the 100% directionless thread

So happy to say that I got to be apart of this amazing night! Not only did I help keep the kids safe, but made their night when they say all the medical crews jumping in right with them and dancing our butts off!! Great night! :)
http://www.ktvu.com/news/90030580-story
 
Seirende said:
I hope to end up at WEMSA someday when I achieve the proper combination of free time and money. What's wrong with the brakes that it costs $700 dollars to fix?
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They wanted to:
Replace one front to rear brake line: $189.99
Install new rear shoes and machine cylinders: $296.95
Install new front pads, rebuilt cylinders, and machine rotors: $464.94
Bleed brakes: $20.00

ON TOP of that they also left all the paperwork in the truck for what they inspected and also wanted to do:
Replace upper L/R ball joints: $405.96
Replace lower L/R ball joints: $605.94
Replace all 4 shock absorbers: $731.94
Install Catalytic converter: $815.07

I think it's funny they want to install a cat, I'm pretty sure I have one on there. No idea why I'd need a new one.
 
Giant81 said:
They wanted to:
Replace one front to rear brake line: $189.99
Install new rear shoes and machine cylinders: $296.95
Install new front pads, rebuilt cylinders, and machine rotors: $464.94
Bleed brakes: $20.00

ON TOP of that they also left all the paperwork in the truck for what they inspected and also wanted to do:
Replace upper L/R ball joints: $405.96
Replace lower L/R ball joints: $605.94
Replace all 4 shock absorbers: $731.94
Install Catalytic converter: $815.07

I think it's funny they want to install a cat, I'm pretty sure I have one on there. No idea why I'd need a new one.
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Yeah if they are saying stuff like that, I'd get a second opinion elsewhere. It sounds like they are trying to rip you off.
 
oh yeah, I was the out of town guy so I knew I was getting soaked.

I had it towed to my mechanic (at the time it would have been cost prohibitive) and he replace all front and back brake lines and I'm back on the road.

He did mention that I'd want to get replace the pads and shoes at some point, but that they'd be fine for now.
 
Little sister has her first EMT field clinical shift tonight. She's only seventeen... Here's hoping for nothing too brutal. :/
 
Seirende said:
Little sister has her first EMT field clinical shift tonight. She's only seventeen... Here's hoping for nothing too brutal. :/
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I don't understand why children are in the field working.
 
Army base in the middle of the backwoods of Louisiana, 40 minutes from the nearest town: "8 o'clock on a Saturday night is the perfect time for all the PX's and shops and whatnot on post to close down!"
 
Jim37F said:
Army base in the middle of the backwoods of Louisiana, 40 minutes from the nearest town:
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If you hear banjos playing, make a run for it.
 
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Got to walk the red carpet before all the kids showed up last night! :) I officially got to go to my first prom!
 
Jim37F said:
Army base in the middle of the backwoods of Louisiana, 40 minutes from the nearest town: "8 o'clock on a Saturday night is the perfect time for all the PX's and shops and whatnot on post to close down!"
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Is a holiday weekend so it's not too surprising. But does suck if you aren't normally stationed at the post.
 
exodus said:
I don't understand why children are in the field working.
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Do you consider all seventeen year olds to be children? Don't worry yourself too much in any case; licensure won't happen until that magical eighteenth birthday.
 
lets be honest, there is little difference in psychological or physical maturity between 17 and 18. It was legally defined to be 18, I suspect, more because of our schooling schedule than anything else. If our schooling typically lasted until 20, you'd have seen 20 the threshold. But the threshold really isn't child/adult since that ignores adolescence and young adulthood. But that's a whole other discussion.

Lets be honest though, those that do not make sound, mature decisions at 17, are probably not going to suddenly do so after their birthday, and those that tend to make sound decisions at 18, probably did so at 17 also. The problem is that maturity is a difficult to measure construct, where biological age is simple, so laws are written around the later rather than the former.

So, do I consider 17yo's children? Some of them I do. Do I consider them adults? No more or less than most 18yo's I know. Do I treat them differently because of legal ramifications? Only to the extent that I stay on the good side of the law like obtaining parental consent before treatment.
 
Hell, in NY I was able to become a structural firefighter at 16, but had to wait until i was 18 to become an EMT. Go figure.
 
Giant81 said:
lets be honest, there is little difference in psychological or physical maturity between 17 and 18..
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I consider 18 y/o "child like" in nature. But by legal definition, adults.

From a scientific stand point, the frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed until between the ages of 20-23... Teenagers make poor life choices because their brains are literally still developing, and in many aspects, are "child like" in nature. Not a fault of theirs, it is just how it is.

Do I think a 17 y/o with a under developed brain should be making like or death decisions? No. An 18 y/o? Probably not either.
 
COmedic17 said:
I consider 18 y/o "child like" in nature. But by legal definition, adults.

From a scientific stand point, the frontal lobe of the brain is not fully developed until between the ages of 20-23... Teenagers make poor life choices because their brains are literally still developing, and in many aspects, are "child like" in nature. Not a fault of theirs, it is just how it is.

Do I think a 17 y/o with a under developed brain should be making like or death decisions? No. An 18 y/o? Probably not either.
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A case might be made that a pattern of poor decision making can be as much a function of sociocultural, psychological, and life experience factors as of biological ones. I'm not going to put resources into making that case right now, but I propose that it's not inevitable for persons under the age of twenty to be lacking in relevant decision-making skills.

I do agree that emotional maturity usually increases with age (though that's all through life and does not cease at age 23). I will also agree that emotional maturity leads to better life decisions. However, I don't see much overlap between long-term life decisions such as marriage and the immediate application of principles of medicine during a call.

In my personal situation, I do worry about my baby sister (and I use such emotional language purposely). The accident of birth order and our family dynamics have made it so that I'll always be motivated to protect her from the horrific side of life. My feelings aside, however, I think that she will be well able to handle an EMT scope after the proper education and training. Would I say this of all seventeen year olds? Obviously not. Life stages and underlying strengths/weaknesses are different for everyone.
 
Witnessed asystolic cardiac arrest yesterday with manual compressions of varying quality on an elderly and morbidly obese patient with multiple comorbidities. Eyes were fixed and dilated, but EtCO2 remained ~60 mm Hg even after a while on our vent at 12 BPM. We worked him on scene for ~30 minutes, 5x 1 mg epinephrine, and placement of a King LT-D, then our paramedic student wanted to transport. Somehow, they achieved ROSC on this patient near the conclusion of transport after 9 administrations of epi and about an hour of CPR. The poor man is still languishing in the ICU on max dose pressors, persistent bradycardia, a completely opaque CXR, and an initial pH of 6.8 that has only gradually improved to 7.1 overnight, and of course no signs of any kind of cognitive function. Another one saved!

Sometimes modern medicine focuses way too much effort on resuscitating people.
 
Don't ever want that kind of life for myself. I'd rather live a wild life and clock out earlier than be in pain or just "there" and be around longer.
 
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