GoldStar

[Guest guest]

If you look at departments such as D.F.D. or

L.A.Co.F.D.,how many lawsuits have been filed due to

poor care ? I have worked in both cities,and I have

seen some of the worst Pre-Hospital Care ever. I am

not saying that all Fire Based EMS Services fall in to

this. But Lets also look at Primary Emergency

Ambulance Services (Austin, Montgomery County)With

those systems,you have some of the finest E.M.S.

talent in the world. I am a huge advocate of spliting

E.M.S. and Fire. Yes, ALS Engines or even I.L.S.

Engines (Arlington) work and should be used,but if you

remove the ambulances, the folks on those units could

be used to staff another Engine Company or bring

staffing levels up to par.Plus the

budgets of these Departments could be better utilized

such as,instead of replacing Ambulances,departments

could use those monies to upgrade stations,install

exaust evacuation systems,ect.And if the cities

started to run Transfers,there would be a new revenue

source to fund a stand alone service,providing there

are enough transfers.And they could also run

wheelchair vans (San Diego Medical Enterprises

does)These are serious points to ponder. Now if the

AMAA in Fort Worth would pull there heads out and take

over Med Star.............. but thats a whole

different Oprah.

--- Wayne Edgin wrote:

> Fire fighters should fight Fire EMS should be EMS,

> not fire fighters. You cant master two professions

> and

> provide adaquate service to the public. There are

> several F.F that I know that have an EMS CERT just

> because they wanted to fight fires.

> --- txbasic wrote:

> >

> >

> > I have been reading little " tid-bits " of what

> > everyone has been

> > saying. I must say that I agree with Gene. I would

> > also like to add

> > someting, just food for thought you might say.

> >

> > Do you think that EMS divorcing fire (i.e. Houston

> > FD) would be a

> > good thing? Do you think that pt. care would go

> up?

> > I think so. I

> > think that people who want to do EMS should do

> EMS,

> > and vice versa

> > for fire. So a ff might not wnat to do a transfer,

> > big deal, there

> > have been worse tragedies in this world, like Gene

> > said, transfers

> > are the paying " gigs " . Why whouldn't someone want

> to

> > do it? It only

> > makes sense. In addition to that, I think that it

> > would cut down on

> > the number of " mom and pop " EMS services that seem

> > to plauge

> > Houston. I am disgusted when I see some of the

> " less

> > that

> > professional " attitudes and look that some of

> these

> > services have. I

> > am sometime ashame to actualy admit what I do, in

> > fear that the

> > person I'm talking to might have a run in with the

> > " bad " service,

> > therefore think bad upon the profession that I

> love.

> >

> > I am not trying to make people mad, or disrespect

> > HFD. They are a

> > hard working group of people, and I think that

> they

> > are completley

> > underpaid.

> >

> > I just think that if EMS was to " divorce " fd's

> then

> > pt care would go

> > up. EMT's would be able to do what they love and

> > become more

> > involved and want to learn more. Not to mention

> the

> > other day at

> > Mem. Hermann, while a nurse was explaining

> > something, (I think it

> > was the differences between a certain type of

> insect

> > bite), the HFD

> > guy stated " I don't know, I'm just an EMT. " With

> > that kind

> > of " enthusiastic " attitude about EMS, why wouldn't

> > FD's, (some, not

> > all) wnat to release EMS? IF they don't like it,

> > don't do it.

> > Everyone one, for the most part, would win. Pt's

> > included.

> >

> > Thats my $0.02

> >

> > Just to let

> > everyone know, PAFD

> > responded to almost 8000 calls last year, and

> > probably less than 30%

> > were NOT medical related calls. The call volume

> is

> > already there,

> > so we don't need the city service to boost

> numbers.

> > If we do go with

> > the proposal to do inner-city transfers, there

> would

> > be

> > dedicated " transfer trucks " to keep the 911 units

> > available. There

> > is supposed to be some mythical city ordinance

> > stating how many

> > units each service is to have dedicated for

> > emergencies, but you can

> > tell from all the rollover calls that those

> numbers

> > aren't there,

> > whatever that magic number is.

> > >

> > > The other good things about fire based EMS is

> the

> > chance to cross-

> > train the members, so when they respond to fires

> and

> > other fire-

> > related matters, they could be used for manpower,

> > and we all know

> > how important manpower is and the lack of. Not to

> > mention that's

> > more members contributing to a bigger pension.

