Grand Gorge Rescue Squad

Happy Easter from the Grand Gorge Rescue Squad & Fire Department!

Steve Scully from Lifenet of Ny was in attendance at the monthly meeting Monday evening. It is always a pleasure having guests attend. Steve brought with him ...some good news, as well as some bad news. The good news was that in 2020 the average out of pocket cost per transport by lifenet was $206!!!!!! That is absolutely incredible!!! This shows just how far they will go to work with there patients. If anyone has any issues or concerns with lifenet please get in touch with Steve Scully or message the page and we will help you get in contact. Now onto the bad news. The lead pilot of lifenet 7-8 (Sidney base) Nick Payne suffered a medical condition last fall. Nick is currently in a long term rehab. Nick has 2 teenage daughters and a wife at home. Nick served in the military as a pilot prior to coming to lifenet. If anyone is interested in donating to Nicks family, or if any department would like to host a fundraiser please get ahold of Steve Scully or message this page. Lifenet of Ny will help with any fundraisers that are set up. We thank Steve for always being available for questions and when issues arise.

Reminder....Mark your calendar....It’s this Saturday. We always sell out quickly!

Quick Reference: Effects of Spinal Injury

Imagine if you needed an ambulance and this is all you got. A box on wheels full of equipment and medications to save your life, but no one there to use it. EMS... is in trouble and people don't seem to notice and/or care. Every day I sign on to my social media accounts I see new news stories being posted on the EMS pages that I follow about workers leaving the EMS profession in droves. As I read through the comments sections on these stories I tend to see a similar theme: poor wages, poor benefits, ridiculous expectations for hours worked, and management teams that don't care about their employees. The national average salary for an EMS provider is $33,000 according to the BLS. $33,000!!!! The local car wash has a billboard posted advertising $40,000 for management positions! AT THE CAR WASH! The mayor of New York City recently made headlines as he tried to justify why EMS providers there didn't need pay comparable to those in the fire service and law enforcement. "It's a different kind of work," he said. Ya think?! Approximately 90% of the nation's 911 EMS providers are non-fire based services. This means that they are county-run services, private services, or hospital-based services. A lot of them are not unionized and don't have the same perks as fire and law enforcement agencies. Wages tend to be the biggest problem. Most EMS workers have to work A LOT of overtime just to make a living, or work more than one job. Do you really want someone who's been on for 48 hours or has been juggling 2-3 jobs making life-or-death decisions at 3AM? I'm lucky enough to work for a service that pays decent wages but there are services not too far from here where medics are making $13-$15/hr. Do you know what it takes to be a paramedic?? First, you have to go to EMT school. Then you have to go to paramedic school. And depending on how you go to paramedic school that can be from 1-4 years worth of education (certification-only vs. associate's degree program vs. bachelor's degree program). They are trained in advanced life support skills including advanced airway management, cardiology, pharmacology, and even some surgical skills. Paramedics and EMTs are out there bringing an aspect of the emergency department to the patient's doorstep. They assess patients, make treatment plans, administer medications, mix medication drips and place on infusion pumps, infuse blood, place people into medically-induced comas to take over their airways, place them on ventilators, place chest tubes, perform pericardiocentesis, perform surgical cricothyrotomies, and the list goes on. And they do it for $33,000/year! Are you kidding me?! And so what happens? You lose experienced medics to higher-paying professions like nursing. Which leaves the patients on the streets without that experienced healthcare provider to bring that care to their doorstep. I've personally known several GREAT paramedics who've left the industry because they had to just to be able to make more money to support their families. And like I said, every single day there's a new story from somewhere in the country where something like this is happening. Entire services have shut down which then adds strain to neighboring services left to pick up the slack. One comment even said "EMS is a dying profession." Everyone knows about The Thin Red Line and The Thin Blue Line. Did you know EMS is The Thin White Line? And right now, that line is cracking across this country, and at some point it has to stop. Before there's no one there to answer the call.

Here is the Active Positive list by Town as of 5:30pm on Friday, December 4th. We thank you for your patience during this extremely busy time.

2020 Tree Lighting

What to do while waiting for your COVID-19 test results: If you are being tested because of SYMPTOMS or a CLOSE CONTACT: BE PATIENT. You may not receive your ...results immediately and you may be contagious. If you did contract COVID-19, you are likely to be contagious TWO DAYS BEFORE you become sick and UP TO TEN DAYS afterwards. STAY HOME. Avoid all public places and transportation until your test results are back (except to get medical care). Keep at least 6 feet from people and animals, INCLUDING those in your household. Avoid sharing personal household items and wash your hands and high touch surfaces regularly. INFORM your WORK or your child’s SCHOOL that you are awaiting results. If you are being tested for SCREENING PURPOSES, continue to wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay 6 feet apart from others. Following this guidance helps to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19 to others. Be vigilant. Be safe. #socialdistancing #flattenthecurve #delcopublichealth #delawarecountynypublichealth #localgovernment #covid19 #coronavirus #stayinformed #StayHome