October 12, 2024 • 48 mins
Paramedics are not EMTs. Or fire fighters. Or cops. But they do ride around in ambulances (and drive) to help to save lives. It's a stressful job and in this classic episode we shine a light on this noble profession.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everybody. Chuck here, I just.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Realized I have almost cut my finger off while I
was playing with a pocket knife just now, and it's
bleeding quite a bit. So I'm gonna call nine one one,
and in the meantime, I'm going to listen to this
episode from April twelfth, twenty eighteen, how Paramedics Work.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh, thank god.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with
Charles W Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry Jerome Roland and
this is Stuff you Should Know The Emergency.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Real Rear Rear.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
War er er aw.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
We should have a new podcast called Sirens Are the World. Yeah,
it's just annoying show.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Ever, it would be pretty annoying, but there'd be some
subset of people who like just really despise themselves that
it'd be popular.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Among so we would love it.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Uh, we don't hate ourselves, do we tell me? I
need to know?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
No? Okay, So it depends on the day.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I didn't want to hate myself.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Sometimes I want to punch myself. Does that count?
Speaker 4 (01:23):
No? I know exactly what you mean. Man. Sometimes I'm
just like I am so sick of myself? Is that
is that what you're talking about?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That was a good song. Remember that song? No sick
of myself? No, that was Matthew Sweet.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Oh yeah, wow, that's weird that this is going on
right now, because Matthew Sweet just popped up like randomly
in the last couple of days, and like an article
I was reading, I was like, I forgot about him,
haven't heard about him in twenty years, and then bam,
bottom mine hoff, here he is again.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Well he's still around, he's in Atlantic. Guy.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You know, I didn't know that. Yeah, well that's cool. Yeah,
I know. I think I think that's like the way
it goes. Just because you had one hit in the
world came and like listened to you and then moved
on doesn't mean like you're like, Okay, well I guess
I'll go bury myself alive now in my own backyard.
Usually usually the artist like keeps going.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, you know, yeah, he had two hits.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Stuff, I know, girlfriend, and then the other one you're
talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah girlfriend, that's a great song.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Yeah it's a good song. Okay. So obviously what we're
talking about today are paramedics, para medicine really is what
we're talking about, yeah, which is it's actually a pretty
interesting topic because you kind of look into it, You're like, oh,
these people save lives. That's great. Here's some of the
(02:46):
life saving techniques that they do. Fantastic, But there's like,
actually so much more too. It's got a really interesting history,
it's got a a a it's one of those things
where it's way worse off than it should be as
far as like funding and like logistics and stuff like
that goes. I just find it interesting. It's it's interesting
(03:07):
to kind of poke into a topic and then find that, oh,
this is even more interesting than I thought, and have
it poked back yep with forceps.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So I guess we should say right off the bat
that the word paramedic para means alongside, so alongside medicine,
I guess, which I'm not quite sure what that means.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
So what I think it means is, as follows Charles,
these people paramedics. They are not doctors, correct, but they
work with and alongside and really honestly as an extension
of a doctor. An So that's what I think it means,
(03:55):
because it's not like what they're doing is a different
type of wacky medicine. Like they're actually doing the same
type of medicine that an er doctor, an er nurse
would be doing in an er they're just doing it
out in the field.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Could you imagine how disconcerting it would be to be
like on the ground and have a paramedic come up
and like blow green dust in your face.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
You're like, what are the chicken bones for?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Man?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Oh man, blow green dusting. I don't know, it would
depend on what the effect of the green dust was.
It's true, so I think that's what paramedic means. Right, Okay,
we can go we can go further back actually and
describe what ambulance means. We know that one for certain.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yes, that came around in fifteenth century Spain during the Inquisition.
They clearly had a lot of need for medical work yea.
And they actually had field hospitals that were called ambulancius right.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
It was just basically like a mass unit out in
the field. And then eventu the French shortly after, I
think under Napoleon they innovated on the ambulance and said, well,
that's great, that's neat that we have these things out
in the field. But there's some guys way over there
who are injured, and they probably wouldn't die if we
(05:18):
could get them to these ambulances, these field hospitals, right, correct.
So they came up with basically mobile ambulances, which is
this idea of a flying or a moving ambulance, which
is like a little medical facility that they would put
the people into and move them away from battle to
go patch them up, rather than waiting for the battle
(05:41):
to end.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, and before that, even during the Crusades, and they
also had a great need for medical care, there were
the Knights Hospitaller Hospital.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Or I think Hospitalita.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Oh whoa, is.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
There an extra I might be putting an extra bull
in there. Well, that's a right I'm known to do.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That's pastime time, Knight's Hospitaller.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
That's what I'm gonna say of the Order of Saint
John of Jerusalem. And they were the first kind of
the first people to practice emergency medicine on the battlefield.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And they even invented the what we.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Now call the stretcher, although it's still called a litter
in some circles.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, it's a pretty intuitive thing, but it's it works.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Someone had to think of it.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
A couple of sticks with some canvas stretch between them.
Throw a person on there, you can pick them up.
Two people can pick them up and get them off
of the battlefield, lickety split.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Hooray.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
So yeah, so this is the idea of emergency medicine
grew basically exclusively out of warfare over the centuries.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well yeah, but what's remarkable to me is that from
that time I had the right idea, let's get these
people out of here quickly. It took about one hundred
and thirty years all the way until the mid to
late nineteen sixties until they said, hey, wait a minute,
if we actually put trained medical people in these things
(07:12):
and weren't simply driving people to a hospital, we might
have even more luck.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Yeah, that was the late sixties and then amazing it is.
And at the time it was so a lot of
medicine was practiced through house calls, right, including emergencies Like
if there was an emergency and you could get a
hold of a doctor, the doctor was expected to go
out to that emergency and do what they could, but
(07:37):
more often than not, either the cops or local morticians
were tasked with basically was called like a scoop and
scoop and run or scoop and carry, where you just
basically get the person out of that car wreck or
from the bottom of that ladder or whatever just happened
to them, throw them in the back of a car,
(07:59):
a cop or a hearse. I would looked it up.
The ECDO one the Ghostbusters ambulance is a modified Cadillac Hearse.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Oh yeah, so they would dress the sinking feeling. It
really was for a mortician to show up in ahearse
and be like, I'm gonna take you to the hospital.
Depending on what happens, you may be back in the
same car.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, and talk about a conflict of interest, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Oh, that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Hopefully not but yeah on paper, yeah right, Or they
just you know, casually put their hand on the person's
nose and mouth in the backseat. Dry. The thing is, though,
is whether the mortician or the cops were getting you
to the hospital. Even when you got to the hospital.
It's not like there was such a thing as an
(08:46):
er room. E Ers didn't come about really until like
the mid seventies, where you could find them in fair
abundance around the United states like ers just didn't exist.
It was here you go, doc. I know you delivered
a baby and you treated somebody else for angina, but
now you've got to put this person's head back together.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah. And it was all just medicine at the time.
So yeah, the idea of getting somebody to a hospital
and having a medical person, a professional in the car
that's transporting them. It came out of Ireland, I think, right.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, big shout out nineteen sixty seven to doctor J.
Frank Pantridge of Belfast. He had a study. He published
a study that said, hey, you know what, we have
more success saving people's lives when our mobile units have
a physician or a nurse inside.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Right, And everyone went, huh, never really thought about that,
but there it is, there's a study. Yeah, pretty cool.
So he definitely set the stage for this.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
And then the year before there was a report I
think it was a year earlier, right, the one from
Congress in America.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
A couple of years sixty five.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I think it was like the National Academy of Sciences
or somebody basically got together with another group and said,
let's study accidents. And what they came up with was
this idea that there was like this overlooked disaster that happened.