> > >

> > > The key is to sell it to the city. We are

> starting

> > to phase out

> > the old-timers that don't want to run med calls,

> and

> > our dept. is

> > getting younger and more motivated. Now all we

> need

> > is a sympathetic

> > council.....

> > >

> > > Troy Irvine

> > > Firefighter/Tactical Paramedic

> > > Port Arthur Fire Department

> > >

> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > removed]

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ---------------------------------

> > >

[Guest guest]

If you look at departments such as D.F.D. or

L.A.Co.F.D.,how many lawsuits have been filed due to

poor care ? I have worked in both cities,and I have

seen some of the worst Pre-Hospital Care ever. I am

not saying that all Fire Based EMS Services fall in to

this. But Lets also look at Primary Emergency

Ambulance Services (Austin, Montgomery County)With

those systems,you have some of the finest E.M.S.

talent in the world. I am a huge advocate of spliting

E.M.S. and Fire. Yes, ALS Engines or even I.L.S.

Engines (Arlington) work and should be used,but if you

remove the ambulances, the folks on those units could

be used to staff another Engine Company or bring

staffing levels up to par.Plus the

budgets of these Departments could be better utilized

such as,instead of replacing Ambulances,departments

could use those monies to upgrade stations,install

exaust evacuation systems,ect.And if the cities

started to run Transfers,there would be a new revenue

source to fund a stand alone service,providing there

are enough transfers.And they could also run

wheelchair vans (San Diego Medical Enterprises

does)These are serious points to ponder. Now if the

AMAA in Fort Worth would pull there heads out and take

over Med Star.............. but thats a whole

different Oprah.

--- Wayne Edgin wrote:

> Fire fighters should fight Fire EMS should be EMS,

> not fire fighters. You cant master two professions

> and

> provide adaquate service to the public. There are

> several F.F that I know that have an EMS CERT just

> because they wanted to fight fires.

> --- txbasic wrote:

> >

> >

> > I have been reading little " tid-bits " of what

> > everyone has been

> > saying. I must say that I agree with Gene. I would

> > also like to add

> > someting, just food for thought you might say.

> >

> > Do you think that EMS divorcing fire (i.e. Houston

> > FD) would be a

> > good thing? Do you think that pt. care would go

> up?

> > I think so. I

> > think that people who want to do EMS should do

> EMS,

> > and vice versa

> > for fire. So a ff might not wnat to do a transfer,

> > big deal, there

> > have been worse tragedies in this world, like Gene

> > said, transfers

> > are the paying " gigs " . Why whouldn't someone want

> to

> > do it? It only

> > makes sense. In addition to that, I think that it

> > would cut down on

> > the number of " mom and pop " EMS services that seem

> > to plauge

> > Houston. I am disgusted when I see some of the

> " less

> > that

> > professional " attitudes and look that some of

> these

> > services have. I

> > am sometime ashame to actualy admit what I do, in

> > fear that the

> > person I'm talking to might have a run in with the

> > " bad " service,

> > therefore think bad upon the profession that I

> love.

> >

> > I am not trying to make people mad, or disrespect

> > HFD. They are a

> > hard working group of people, and I think that

> they

> > are completley

> > underpaid.

> >

> > I just think that if EMS was to " divorce " fd's

> then

> > pt care would go

> > up. EMT's would be able to do what they love and

> > become more

> > involved and want to learn more. Not to mention

> the

> > other day at

> > Mem. Hermann, while a nurse was explaining

> > something, (I think it

> > was the differences between a certain type of

> insect

> > bite), the HFD

> > guy stated " I don't know, I'm just an EMT. " With

> > that kind

> > of " enthusiastic " attitude about EMS, why wouldn't

> > FD's, (some, not

> > all) wnat to release EMS? IF they don't like it,

> > don't do it.

> > Everyone one, for the most part, would win. Pt's

> > included.

> >

> > Thats my $0.02

> >

> > Just to let

> > everyone know, PAFD

> > responded to almost 8000 calls last year, and

> > probably less than 30%

> > were NOT medical related calls. The call volume

> is

> > already there,

> > so we don't need the city service to boost

> numbers.

