Monday, April 30, 2012
Trauma Tourniquet in engine 2522
Hello everyone;
During apparatus checks on Saturday I found a new piece of equipment in the ALS/BLS medical bag on 2522, a brand new trauma tourniquet. It is unclear as to when it was placed in the med bag, and if there are any others in the department. But seeing as we have a new tool at our deposal I wanted to become as familiar as possible. I looked it up in our protocols and it was not very helpful. My next resource was YouTube. The link that I found is just a short video about applying a tourniquet, and it uses the same type of tourniquet that was placed in the bag.
Thank you,
Robert
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Holmatro communication
It has come to my attention that there has been some confusion, hurt feelings and miscommunication regarding the recent removal of the Holmatro Rescue tool from 2523.
First off it appears that the communication about the removal was not routed to all members. D/E Truax did send an email stating that the tool was being removed, however our address list is not the most current so this email did not make it to all personnel.
Secondly I have been told that the reasoning for the removal has not been fully explained.
At the most recent officer meeting, the grant for the purchase of the new Genesis Rescue Tool was discussed. Concern was raised as to the liability of the language in the grant as to the Holmatro being out-dated, obsolete and potentially dangerous. While we agreed that the tool was probably not a hazard, the grant specifically stated that we were REPLACING an out of date and obsolete tool. Chief Curzon made the decision to follow the language of the grant and expressed concern about the liability we had if one of our members were to get injured while operating the tool after we had a federal grant awarded that to replace it. After much discussion it became obvious that there was just no other choice.
The second part of the conversation was centered around a need for a location to carry the new rescue air bag systems. These air bags were purchased as part of the same grant and have languished in the apparatus bay with no apparent plan to get them into service. We discussed the need to get them onto an apparatus and to get the rest of our personnel trained. The idea being purposed is to place the airbags onto 2523 and to train our volunteers in their operation. This would in effect create a specialty unit that would be called out whenever the airbags were needed. This would do a much better job of augmenting the department’s rescue capabilities versus providing a redundant back up with an out of date and inadequate tool.
I would like to apologize if some members did not receive the original email as well as if any misinformation may have been discussed that may have created some hard feelings. The intent out of the officer meeting was to improve our services.
Also, in the lines of improving communications within our ranks, I would like to remind all of the volunteers that we have an online blog to use for communication. It can be found at http://astoriafire.blogspot.com/ . Any member can view the blog and I would like to once again ask all of our volunteers to send me an email if you would like to be listed as an author so you can post and communicate. It is a valuable tool that could do wonders for addressing needs at station #2. We currently have a couple volunteers that have registered but would love to see all taking part.
Thank you,
Lt. Paul Gascoigne
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
2541 maintenance delayed
Just talked with Kevin from shops about 2541s scheduled maintenance. 2541s maintenance will not be completed today and has been bumped to next week. Kevin said he will meet with DC Straily to schedule a specific date.