Like accidents were a huge, major leading cause of injury
(10:22):
and death in the United States, and this inquiry determined
that we weren't doing much about it, and specifically a
lot of people died who otherwise wouldn't have if there
had been something like an emergency medical service to attend
to them at the accident scene and on the way
to the hospital, and then having the hospital actually know
(10:44):
what they were doing as far as emergency medicine goes.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, it's just staggering to me.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It seems so intuitive and I can't believe it took
that long for this to happen, you know. And in fact,
the Emergency Medical Systems Act was signed in nineteen seventy three,
which basically said.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
We need a standardized system here.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Yeah, a nationwide That was after that paper came out
in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yea many years later. I mean that's a speed of government,
I guess. And then in nineteen seventy seven the publication
of the first very first national standard Curriculum for EMTs
and Paramedics seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
And then so alongside this para, this they there were
people like around the country, at universities around the country
and around the world who were kind of all recognizing
all of this at the same time that there's a
lot more that could be done for people who were
injured in accidents. And so you had the people at
(11:49):
pitt University of Pittsburgh taking up the cause.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Panthers.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Yeah, they started is that the Panthers, Yeah, huh. They
started creating some of the first curriculum for paramedics, some
of the earliest tests for paramedics. The University of Cincinnati
came up with the first curriculum for training physicians in
er medicine. I think the University of California was an
(12:15):
early entrant into the world of teaching paramedicine. And then
I think they were the first one to be accredited
in nineteen eighty, Like they had their operation going for years,
but they were the first one to say, hey, somebody
take a look at this and make sure we're kosher,
and then we can say we're an accredited training facility
(12:36):
for paramedics.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Amazing, it is pretty amazing.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And then the problem is this, So the federal government
got into the act in nineteen seventy three, with the
Emergency Medical Services Act. But by nineteen eighty one there
was an omnibus budget that said we're out, We're done,
We're not funding emergency services anymore. And then from that
point forward, the emergency service system in the United States,
(13:03):
whatever had been developed to that point, broke into patchworks
of state, local county programs, sometimes multiple ones within a
single county. I think there's a county in Michigan that
has like eighteen different emergency services and that has kind
of created this where we are now, which is people
(13:24):
doing the absolute best they can in what amounts to
a broken system in a lot of ways.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Should we take a break, sure, all right, when we
come back, we will put the broken system behind us momentarily.
Talk about e mts and paramedics.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
All right.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
So if you want to ride in an ambulance or
drive an ambulance and get on the scene and help
someone out who's in need, there are a couple of
ways you can do it. You can be an EMT
emergency medical technician. And this is the person who has
(14:28):
undergone about between about one hundred and twenty and one hundred.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And fifty hours of course work there.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
They are well trained and all kinds of life saving procedures.
If you need CPR, if you need oxygen administered, if
you were having some bad allergic reaction, that your life
is in jeopardy. But there are limits to what they
are allowed to do. So one thing they cannot do,
even in the case of giving shots is they can't
(14:56):
break the skin, right, which is super interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I never knew that.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, I didn't know that either. But you can consider
an EMT like an entry level paramedicine professional, right, that's
where you would start. And in fact, I think you
have to start as an EMT to go on to
the next level, which would be paramedic.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Right for sure.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah, so if you're a paramedic, you have about ten
times the amount of coursework in schooling under your belt
by the time you're a paramedic. And I think you
do have to have about six months at least of
immediately prior EMT experience to start becoming a paramedic as well,
which I'm sure is the way most people go. As
(15:36):
you start out as an EMT and then you move
on to the next level, which is paramedic.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, which, like you said, ten times, so that's about
anywhere from twelve hundred to eighteen hundred hours depending on
your state or your municipality to get certified. And this
is where the real action can happen. You can give
an IV, you can if someone's having a heart attack,
you can deal with that.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
You can operate defibrillator, tibulator, fibrillator, fibrillator.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
It's fun to say once you master it, they should
have just.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Called it the clear machine.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, the but it's a it's a lot of work
in a lot of hours. And one of the people
that they interviewed in this article said that, you know,
it's really grueling, and when you're in paramedic training and
school and doing your course work basically for a year
or two, you can just say goodbye to your friends
(16:30):
and family.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I saw that too.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, that's tough stuff.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
So the paramedic is actually they operate under the license,
not just like like under the direction, but under the
license of a physician in their locale.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Yeah, there's a couple of ways that you can do it.
And as you'll start to see, like I saw a
quote that it said, if you've seen one emergency medical system,
you've seen one emergency medical system. They're all just so different. Yeah,
and the whole thing so patchwork. But there is a
national standard, which I think is the National Emergency Medical
(17:08):
Technician Registry Exam. That's like the national exam, and then
you may have to pass like a state and or
local exam too, depending on where you live. But there
is like a national accreditation and national coursework. But then
how the system functions and runs is what's the patchwork
part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, and it'll cost you. I mean it depends on
where it is, of course, and what program. But the
example they used in art article is the UCLA Center
for Pre Hospital Care, and they quoted about ten grand
for just the tuition. And then, of course, like any
college or coursework, you're gonna have to pay for books
and equipment and uniforums and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
That's exactly where they get.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
You plaid skirt.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
And then after that, though, the good news is is
that you have a really good chance of getting work.
I get the impression that if you have gone through
all of your paramedic training, you're not sitting around like
there's usually a job waiting for you somewhere.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Yeah. I saw that as well, And actually it doesn't
necessarily pay super well now people, So if you ever
see a paramedic, be extra nice to them for sure,
because not only are they running around saving people's lives,
they're not getting rich off of it at all. They're
doing it because it's something they care about. Yeah. But
despite that, despite the mediocre pay, I saw, it's going
(18:30):
to be one of the most in demand jobs over
the next like ten to fifteen years. I really wish
I could remember the statistic exactly, but I think they're
like expecting another like fifty three thousand EMT jobs or
paramedic jobs to be added to the American economy over
the next decade maybe. So it's definitely a growing career
(18:52):
for sure, growing profession.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, and you mentioned the pay.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
If you go to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
to kind of a mean salary or something, they do it.
It's not really they should separate it out, but they
lump in EMTs and paramedics, when, of course EMTs don't
make the kind of money they're paramedic would. But they
had a mean annual wage of about thirty one thousand
(19:15):
dollars a few years ago. And if you're in the
top ten percent, it's about fifty four thousand, and apparently
the state of Washington is one on the higher side.
You can get as high as seventy one grand in
the state of Washington, right, But I mean, you know,
(19:36):
that's a good living and a decent living. But it's
not like like you said, they don't go into this
because like, oh man, you know that thirty one grand
a year. It's sort of like being a school teacher.
It's a I feel like it's a calling in a
lot of cases for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
For sure, as I was saying about the license that
they operate under. Right, So if you're a certified paramedic
when you are are depending on the state you're in,
you may be operating under the license of the state
medical director, like that's where you have your license, or
you could also be operating under the license of a
(20:11):
local physician, like that physician's license covers you, covers the
physician's assistant, basically everything working for everyone working for him
or her, So you might be operating under that physician's license.
Or I didn't know this man during an ambulance ride,
so remember how just adding like a trained medical professional
to the ride from an accident scene to the hospital
(20:34):
improves outcomes, and we've done that since nineteen sixty six
at least they figured out that if you can communicate
with a doctor an er physician en route, you could
also improve outcomes. Even more so. During this transportation from
an accident to the hospital, the paramedic is probably in
(20:55):
touch with an er doctor who is instructing and advising
and consulting with the paramedic to figure out the best
course of action, the best course of treatment, and then
how to carry that out. And from what I understand
at that time, the paramedic is operating under that physician's
license in that state.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Would that make you feel better or worse?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
What that the paramedic was getting instruction from a physician?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, Like, if you hear this going on, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I would say.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Part of me is like better because it's a doctor
telling you that, But the other part of me is like,
don't you know right? And you would hate to hear
the doctor say we'll get the something something and for
the paramedic to say the what.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
You're right, I don't know what that is. I've never
seen this before ever.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Have you ever had to take an ambulance ride for yourself?
Speaker 4 (21:45):
No, no, Thank goodness, I.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Didn't think I had either, but then I did. Remember
when I was thirteen or fourteen, my brother was sixteen
or seventeen, we were in a car wreck. There were
eight people in a g and my brother's jeep that
was once my dad's cheap and that was definitely not
safe to do to begin with. But we were going
(22:08):
to a movie after church on the Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
A bunch of kids in.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Youth group piled in my brother's jeep wasted, no just kidding,
completely sober wasted on the Lord.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
We were and it was raining really hard.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And you know at Ponce de Leon Avenue here in Atlanta,
everyone that doesn't live Atlanta probably laughs.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That we pronounce it that way instead of.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
H.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But on Ponce where it kind of if you're leaving
from Atlanta, it's that big curve where you go over
that large stone archway. Yes, kind of headed toward into Decatur.
