Florida EMS Medical Director Pulls Certifications of 25 Paramedics

[daedalus]

The scare tactics in the comments section disgust me. How dare people use dying children as a way to appeal these firefighter's decertification.

It is so simple. If a doctor, nurse, paramedic, whoever, does not meet decertification requirements, they will be decertified! And people are trying to suggest Dr. Tober is playing politics! I think that he and county EMS went above and beyond for reminding the department of the impending expiration of the licenses.

 

[Dan Bowman]

Thanks for the support

Hello, My name is Dan Bowman and I’m the Deputy Chief at Collier County EMS. I work hand-in-hand with Dr. Tober in an effort to assure the highest level of pre-hospital care within our community. I'd like to thank all of you for your support and candor, and therefore ask for the membership's help.

Collier County EMS, along with Dr. Tober would first like to recognize that the problem that exists in our County is not a "firefighter" issue. As a matter of fact, I’m a full supporter of ALS within the fire service. All I and the OMD ask is there be adequate training and clinical exposure corresponding to the level of care expected of everyone operating on any emergency scene. In other words, keep-up with your training, work on an ambulance “occasionally” in order to get more in-depth exposure to patients and be accountable for yourself, your department and the community. While our standards may seem simple and obvious to most, some people are struggling. You’re witnessing this play-out in our local media. What you don’t see are the department’s whose firefighter/paramedics are up to the task and working very hard and competently.

While we continue to move forward in our efforts, I would like to hear from any of you whose departments have been through similar circumstances. More specifically, I understood one of the posts indicated that within their department, they ride around 50% between transport and non-transport apparatus. I’d like more details similar to operations/standards such as this. Any other suggestions will be very appreciated.

We are very proud of our paramedics and EMTS within all of Collier County. We’ve won numerous State and National awards, have a phenomenal save-rate and recently Dr. Tober was awarded the Florida State Medical Director of the Year. We’re confident with our mission and anticipate that eventually, those administrations who seem to be lagging behind will eventually catch up with the standard we’ve set.

Feel free to contact me via PM. You’re support is appreciated.

Thanks.

Dan

 

[vquintessence]

The scare tactics in the comments section disgust me. How dare people use dying children as a way to appeal these firefighter's decertification.

Right on. There are about 130+ comments on that site now... many being knee jerk reactions from supposedly informed individuals. It was very tempting to register and provide commentary from a non-emotional and medical perspective... but hell, scare tactics and knee jerk reactions seem to be able to drown out most conversation.

 

[MrBrown]

My five observations on Fire-based EMS

1. Thy is either a Firefighter or a Paramedic, not both
2. "Education" does not equate to the local crash course medic mill
3. Paramedics belong in an ambulance, not a fire truck
4. One does not require a Paramedic card to be a Firefighter
5. Quit caving to whatever the IAFF says; they do a pretty good PR spin, heck, might even rival the Nazi's!

 

[triemal04]

So they got the boot for not doing a shift every 3 months????

I'm surprised this is news worthy, or is it a case the FF have a good union with press links?

There have been ongoing problems between the Naples FD, North Naples FD and I believe some others and Dr. Tober.

While many of the articles left out rather pertinent info and raised more questions than they answered, this one really does a decent job of shedding light on the current situation. So screw 'em. 24 hours on an ambulance every 3 months...it's not that much, if they can't live up to the standards expected of them...screw 'em. This isn't something that excuses can be made for.

 

[PotatoMedic]

Like I said before I am happy what the director did. The standards are the standards and they should be met no matter who you are. I can understand that scheduling can be hard to handle but that is the unions problem so they need to re work it to make it easier to get time in the box. On a side note Portland Fire has a paramedic on just about every rig with no ALS or BLS units, and they seem to do just fine so I wonder why he is requiring time in the box truck? (not that I am opposed to ambulances).

My five observations on Fire-based EMS

1. Thy is either a Firefighter or a Paramedic, not both
2. "Education" does not equate to the local crash course medic mill
3. Paramedics belong in an ambulance, not a fire truck
4. One does not require a Paramedic card to be a Firefighter
5. Quit caving to whatever the IAFF says; they do a pretty good PR spin, heck, might even rival the Nazi's!

Oh and I'm calling Godwin's law on #5.

 

[triemal04]

Like I said before I am happy what the director did. The standards are the standards and they should be met no matter who you are. I can understand that scheduling can be hard to handle but that is the unions problem so they need to re work it to make it easier to get time in the box. On a side note Portland Fire has a paramedic on just about every rig with no ALS or BLS units, and they seem to do just fine so I wonder why he is requiring time in the box truck? (not that I am opposed to ambulances
.

You don't know much about Portland Fire, do you? SOME do ok, others do not. SOME provide good, high quality care, others...what I've heard scares me...a lot. It's unfortunately a system problem their, as well as a cultural problem, and not likely to be fixed anytime soon.

 

[PotatoMedic]

I have not heard much about Portland so yah I am not sure of all their problems. Personally I am not a big fan of their system. I feel if you have medics or basics then you should have aid and medic units for them to drive. Not just put them on the engine. And I don't like Medic on engines, Major waste of resources. Not only does it pull and engine out of service but it also separates the crew if the medic has to go with the aid car and transport.. But yes I don't know of any of Portlands problems. But that is just because of a lack of research on my part.

I just hope the guys in Florida can sort things out and I really hope the director does not get the boot. It will be interesting to watch and see what happens.

 

[medic417]

Hello, My name is Dan Bowman and I’m the Deputy Chief at Collier County EMS. I work hand-in-hand with Dr. Tober in an effort to assure the highest level of pre-hospital care within our community. I'd like to thank all of you for your support and candor, and therefore ask for the membership's help.