> > If we do go with

> > the proposal to do inner-city transfers, there

> would

> > be

> > dedicated " transfer trucks " to keep the 911 units

> > available. There

> > is supposed to be some mythical city ordinance

> > stating how many

> > units each service is to have dedicated for

> > emergencies, but you can

> > tell from all the rollover calls that those

> numbers

> > aren't there,

> > whatever that magic number is.

> > >

> > > The other good things about fire based EMS is

> the

> > chance to cross-

> > train the members, so when they respond to fires

> and

> > other fire-

> > related matters, they could be used for manpower,

> > and we all know

> > how important manpower is and the lack of. Not to

> > mention that's

> > more members contributing to a bigger pension.

> > >

> > > The key is to sell it to the city. We are

> starting

> > to phase out

> > the old-timers that don't want to run med calls,

> and

> > our dept. is

> > getting younger and more motivated. Now all we

> need

> > is a sympathetic

> > council.....

> > >

> > > Troy Irvine

> > > Firefighter/Tactical Paramedic

> > > Port Arthur Fire Department

> > >

> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > removed]

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ---------------------------------

> > >

[Guest guest]

well someone opened a can of worms and I feel drawn to

JUMP in lol..

I personally think as long as we have private EMS

services there will always be the need to make money,

and therefore private EMS will always run a lower

number of ambulances. This is not always bad but it

has its moments, whereas a fire-based service may have

more units they arent bound be collection fees or

trying to renew contracts.

And I do not think EMS should be fire-based in all

situations just for one simple reason, but it reverts

back to patient care. In a small city or community

below 50000 people a fire-based system would work

because it is alot easier to find a handful of medics

crosstrained and these little FDS can be more picky

with who they hire, where a bigger FD cannot always be

so picky. A private ambulance will pull ambulances to

" make money " with transfers or move trucks for

coverage of other areas. This is a fact of life we

deal with it.

Now we move on to the bigger city, Like Houston or

Dallas, these cities that run fire based systems are

not totally bad but having this many paramedics

crossed trained with the turn over rate has got to be

a med control nightmare think about it..This cities

may not run out of ambulances and get to calls really

fast..but now you have a totally different problem,

and I speak with knowledge of this, These medics are

very limited in there patient care their call in

orders are horrendous.

So to fix this problem is there an answer?? Put a

private ambulance in there run less boxes and make

private medics run even more calls? And to face

problems like Ft. Worth and have the private company

not be able to put up enough trucks and make first

responders wait up to 20 minutes for help?..So with

bigger cities the whole " FIREMAN " thing does get

people to fill these ambulances..

I really think we should do something like Canada and

run one EMS <governly run> to cover everything like

one big family kinda thing, or the only other option

as I see it in 's world make everything third-city

services but with this we are all dreaming.

Well im not advocating anything but everyone here is

downing one ambulance-system type over another but

there are real issues with every service until people

and hospitals as a whole RESPECT EMS then we will

continue to have these problems..

my 2 cents.

--- Wayne Edgin wrote:

> Fire fighters should fight Fire EMS should be EMS,

> not fire fighters. You cant master two professions

> and

> provide adaquate service to the public. There are

> several F.F that I know that have an EMS CERT just

> because they wanted to fight fires.

> --- txbasic wrote:

> >

> >

> > I have been reading little " tid-bits " of what

> > everyone has been

> > saying. I must say that I agree with Gene. I would

> > also like to add

> > someting, just food for thought you might say.

> >

> > Do you think that EMS divorcing fire (i.e. Houston

> > FD) would be a

> > good thing? Do you think that pt. care would go

> up?

> > I think so. I

> > think that people who want to do EMS should do

> EMS,

> > and vice versa

> > for fire. So a ff might not wnat to do a transfer,

> > big deal, there

> > have been worse tragedies in this world, like Gene

> > said, transfers

> > are the paying " gigs " . Why whouldn't someone want

> to

> > do it? It only

> > makes sense. In addition to that, I think that it

> > would cut down on

> > the number of " mom and pop " EMS services that seem

> > to plauge

> > Houston. I am disgusted when I see some of the

> " less

> > that

> > professional " attitudes and look that some of

> these

> > services have. I

> > am sometime ashame to actualy admit what I do, in

> > fear that the

> > person I'm talking to might have a run in with the

> > " bad " service,

> > therefore think bad upon the profession that I

> love.

> >

> > I am not trying to make people mad, or disrespect

> > HFD. They are a

> > hard working group of people, and I think that

> they

> > are completley

> > underpaid.