We were coming down that way nowhere near North Lake
Mall where we were supposed to be headed. We were
lost and my brother we hydroplaned, hit a curb and
(22:58):
turned the jeep over on its side, and I ripped
through the canvas ceiling or whatever it's made.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Oh man, you got thrown.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Oh yeah, we were scattered all over the street.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
You are lucky. I know.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
It's the only time I think that I've been knocked unconscious,
and I just remember waking up, you know what would
have been probably seconds later in the pouring rain, and
looking around and seeing my friends like scattered within like
twenty feet of each other in various places.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Oh man, that is scary stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
It was scary.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
So in the end, the good news is no one
had like I think the worst injury was like a
broken collar bone. I broke my finger. There were little
cuts and scrapes, but nobody was hurt bad.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
But I do remember this, Oh my brother doesn't listen
to this one.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
In the ambulance on the way, My brother was just
sort of catatonic, and they said they were trying to
get information, and they asked what his name was, and
he said Ahole.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
He said Ahole. He said, the real world is so bad. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I think he was just sort of out of it
and felt terrible. Of course, Scott and he didn't curse
at all at the time. It still doesn't even curse much.
But it was just it's weird that that is what
stands out of my mind.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I wonder if he remembers that.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Actually, well that's a big one, especially if you didn't curse,
you know, so funny man, that's a that's you were
a great storyteller.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Was that a good story?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Yeah? I was like, I was seriously, well, you kept
like going off on tangents. I'm like, no, we got
to get back to the story. What happened to the cheek?
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I know you looked a little nervous.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Yeah, so wow, Okay, should we take a break.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Oh yeah? And also I forgot to mention the one
guy that was tragically killed.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Right, You're like, but did I mention? I also broke
my finger?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
No, nobody, nobody was hurt.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Everybody's too bad. Everybody's good.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Everybody's good. I think my brother broke his foot.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, it was just stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Heck of a story, chuck, heck of a story.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Thank you?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Uh yeah, let's take a break and regroup, shall we.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, let's do.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Okay, Okay, we're back. I'm not reeling quite as much
(25:31):
as I was. But that was a good story. Again,
I feel like.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
We should mention, even though it's kind of silly that
emergency TV show. Oh yeah, for sure from the seventies,
because it seems like it definitely, like actually played a
part in ramping up ambulance services.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Yeah, so this is I think nineteen seventy one or
seventy two when it premiered. And remember the Emergency Medical
Services Act wasn't past until nineteen seventy three. That white
paper had come out in nineteen sixty six. So this
idea of like this new type of medicine and this
new type of like healthcare worker was really on America's mind.
But one of the ways it got there was from
(26:12):
that TV show Emergency, in part because it was shot
like documentary style. People played themselves on it, like there
were real dispatchers on the show acting as dispatchers. It
just captured America's imagination.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, I remember watching it, do you.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I don't think I ever saw an episode of it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
It was Emergency with an exclamation point in Mantle seventy seven,
and it was mainly two dudes, two firefighter characters is
what the story centered on. And one of them was
a young Kevin tig Or Tigue. He was did you
ever see Roadhouse?
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
He was the owner. He's a character actor he's been in. Yeah,
he owned the Double Deuce.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yeah, he's great. Yeah, I can't remember what else it's seen.
I've seen him young before. I wonder if it was
Emergency now that you mention it.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Maybe, huh, maybe I have, because I'm going to ran
every runs.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
For sure it did. I'm a Jack Web fan and
I think he produced or created it.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
You're a big Jack Web guy, are you not. I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
He's the dude from Dragnet. He's Sergeant Friday.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, I guess I need to think about that.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Yeah, he's awesome. I'll let you know, man, if you
go back and watch like old episodes of Dragnet.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Oh my god. Yeah that was a good show.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Yes it was. And I think Emergency maybe Adam twelve
is like the direct spinoff of Dragnet. Maybe That's what
I'm thinking of. But I swear I know exactly what
you're talking about with the tigue fella from Roadhouse.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
And then wasn't Dragnet Colonel Potter, Yes, Harry Morgan, Right,
we had an Emmilina had a long conversation about match
the other day and how that was I was a
mash nut and how that show was one of the
few to survive like major cast changes.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Oh yeah, like like three of them.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Yeah. They certainly didn't like like big stars like co stars.
I think. One of the few people who made it
through was Alan Alda, Right, he was there the whole time.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, and like Hot Lips I think was the same,
and a few others. But they had like Radar and Clinger. Yeah,
they co existed I think, But eventually Radar left and
Clinger took his job. They Potter took over for what's
his face, the original guy.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
I don't remember, but he wore the fishing hat.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah. He was, Oh man, the saddest ending ever for
that one.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
What when he left?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, I remember he got his papers to go home
and everyone's all excited, and then he was killed in
a helicopter crash or a plane crash.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I don't remember that on his way out.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
And then of course Frank Burns left and was replaced
by Winchester, and then Trapper left and was replaced by Honeycutt. Right,
but it just it was still great, well you got
it wasn't as great at the very end.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
I don't know, man, goodbye, farewell and amen was one
of the all time best last episodes out, true for sure,
But you're saying they pulled it together at the at
the end of the last episode.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I think I remember the last couple of seasons. It
was a little bit like, you know this, maybe it
had run its course. But that was a very discerning
twelve year old viewer.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, like they've really gone to
the hoots gin joke too many times this episode.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
It is funny though that, like, little twelve year old
me thought, like the funniest thing in the world. Would
war surgeons drunk war surgeons?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Right, drunk philandering war surgeons?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
All right, I really got off track there.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Yeah, maybe we should take a third break.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
I don't think we should either. So we're talking about
paramedics today, believe it or not. And one of the
things we talked about was the idea that that paramedics, well,
let's talk a little bit more about their job, right, Okay.
One of the things that paramedics are sometimes criticized for
is that they don't run to the scene of an emergency.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I've never thought about that.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Once you have it, I really hadn't either, But then
I started thinking about it, I'm like, yeah, I could
totally see that. Apparently, for some people who are at
an emergency scene and see the paramedics kind of walk up,
they appear a little too casual, and they want to know,
what are you doing? Why aren't you rushing to this scene?
And paramedics I think we saw a question answered on
(30:30):
KORRA or something like that, and a paramedic explains, there's
actually a number of really good reasons why paramedics why
you don't see them running to the scene. First of all,
they're going to park as close as they can sure,
so that running is only going to save a couple
seconds off. But really the number one reason, or one
of the top reasons, is that they're supposed to be
they're supposed to bring with them to this scene of
(30:54):
catastrophic panic, basically calm and professionalism and being in control.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, I get that.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Like, I think it would be a little disconcerting if
I was injured and I saw a paramedic burst into
the room like breathing heavy.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Oh my god, what's going on? What's going on?
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Is everybody okay?
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Plus they might get hurt running that's another one, And
they're usually you know or not usually, but I would
say probably a lot of times. It's not like they're
walking through a you know, a perfectly laid pathway, like
they could be running upstairs or through a house of
hoarders or you know, through the woods, like you don't
know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
You got to be careful on your way there.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Yeah, and you have to be going slow enough that
you can assess what the risks you're walking into. Are
as you're walking into them, sure, then running into it
and being like, oh, the guy who shot you still
here waiting for me. You know now that I've run
into the scene. I know that, but it's terrible. It's
also kind of hard to run from place to place,
(31:58):
depending on the equipment that they're carrying. Those stretchers get heavy,
the EKG machines get heavy, the defibrillators get heavy. All
that stuff gets heavy. So there's a number of reasons
why you won't see a paramedic rushing to the scene.
You will see them rushing to the scene in the
ambulance though, and from what I understand that driving in
(32:18):
the ambulance or riding in the ambulance is the most
dangerous part of the entire job.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
And here's another tip, aside from being nice to your
EMT or paramedic is, don't call them ambulance drivers. Yeah,
because that's part of their job. And it's a weird
thing too that it's not like they hire a driver
who's super skilled at that and then they have other
people in there that do the work like they do
(32:45):
double duty. They have to learn to drive like that,
I mean while they're EMTs are paramedics.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
Yeah, and so you know, if you've ever seen an
ambulance going through an intersection, they're gonna slow and maybe
even stop and then seed they still get broadsided very
frequently by people going through the intersection because they have
a green light and they're not paying attention. They'll hit
an ambulance like t bone and ambulance and the driver's
(33:12):
probably okay, or I should say the paramedic driving is
probably okay, But the paramedics in the back, they probably
aren't lashed down in any way, shape or form because
they're working on the patient and so they're getting thrown
around and can get injured and killed themselves that way.
