There are dozens and dozens of pictures on ” Flickr “, from Athens Medical Center’s E.M.S activities  and staff members…enjoy my 10 years of memories :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/diasostis/sets/72157601482269188/

This is another TV Soap opera from the Greek TV station ANT1, known as ‘ Lampsi ‘-The Spark….the EMS department of Athens Medical Center assisted in filming the medical episodes on board our ambulances…

I have enjoyed filming these episodes with all the actors and technicians…old memories…enjoy them !

Refer to this link for more info :

http://www.hellenica.de/Griechenland/TV/Lampsi.html

*Jakarta Globe, 6 February 2009

A man climbs quietly from a grave and closes a white burial cloth that shrouds a skeleton. The bones are the color of burned earth and in pieces. A maggot scuttles to hide behind the empty eye socket of the skull. After more than 30 years of interment, all that is left of a once middle-aged adult now fits into a small bundle.

A weathered, wooden plaque with jagged edges bears the name the skeleton once answered to.

At Menteng Pulo Public Cemetery in South Jakarta, the air is fresh with the scent of blossoming trees and rich earth. A lone mottled mutt threads cautiously among the graves, its skin matted and reddish from the rain and earth. She sits on top of a grave, observing as 50 gravediggers calmly go about their work. They are not burying the dead but raising them, literally, from their graves.

Along a large strip of land near the Cideng River, 10,600 square meters to be exact, emptied graves with ragged edges line the cemetery. The workers have been commissioned by the city administration to unearth about 3,500 plots to make way for a highway linking Jalan Soepomo and Jalan Rasuna Said.

“Traditionally, you cannot disturb the dead,” sayd Entong, the head gravedigger. “But this is a city that is developing, and they need to expand the road.”

Inside an open grave, Entong breaks up the damp soil with a rusty hoe. His black jeans and feet are encrusted with red earth. He hands the last of the unearthed bones to his assistant to wrap in cloth and take to another burial plot that has been allocated for the exhumed bodies.

“This one was buried in 1962, so there are very few bones left,” Entong says, pointing to the decomposed bundle of bones about the size of an infant.

Entong climbs out of the grave and begins to break the gray headstone with his hoe. Pieces of stone fly around him. He has to remove the name plaque embedded in the stone so it can be placed with the remains for identification. His skin is burnished from the 32 years he has worked outdoors as a gravedigger.

“People call me first when they want to bury someone,” Entong says.

On this overcast morning, no weeping or hushed prayers for the displaced dead are heard, only the thud of hoes hitting the soil. Entong says it has been two months since the excavation of the graves commenced and it is scheduled to end next week.

“At the beginning there were more relatives,” Entong says. “Now it is rare for families to come even though we have informed them we will be digging up the graves. Maybe they have moved. Maybe they can’t bear the process.”

The majority of the graves are Muslim but Entong estimates 800 Buddhist graves will also be uncovered this week.

The remains are being moved to new burial plots further down the road. Unclaimed remains are moved to a cemetery at Kampung Kandang in Cilandak or to Srengseng Sawah Cemetery in South Jakarta, Entong says.

The ground is soft as paste from the ongoing Jakarta showers and he flings it around him as he hoes. An errant and persistent fly flits around his bare feet.

“We take the remains out, wrap them up and then knock down the gravestone,” explains Suroh, a caretaker at Menteng Pulo since the ’70s. Wearing a red shirt, a large mole jutting from his chin, he watches Entong work in the distance.

“I do not cry at anyone’s funeral,” Suroh says. “I am used to them.

“We are here to fix their homes, their final resting place.”

It is noon when Entong rests inside a makeshift wooden hut in the middle of the cemetery. The soiled clothes of the caretakers hang to dry nearby on headstones and from overhanging trees.
A caretaker chugs on a motorcycle down the narrow dirt road that runs through the cemetery, ferrying four white bundles to an ambulance for relocation.

“It is funny. Kaplok, kaplok, kaplok is the sound of the bodies flapping,” says Suroh as he watches.
“We are all the same. In the end we will die,” he adds as he deeply inhales from a clove cigarette.
Under the cool shade of the hut, the men sit in their mud-caked clothes, sipping hot, milky coffee and talk lightheartedly about death. Entong recounts a time when he had to break the legs of a corpse.