> >

> > I just think that if EMS was to " divorce " fd's

> then

> > pt care would go

> > up. EMT's would be able to do what they love and

> > become more

> > involved and want to learn more. Not to mention

> the

> > other day at

> > Mem. Hermann, while a nurse was explaining

> > something, (I think it

> > was the differences between a certain type of

> insect

> > bite), the HFD

> > guy stated " I don't know, I'm just an EMT. " With

> > that kind

> > of " enthusiastic " attitude about EMS, why wouldn't

> > FD's, (some, not

> > all) wnat to release EMS? IF they don't like it,

> > don't do it.

> > Everyone one, for the most part, would win. Pt's

> > included.

> >

> > Thats my $0.02

> >

> > Just to let

> > everyone know, PAFD

> > responded to almost 8000 calls last year, and

> > probably less than 30%

> > were NOT medical related calls. The call volume

> is

> > already there,

> > so we don't need the city service to boost

> numbers.

> > If we do go with

> > the proposal to do inner-city transfers, there

> would

> > be

> > dedicated " transfer trucks " to keep the 911 units

> > available. There

> > is supposed to be some mythical city ordinance

> > stating how many

> > units each service is to have dedicated for

> > emergencies, but you can

> > tell from all the rollover calls that those

> numbers

> > aren't there,

> > whatever that magic number is.

> > >

> > > The other good things about fire based EMS is

> the

> > chance to cross-

> > train the members, so when they respond to fires

> and

> > other fire-

> > related matters, they could be used for manpower,

> > and we all know

> > how important manpower is and the lack of. Not to

> > mention that's

> > more members contributing to a bigger pension.

> > >

> > > The key is to sell it to the city. We are

> starting

> > to phase out

> > the old-timers that don't want to run med calls,

> and

> > our dept. is

> > getting younger and more motivated. Now all we

> need

> > is a sympathetic

> > council.....

> > >

> > > Troy Irvine

> > > Firefighter/Tactical Paramedic

> > > Port Arthur Fire Department

> > >

> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > removed]

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ---------------------------------

> > >

[Guest guest]

well someone opened a can of worms and I feel drawn to

JUMP in lol..

I personally think as long as we have private EMS

services there will always be the need to make money,

and therefore private EMS will always run a lower

number of ambulances. This is not always bad but it

has its moments, whereas a fire-based service may have

more units they arent bound be collection fees or

trying to renew contracts.

And I do not think EMS should be fire-based in all

situations just for one simple reason, but it reverts

back to patient care. In a small city or community

below 50000 people a fire-based system would work

because it is alot easier to find a handful of medics

crosstrained and these little FDS can be more picky

with who they hire, where a bigger FD cannot always be

so picky. A private ambulance will pull ambulances to

" make money " with transfers or move trucks for

coverage of other areas. This is a fact of life we

deal with it.

Now we move on to the bigger city, Like Houston or

Dallas, these cities that run fire based systems are

not totally bad but having this many paramedics

crossed trained with the turn over rate has got to be

a med control nightmare think about it..This cities

may not run out of ambulances and get to calls really

fast..but now you have a totally different problem,

and I speak with knowledge of this, These medics are

very limited in there patient care their call in

orders are horrendous.

So to fix this problem is there an answer?? Put a

private ambulance in there run less boxes and make

private medics run even more calls? And to face

problems like Ft. Worth and have the private company

not be able to put up enough trucks and make first

responders wait up to 20 minutes for help?..So with

bigger cities the whole " FIREMAN " thing does get

people to fill these ambulances..

I really think we should do something like Canada and

run one EMS <governly run> to cover everything like

one big family kinda thing, or the only other option

as I see it in 's world make everything third-city

services but with this we are all dreaming.

Well im not advocating anything but everyone here is

downing one ambulance-system type over another but

there are real issues with every service until people

and hospitals as a whole RESPECT EMS then we will

continue to have these problems..

my 2 cents.

--- Wayne Edgin wrote:

> Fire fighters should fight Fire EMS should be EMS,

> not fire fighters. You cant master two professions

> and

> provide adaquate service to the public. There are

> several F.F that I know that have an EMS CERT just

> because they wanted to fight fires.

> --- txbasic wrote:

> >

> >

> > I have been reading little " tid-bits " of what

> > everyone has been

> > saying. I must say that I agree with Gene. I would

> > also like to add

> > someting, just food for thought you might say.