Collier County EMS, along with Dr. Tober would first like to recognize that the problem that exists in our County is not a "firefighter" issue. As a matter of fact, I’m a full supporter of ALS within the fire service. All I and the OMD ask is there be adequate training and clinical exposure corresponding to the level of care expected of everyone operating on any emergency scene. In other words, keep-up with your training, work on an ambulance “occasionally” in order to get more in-depth exposure to patients and be accountable for yourself, your department and the community. While our standards may seem simple and obvious to most, some people are struggling. You’re witnessing this play-out in our local media. What you don’t see are the department’s whose firefighter/paramedics are up to the task and working very hard and competently.

While we continue to move forward in our efforts, I would like to hear from any of you whose departments have been through similar circumstances. More specifically, I understood one of the posts indicated that within their department, they ride around 50% between transport and non-transport apparatus. I’d like more details similar to operations/standards such as this. Any other suggestions will be very appreciated.

We are very proud of our paramedics and EMTS within all of Collier County. We’ve won numerous State and National awards, have a phenomenal save-rate and recently Dr. Tober was awarded the Florida State Medical Director of the Year. We’re confident with our mission and anticipate that eventually, those administrations who seem to be lagging behind will eventually catch up with the standard we’ve set.

Feel free to contact me via PM. You’re support is appreciated.

Thanks.

Dan

Welcome to the site. I hope the fire unions fight to remove Dr. Tober loses.

I do disagree with fire being ALS as they are divided. EMS and fire are 2 very different monsters and need people to specialize so patients do not suffer.

I applaud Dr. Tober for standing up for what is best for patients.

 

[46Young]

Hello, My name is Dan Bowman and I’m the Deputy Chief at Collier County EMS. I work hand-in-hand with Dr. Tober in an effort to assure the highest level of pre-hospital care within our community. I'd like to thank all of you for your support and candor, and therefore ask for the membership's help.

Collier County EMS, along with Dr. Tober would first like to recognize that the problem that exists in our County is not a "firefighter" issue. As a matter of fact, I’m a full supporter of ALS within the fire service. All I and the OMD ask is there be adequate training and clinical exposure corresponding to the level of care expected of everyone operating on any emergency scene. In other words, keep-up with your training, work on an ambulance “occasionally” in order to get more in-depth exposure to patients and be accountable for yourself, your department and the community. While our standards may seem simple and obvious to most, some people are struggling. You’re witnessing this play-out in our local media. What you don’t see are the department’s whose firefighter/paramedics are up to the task and working very hard and competently.

While we continue to move forward in our efforts, I would like to hear from any of you whose departments have been through similar circumstances. More specifically, I understood one of the posts indicated that within their department, they ride around 50% between transport and non-transport apparatus. I’d like more details similar to operations/standards such as this. Any other suggestions will be very appreciated.

We are very proud of our paramedics and EMTS within all of Collier County. We’ve won numerous State and National awards, have a phenomenal save-rate and recently Dr. Tober was awarded the Florida State Medical Director of the Year. We’re confident with our mission and anticipate that eventually, those administrations who seem to be lagging behind will eventually catch up with the standard we’ve set.

Feel free to contact me via PM. You’re support is appreciated.

Thanks.

Dan

Requiring 1-2 years (or more depending on the qualified applicant pool) of prior FT single role medic employment as a hiring requirement would be a great idea. I understand that there is an overabundance of ALS certified individuals in FL, so this shouldn't be to difficult to implement.

Fairfax County FRD includes a 16 week field ALS ambulance field internship prior to beginning the suppression academy. 4 hours weekly of lecture and skills testing during this period are also included.

The majority of houses rotate the medics between the engine and medic at a 50/50 ratio. Most stations have medic units, and all 37 have ALS engines. Some officers are dual hatters, so the medic at that house may get less suppression time as a result, if staffing is lacking that day. There usually is a dedicated engine medic spot (left bucket), so the engine medic will be pulled as a last resort to fill a medic unit.

We go to quaterly ConEd sessions quaterly, on duty, for 8 hours each time. We also include EMS drills with our monthly mandatory training matrix. This makes it easy to get in our CEU's, as they're all done on duty.

 

[Dan Bowman]

Welcome to the site. I hope the fire unions fight to remove Dr. Tober loses.

I do disagree with fire being ALS as they are divided. EMS and fire are 2 very different monsters and need people to specialize so patients do not suffer.

I applaud Dr. Tober for standing up for what is best for patients.

Thank you for the support.

 

[Dan Bowman]

Requiring 1-2 years (or more depending on the qualified applicant pool) of prior FT single role medic employment as a hiring requirement would be a great idea. I understand that there is an overabundance of ALS certified individuals in FL, so this shouldn't be to difficult to implement.

Fairfax County FRD includes a 16 week field ALS ambulance field internship prior to beginning the suppression academy. 4 hours weekly of lecture and skills testing during this period are also included.

The majority of houses rotate the medics between the engine and medic at a 50/50 ratio. Most stations have medic units, and all 37 have ALS engines. Some officers are dual hatters, so the medic at that house may get less suppression time as a result, if staffing is lacking that day. There usually is a dedicated engine medic spot (left bucket), so the engine medic will be pulled as a last resort to fill a medic unit.

We go to quaterly ConEd sessions quaterly, on duty, for 8 hours each time. We also include EMS drills with our monthly mandatory training matrix. This makes it easy to get in our CEU's, as they're all done on duty.

Ironically, several years ago, we modeled our initial cross-training program based on some of your department’s standards.
Please PM me an email address. I’d like to ask you a few questions and get some advice.