Kern Co. CA

[Fish]

I keep a lot about the protocols in Kern CO being more "Advanced" or providing more Freedom than most areas in CA.

My question is, how? What exactly about the protocols is different compared to the rest of CA....... ALS & BLS

 

[JDallas]

I live in an area of San Bernardino County that is served by avolunteer BLS ambulance. ALS units from Kern County (Liberty Ambulance- approximately 20-25 minutes away) often come to assist us.

Despite that, I personally have limited knowledge of how the protocols differ. The biggest one I'm aware of is difference in airway management at the BLS level. I don't have anymore specific examples, but I hear people say often that Kern County EMS is not as rigorous as ICEMA(Inland Counties Emergency Medical Authority, San Bernardino, Inyo, and Mono Counties)

Hopefully this helped, and I'll share more info as I get it. I'll bring this up tomorrow when I see several of theambulance personal here.

 

[Joe]

I dont have the link on my phone but look up kern county ems on google. Im an emt so im not up on medic protocols but intubate peds, needle t, cric, io, drugs and stuff, amd its not a mother may i county. Emt can place king airways. All fire is bls, except for one medic in frasier park with kcfd

 

[CentralCalEMT]

I am a Kern County paramedic.

We do almost everything based off of protocol and standing orders. We rarely if ever make base contact. If a paramedic does make base contact, it is for something that is outside of protocol such as using Versed and Valium to facilitate intubation, which MDs will often let you do if you call and present your case to them.

We have more medications than most CA counties (Verapamil, Pitocin, Mag Sulfate, etc) and actually get to use them. We do run paramdic/EMT staffing on ambulances so the paramedics here get experience on every call. Because of the long transport times, we use more medications and have first, second, and even third line drugs. For example, Albuterol, EPI 1:1000 and Mag are our first, second, and third line respiratory drugs here. We also have multiple drugs for the same condition in case someone has an allergy (i.e. we carry valium and versed, as well as lidocane and amiodarone, etc). We have more options in our drug box.

We also have more procedures than many CA counties such as gastric lavage, nasal intubation, peds intubation, etc.

We also cover an extremely diverse area. Our county alone covers 8,000 square miles. We also cover around 1,000 square miles of Tulare, Inyo, and San Bernardino counties on an auto aid basis and use Kern County protocols on those responses. Kern County Paramedics (working for Hall, Liberty, Kern, and Delano ambulance companies) cover a city with close to 500,000 people, the Mojave Desert, the Kern River Valley and Upper Kern River, part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the China Lake Naval Weapons Station, some of the the largest oil fields in the US, and some of the richest farmland in the US. Therefore our protocols are wide open so we can account for the diverse situations we face. One paramedic might be running a shooting in inner city Bakersfield while I might be on a hike in rescue at 7,000 feet in the show at the exact same time.

We also have very nice equipment by private company standards. Where I work in the mountains, we have lifted 4WD type I ambulances, Lifepack 15s, IV warmers, over the side equipment, cold weather gear, etc.

Fire and EMS (GASP!!!!) for the most part play nicely here. Fire is almost entirely BLS with the exception of two stations in extremely rural areas. Fire has some excellent EMTs. They carry and use King Airways when they beat us to cardiac arrests and are extremely helpful ready to help out wherever needed.

Overall our EMS system is not perfect, but I feel it is very good. Our county EMS administration lets us do our jobs as paramedics, does not micro manage us, but still reviews our PCRs and holds us accountable. Because we are a 100% EPCR county, county EMS gets all of our PCRs very quickly and reviews them.

 

[RocketMedic]

I am a Kern County paramedic.

We do almost everything based off of protocol and standing orders. We rarely if ever make base contact. If a paramedic does make base contact, it is for something that is outside of protocol such as using Versed and Valium to facilitate intubation, which MDs will often let you do if you call and present your case to them.

We have more medications than most CA counties (Verapamil, Pitocin, Mag Sulfate, etc) and actually get to use them. We do run paramdic/EMT staffing on ambulances so the paramedics here get experience on every call. Because of the long transport times, we use more medications and have first, second, and even third line drugs. For example, Albuterol, EPI 1:1000 and Mag are our first, second, and third line respiratory drugs here. We also have multiple drugs for the same condition in case someone has an allergy (i.e. we carry valium and versed, as well as lidocane and amiodarone, etc). We have more options in our drug box.

We also have more procedures than many CA counties such as gastric lavage, nasal intubation, peds intubation, etc.

We also cover an extremely diverse area. Our county alone covers 8,000 square miles. We also cover around 1,000 square miles of Tulare, Inyo, and San Bernardino counties on an auto aid basis and use Kern County protocols on those responses. Kern County Paramedics (working for Hall, Liberty, Kern, and Delano ambulance companies) cover a city with close to 500,000 people, the Mojave Desert, the Kern River Valley and Upper Kern River, part of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the China Lake Naval Weapons Station, some of the the largest oil fields in the US, and some of the richest farmland in the US. Therefore our protocols are wide open so we can account for the diverse situations we face. One paramedic might be running a shooting in inner city Bakersfield while I might be on a hike in rescue at 7,000 feet in the show at the exact same time.

We also have very nice equipment by private company standards. Where I work in the mountains, we have lifted 4WD type I ambulances, Lifepack 15s, IV warmers, over the side equipment, cold weather gear, etc.

Fire and EMS (GASP!!!!) for the most part play nicely here. Fire is almost entirely BLS with the exception of two stations in extremely rural areas. Fire has some excellent EMTs. They carry and use King Airways when they beat us to cardiac arrests and are extremely helpful ready to help out wherever needed.

Overall our EMS system is not perfect, but I feel it is very good. Our county EMS administration lets us do our jobs as paramedics, does not micro manage us, but still reviews our PCRs and holds us accountable. Because we are a 100% EPCR county, county EMS gets all of our PCRs very quickly and reviews them.

Hall? I'd move back to CA for Hall or Liberty.

 

[Fish]

That is how most of the Counties around Texas are, sad that ONE California County sounds to be doing things right and they get noticed as the best in CA. I used to work in CA, and one of our ex Medics currently works there. We have conversations about this often

 

[CentralCalEMT]

Hall? I'd move back to CA for Hall or Liberty.

I work for Liberty and love it. However, I have one roommate who works for Hall and another who works for Delano so we have most of Kern County covered.

 

[RocketMedic]

I miss Ridgecrest and the Lake. My dad managed Liberty for a while, from 2003-2007. How's the pay now?

 

[TRSpeed]

I miss Ridgecrest and the Lake. My dad managed Liberty for a while, from 2003-2007. How's the pay now?

This^ for EMT and Medic if anyone knows.

 

[CentralCalEMT]

Pay for Basics on 24 hour shifts is usually $9-10 per hour.
Pay for medics varies by company but generally starts between 10-11 with no experience. However, due to the 72 hour shifts with the built in OT, most medics make decent money.

 

[RocketMedic]

I've got a lot of fond memories in Ridgecrest. It's a pleasant midsize town on the frontier where you can still enjoy the benefits of California and New Mexico together.

That being said, New Mexico and Texas are both way, way cheaper and offer comparable pay.