Duty to the company...

[Ridryder911]

EMSA in OKC and Tulsa has this type of system They hire basics to clean and re-stock the units. The cabinets are tagged so one knows that it is up to par. Too busy to restock in between calls, so either mid-point or end of shift the truck is put down and detailed.

This allows basics to get on with the company until a driver spot opens up. Many choose to stay, I heard they make more money than the drivers .... go figure.

R/r 911

 

[BossyCow]

Like any new job, there comes a time when our optimism runs afoul of reality. As in any industry, we all have to determine which is more important, our personal standards, morals and that of the agency signing our checks. If the rigs are substandard to the point of endangering safe performance of your duties, you have some choices:

accept this as a condition of your first job in EMS that will make all future jobs look better by comparison

• 
  decide its worth standing and fighting for and be willing to put the job on the line

• 
  or quietly do what you can to minimize its impact on your and your patients while keeping your resume up to date and your eye on the want ads

 

[trauma1534]

You know, while we are on the subject of restocking ambulances, does anyone else know of a service like MEDIC in Charlotte, NC? They actually have a warehouse where their trucks are stored and they have a full staff paid to wash and restock them. There providers don't have to do anything but take care of patients and sanitize inside between patients. They check out a truck before every shift with seals on the cabinets which means the truck has been cleaned and restocked. That is pretty interesting.

Interesting enough, Richmond Ambulance Authority hires "Ambulance Techs", the only certification they have to have is CPR. These people are hired to do nothing but detail and stock the ambulances. The providers only have to clean the trucks between calls at the ER when they drop a patient. If the truck needs to be deconed, it gets taken out of service and the crew takes another truck and the "ambulance tech" decons the truck! How cool is that! Every service needs to hire "ambulance techs!!!" I'm all for it!!! Maybe I can sell that idea to my place of employment! (I know, keep dreaming right???) lol

 

[fm_emt]

* Get some girls from Hooters
* have them wash the ambulance, and clean it inside and out
* ????
* Profit!

That's my plan. If you can't find any Hooters girls, I guess you'll just have to go ahead and wash the rig. Perhaps you can spray your partner with the hose just for fun.

 

[jeepmedic]

Interesting enough, Richmond Ambulance Authority hires "Ambulance Techs", the only certification they have to have is CPR. These people are hired to do nothing but detail and stock the ambulances. The providers only have to clean the trucks between calls at the ER when they drop a patient. If the truck needs to be deconed, it gets taken out of service and the crew takes another truck and the "ambulance tech" decons the truck! How cool is that! Every service needs to hire "ambulance techs!!!" I'm all for it!!! Maybe I can sell that idea to my place of employment! (I know, keep dreaming right???) lol

You don't have enough trucks to do this it takes more than 2 trucks.

 

[jeepmedic]

EMSA in OKC and Tulsa has this type of system They hire basics to clean and re-stock the units. The cabinets are tagged so one knows that it is up to par. Too busy to restock in between calls, so either mid-point or end of shift the truck is put down and detailed.

This allows basics to get on with the company until a driver spot opens up. Many choose to stay, I heard they make more money than the drivers .... go figure.

R/r 911

This would also insure that the drivers know where all the stuff is on the truck when they get promoted to driver.

 

[Jon]

Back when I worked priviate EMS fulltime, my regular partner (PaRescueEMT) and I saw a truck that wasn't being used often and asked if we could be assigned it. Almost all of the rigs (All of the BLS ones and some of the ALS ones) were Type II's. It was a unit that had been assigned to a permant crew at an old base that was closed a few years previously. All the patient compartments had been tinted (with the PepBoys Do-It-Yourself Tint Kit). The AC and Heat both worked OK in front and in back, and it was in decent shape. We requested to be permanantly assigned that unit, and then we came in on a holiday afternoon for a few hours (on our own time) and cleaned out the truck, repaired a shelf in the back, and totally restocked it. For the last few months with the company, we had our OWN vehicle and were mostly happy with it... it made life much more tolerable that we had a good truck - even if it was a POS in the grand scheme of things. Had we both stayed with the company, it was possible that we would be assigned a brand new vehicle down the road, because we proved that we could take pride in our vehicle.


Another anecdote - When I was in Louisana for huricane relief back in 2005... we were operating old reserve units from several of our companies operations... These were vehicles that we weren't going to ever see again after we left LA, and we weren't always in the same vehicle. One of the things I did EVERY time we gassed up at a state-owned truck fuelling station was to use one of the 2 self-serve car-wash bays and wash the vehicle. The first time I did it, I paid out of my pocket, it cost less than $2... the next day, the Fish and Game Officer watching the gas pumps had tokens for the car wash.

Why did I wash the vehice?
First reason - That region has these nasty, dumb bugs that come around every year towards the end of summer... they like to hang in the air and get hit by cars... we went through cases of windshield washer fluid those 2 weeks. I couldn't see out of the windshield and the truck looked like crap.
Second Reason - I take some pride (at least I did take some pride ) in my company, and a clean truck just looks better.
Third Reason - Some of our missions had our vehicles driving through flood waters... keeping the vehicles clean was good for everyones health.


Anyway - a clean unit is good for your morale and makes a good impression on your community / your customers. Even if the boss is a **** about getting you to clean the vehicle... do it. It would be even cooler if he loaned you the vehicle and he DIDN'T ask for you to wash it... then you should wash it anyway.