So that's the most dangerous aspect of the job from
(33:33):
what i've seen.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, another interesting thing that I saw from that list
you sent was that if you're in a big city,
a lot of times they even have divided up between
EMT and paramedic for different cases. So like if there's
a scene of trauma going on, like a car accident,
then you're more likely to get an EMT, whereas if
(33:56):
you're at home and you're like my husband's having a
heart attack or my child having a seizure, then you're
more likely to get a paramedic, Yeah, which is interesting.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Yeah, And if in cities as well, if you're a paramedic,
you probably once you get into your ambulance, you're basically
stationed at the ambulance for the rest of your twelve
hour shift. You're you don't go back to like the
firehouse or to the ambulance clubhouse or anything like that.
You're you're you're like on a designated street corner, parked,
(34:27):
waiting for your next call, probably killing time somehow, but
you're you. There's there's not very much downtime. And like
in a in a city especially, the opposite is true
for more rural e mts and paramedics, and that there's
a lot of downtime so much so that this guy
(34:47):
who was actually one of the consultants on that show
Emergency years back, Uh, he became a Minister of health
I think in Nova Scotia, and he he created this
program for rural ems workers to use their downtime in
much the same way that like a country doctor would
(35:08):
have made house calls.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Yeah, so they like, wasn't the idea that they would
go to places and sort of help train like regular
citizens on how to avoid getting hurt and stuff to
begin with, right.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Yeah, like like doling out preventative medicine, like making sure
that people are taking their medicines correctly, teaching CPR classes,
and teaching leading exercise classes for like seniors at a
senior center. Like doing all this stuff to reduce the
number of calls that they have to go on anyway,
so it cuts down on their downtime, which I think
(35:41):
is actually very much appreciated by paramedics because there's really
nothing more boring than sitting around constantly, and then they're
actually doing something and also making their community a healthier place.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I thought it was funny when they were talking to
some real on the ground paramedic about the downtime, They're like, well,
HBO goes kind of awesome, right, yeah, like, oh, well,
I guess you got a pass the time. It's better
than Nicholas Cage and bringing out the dead.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
What did he do? Because I remember that movie, but
I don't remember all the details.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Well, it wasn't that great.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
I liked it.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
He did tons of drugs.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Oh okay, that's a speedreak or something. I got you.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Yeah, he kept begging to be fired, right.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I don't remember it very very well at all.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Actually, I think he did, like that was his stick.
He begged to be fired. So one of the things
about those that downtime, the community community preventative medicine initiatives
have kind of spread from Nova Scotia out through around
the country. When you see a paramedic doing that, they're
(36:50):
they're not being paid, or at the very least their
unit or their county or their city is not being
paid for that, which is a huge problem.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Yeah, this is where I got a little confused.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
The way I was reading this was.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Medicaid and Medicare and stuff, and insurance companies will reimburse
only if they have transported someone to a hospital.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yes, so in other words, if you.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Go as an ambulance and a paramedic or ant to
a place and you actually can just help and treat
someone there and they don't need to go to the hospital,
then that's a freebie, yes, Or do they send a
bill to the people, as from.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
What I understand, it's a freebie. I probably since it
is such a patchwork of systems all around the country.
I'm sure that you could live somewhere where you the
person would get a bill for that. I think as
a matter of fact, you do no matter where you live.
But Medicaid and Medicare won't pay for it. So there
(37:56):
is a substantial reason to say, keep working chest compressions
on a person who is obviously dead all the way
to the hospital. Interesting, so that you can build Medicaid
for that transport, or getting somebody to go to the
hospital even though they don't need to, so that you
can build Medicaid for that as well. And the problem
(38:19):
is that that leads to other problems as well, like
hospital ers are very much overcrowded and understaffed and overworked. Right, Yeah,
so when you show up with another person, that's one
more person they have to deal with and apparently it
creates a bit of a.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Conflict.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Yeah, there's a cultural conflict between the people the paramedics
and this EMTs bringing people to the er and the
people who staff the er and are accepting these people,
and so much so that there's it's become kind of
common for er rooms to issue ambulance diversions saying don't
bring anybody to our er, go somewhere else. And on
(38:59):
a really night in a really populated city, you might
find every single er room like with that diversion alert on,
and you've got to take somebody out to like a
country hospital that doesn't know anything about trauma, and it
takes forty five minutes to get there, and they're not
going to get the care they could receive at a
good trauma center in the city. So that's a real problem.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Yeah, and it's too in terms of pay, And we
need to hear from people on the ground because this
it's surprisingly confusing when research this on how it all works.
And maybe that's the point, but it seems like it's
also a fixed rate. There's no difference between I treated
(39:43):
a kid for an allergic beasting reaction to I brought
a guy back from the dead who had had a
heart attack or heart failure.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Yeah, is that right?
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Yeah, so long as you transport both of them to
the hospital that you're going to get I think I
saw as low as twenty five bucks from medicaid in
some places. I don't understand this. The numbers just do
not add up. I don't get it at all. I
know that some places, some counties and cities, fold their
EMT or EMS workers under their fire departments. Uh huh,
(40:13):
so that they fall under the fire departments funding, which
I think fire departments tend to be way better funded
than any kind of EMS service.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Uh huh.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
So I think that's how. That's one way that it happens.
But I just don't I don't get how this how
this actually works money wise, because it doesn't add up.
It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Yeah, I mean, it's not often that we're a little stemied.
So we're going to follow up, for sure with some emails.
But I think that's also going to vary from place
to place. Right, Because the other thing that I got
really confused about was private the privatization of ambulance services. Yeah,
and as best as I can tell, is in the
(40:55):
seventies and eighties, there were a lot of small private
ambulance companies, but then they merged into more regional things
and that these days there's just a few, like big
multinational companies that are the most dominant in the industry right.
But I don't get how that works, Like if they're private,
(41:17):
are they like working with only private.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Hospitals or can they go to a state hospital.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
I think that they can get a contract from the state,
they can be they can have a license to operate
within a state or a county or wherever, and I
think they go wherever they're called to. I know that
there can be like competition among them, so like multiple
ambulances will show up at a scene. Sometimes it's just
it's it's it's kind of a bit of a cluster
(41:44):
as far as competing with the local EMS services, and
I think it's on the decline from what I've seen.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Yeah, but when you call nine to one one, do
you have a choice?
Speaker 4 (41:56):
So what you can do? I think it's kind of
like uber where like the nine to one to one
dispatcher has a log of companies or services, like public
funded or private services that it can be issued to
and they send out the alarm and whoever takes the
call goes and gets it interesting. So the problem is
(42:18):
is I saw a Las Vegas Review Journal article about this.
Las Vegas was debating whether to just totally privatize their
EMS services. Their EMS just like went berserk. They're like no,
like this doesn't work. The private companies are late. I
think they were late like ten thousand plus times in
one year in Las Vegas. Their response time tends to
(42:40):
be less than the actual fire department or EMS is.
It's just not as it's just not as preferable. And
the reason why ambulance private ambulance services came about or
became widespread, this idea that you should just privatize everything
and then that competition will keep everything going. And that
hasn't necessarily panned out to be the case. And from
(43:00):
what I see, New York is actually scaling back on theirs, right.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, I think Juliani is one of the people that
really tried, and of course, you know, no surprise given
his politics, trying to privatize the industry. But apparently a
lot of those had gone bankrupt basically, yeah, and that
during the during the housing boom, the financial collapse. Strangely,
(43:27):
or maybe not strangely, because I don't understand it, a
lot of private equity firms started buying up ambulance services.
Speaker 4 (43:33):
Yeah, that's there, you go, there's the downfall.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
It's just so interesting.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
I know that this is one of those where someone's
gonna knock our socks off with a great email.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Yeah. I think Also one more thing about the private
ambulance services. It's not like they're just a bad idea
all around. Sure, in a locale that is underserved, if
a company wants to come and set up ambulance services,
that would be great for that area. Yeah, because they
have a far you know they have They can get
places faster in an ambulance than they could have before
(44:04):
in a place where you've got your EMS overstretched in
the counties, Like, no, we're not hiring a single additional
EMS worker. A company that sets up shop can actually
take up the slack Like there are good aspects to it.
Like it's not just like some terrible idea, but in
practice that hasn't worked out as well as as one
(44:24):
would hope from what I understand. Yeah, yeah, EMS workers
like email us like explain this because I really like you.
I do not get who's footing the bill. It has
to be insurance companies, and then if you don't have insurance,
it has to be just the person, the individual.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Yeah, and I think we have. We waded into the
waters of doing a nine to one to one podcast
once and didn't. Isn't that correct? Because it was. I mean,
we'll do it at some point, but I remember thinking, oh,
that's a good, easy ish one and it ended up
like being super convoluted.
