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Massachusetts requires (required?) it for law enforcement when I lived there.
Shooting Prep.
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Bullets
Forum Knucklehead
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A.) NJ doesnt recognize EMR.
B.) No, not every cop is an EMT, some are from their younger days but many are expired. Though every new cop gets the ARC First Aid class or equivalent at the academy for the past 10ish years or so
C.)Even if they were, why would that matter?
Bullets
Forum Knucklehead
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DOH only regulates the certification and CEUs. They have no control over if a random EMT carries expired supplies.
They also have control over licensed ambulances. This a partially voluntary licensure on the vehicle, mostly if you choose to bill on that truck. There is no regulation on an ambulance in NJ. you can carry basically anything you want, and dont even need to have any certification to provide 911 BLS to a town if the town agrees. In some volunteer first aid squads, this is the case because the squads are slow and the town government does know or care to know. Its a mess
EpiEMS
Forum Deputy Chief
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DrParasite
The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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It's actually not as bad as he's making it out to be. While there is no mandatory requirements, most EMS agencies voluntarily follow the guidelines of the NJFAC and/or the Licensure requirements from NJ OEMS. And I bet CT OEMS has no jurisdiction over the local DPW if they want to keep some first aid equipment or an AED in their dump truck or supervisors vehicle, or if you (as an off duty EMT in a vehicle that isn't registered with the CT DOH) keep some stuff in the trunk of your car.
There are probably some volunteer agencies in the rural areas of the state that do some questionable stuff (just like you will find firefighters in certain areas with 3 inch long beards), but they are by far the exception compared to the norm. And yes, I am fully against the NJFAC and the whole two sets of regulations within NJ EMS (and if you don't fall under either group, it doesn't stop you from running an ambulance, just prevents you from having oversight, yes, I know that is the scary part, but it's thankfully rare).
Flying
Mostly Ignorant
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Sorry to derail the thread further. The future of NJ EMS has been looking good lately, with the new director of OEMS cleaning house (resulting in many overdue ambulance/MAV audits) and the thrice vetoed EMS reform bill now making its way through legislature under a new governor.
where I work FT we have 3 crews during the week, and we are 45 minutes away from closest backup (4 medic trucks) and 75 miles from heavy response backup.. 25 minutes from 1 helicopter if they are available and 35-60 minutes from more helicopters.
PT job is 2 to 3 ambulances (4 if a lot of PT are signed up), 60 miles from 1 BLS truck for backup and 110-125 miles from more backup. 45-75 minutes for helicopters.
Fun thoughts for mass casualty
PT job is 2 to 3 ambulances (4 if a lot of PT are signed up), 60 miles from 1 BLS truck for backup and 110-125 miles from more backup. 45-75 minutes for helicopters.
Fun thoughts for mass casualty
DrParasite
The fire extinguisher is not just for show
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yeah, and? I don't know of a single EMS agency that can justify 20 staffed ambulances standing by just in case an MCI happens.
3 crews during the week sounds appropriate for any given area, depending on call volume. 2-3 sounds good to. I used to work in a city that had 1 ambulance staffed and that's it. you have between 2 and 3 times as much as them. And they relied on mutual aid for a large amount of their routine calls.
The important thing is not to think about how many resources you have at any given time, but rather to develop a plan for what to do if the MCI happens. If you have 1 ambulance, and you have an MCI with 30 patients (two school buses collide head on, building collapse, CO poisoning at the mall or local walmart, or an active shooter with multiple people down), what will your plan be? it's much easier to know in advance where you can get additional resources, vs trying to figure it out when the incident is unfolding.
Using your examples, what you might say is in the event of an MCI, immediately request 2 medic trucks from 45 minute away, and initiate a response from your "heavy response" backup. It might take them two hours to get there, but at least you will have resources available, either for the MCI or to cover the routine issues. You might also initiate an off duty recall, asking anyone who is available to respond to your station and staff a reserve ambulance. You might also request a bus from the local school, or bus company, and use that to transport your green patients, and maybe even some yellows if needed. And do you have the approvals already obtained from the bus companies, from the AHJ to pay OT, and from your neighbors that in the event of an MCI, this is what you are going to request, and they will do their best to commit if available?
Does your state or county have any special resources? lets start them sooner than later. Do you know the Utah MCI Plan? Does your county have one? if not, maybe it's time to think about one. What about the hospitals? how many can they handle during an MCI? can they recall additional staff, or bring staff down from the floors to the ER to handle the surge of patients? how does that affect your transport decisions?
All these things take planning, approvals, and advance knowledge of what your areas resources are capable of. It doesn't matter how short staffed you are: you need to plan for the worst case, so when it happens, you aren't scrambling to come up with a solution on the fly. And hopefully, you never need to implement it, but if you do, it's nice to know that someone was thinking ahead.