“If I didn’t, they wouldn’t fit into the cloth,” he says.

The kain kapan, or burial cloths, are rough pieces of white cloth two meters in length. “These ones cost Rp 12,000 [about $1],” Entong says, pointing to a pile of fabric in a cupboard. “Cheap ones.”

The hush is disturbed by the arrival of Iwan Suwandi and his family. Together with his wife, Suwarti, his sister, sister-in-law and grandson, he has come to rebury his son Rachmad.

“I was shocked to get the notice from the cemetery,” Suwandi says, of being notified of the disinterment. “I found out at Lebaran,” he adds.

A gentle-looking man with glasses and specks of grey through his hair, Suwandi had been ill for the past three months and unable to come to Menteng Pulo earlier.

Wearing a tan fishing hat and checkered shirt, Ali greets Suwandi, whom he knows. The caretaker has been tending Rachmad’s grave since he was buried here four years ago. An old hand, Ali has worked at cemeteries since 1948 and takes care of 100 plots in Menteng Pulo.

Rachmad, Suwandi’s third son, died of liver problems at the age of 24. “I wanted to move him to Bogor but we have no family there,” says Suwandi, who instead asked for his son’s body to be moved nearby within the Menteng Pulo cemetery.

Entong is called upon to dig up the body.

“It is his job to dig. We each have a duty,” explains Suroh, whose own position is caring for the graves, like Ali.

Entong alternates using his hands and the hoe to scoop out the earth. The burial cloth is laid on the ground beside the grave and he begins to place the unearthed chunks of bone on it. Two assistants crouch nearby to lay them out on the burial cloth. Standing above his son’s grave, Suwandi’s face is placid as he calmly inquires about the whereabouts of his son’s skull.

The wooden headstone reads, Rachmad H. bin Iwan Suwandi, etched black upon painted white wood. Slivers of the skeleton’s rib cage are taken out one by one. Entong continues to dig and finds a hipbone. Finally, he finds the skull. Suwandi places his hand over his mouth and lets out a small gasp. The family begins to pray. A sniff escapes Suwandi as he continues to look at Entong in the grave.

“His legs aren’t here yet,” Suwandi says.

Entong clears the mud from his hoe and continues digging.

The air is hushed and the smell of rain is heavy on the breeze. “We forgot to bring an umbrella,” Suwandi says to his wife, who nods agreement. Their 7-year old grandson, dressed in blue, has his hand on his knees and keeps his gaze intently on the open grave. The women look distressed.

When Ali comes over to help wrap the bones, Suwandi asks if the bundle is heavy. Ali says it isn’t. Three men wrap the bundle tightly and hand the bones to Suwandi. With steady steps on the slippery, rain-soaked earth, Suwandi carries his son to a prepared burial site, mouthing a silent prayer.

A little way up the road from where Rachmad was originally buried, a gaping hole six feet deep awaits. The small congregation stops, and Suwandi hands the bundle to a gravedigger as he jumps in the grave. The body is gently returned to him and the gravediggers tell him to open the bundle. “All of it,” says one as the other balls up chunks of soil with his hands. “It is to prop up the body so it does not overturn,” he explains.

Suwandi carefully tucks his son into his resting place and two men start to fill in the grave. An imam in a black velvet skullcap, propping himself up with a multicolored umbrella, asks for the name of the deceased and begins a low chant. Only the boy’s name, Rachmad, rings out as the imam crouches by the grave. All else is quiet save for the sound of hoes hitting the ground.

The mother opens a prayer book, her face partially hidden under her black jilbab as she prays along with the imam. Her grandson stands behind her, holding her arm.

Suwandi straightens his son’s old headstone and turns his palms up to the sky. The imam moves toward him and they pray side by side. The earth atop Rachmad’s new grave is choppy and uneven but Ali explains it will be tidied later. He takes out a clove cigarette, lights it and stands before this new grave he will also care for.

A warm wind blows. From a nearby mosque, the resonant call to prayers rings out, echoed softly by surrounding mosques.