Speaker 4 (44:58):
Yeah. I think I think we should do that. We
shoul should also do just eers in general too.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:04):
So that's a bit about paramedics. Sounds like there's way
more to it, right, Yeah, but you got anything else
for now, no, sir? Okay, Well, since Chuck said no, sir,
it's time for listening to maw all right.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
I'm gonna call this we helped the dude win something.
Speaker 5 (45:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
I love this one.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
Hey, guys, been listening to your show for about four
years and always wanted to write in, But now I
have a great reason. A local store was doing a
giveaway a few days ago, and they posted that the
first people to show up and answer correctly would win
a prize. The question was bacon and eggs was not
always a breakfast food and what year did it become so,
and who was the man behind the marketing idea. So
(45:44):
this guy sounded super excited because he knew the answer. Immediately,
I thought of your show and the uncanny ability of
mister Edward Burne's to pop up in seemingly strange histories.
I remembered your pr episode and knew it was sometime
in the twenties. So I hopped in my car and
took off for the business. When I got there, I
told him the answer with a startled look. They told
(46:04):
me I'd want a huge case of meat, and not
just junkie stuff either. This play sales to restaurants and
businesses all across the country.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
I was super stoked. Good meat.
Speaker 4 (46:17):
He's like I won meat, and not just like terrible meat,
like good stuff too.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
When they asked if I had to look it up,
I told them no, that I listened to stuff you
should know, and they retained it in the back of
my mind. They asked for the name of the show,
and they said they were going to play it for
all the workers there during the day, so now they
can get more difficult.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
And random questions.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
And he said it doesn't in there.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
I went back later in the week and the same
girl i'd spoken to recognized me. So they had two
other people come in that had known the answer from
stuff you should know as well. All right, even though
we live in super rural Utah, you apparently have a
large following. And that is from John Robson.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
Thanks John Robison. I hope you have a health the
EMS service out there to come find you after you
eat that box of meat.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Yeah, and you know what, let's hear from Salt Lake
City because we have debated a live show there and
just didn't know if we had the support.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
So I want to hear it.
Speaker 4 (47:14):
Okay, so we want to hear we want to hear
from Utah in's and EMS workers.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Yeah, if we get ten people that email us and
say to come to Salt Lake City will come.
Speaker 4 (47:25):
I think we should set the bar higher than that.
Oh okay, okay, Well, if you want to let us
know that you're from Utah and you want us to come,
or you're an EMS worker and you've got some good
stories for us, you can send us an email. It's
probably easiest to stuff podcasts at house. Stuffworks dot Com
has always joined us at our home on the web,
Stuff Youshould Know dot Com.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hi everybody. Chuck here, I just.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Realized I have almost cut my finger off while I
was playing with a pocket knife just now, and it's
bleeding quite a bit. So I'm gonna call nine one one,
and in the meantime, I'm going to listen to this
episode from April twelfth, twenty eighteen, how Paramedics Work.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh, thank god.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with
Charles W Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry Jerome Roland and
this is Stuff you Should Know The Emergency.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Real Rear Rear.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
War er er aw.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
We should have a new podcast called Sirens Are the World. Yeah,
it's just annoying show.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Ever, it would be pretty annoying, but there'd be some
subset of people who like just really despise themselves that
it'd be popular.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Among so we would love it.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Uh, we don't hate ourselves, do we tell me? I
need to know?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
No? Okay, So it depends on the day.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
I didn't want to hate myself.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Sometimes I want to punch myself. Does that count?
Speaker 4 (01:23):
No? I know exactly what you mean. Man. Sometimes I'm
just like I am so sick of myself? Is that
is that what you're talking about?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That was a good song. Remember that song? No sick
of myself? No, that was Matthew Sweet.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Oh yeah, wow, that's weird that this is going on
right now, because Matthew Sweet just popped up like randomly
in the last couple of days, and like an article
I was reading, I was like, I forgot about him,
haven't heard about him in twenty years, and then bam,
bottom mine hoff, here he is again.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Well he's still around, he's in Atlantic. Guy.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You know, I didn't know that. Yeah, well that's cool. Yeah,
I know. I think I think that's like the way
it goes. Just because you had one hit in the
world came and like listened to you and then moved
on doesn't mean like you're like, Okay, well I guess
I'll go bury myself alive now in my own backyard.
Usually usually the artist like keeps going.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, you know, yeah, he had two hits.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Stuff, I know, girlfriend, and then the other one you're
talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Yeah girlfriend, that's a great song.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Yeah it's a good song. Okay. So obviously what we're
talking about today are paramedics, para medicine really is what
we're talking about, yeah, which is it's actually a pretty
interesting topic because you kind of look into it, You're like, oh,
these people save lives. That's great. Here's some of the
(02:46):
life saving techniques that they do. Fantastic, But there's like,
actually so much more too. It's got a really interesting history,
it's got a a a it's one of those things
where it's way worse off than it should be as
far as like funding and like logistics and stuff like
that goes. I just find it interesting. It's it's interesting
(03:07):
to kind of poke into a topic and then find that, oh,
this is even more interesting than I thought, and have
it poked back yep with forceps.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
So I guess we should say right off the bat
that the word paramedic para means alongside, so alongside medicine,
I guess, which I'm not quite sure what that means.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
So what I think it means is, as follows Charles,
these people paramedics. They are not doctors, correct, but they
work with and alongside and really honestly as an extension
of a doctor. An So that's what I think it means,
(03:55):
because it's not like what they're doing is a different
type of wacky medicine. Like they're actually doing the same
type of medicine that an er doctor, an er nurse
would be doing in an er they're just doing it
out in the field.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Could you imagine how disconcerting it would be to be
like on the ground and have a paramedic come up
and like blow green dust in your face.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
You're like, what are the chicken bones for?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
Man?
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Oh man, blow green dusting. I don't know, it would
depend on what the effect of the green dust was.
It's true, so I think that's what paramedic means. Right, Okay,
we can go we can go further back actually and
describe what ambulance means. We know that one for certain.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yes, that came around in fifteenth century Spain during the Inquisition.
They clearly had a lot of need for medical work yea.
And they actually had field hospitals that were called ambulancius right.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
It was just basically like a mass unit out in
the field. And then eventu the French shortly after, I
think under Napoleon they innovated on the ambulance and said, well,
that's great, that's neat that we have these things out
in the field. But there's some guys way over there
who are injured, and they probably wouldn't die if we
(05:18):
could get them to these ambulances, these field hospitals, right, correct.
So they came up with basically mobile ambulances, which is
this idea of a flying or a moving ambulance, which
is like a little medical facility that they would put
the people into and move them away from battle to
go patch them up, rather than waiting for the battle
(05:41):
to end.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, and before that, even during the Crusades, and they
also had a great need for medical care, there were
the Knights Hospitaller Hospital.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Or I think Hospitalita.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Oh whoa, is.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
There an extra I might be putting an extra bull
in there. Well, that's a right I'm known to do.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
That's pastime time, Knight's Hospitaller.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
That's what I'm gonna say of the Order of Saint
John of Jerusalem. And they were the first kind of
the first people to practice emergency medicine on the battlefield.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And they even invented the what we.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Now call the stretcher, although it's still called a litter
in some circles.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Yeah, it's a pretty intuitive thing, but it's it works.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Someone had to think of it.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
A couple of sticks with some canvas stretch between them.
Throw a person on there, you can pick them up.
Two people can pick them up and get them off
of the battlefield, lickety split.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Hooray.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
So yeah, so this is the idea of emergency medicine
grew basically exclusively out of warfare over the centuries.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Well yeah, but what's remarkable to me is that from
that time I had the right idea, let's get these
people out of here quickly. It took about one hundred
and thirty years all the way until the mid to
late nineteen sixties until they said, hey, wait a minute,
if we actually put trained medical people in these things
(07:12):
and weren't simply driving people to a hospital, we might
have even more luck.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
Yeah, that was the late sixties and then amazing it is.
And at the time it was so a lot of
medicine was practiced through house calls, right, including emergencies Like
if there was an emergency and you could get a
hold of a doctor, the doctor was expected to go
out to that emergency and do what they could, but
(07:37):
more often than not, either the cops or local morticians
were tasked with basically was called like a scoop and
scoop and run or scoop and carry, where you just
basically get the person out of that car wreck or
from the bottom of that ladder or whatever just happened
to them, throw them in the back of a car,
(07:59):
a cop or a hearse. I would looked it up.
The ECDO one the Ghostbusters ambulance is a modified Cadillac Hearse.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Oh yeah, so they would dress the sinking feeling. It
really was for a mortician to show up in ahearse
and be like, I'm gonna take you to the hospital.
