H1N1

You’ve likely heard by now. After weeks of hesitating, the World Health Organization has declared the H1N1 virus infections to be a Level 6 on the pandemic scale, which means a pandemic has been announced. The thing is this... you are still the same. My life is still the same. Nothing has changed from the five minutes before the announcement and five minutes after the announcement. That’s what people need to remember before beginning to panic.

How long can influenza viruses stay alive?

According to the standard information we have, the virus stays alive on your hands for about five minutes. It can stay alive on your clothing for up to 12 hours and it can exist on objects for up to 48 hours.

How do infections like influenza get transmitted?

There are five ways infections can be transmitted:

1. Skin to skin contact (scabies, for example)

2. Droplet (cold viruses coughed into the air and breathed in)

3. Airborne (much tinier viruses that hang around in the air, like H1N1 virus)

4. Common (an contagious person drinks from a water bottle, you drink from it moments later)

5. Insects (malaria, for example)

How can we protect ourselves from infections like influenza?

It can’t be stressed enough: hand washing – and proper hand washing, not just rinsing your hands under the water. Here is a site that has a good video showing how to wash your hands with either soap and water or sanitizer.

Hand washing breaks the infection chain. A pathogen (virus, bacteria, fungus) needs to be able to spread. Once it spreads, it has to have a good host (good living conditions) to flourish. If we stop it from spreading, then it can’t get any further.

Let’s not forget about maintaining a clean, safe environment in both the back and front of our trucks.

Ron

Thank You From The EAP

Not a good news story

A former ambulance driver who was involved in a crash that killed a passenger in April 2008 pleaded not guilty Monday to multiple charges, including murder, a spokesman for the Jefferson County commonwealth's attorney's office said.
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Tammy Renee Brewer also was charged with assault, driving under the influence, wanton endangerment and criminal mischief in the death of 54-year-old Vickie Whobrey.

Brewer was indicted by a Jefferson County grand jury Thursday.

She allegedly was driving an ambulance while under the influence of drugs when she swerved off Rockford Lane and hit a utility pole and rolled through two ditches while Whobrey was in the back. The ambulance came to rest in a yard. Brewer told investigators she swerved to avoid a pedestrian who had darted in front of the ambulance.

Brewer had also been due to appear in court Friday after she was cited in March of this year for not having proof of insurance after an noninjury accident on Interstate 65 in which it was determined she was at fault.

When she failed to show up for a hearing to determine whether she had paid a $1,000 fine and court costs, a bench warrant was issued for her arrest, but the warrant was recalled after Brewer showed up for her arraignment in the April 2008 incident Monday, said Bill Patteson, a spokesman for the Jefferson County attorney's office.

Patteson said Brewer had been sentenced to 90 days in jail in June because of the March incident, but she was conditionally discharged and did not spend any time in jail.

In January 2008, just months before the ambulance crash, Brewer was caught speeding in a school zone near Bates Elementary on Bardstown Road. She was charged with going 23 mph over the limit, no proof of insurance and an expired license plate, according to arrest records.

And in September 2006, Brewer was charged with having expired insurance and an expired license plate after she was involved in an accident in the 5800 block of Bardstown Road.

Brewer was driving personal vehicles in those incidents.

MEMS Academy hits two home runs!!

Congratulations to Medic 7 on a 100% pass rate on their National Registry practical test





Congratulations to Rookie 14 on a 100% pass rate for their National Registry test.

New BLS Units Ordered

We are trying to take pressure off the ALS emergency side of the house. We have hired more full time EMTs and just order two more type 2 Wheeled Coach units. They should be delivered in 30 45 days. The newly hired EMTs will complete 2-3 weeks of classroom training and then will start out as drivers on BLS shifts. This is a departure of our normal way of doing business. Starting on the BLS units will allow time for learning geography, radio traffic, MEMS system etc.. in a slower setting. As FTO's become available they will move to the ALS side and resume their ALS training.

Vet Medicine ??

Trying out the "Howler"

In an effort to give you the best tools, we are evaluating one of the latest in emergency warning devices; the “Howler” The Howler provides deep, low frequency tones, which are able to penetrate other vehicles, alerting drivers and pedestrians of your approach.
They are currently being tested by LRFD, NLRFD and ASP. We placed it on 954 since the pickup style vehicles seem to have the most trouble getting noticed by traffic. If this works well, we are looking at putting them on the entire fleet.

New Valium Packaging