make our jobs easier when you get to the ER.
[COLOR:BLUE]Guys, again, I did not intend for my post to turn into anything other than what I was feeling at the time. Was it a great idea at the time? Probably not, that is why I chose to stop any further discussion on my post by asking the TD to close the topic, which they did. I am an EMT and have worked in many different capacities over the years. If some of U are old enough, if I were to mention some scenes and accidents that I have worked, I have no doubt that many of you would know me. DitchDoc 08 and I have talked and straightened out our differences. I hope that this will soon end. Please let's just drop this whole matter. I was quite aware that AE was again called today to Station 5, but I was in no way gonna mention or even bring it up. I do now understand the protocol as to why AE is called Vs. ground transport. I do not carry a Fire radio in my pocket but I am privy to a lot of information, and I will not give that information in this type setting. Thanks Balch for all the wonderful information and hopefully those that don't or didn't understand fully what goes into AE being called vs Ground transport, and the time and effort and sweat and manpower, not counting the simple love of what the EMS people are doing, will now understand. I, for one, truly appreciate all the EMS does in more ways than U will ever know. Thanks again Balch for your great comments.
quote:
Originally posted by monster:
thanks for taking the time to post this. now maybe the folks outside the medical community will know what we all deal with. I've said the same as you, we don't care about insurance status. its our jobs to take care of patients. my hat is off to those in the field. you all make our jobs easier when you get to the ER.


I agree ya'll do a great job in the field and that it takes a special breed to do so...
Thanks Donna. Most people dont realize all that we do and the processes we have to go through. This new TCC stuff is still confusing to even us. Just like yesterday on the first AE request, we had a Dr on scene and someone said let him make to call to fly or not ......Wrong. Unless he is my Med Control Doc .. I now must listen to TCC, and they were advising Huntsville. I certianly love to have a doc help on the scene and yseterday the same one helped twice! Unusually bad day for drivers yesterday.
Anyway .... point being, I know the original topic started a firestorm and maybe was partly a misunderstanding. I hope I cleared some of the foggy air. I didnt mean anything bad about the radio in the pocket .. just was funny you knew every radio transaction .... down to the landing zone briefing. You were spot on! Unfortunately there were circumstances that didnt allow a flight for this patient, none of which involved insurance.
I know Balch, we have to learn so much now, and with all the rules and regulations, it's really difficult to keep up, I know in my case, just about when I think I have everything figured out, Boom, they come back with something different to add, subtract, or tweak. It's a sometimes unappreciated field, unless you need it, and all the additional stuff added on, it just makes it harder to do your job, and do it well. God Bless all of U out in the field, it's rough.
Oh and Balch, no hard feelings man, no problem. It's all kewl. Again, Thanks, and I understand all the confusion that just muddies up stuff. You were lucky to have a Doc on hand, but a lot of the Docs, no most of the Docs don't have a clue as to what is going on out in the field either. It's just a lot of added stuff.
bkbalch, Great post !!!

People need to walk in our shoe's for a few calls I am sure they would change their minds on how they look at their Local Fire Department wither it be a Paid Department or a Volunteer Department both are trained to do a job and love what they do and always go way and beyond the call of duty not because we have to, It's because we want to.

I have a story to tell about a scene I worked a few weeks ago no personal info will be used I just want people to hear what we go through.

This person had been asked several times to please step back from the scene and let us do our job. I was blown away at the response that came out of this persons mouth when my back was turned " I will kick your a** b**** you don't tell me what to do" for the first time in my life I was at complete lost for words...lol it took me a second or two I turned around and said were you talking to me? they reply yep, what you going to do? I was still in shock at the nerve of this person. I said hey hold that thought for a moment I will be right back.
I will say, Thank God law Enforcement was there.


So for all of you that like to throw stones; We have a heart, We feel your pain, We feel your lost, We hold back our tears to be strong for you.......
FreeBird, that has happened to me more times than I care to mention. Do they not realize that at the scene, we have a lot more control over that scene than they would ever hope to have? And there are the ones, that want to 'help" you, thanks but I'll do without the help, if you know what I mean. They mean well, but they just dont have a clue as to what goes on in "our" world. Huh?
I have spent over 30 years of my life working in the medical field. I admire ALL of the emergency medical reponse personel, its a job that only a select,special group of people are cut out to do. Many times they are faced with multiple victims and have the burden on their shoulders of who gets what first. They carry out medical procedures in the field under the most stressful conditions one can imagine.They patch them up and maintain human lives until they can get them to the sterile,fully staffed,fully equiped medical facility.
I pity all of the political bs they are expected to operate around, forever under the microsope of the public eye,and still maintain their calling to the the saving of lives !
My family and I have been Air Evac members for over four years. We joined Air Evac because our rescue squad (Greenhill) suggested it. While we have the utmost faith that if an incident occurs at our home, that all the dedicated men and women of Greenhill Fire and Rescue could handle it. My concern was the facility that we would have to use once medical attention was obtained.

My daughter has been air lifted three times by the "life team" out of Colbert county. She was taken to Huntsville Hospital and the nurse onboard the helicopter stayed with my daughter until we got there.

It is my opinion that everyone should pay the membership fee and be part of the wonderful air evac family and I do mean family. I have turned my daughter over to them before and would do it agin if there were ever a problem. I feel safe knowing that Air Evac and Greenhill Fire are there in case of an emergency......
Thanks for the great explanation of the TCC system. BREMSS (the Birmingham region EMS) has been running their trauma system for a few years now and even won a national award for having such an outstanding system. The state decided that all of Alabama could benefit greatly from having a trauma system in place because getting the right patient to the right hospital at the right time is invaluable. I work in injury prevention, so I've had a chance to see how the TCC computer system works directly. I am very optimistic that having the coordinated trauma system in place will save lives in our state, especially once everyone in the field gets the hang of it. Trauma is inherently chaotic and I know having one more thing to add to the protocol takes some getting used to, but the benefits are wonderful!

Keep up the great work!

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