# Radios and pagers going off in public



## ollie (Feb 26, 2010)

Has ur radio or pager gone off in the worst place ex. church the movies( if u have time) any place thats quiet, if so what did u do?


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## Shishkabob (Feb 26, 2010)

Take the call like I'm supposed to?


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## JPINFV (Feb 26, 2010)

'Chip and vibrate' doesn't cause that much distraction. If I really want to, I might just change the pager to vibrate.


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## mycrofft (Feb 26, 2010)

*Before cell phones...*

1. Sound of pager beeping.
2. Every third guy in line snags at his belt or pocket.

Don't you know it's macho and makes you seem important to blow off your peers and neighbors by stopping your interactions with them and "taking a call"?


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## TraprMike (Feb 26, 2010)

take the call,, respond accordingly. 

that's what vibrate is for..

small town here,,, so, everything i want to do is in a neigboring town. so, i'm not on call for amb. but I am on call for PD.. most of the time I can take care of busness over the phone. 
when oncall for amb, i stay in town, so going to local grocery store or stop +rob is no problem.. 

I do have a radio in the Jeep so i kind of know what's going on in the county when I drive.


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## EMSLaw (Feb 26, 2010)

You can always get your organization to sign up for something like www.edispatches.com.  Then you don't have the annoying pager going off - just whatever sound your cell phone makes when you get a text message. 

Of course, annoying cell phone usage in public is another topic for another thread, but...


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## Lifeguards For Life (Feb 27, 2010)

worry more about class and less about discounts, radios, beepers, pagers.


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## EMTinNEPA (Feb 27, 2010)

I don't carry my pager unless I'm at work or at the station I volunteer at.  Problem solved!


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## TransportJockey (Feb 27, 2010)

Only have the radio or pager while I'm getting paid to be at work. We usually just hang in the bus or at a resturaunt, so nope, no embarrasing call outs


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## TccEMT (Feb 27, 2010)

Before my service had pagers for everyone, we would carry our radios (they weren't that big like XTS5000 we have now) and we'd change the channel to "recall" which would be toned if they needed us. It happened once in a upscale resturant. However, they only toned that channel when it really hit the fan, so I didn't feel bad or anything, only got a few dirty looks.


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## traumaqueen5 (Feb 27, 2010)

for our ambulance and FD we have a channel called "push to listen" it vibrates when a call goes out and you can leave where ever you are and then replay the call i use that when im at work or in class....


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## CountryEMT-bGurl (Feb 28, 2010)

Yes, I go to church while on duty (I work every sunday) *Couldnt make it today; seizing pt, but when we walk in people expect for our tones to drop at anytime in church. So we get up quietly and rush out. I'm sure everyone in church says a prayer each time we have to get up to leave!


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## Jon (Feb 28, 2010)

CountryEMT-bGurl said:


> Yes, I go to church while on duty (I work every sunday) *Couldnt make it today; seizing pt, but when we walk in people expect for our tones to drop at anytime in church. So we get up quietly and rush out. I'm sure everyone in church says a prayer each time we have to get up to leave!


Rush? That sounds dramatic. I NEVER rush. It's not MY emergency.

Anyway - The real reason I wanted to reply - Is it within Service policy that you go to church? Is your partner the same religion as you?

I'd be mildly offended if my partner wanted to drag me to "their" church - Further, it would create awkwardness if I were to stay in the truck "why is your partner not going to church", etc.



As for pagers - As a volunteer - If I'm somewhere where I don't want to be bothered... I turn it off, leave it at home or in the car. If I am around and don't mind being bothered... I carry it. If I'm on duty - it's the name of the game. I don't get embarrassed. If I need to settle a bill, I do, then I go walk to my truck and take the call.


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## CountryEMT-bGurl (Feb 28, 2010)

NO, i go to church either by myself, or with my other crew who is on duty. We have a company tahoe that we take out when needed to go somewhere by ourselves.
Our policy is, 
We can leave base whenever we'd like (within a 2-3mile radius of base) as long as we take the company Tahoe-which has lights & sirens**If needed of coarse** and a full ambulance pretty much in the back.

So most of the times my partner stays back at base, and if they are headed my way- I wait outside and jump in, or I head back to base and where we meet in the middle we stop.


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## TraprMike (Feb 28, 2010)

*compare apples to apples*

it looks like we have a couple kinds of services mentioned here. the Paid, At the station, on duty, in uniform, waiting for calls, and volunteer members (like me) who are on-call, but at home doing normal family things until the tones go off. 

like b-Girl said,  it's acceptable to take the company truck w/in a few miles of the station to run erronds, go to church, get groceries. what ever, maybe even a haircut.  

We have members 5 miles away from the garage.  our area is prolly 50 sq miles around town. mostly farmland. and we cover 3 towns. so, it's ok to have members from all over the area.. you never know where the call will be. sometimes they respond to the scene, and wait for the bus to show up.  they carry basic FAK with them.

When I go to church on Sunday, I'm 12 miles away, there is no way I can respond to a med call from there. I can't say I go to church every sunday, but I do rotate around that.. might miss every third service.  

and about the comment," It's not MY emergency"... well, when the tones go off,, it becomes your emergency, you accepted the responcability to respond as quickly as you can to help save a life.. Umm, isn't that why we have those fancy lights and noise makers on the trucks??. 

thank you.


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## JPINFV (Feb 28, 2010)

TraprMike said:


> and about the comment," It's not MY emergency"... well, when the tones go off,, it becomes your emergency, you accepted the responcability to respond as quickly as you can to help save a life.. Umm, isn't that why we have those fancy lights and noise makers on the trucks??.



Rule 4 of The House of God, "The patient is the one with the disease."

No. It's not my emergency, however it's my job. If I believe it is my emergency, then my stress level is going to increase, which is going to decrease my ability to function. Additionally, regardless of any lights and sirens, a safe and sane response is infinitely faster than the response of the crew that is constantly pushing the speed envelope (because it is an "emergency") and consequently ends up in an accident. It is possible to walk swiftly and with purpose without running or drawing excess attention to yourself.

You say you're a police chief. What happens if one of your officers runs into a volatile situation (active shooter situations aside) without taking time to analyze the situation because it's "an emergency." What happens if one of your officers wrecks on their way to said emergency? 

Just because EMS has a duty to respond (which, arguable, doesn't apply to law enforcement), doesn't mean that we accept that someone elses' emergency is our own.


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## TraprMike (Feb 28, 2010)

the scene is never safe when we arrive.. 
who do you think makes the scene safe??


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## JPINFV (Feb 28, 2010)

Depends on the scene. Depends on which officer is arriving. For example, a polcie officer doesn't make a fire scene safe. Police officers arriving after a crime has been committed doesn't make the scene safe. In some cases, police officers aggravate situations involving law abiding citizens because of either over reaction or ignorance (MWAG calls for citizens who are lawfully carrying). 

Regardless, still doesn't explain how allowing things to become "my emergency" helps keep stress levels down and makes responses safer.


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## fortsmithman (Feb 28, 2010)

When either my pager or portable goes off I go on the call.


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