> >

> > Do you think that EMS divorcing fire (i.e. Houston

> > FD) would be a

> > good thing? Do you think that pt. care would go

> up?

> > I think so. I

> > think that people who want to do EMS should do

> EMS,

> > and vice versa

> > for fire. So a ff might not wnat to do a transfer,

> > big deal, there

> > have been worse tragedies in this world, like Gene

> > said, transfers

> > are the paying " gigs " . Why whouldn't someone want

> to

> > do it? It only

> > makes sense. In addition to that, I think that it

> > would cut down on

> > the number of " mom and pop " EMS services that seem

> > to plauge

> > Houston. I am disgusted when I see some of the

> " less

> > that

> > professional " attitudes and look that some of

> these

> > services have. I

> > am sometime ashame to actualy admit what I do, in

> > fear that the

> > person I'm talking to might have a run in with the

> > " bad " service,

> > therefore think bad upon the profession that I

> love.

> >

> > I am not trying to make people mad, or disrespect

> > HFD. They are a

> > hard working group of people, and I think that

> they

> > are completley

> > underpaid.

> >

> > I just think that if EMS was to " divorce " fd's

> then

> > pt care would go

> > up. EMT's would be able to do what they love and

> > become more

> > involved and want to learn more. Not to mention

> the

> > other day at

> > Mem. Hermann, while a nurse was explaining

> > something, (I think it

> > was the differences between a certain type of

> insect

> > bite), the HFD

> > guy stated " I don't know, I'm just an EMT. " With

> > that kind

> > of " enthusiastic " attitude about EMS, why wouldn't

> > FD's, (some, not

> > all) wnat to release EMS? IF they don't like it,

> > don't do it.

> > Everyone one, for the most part, would win. Pt's

> > included.

> >

> > Thats my $0.02

> >

> > Just to let

> > everyone know, PAFD

> > responded to almost 8000 calls last year, and

> > probably less than 30%

> > were NOT medical related calls. The call volume

> is

> > already there,

> > so we don't need the city service to boost

> numbers.

> > If we do go with

> > the proposal to do inner-city transfers, there

> would

> > be

> > dedicated " transfer trucks " to keep the 911 units

> > available. There

> > is supposed to be some mythical city ordinance

> > stating how many

> > units each service is to have dedicated for

> > emergencies, but you can

> > tell from all the rollover calls that those

> numbers

> > aren't there,

> > whatever that magic number is.

> > >

> > > The other good things about fire based EMS is

> the

> > chance to cross-

> > train the members, so when they respond to fires

> and

> > other fire-

> > related matters, they could be used for manpower,

> > and we all know

> > how important manpower is and the lack of. Not to

> > mention that's

> > more members contributing to a bigger pension.

> > >

> > > The key is to sell it to the city. We are

> starting

> > to phase out

> > the old-timers that don't want to run med calls,

> and

> > our dept. is

> > getting younger and more motivated. Now all we

> need

> > is a sympathetic

> > council.....

> > >

> > > Troy Irvine

> > > Firefighter/Tactical Paramedic

> > > Port Arthur Fire Department

> > >

> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > removed]

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ---------------------------------

> > >

[Guest guest]

well someone opened a can of worms and I feel drawn to

JUMP in lol..

I personally think as long as we have private EMS

services there will always be the need to make money,

and therefore private EMS will always run a lower

number of ambulances. This is not always bad but it

has its moments, whereas a fire-based service may have

more units they arent bound be collection fees or

trying to renew contracts.

And I do not think EMS should be fire-based in all

situations just for one simple reason, but it reverts

back to patient care. In a small city or community

below 50000 people a fire-based system would work

because it is alot easier to find a handful of medics

crosstrained and these little FDS can be more picky

with who they hire, where a bigger FD cannot always be

so picky. A private ambulance will pull ambulances to

" make money " with transfers or move trucks for

coverage of other areas. This is a fact of life we

deal with it.

Now we move on to the bigger city, Like Houston or

Dallas, these cities that run fire based systems are

not totally bad but having this many paramedics

crossed trained with the turn over rate has got to be

a med control nightmare think about it..This cities

may not run out of ambulances and get to calls really

fast..but now you have a totally different problem,

and I speak with knowledge of this, These medics are

very limited in there patient care their call in

orders are horrendous.

