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  1. Hal9000

    How do you handle your stress?

    Hiking!!! Not nature walks, but through-hikes when able!
  2. Hal9000

    Forum has really slowed down eh?

    I left EMS for air traffic control because...well, paycheck ($124.84/hr for the holiday sure beats the $28/hr I was making with AMR on the holiday) and an upgrade in stress. Got some ratings in different facilities and the rest is history. Still miss EMS, but no reason to post much in an EMS...
  3. Hal9000

    Love the job, hate the salary...

    I left EMS and became an air traffic controller. The paycheck just wasn't good enough in EMS. I chose ATC because I wanted to do something that's high-pressure, and in that regard, at least, it blows anything in EMS out of the water. There is some inner pride, too, from doing a job that some...
  4. Hal9000

    Photography Thread

    Some photos from wonderful Wyoming, land of industry. From my brother's cabin: I actually got a sunburn. Great for fly fishing with a long cast: Looking at Fish Creek Park about 5 miles from the trailhead, just over 10,000 feet in elevation:
  5. Hal9000

    the 100% directionless thread

    I left my 911 job quite a while ago, worked my butt off for BNSF for a while, saved up a bunch of money (my benefits alone were valued at 81% of my annual salary in EMS!), and now...*drumroll please*...I'm an air traffic controller. Well, a mere fledgling ATCer, but still, my job is now to...
  6. Hal9000

    Oxygen, anyone?

    Small-ish thread necro. The systems here have ALS providers which are uniformly of the belief that all patients, period, must have oxygen. Sat 99% on RA with complaint of cut on foot sans any other illness, injury, or clinical concern? Gets at least nasal cannula, min. of 4 LPM. I know this...
  7. Hal9000

    Stryker Model 6500 price?

    We were quoted $10K-something, minus accessories. We were also able to get several demo units for ~5500 without accessories.
  8. Hal9000

    What are some things that you have been taught that is total BS?

    I knew about the powerline incident at a demonstration for a school, and the patient and paramedic hitting a tree during a haul operation (for which there was no legit training nor cert to perform), but I'd not heard of the one you mention. Sounds par for the course, though. One scene had...
  9. Hal9000

    Photography Thread

    Poor mycrofft, he's had the misfortune of inhabiting the same geospatial area as me, though not the same chronological one. I have hundreds of crappy photos from my unartistic crashings about, but I'll only photospam ones that aren't fantastically fugly. I do suck, but I enjoy photography for...
  10. Hal9000

    Vegans?

    Smaller in the Big Sky Country, if that makes any sense. Covered Wagon was definitely before my time, but they do have a paid service than covers Polson and Ronan (St. Ignatius is volunteer) nowadays. I've met a bunch of the people, and haven't met a vegan yet. Probably a regional thing! ;)
  11. Hal9000

    What are some things that you have been taught that is total BS?

    Oh, I can imagine that. 50 highway miles in MT takes less time than in more populated states, so I'd have even less reason. There are a couple of services in Montana that have launch criteria designed merely to increase revenue, but they're seen as heroic by most. Bemusing...
  12. Hal9000

    What are some things that you have been taught that is total BS?

    Well, there aren't all that many skidder accidents in NW Montana that have 50 highway miles. ;) This particular one would have been 50 logging road miles plus 50 highway miles. EDIT: I should add that I've heard a helicopter launch for CPR in progress medical. I don't know why they'd do that...
  13. Hal9000

    What are some things that you have been taught that is total BS?

    Good point about HEMS in rural settings. Very needed in Montana in many cases...of course, one company has/had a HEMS activation policy for any MVC rollover outside the town limits. Flying a patient 4.39 nautical miles is pretty silly. Flying a patient from a skidder accident 50 nm is very...
  14. Hal9000

    Water consumption per day?

    Around two gallons per day. Spend 12 hours per day with sodium bicarb. Inhumane.
  15. Hal9000

    Vegans?

    My post had more to do with being in the wilds near Ronan...you're probably the only person that would even recognize that, sir. My adult nutrition book had no nutritional reference for grouse. :P
  16. Hal9000

    What are some things that you have been taught that is total BS?

    I think you got the phrasing right on that—it did involve hot lights, not flashing ones. It was the first time I'd heard such a nonsensical statement, so please forgive me for not recalling it correctly. There seems to be a persistent miasma of medical folly around me. I'm once again back...
  17. Hal9000

    What are some things that you have been taught that is total BS?

    According to the three ALS services around here, "cold steel and flashing lights are what save a cardiac arrest—that's why we transport." All three services transport all codes. They're also convinced that CPR is as effective in the back of an ambulance zooming about code 3. I'd feel like...
  18. Hal9000

    Vegans?

    I eat meat. I spend as much time in remote wilderness as possible. When I am there, I will capture, kill, and consume prey animals. Of course, I also love eating wild strawberries, wild onions, raspberries, devil's thimbles, huckleberries, service berries, etc. During my ambulance...
  19. Hal9000

    I really want to work for AMR

    Do try and set yourself apart. My application process (back in the day) was different. I filled out the app, emailed it in, and had a phone call at 0700 the next morning. Next I went in for an interview, and then immediately did a scenario. This was followed by a job offer and a written...
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