(photos: JG/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

EINDHOVEN – op 25 November kreeg de brandweer van Eindhoven een spoed oproep vanuit de ambulance centrale, deze droeg de brandweer op om met spoed naar de Sterkenburg te gaan in Eindhoven. De brandweer moest hier met een hoogwerker en een tankspuit uitrukken.
Daar aangekomen betrof het een persoon die horizontaal uit de woning gehaald moest worden, het is onbekend met wat voor letsel deze naar het ziekenhuis is gebracht.

Datum: 25-11-2009
Prio: Hoog
Melding: Assistentie Ambulance
Straat: Sterkenburg
Plaats: Eindhoven
Voertuigen: 650, 622
Tijd: 13:19
Omschrijving:
Video en meer informatie => http://www.firemania.nl/2009/11/26/25-11-2009-brandweer-verleend-assistentie-aan-ambulance/

This time on Along for the Ride, a chat with the 2009 champ of the inaugural Tour de Timor, keeping people safe with Ambulance Victoria’s bicycle unit, and the artsiest craziest bikes you ever did see, on display in Northcote! (Pics coming shortly!) All this, plus events to usher in the joys of summer.

Find the goodness here…

An ambulance crew is attacked in Belfast city centre while answering an emergency call-out after the switching on of the city’s Christmas lights…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: ten cities. The blog is also related to: man city.

We know that our blog has had a lot of posts about the BC Paramedics lately, but we’re very interested in seeing how this all turns out.

Paramedics are asking colleagues from around the country not to come to work during the Olympics until the labour disputes are settled between the government CUPE:

BC paramedics warn ongoing labour dispute could impact service during Olympics

Ambulance workers in British Columbia are asking their colleagues across North America not to come work at the Olympics until their labour dispute with the province is resolved, a request the union says could jeopardize service levels at the big event.

“People obviously need to be worried about whether or not an ambulance is going to be there,” John Strohmaier, president of the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C., said Monday.

“It’s not our intention to put patients in the middle of this dispute … We are certainly going to try, to the best of our ability, to be there for patients when they need us. We are asking those same people to be there for us.”

The province’s 3,500 paramedics were forced back to work through legislation earlier this month, ending a seven-month-old job action. Paramedics worked at reduced levels during the strike, since ambulance services are designated an essential service in the province.

Despite the legislation, paramedics continue to pressure the government for a better deal.

On Monday, about 200 paramedics and supporters showed up to protest outside a speech by Health Minister Kevin Falcon and earlier this month more than 80 called in sick over two days, idling dozens of ambulances.

And Strohmaier said union members are reluctant to volunteer to work overtime as a result of the legislation, and are requesting other paramedics stay away in support.

“As long as this labour dispute exists in British Columbia they shouldn’t be thinking about coming to B.C. and volunteering during the Olympics either,” he said.

Strohmaier said the union is not only unhappy with the back-to-work legislation, but by the province’s appointment last week of a former deputy minister, Chris Trumpy, as head of a commission set up to try to resolve the labour dispute.

“It’s a pretty simple fix. Appoint an independent third party to conduct the review and this dispute is over,” Strohmaier said in an interview.

As head of the commission, Trumpy is charged with reviewing issues such as salary, staffing levels, workload and health and safety. The commission is expected to report back to government Jan. 15.

Labour minister Murray Coell said Trumpy has worked under both NDP and Liberal governments and is “very independent.”

Coell also said he thinks “cooler heads will prevail” and the labour dispute will be resolved before the Games.

The back-to-work legislation was passed weeks after the Olympics organizing committee, known as VANOC, wrote a letter to the government asking for a guarantee of paramedic services.

“Without full emergency services on site at the competition venues, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games may not proceed,” the committee’s medical services director, Dr. Mike Wilkinson, wrote in a memo dated Sept. 14.

Wilkinson has said they’ve lined up volunteer medical staff in case of a shortage during the event, but will rely on the expertise of the province’s ambulance system and its staff.

As part of its bid for the Games, the Vancouver organizing committee promised that every venue will have paramedics and ambulances on site at all times.

Strohmaier said there aren’t enough staff to handle the ambulance needs in B.C. on a regular day, let alone during the Games.

He said the province will need “several hundred” more paramedics and ambulances to handle the thousands of visitors coming during the Olympics. But Strohmaier said he isn’t aware of any plans to add staff during the Games.