So to fix this problem is there an answer?? Put a

private ambulance in there run less boxes and make

private medics run even more calls? And to face

problems like Ft. Worth and have the private company

not be able to put up enough trucks and make first

responders wait up to 20 minutes for help?..So with

bigger cities the whole " FIREMAN " thing does get

people to fill these ambulances..

I really think we should do something like Canada and

run one EMS <governly run> to cover everything like

one big family kinda thing, or the only other option

as I see it in 's world make everything third-city

services but with this we are all dreaming.

Well im not advocating anything but everyone here is

downing one ambulance-system type over another but

there are real issues with every service until people

and hospitals as a whole RESPECT EMS then we will

continue to have these problems..

my 2 cents.

--- Wayne Edgin wrote:

> Fire fighters should fight Fire EMS should be EMS,

> not fire fighters. You cant master two professions

> and

> provide adaquate service to the public. There are

> several F.F that I know that have an EMS CERT just

> because they wanted to fight fires.

> --- txbasic wrote:

> >

> >

> > I have been reading little " tid-bits " of what

> > everyone has been

> > saying. I must say that I agree with Gene. I would

> > also like to add

> > someting, just food for thought you might say.

> >

> > Do you think that EMS divorcing fire (i.e. Houston

> > FD) would be a

> > good thing? Do you think that pt. care would go

> up?

> > I think so. I

> > think that people who want to do EMS should do

> EMS,

> > and vice versa

> > for fire. So a ff might not wnat to do a transfer,

> > big deal, there

> > have been worse tragedies in this world, like Gene

> > said, transfers

> > are the paying " gigs " . Why whouldn't someone want

> to

> > do it? It only

> > makes sense. In addition to that, I think that it

> > would cut down on

> > the number of " mom and pop " EMS services that seem

> > to plauge

> > Houston. I am disgusted when I see some of the

> " less

> > that

> > professional " attitudes and look that some of

> these

> > services have. I

> > am sometime ashame to actualy admit what I do, in

> > fear that the

> > person I'm talking to might have a run in with the

> > " bad " service,

> > therefore think bad upon the profession that I

> love.

> >

> > I am not trying to make people mad, or disrespect

> > HFD. They are a

> > hard working group of people, and I think that

> they

> > are completley

> > underpaid.

> >

> > I just think that if EMS was to " divorce " fd's

> then

> > pt care would go

> > up. EMT's would be able to do what they love and

> > become more

> > involved and want to learn more. Not to mention

> the

> > other day at

> > Mem. Hermann, while a nurse was explaining

> > something, (I think it

> > was the differences between a certain type of

> insect

> > bite), the HFD

> > guy stated " I don't know, I'm just an EMT. " With

> > that kind

> > of " enthusiastic " attitude about EMS, why wouldn't

> > FD's, (some, not

> > all) wnat to release EMS? IF they don't like it,

> > don't do it.

> > Everyone one, for the most part, would win. Pt's

> > included.

> >

> > Thats my $0.02

> >

> > Just to let

> > everyone know, PAFD

> > responded to almost 8000 calls last year, and

> > probably less than 30%

> > were NOT medical related calls. The call volume

> is

> > already there,

> > so we don't need the city service to boost

> numbers.

> > If we do go with

> > the proposal to do inner-city transfers, there

> would

> > be

> > dedicated " transfer trucks " to keep the 911 units

> > available. There

> > is supposed to be some mythical city ordinance

> > stating how many

> > units each service is to have dedicated for

> > emergencies, but you can

> > tell from all the rollover calls that those

> numbers

> > aren't there,

> > whatever that magic number is.

> > >

> > > The other good things about fire based EMS is

> the

> > chance to cross-

> > train the members, so when they respond to fires

> and

> > other fire-

> > related matters, they could be used for manpower,

> > and we all know

> > how important manpower is and the lack of. Not to

> > mention that's

> > more members contributing to a bigger pension.

> > >

> > > The key is to sell it to the city. We are

> starting

> > to phase out

> > the old-timers that don't want to run med calls,

> and

> > our dept. is

> > getting younger and more motivated. Now all we

> need

> > is a sympathetic

> > council.....

> > >

> > > Troy Irvine

> > > Firefighter/Tactical Paramedic

> > > Port Arthur Fire Department

> > >

> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > removed]

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > ---------------------------------

> > >