Depending on what happens, you may be back in the
same car.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, and talk about a conflict of interest, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Oh, that's a good point.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Hopefully not but yeah on paper, yeah right, Or they
just you know, casually put their hand on the person's
nose and mouth in the backseat. Dry. The thing is, though,
is whether the mortician or the cops were getting you
to the hospital. Even when you got to the hospital.
It's not like there was such a thing as an
(08:46):
er room. E Ers didn't come about really until like
the mid seventies, where you could find them in fair
abundance around the United states like ers just didn't exist.
It was here you go, doc. I know you delivered
a baby and you treated somebody else for angina, but
now you've got to put this person's head back together.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Yeah. And it was all just medicine at the time.
So yeah, the idea of getting somebody to a hospital
and having a medical person, a professional in the car
that's transporting them. It came out of Ireland, I think, right.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Yeah, big shout out nineteen sixty seven to doctor J.
Frank Pantridge of Belfast. He had a study. He published
a study that said, hey, you know what, we have
more success saving people's lives when our mobile units have
a physician or a nurse inside.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Right, And everyone went, huh, never really thought about that,
but there it is, there's a study. Yeah, pretty cool.
So he definitely set the stage for this.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
And then the year before there was a report I
think it was a year earlier, right, the one from
Congress in America.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
A couple of years sixty five.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
I think it was like the National Academy of Sciences
or somebody basically got together with another group and said,
let's study accidents. And what they came up with was
this idea that there was like this overlooked disaster that happened.
Like accidents were a huge, major leading cause of injury
(10:22):
and death in the United States, and this inquiry determined
that we weren't doing much about it, and specifically a
lot of people died who otherwise wouldn't have if there
had been something like an emergency medical service to attend
to them at the accident scene and on the way
to the hospital, and then having the hospital actually know
(10:44):
what they were doing as far as emergency medicine goes.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, it's just staggering to me.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It seems so intuitive and I can't believe it took
that long for this to happen, you know. And in fact,
the Emergency Medical Systems Act was signed in nineteen seventy three,
which basically said.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
We need a standardized system here.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Yeah, a nationwide That was after that paper came out
in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yea many years later. I mean that's a speed of government,
I guess. And then in nineteen seventy seven the publication
of the first very first national standard Curriculum for EMTs
and Paramedics seventy seven.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
And then so alongside this para, this they there were
people like around the country, at universities around the country
and around the world who were kind of all recognizing
all of this at the same time that there's a
lot more that could be done for people who were
injured in accidents. And so you had the people at
(11:49):
pitt University of Pittsburgh taking up the cause.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Panthers.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Yeah, they started is that the Panthers, Yeah, huh. They
started creating some of the first curriculum for paramedics, some
of the earliest tests for paramedics. The University of Cincinnati
came up with the first curriculum for training physicians in
er medicine. I think the University of California was an
(12:15):
early entrant into the world of teaching paramedicine. And then
I think they were the first one to be accredited
in nineteen eighty, Like they had their operation going for years,
but they were the first one to say, hey, somebody
take a look at this and make sure we're kosher,
and then we can say we're an accredited training facility
(12:36):
for paramedics.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Amazing, it is pretty amazing.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
And then the problem is this, So the federal government
got into the act in nineteen seventy three, with the
Emergency Medical Services Act. But by nineteen eighty one there
was an omnibus budget that said we're out, We're done,
We're not funding emergency services anymore. And then from that
point forward, the emergency service system in the United States,
(13:03):
whatever had been developed to that point, broke into patchworks
of state, local county programs, sometimes multiple ones within a
single county. I think there's a county in Michigan that
has like eighteen different emergency services and that has kind
of created this where we are now, which is people
(13:24):
doing the absolute best they can in what amounts to
a broken system in a lot of ways.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Should we take a break, sure, all right, when we
come back, we will put the broken system behind us momentarily.
Talk about e mts and paramedics.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
All right.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
So if you want to ride in an ambulance or
drive an ambulance and get on the scene and help
someone out who's in need, there are a couple of
ways you can do it. You can be an EMT
emergency medical technician. And this is the person who has
(14:28):
undergone about between about one hundred and twenty and one hundred.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
And fifty hours of course work there.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
They are well trained and all kinds of life saving procedures.
If you need CPR, if you need oxygen administered, if
you were having some bad allergic reaction, that your life
is in jeopardy. But there are limits to what they
are allowed to do. So one thing they cannot do,
even in the case of giving shots is they can't
(14:56):
break the skin, right, which is super interesting.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I never knew that.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Yeah, I didn't know that either. But you can consider
an EMT like an entry level paramedicine professional, right, that's
where you would start. And in fact, I think you
have to start as an EMT to go on to
the next level, which would be paramedic.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Right for sure.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Yeah, so if you're a paramedic, you have about ten
times the amount of coursework in schooling under your belt
by the time you're a paramedic. And I think you
do have to have about six months at least of
immediately prior EMT experience to start becoming a paramedic as well,
which I'm sure is the way most people go. As
(15:36):
you start out as an EMT and then you move
on to the next level, which is paramedic.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah, which, like you said, ten times, so that's about
anywhere from twelve hundred to eighteen hundred hours depending on
your state or your municipality to get certified. And this
is where the real action can happen. You can give
an IV, you can if someone's having a heart attack,
you can deal with that.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
You can operate defibrillator, tibulator, fibrillator, fibrillator.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
It's fun to say once you master it, they should
have just.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Called it the clear machine.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, the but it's a it's a lot of work
in a lot of hours. And one of the people
that they interviewed in this article said that, you know,
it's really grueling, and when you're in paramedic training and
school and doing your course work basically for a year
or two, you can just say goodbye to your friends
(16:30):
and family.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
I saw that too.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, that's tough stuff.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
So the paramedic is actually they operate under the license,
not just like like under the direction, but under the
license of a physician in their locale.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Right.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Yeah, there's a couple of ways that you can do it.
And as you'll start to see, like I saw a
quote that it said, if you've seen one emergency medical system,
you've seen one emergency medical system. They're all just so different. Yeah,
and the whole thing so patchwork. But there is a
national standard, which I think is the National Emergency Medical
(17:08):
Technician Registry Exam. That's like the national exam, and then
you may have to pass like a state and or
local exam too, depending on where you live. But there
is like a national accreditation and national coursework. But then
how the system functions and runs is what's the patchwork
part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, and it'll cost you. I mean it depends on
where it is, of course, and what program. But the
example they used in art article is the UCLA Center
for Pre Hospital Care, and they quoted about ten grand
for just the tuition. And then, of course, like any
college or coursework, you're gonna have to pay for books
and equipment and uniforums and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
That's exactly where they get.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
You plaid skirt.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
And then after that, though, the good news is is
that you have a really good chance of getting work.
I get the impression that if you have gone through
all of your paramedic training, you're not sitting around like
there's usually a job waiting for you somewhere.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Yeah. I saw that as well, And actually it doesn't
necessarily pay super well now people, So if you ever
see a paramedic, be extra nice to them for sure,
because not only are they running around saving people's lives,
they're not getting rich off of it at all. They're
doing it because it's something they care about. Yeah. But
despite that, despite the mediocre pay, I saw, it's going
(18:30):
to be one of the most in demand jobs over
the next like ten to fifteen years. I really wish
I could remember the statistic exactly, but I think they're
like expecting another like fifty three thousand EMT jobs or
paramedic jobs to be added to the American economy over
the next decade maybe. So it's definitely a growing career
(18:52):
for sure, growing profession.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, and you mentioned the pay.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
If you go to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
to kind of a mean salary or something, they do it.
It's not really they should separate it out, but they
lump in EMTs and paramedics, when, of course EMTs don't
make the kind of money they're paramedic would. But they
had a mean annual wage of about thirty one thousand
(19:15):
dollars a few years ago. And if you're in the
top ten percent, it's about fifty four thousand, and apparently
the state of Washington is one on the higher side.
You can get as high as seventy one grand in
the state of Washington, right, But I mean, you know,
(19:36):
that's a good living and a decent living. But it's
not like like you said, they don't go into this
because like, oh man, you know that thirty one grand
a year. It's sort of like being a school teacher.
It's a I feel like it's a calling in a
lot of cases for sure.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
For sure, as I was saying about the license that
they operate under. Right, So if you're a certified paramedic
when you are are depending on the state you're in,
you may be operating under the license of the state
medical director, like that's where you have your license, or
you could also be operating under the license of a
(20:11):
local physician, like that physician's license covers you, covers the
physician's assistant, basically everything working for everyone working for him
or her, So you might be operating under that physician's license.
