Hey, James Nold!  Remember the message about Re: RE: RE: UNIONS?
You said to Tom Patierno on 11 Nov 96  15:35:56...
-> Hey, Gary Saffer!  Remember the message about RE: RE: UNIONS?
-> You said to Tom Patierno on 03 Nov 96  10:25:00...
JN> ->
-> GS> TP>CN> I heard that a physician was giving talks at EMS
-> conventions that
-> GS> TP>CN> paramedics are having no good effect at saving lives, and
 
-> GS> This was this DR's opinion, and his only. What he says is that th
-> GS> a lack of hard data to support pre hospital ALS. However, there i
-> GS> a lack of data to say that it doesn't work. It doesn't seem that
-> GS> many people share his opinion.
 
JN>  I feel due to HMO, we will see the patient being treated at home and
JN> then staying at home. Home Health is BIG and getting bigger. It may not
JN> be the Paramedics doing this, maybe the doctor will be in the box soon
JN> and will return to making house calls. Paramedics will then become a
JN> "first responder" type of worker. They will report the S&S and the
JN> doctor will then determian if they need to respond or not.
JN> 
JN>  The doctors are riding out in Mexico....
Yep, we're all gonna have to prove our worth.  It's why I believe EMS has 
one
corporate (Laidlaw, AMR, etc.)  If it's big enough, then they may be able to 
exert enough influence on the decision makers.... There's a bit of a battle 
going on here in Connecticut over who gets what part of the state.  AMR is in 
alot of the state, but Laidlaw is in Fairfield County... where all the $$$ is 
(for instance, houses typically go for about 400,000 dollars)
As for "prove their worth"...
    The paramedic in NYC is already able to "treat and release" many calls 
they respond to.  It was started "informally", where gangland homies wanted
to be treated by medics, but not have to go to the hospital and run the risk
of getting turned in, as well as homeless folks that wanted a dressing change
on their leg or whatever, without sitting in an ER, while their stuff was
getting stolen under the 59th street bridge.  The hospitals, somewhat eager
to have the non-payer indigenous not showing up at their ER, "fully supports
and has confidence in the prehospital care provider's ability to handle these
minor calls of assistance." They was breathin' a collective sigh of relief;
no more "dirtbags" in the ER.
    Just wanted to say a comment on Dr's riding on the rigs... the rescue 
squads send a Dr. on all medical emergencies in Iceland.  I saw it on a new 
show called "Emergency!"...
Regards,
Tom Patierno
--- Renegade v4-05 Exp
---------------