Despite criticism from the paramedics’ union, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said the back-to-work legislation was not passed because of the pending Olympics.

“I know lots of paramedics, and I think the paramedics are professionals, they care about people, they want to provide the public with service,” Campbell told reporters after an Olympic event Monday.

“It was unfortunate for all of us that we had to legislate people back to work, but it was about the H1N1, it was the pressure that was on the system, we spent literally millions of dollars trying to find a resolution to this. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible.”

The ambulance workers, who are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 873, say they went on strike seeking better staffing levels that would result in faster ambulance response times, wage parity with other emergency responders and a multi-year contract.

They argue they’re being stretched to the limit by the ambulance service’s dependence on part-time workers, unpaid travel time and chronic overtime.

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Most cities employ a system by 3M called Opticom. There are sensors on the light standards; when a strobe light flashes at the right frequency in range of the sensor, the lights change color almost instantly.

Before I go into the details, I should mention that it is illegal in most places for unauthorized users to change traffic lights, but knowing about it is very interesting. There are even systems that have a warning light attached to them so you know an emergency vehicle is approaching the intersection.

Fire trucks and police cars have a light mounted on their roof, but volunteer service members usually have a hand-held device. If you look in the right place, you can buy one and possibly even get fined or arrested for trying to beat your best drive time.

There are even reports that a universal TV remote is powerful enough and capable of generating the right frequency to change the lights (see the video).

Photo by: Elventear (used under CC attribution)

BrokenSecrets.com

When the Lord made EMTs and Paramedics, he was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one,”
And the Lord said,
“Have you read the specs on this order?”
An EMT/Paramedic has to be able to carry an injured person up a wet, grassy hill in the dark, dodge stray bullets to reach a dying child unarmed, enter homes a health inspectors wouldn’t touch, and not wrinkle their uniform.
He has to be able to lift three times his own weight, crawl into wrecked cars with barely enough room to move, and console a grieving mother as he is doing CPR on a baby he knows will never breathe again. He has to be in top mental condition at all times, running on no sleep, black coffee, and half eaten meals. And he has to have six pairs of hands.
The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands….no way.” “It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord,
“It’s the three pairs of eyes an EMT/Medic has to have.”
“Is That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel. The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees open sores as he’s drawing blood and asks the patient if they may be HIV positive, (When he already knows and wishes he’d taken that accounting job).” “Another pair here on the side of his head for is partner’s safety. Another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at a bleeding victim and say ‘You’ll be all right ma’am’ when he knows it isn’t so.”
“Lord,” said the angel, touching his sleeve, “rest and work on this tomorrow.” “I can’t,” said the Lord, “I already have a model that can talk a 250 pound drunk out from behind a steering wheel without incident and feed a family of five on a private service paycheck.”
The angel circled the model of the paramedic very slowly,
“Can it think?” she asked. “You bet,” said the Lord. “It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses, recite drug calculations in its sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop over terrain that any doctor would fear…and still it
keeps its sense of humor.”
“This EMT/Medic also has phenomenal control.
He can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim’s family, and then read in the daily paper how EMTs and Paramedics were unable to locate a house quickly enough, allowing a person to die.
A house which had no street sign, no house numbers, no phone to call back.” Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the EMT/Paramedic.” There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model.”
“That’s not a leak,” said the Lord, “It’s a tear.”
“What’s the tear for?” asked the angel.
“It’s for bottled-up emotions, for patients they tried in vain to save, for commitment to hope that they will make a difference in a person’s chance to survive, for life.”
“You’re a genius,” said the angel.
The Lord looked somber, “I didn’t put it there.”

Be it pledged as an Emergency Medical Technician, I will honor the Physical and judicial laws of God and Man. I will follow that regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of patients and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. Nor shall I suggest any such counsel. Into what ever homes I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of only the sick and injured, never revealing what I see or hear in the lives of men unless required by law.

I shall also share my medical knowledge with those who may benefit from what I have learned. I will serve unselfishly and continuously in order to help make a better world for all mankind.

While I continue to keep this oath inviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life, and the practice of the art, respected by all men. In all times should I trespass or violate this oath, may the reverse by my lot.

…So Help Me God.