Or I didn't know this man during an ambulance ride,
so remember how just adding like a trained medical professional
to the ride from an accident scene to the hospital
(20:34):
improves outcomes, and we've done that since nineteen sixty six
at least they figured out that if you can communicate
with a doctor an er physician en route, you could
also improve outcomes. Even more so. During this transportation from
an accident to the hospital, the paramedic is probably in
(20:55):
touch with an er doctor who is instructing and advising
and consulting with the paramedic to figure out the best
course of action, the best course of treatment, and then
how to carry that out. And from what I understand
at that time, the paramedic is operating under that physician's
license in that state.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Would that make you feel better or worse?
Speaker 4 (21:17):
What that the paramedic was getting instruction from a physician?
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah, Like, if you hear this going on, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
I would say.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Part of me is like better because it's a doctor
telling you that, But the other part of me is like,
don't you know right? And you would hate to hear
the doctor say we'll get the something something and for
the paramedic to say the what.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
You're right, I don't know what that is. I've never
seen this before ever.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Have you ever had to take an ambulance ride for yourself?
Speaker 4 (21:45):
No, no, Thank goodness, I.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
Didn't think I had either, but then I did. Remember
when I was thirteen or fourteen, my brother was sixteen
or seventeen, we were in a car wreck. There were
eight people in a g and my brother's jeep that
was once my dad's cheap and that was definitely not
safe to do to begin with. But we were going
(22:08):
to a movie after church on the Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
A bunch of kids in.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Youth group piled in my brother's jeep wasted, no just kidding,
completely sober wasted on the Lord.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
We were and it was raining really hard.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And you know at Ponce de Leon Avenue here in Atlanta,
everyone that doesn't live Atlanta probably laughs.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
That we pronounce it that way instead of.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
H.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But on Ponce where it kind of if you're leaving
from Atlanta, it's that big curve where you go over
that large stone archway. Yes, kind of headed toward into Decatur.
We were coming down that way nowhere near North Lake
Mall where we were supposed to be headed. We were
lost and my brother we hydroplaned, hit a curb and
(22:58):
turned the jeep over on its side, and I ripped
through the canvas ceiling or whatever it's made.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
Oh man, you got thrown.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Oh yeah, we were scattered all over the street.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
You are lucky. I know.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
It's the only time I think that I've been knocked unconscious,
and I just remember waking up, you know what would
have been probably seconds later in the pouring rain, and
looking around and seeing my friends like scattered within like
twenty feet of each other in various places.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
Oh man, that is scary stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
It was scary.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
So in the end, the good news is no one
had like I think the worst injury was like a
broken collar bone. I broke my finger. There were little
cuts and scrapes, but nobody was hurt bad.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
But I do remember this, Oh my brother doesn't listen
to this one.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
In the ambulance on the way, My brother was just
sort of catatonic, and they said they were trying to
get information, and they asked what his name was, and
he said Ahole.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
He said Ahole. He said, the real world is so bad. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
I think he was just sort of out of it
and felt terrible. Of course, Scott and he didn't curse
at all at the time. It still doesn't even curse much.
But it was just it's weird that that is what
stands out of my mind.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
I wonder if he remembers that.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
Actually, well that's a big one, especially if you didn't curse,
you know, so funny man, that's a that's you were
a great storyteller.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Was that a good story?
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Yeah? I was like, I was seriously, well, you kept
like going off on tangents. I'm like, no, we got
to get back to the story. What happened to the cheek?
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I know you looked a little nervous.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Yeah, so wow, Okay, should we take a break.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Oh yeah? And also I forgot to mention the one
guy that was tragically killed.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
Right, You're like, but did I mention? I also broke
my finger?
Speaker 1 (24:47):
No, nobody, nobody was hurt.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Everybody's too bad. Everybody's good.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Everybody's good. I think my brother broke his foot.
Speaker 4 (24:53):
Man.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, it was just stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Heck of a story, chuck, heck of a story.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Thank you?
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Uh yeah, let's take a break and regroup, shall we.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, let's do.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Okay, Okay, we're back. I'm not reeling quite as much
(25:31):
as I was. But that was a good story. Again,
I feel like.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
We should mention, even though it's kind of silly that
emergency TV show. Oh yeah, for sure from the seventies,
because it seems like it definitely, like actually played a
part in ramping up ambulance services.
Speaker 4 (25:50):
Yeah, so this is I think nineteen seventy one or
seventy two when it premiered. And remember the Emergency Medical
Services Act wasn't past until nineteen seventy three. That white
paper had come out in nineteen sixty six. So this
idea of like this new type of medicine and this
new type of like healthcare worker was really on America's mind.
But one of the ways it got there was from
(26:12):
that TV show Emergency, in part because it was shot
like documentary style. People played themselves on it, like there
were real dispatchers on the show acting as dispatchers. It
just captured America's imagination.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Yeah, I remember watching it, do you.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
I don't think I ever saw an episode of it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
It was Emergency with an exclamation point in Mantle seventy seven,
and it was mainly two dudes, two firefighter characters is
what the story centered on. And one of them was
a young Kevin tig Or Tigue. He was did you
ever see Roadhouse?
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (26:50):
He was the owner. He's a character actor he's been in. Yeah,
he owned the Double Deuce.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Yeah, he's great. Yeah, I can't remember what else it's seen.
I've seen him young before. I wonder if it was
Emergency now that you mention it.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Maybe, huh, maybe I have, because I'm going to ran
every runs.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
For sure it did. I'm a Jack Web fan and
I think he produced or created it.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
You're a big Jack Web guy, are you not. I
don't know.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
He's the dude from Dragnet. He's Sergeant Friday.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, I guess I need to think about that.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Yeah, he's awesome. I'll let you know, man, if you
go back and watch like old episodes of Dragnet.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Oh my god. Yeah that was a good show.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Yes it was. And I think Emergency maybe Adam twelve
is like the direct spinoff of Dragnet. Maybe That's what
I'm thinking of. But I swear I know exactly what
you're talking about with the tigue fella from Roadhouse.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
And then wasn't Dragnet Colonel Potter, Yes, Harry Morgan, Right,
we had an Emmilina had a long conversation about match
the other day and how that was I was a
mash nut and how that show was one of the
few to survive like major cast changes.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Oh yeah, like like three of them.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Yeah. They certainly didn't like like big stars like co stars.
I think. One of the few people who made it
through was Alan Alda, Right, he was there the whole time.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, and like Hot Lips I think was the same,
and a few others. But they had like Radar and Clinger. Yeah,
they co existed I think, But eventually Radar left and
Clinger took his job. They Potter took over for what's
his face, the original guy.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
I don't remember, but he wore the fishing hat.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah. He was, Oh man, the saddest ending ever for
that one.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
What when he left?
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Yeah, I remember he got his papers to go home
and everyone's all excited, and then he was killed in
a helicopter crash or a plane crash.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I don't remember that on his way out.
Speaker 4 (28:49):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
And then of course Frank Burns left and was replaced
by Winchester, and then Trapper left and was replaced by Honeycutt. Right,
but it just it was still great, well you got
it wasn't as great at the very end.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
I don't know, man, goodbye, farewell and amen was one
of the all time best last episodes out, true for sure,
But you're saying they pulled it together at the at
the end of the last episode.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
I think I remember the last couple of seasons. It
was a little bit like, you know this, maybe it
had run its course. But that was a very discerning
twelve year old viewer.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, like they've really gone to
the hoots gin joke too many times this episode.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
It is funny though that, like, little twelve year old
me thought, like the funniest thing in the world. Would
war surgeons drunk war surgeons?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Right, drunk philandering war surgeons?
Speaker 1 (29:40):
All right, I really got off track there.
Speaker 4 (29:43):
Yeah, maybe we should take a third break.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
I don't think we should either. So we're talking about
paramedics today, believe it or not. And one of the
things we talked about was the idea that that paramedics, well,
let's talk a little bit more about their job, right, Okay.
One of the things that paramedics are sometimes criticized for
is that they don't run to the scene of an emergency.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
I've never thought about that.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
Once you have it, I really hadn't either, But then
I started thinking about it, I'm like, yeah, I could
totally see that. Apparently, for some people who are at
an emergency scene and see the paramedics kind of walk up,
they appear a little too casual, and they want to know,
what are you doing? Why aren't you rushing to this scene?
