I'm a brand new emt so sorry if this is a dumb question. Anyway this company I'm at from my understanding is that they don't put their new emts on ALS units right off the bat. I haven't started working yet, just orientation and that's what I got of it, that us new emt hires will be on bls trucks for a period of time before transferring over on als with a medic. Anyway they service parts of Detroit. They said when we're working Detroit EVERYTHING that is dispatched is automatically a high priority, lights and sirens every time unless told otherwise by dispatch. So just had me curious. BLS will run these types of calls? Would obviously have to have ALS intercept if it's that serious, correct? They told us every station will be a hit or miss on if it's running ALS trucks BLS or whatever that day.
Will BLS units run 911 calls?
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OK so I live in Michigan and worked for Community Ems. Since you don't state what company you work for rapid response, Healthlink, Medstar, universal macomb, etc. As a BLS unit doing back up for the city of Detroit YES you will be doing 911 calls I have when I was back up BLS unit for Detroit. Good luck on getting ALS 9 times out of 10 you will not get it. Litteraly you are 10 to 15 mins tops from any hospital in Detroit. So why wait on scene for ALS?
Everything in Detroit is dispatched priority one even a hang nail call is priority one. When a private ambulance company gets a call from Detroit dispatch its going to come across as unknown because Detroit dispatch will not give our dispatch hardly anything more than an address half the time.
Oh ok thanks! Did you get good experience out of it? I was told I'd get a lot of good experience from working out there than some other new emts from other areas.
So you don't know what you're walking into? How could you prepare?
Smitty213
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This is when critical thinking comes into play in a BIG way. First off, try and remember if you recognize the address (nursing home, public housing, a school, residence of a frequent flier, etc.), this way you can know who you may be dealing with and in what type of scenario. Second, use all your senses when you get on scene; so things seem too quiet or very raucous, is there a smell of illicit substance in the air, is there construction going on (long falls, trauma, etc.). Especially as a BLS unit, you don't have much to bring to be "prepared" (AED and a jump bag pretty much), so throw it on the gurney and walk it as far as you can with it. And last but not least, be careful; now I'm not saying request PD for everything and sit in your rig until they arrive, but make sure you and your partner are alert and in communication with one another. It's a learning curve, but you will get it; I work in a busy urban system that receives info directly from 911 dispatch, and half the time we're still going to some place for an unknown, it's just part of the game.
Yes I got really good experience and I loved every minute of it. I learned a lot. As far as knowing what your walking into as stated above its where your critical thinking comes in. Once you start working the road and start knowing the area you'll become familiar with what address is a nursing home, private resident, hospital, etc.
Play it smart. Be alert.
Play it smart. Be alert.
adrianlee6
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I work for AMR here in SoCal and I on occasion work 911 calls