As I perform my duty, Lord. Whatever be the call.

I want to serve and do my best, no matter what the scene.

I pledge to keep my skills refined, my judgment quick and keen.

This calling to give of myself most don’t understand.

But I stand ready all the time to help my fellow man.

To have the chance to help a child restore his laugh with glee.

A word of thanks I might not hear, but knowing is enough for me.

The praise of men is fine for some, but I feel truly blessed.

That you, Oh Lord, for having chosen me to serve in EMS

Well, what a strange, but dramatic, couple of days I’ve had. My car has been wrecked, my nephew was taken into hospital again with febrile convulsions (he’s home now and doing well) and the stair I live in has seen more excitement than a years worth of Eastenders.

One of my neighbours, who I’d previously considered to be a bit ‘dotty’, for want of a better word, decided at 2.30am yesterday morning to completely snap and cause chaos in the grand olde gardens of Dumbryden. She rampaged up the stair, kicking all the residents doors as loudly as she could (waking my son in the process). After I went out and shouted at her, she then felt the urge to smash someone’s kitchen window – with a turnip!!! After she did that, her next move was to destroy my car with a stairgate. And credit where credit is due, she did a very good job of it!! My rear windscreen was completely smashed, the front, not much better. Tyres were slashed, windscreen wipers snapped off and the bodywork was deeply scratched, thanks to a pair of pliers (which she then decided to leave in the shell of my car).

Since her apprehension, and very swift release, she has also smeared excrement on my next door neighour’s front door, and assaulted another neighbour, who subsequently was taken away in an ambulance. Can you see the comparison to Eastenders now?

I have to admit to being concerned about this abrupt turn of events. Not only am I worried about this maniac being anywhere near me or my children, there is also the issue of me being carless. My car is very much an essential part of my life. Without it I’m struggling to take my kids to school and nursery. Without it, I’m unable to then get to university on time for classes. Without it, I can’t get my shopping (I’m such a weakling I can’t carry much).

In a single stroke, Mrs Crazy has completely turned my schedule upside-down, caused difficulties for myself, my kids and my other neighbours. I must be an optimist though, because I’ve noticed that in the last 36 hours, as well as having a madwoman downstairs, I actually have a lot of good neighbours. We’ve banded together in the face of an all-out attack, swapped phone numbers and have actually started chatting more than we ever did before. As for the car, well, that’s become a casualty of war, but hopefully with a bit of TLC it should be back in action soon.

These are fotos of Greek ambulances , taken all the country used by private clinics and  hospitals to transport patients for special procedures and appointments ….

http://www.flickr.com/photos/diasostis/sets/72157601482268578/

Three people have been treated after inhaling a poisonous gas in Lower Hutt.

The XL Corporation building in Hutt Park Rd had been cordoned off after a chemical spill.

Three fire engines attended the incident, along with ambulance staff who treated the people at the scene.

Fire Brigade staff contained the spill and area is now open to traffic.

In this group you will find photos published on ” Flickr ” on paramedics.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/medics

In this group you will find photos published on ” Flickr “  relating to fire departments and EMS: their equipment, incidents, and the everyday captures.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/fire_ems

In this group you will find photos published on ” Flickr ” of ambulances from around the world :

http://www.flickr.com/groups/ambulance

This group was created by fans of Emergency and  Squad 51 , the 1970’s TV series. Are you a fan? Join us and enjoy our episodes.

http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/EmergencyTheaterLive/

The name says it all :

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/policefireandems/

The EMS professionals of New York club is designed to give EMTs and Paramedics of all certification levels a chance to voice their opinions or seek advice on aspects of emergency medicine. This board is open to members of volunteer, private and municipal services from New York State and New York City…JOIN US !!!

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/emsprofessionalsofnewyork/

This is  an e-mail group for all  involved in EMS. Be you an EMT, Paramedic, First Responder, Firefighter, Nurse, etc., career professionals as well as volunteers, you are welcome here. Share your experiences with those who understand. Got a problem that you need an answer to? Ask Away!!! Our members are more than happy to help. Heard a good joke? Pass It on and we will all have a great time. JOIN US !!!

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EMT/

These pictures were taken in Brooklyn NYC…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/diasostis/sets/72157622845721262/