And paramedics I think we saw a question answered on
(30:30):
KORRA or something like that, and a paramedic explains, there's
actually a number of really good reasons why paramedics why
you don't see them running to the scene. First of all,
they're going to park as close as they can sure,
so that running is only going to save a couple
seconds off. But really the number one reason, or one
of the top reasons, is that they're supposed to be
they're supposed to bring with them to this scene of
(30:54):
catastrophic panic, basically calm and professionalism and being in control.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yeah, I get that.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Like, I think it would be a little disconcerting if
I was injured and I saw a paramedic burst into
the room like breathing heavy.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Oh my god, what's going on? What's going on?
Speaker 4 (31:14):
Is everybody okay?
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Plus they might get hurt running that's another one, And
they're usually you know or not usually, but I would
say probably a lot of times. It's not like they're
walking through a you know, a perfectly laid pathway, like
they could be running upstairs or through a house of
hoarders or you know, through the woods, like you don't
know what's going on.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
You got to be careful on your way there.
Speaker 4 (31:37):
Yeah, and you have to be going slow enough that
you can assess what the risks you're walking into. Are
as you're walking into them, sure, then running into it
and being like, oh, the guy who shot you still
here waiting for me. You know now that I've run
into the scene. I know that, but it's terrible. It's
also kind of hard to run from place to place,
(31:58):
depending on the equipment that they're carrying. Those stretchers get heavy,
the EKG machines get heavy, the defibrillators get heavy. All
that stuff gets heavy. So there's a number of reasons
why you won't see a paramedic rushing to the scene.
You will see them rushing to the scene in the
ambulance though, and from what I understand that driving in
(32:18):
the ambulance or riding in the ambulance is the most
dangerous part of the entire job.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:24):
And here's another tip, aside from being nice to your
EMT or paramedic is, don't call them ambulance drivers. Yeah,
because that's part of their job. And it's a weird
thing too that it's not like they hire a driver
who's super skilled at that and then they have other
people in there that do the work like they do
(32:45):
double duty. They have to learn to drive like that,
I mean while they're EMTs are paramedics.
Speaker 4 (32:51):
Yeah, and so you know, if you've ever seen an
ambulance going through an intersection, they're gonna slow and maybe
even stop and then seed they still get broadsided very
frequently by people going through the intersection because they have
a green light and they're not paying attention. They'll hit
an ambulance like t bone and ambulance and the driver's
(33:12):
probably okay, or I should say the paramedic driving is
probably okay, But the paramedics in the back, they probably
aren't lashed down in any way, shape or form because
they're working on the patient and so they're getting thrown
around and can get injured and killed themselves that way.
So that's the most dangerous aspect of the job from
(33:33):
what i've seen.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, another interesting thing that I saw from that list
you sent was that if you're in a big city,
a lot of times they even have divided up between
EMT and paramedic for different cases. So like if there's
a scene of trauma going on, like a car accident,
then you're more likely to get an EMT, whereas if
(33:56):
you're at home and you're like my husband's having a
heart attack or my child having a seizure, then you're
more likely to get a paramedic, Yeah, which is interesting.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Yeah, And if in cities as well, if you're a paramedic,
you probably once you get into your ambulance, you're basically
stationed at the ambulance for the rest of your twelve
hour shift. You're you don't go back to like the
firehouse or to the ambulance clubhouse or anything like that.
You're you're you're like on a designated street corner, parked,
(34:27):
waiting for your next call, probably killing time somehow, but
you're you. There's there's not very much downtime. And like
in a in a city especially, the opposite is true
for more rural e mts and paramedics, and that there's
a lot of downtime so much so that this guy
(34:47):
who was actually one of the consultants on that show
Emergency years back, Uh, he became a Minister of health
I think in Nova Scotia, and he he created this
program for rural ems workers to use their downtime in
much the same way that like a country doctor would
(35:08):
have made house calls.
Speaker 3 (35:10):
Yeah, so they like, wasn't the idea that they would
go to places and sort of help train like regular
citizens on how to avoid getting hurt and stuff to
begin with, right.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Yeah, like like doling out preventative medicine, like making sure
that people are taking their medicines correctly, teaching CPR classes,
and teaching leading exercise classes for like seniors at a
senior center. Like doing all this stuff to reduce the
number of calls that they have to go on anyway,
so it cuts down on their downtime, which I think
(35:41):
is actually very much appreciated by paramedics because there's really
nothing more boring than sitting around constantly, and then they're
actually doing something and also making their community a healthier place.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
I thought it was funny when they were talking to
some real on the ground paramedic about the downtime, They're like, well,
HBO goes kind of awesome, right, yeah, like, oh, well,
I guess you got a pass the time. It's better
than Nicholas Cage and bringing out the dead.
Speaker 4 (36:13):
What did he do? Because I remember that movie, but
I don't remember all the details.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Well, it wasn't that great.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
I liked it.
Speaker 1 (36:19):
He did tons of drugs.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
Oh okay, that's a speedreak or something. I got you.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Yeah, he kept begging to be fired, right.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
I don't remember it very very well at all.
Speaker 4 (36:29):
Actually, I think he did, like that was his stick.
He begged to be fired. So one of the things
about those that downtime, the community community preventative medicine initiatives
have kind of spread from Nova Scotia out through around
the country. When you see a paramedic doing that, they're
(36:50):
they're not being paid, or at the very least their
unit or their county or their city is not being
paid for that, which is a huge problem.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
Yeah, this is where I got a little confused.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
The way I was reading this was.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
Medicaid and Medicare and stuff, and insurance companies will reimburse
only if they have transported someone to a hospital.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yes, so in other words, if you.
Speaker 3 (37:17):
Go as an ambulance and a paramedic or ant to
a place and you actually can just help and treat
someone there and they don't need to go to the hospital,
then that's a freebie, yes, Or do they send a
bill to the people, as from.
Speaker 4 (37:33):
What I understand, it's a freebie. I probably since it
is such a patchwork of systems all around the country.
I'm sure that you could live somewhere where you the
person would get a bill for that. I think as
a matter of fact, you do no matter where you live.
But Medicaid and Medicare won't pay for it. So there
(37:56):
is a substantial reason to say, keep working chest compressions
on a person who is obviously dead all the way
to the hospital. Interesting, so that you can build Medicaid
for that transport, or getting somebody to go to the
hospital even though they don't need to, so that you
can build Medicaid for that as well. And the problem
(38:19):
is that that leads to other problems as well, like
hospital ers are very much overcrowded and understaffed and overworked. Right, Yeah,
so when you show up with another person, that's one
more person they have to deal with and apparently it
creates a bit of a.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Conflict.
Speaker 4 (38:37):
Yeah, there's a cultural conflict between the people the paramedics
and this EMTs bringing people to the er and the
people who staff the er and are accepting these people,
and so much so that there's it's become kind of
common for er rooms to issue ambulance diversions saying don't
bring anybody to our er, go somewhere else. And on
(38:59):
a really night in a really populated city, you might
find every single er room like with that diversion alert on,
and you've got to take somebody out to like a
country hospital that doesn't know anything about trauma, and it
takes forty five minutes to get there, and they're not
going to get the care they could receive at a
good trauma center in the city. So that's a real problem.
Speaker 3 (39:23):
Yeah, and it's too in terms of pay, And we
need to hear from people on the ground because this
it's surprisingly confusing when research this on how it all works.
And maybe that's the point, but it seems like it's
also a fixed rate. There's no difference between I treated
(39:43):
a kid for an allergic beasting reaction to I brought
a guy back from the dead who had had a
heart attack or heart failure.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Yeah, is that right?
Speaker 4 (39:52):
Yeah, so long as you transport both of them to
the hospital that you're going to get I think I
saw as low as twenty five bucks from medicaid in
some places. I don't understand this. The numbers just do
not add up. I don't get it at all. I
know that some places, some counties and cities, fold their
EMT or EMS workers under their fire departments. Uh huh,
(40:13):
so that they fall under the fire departments funding, which
I think fire departments tend to be way better funded
than any kind of EMS service.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Uh huh.
Speaker 4 (40:22):
So I think that's how. That's one way that it happens.
But I just don't I don't get how this how
this actually works money wise, because it doesn't add up.
It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Yeah, I mean, it's not often that we're a little stemied.
So we're going to follow up, for sure with some emails.
But I think that's also going to vary from place
to place. Right, Because the other thing that I got
really confused about was private the privatization of ambulance services. Yeah,
and as best as I can tell, is in the
(40:55):
seventies and eighties, there were a lot of small private
ambulance companies, but then they merged into more regional things
and that these days there's just a few, like big
multinational companies that are the most dominant in the industry right.
But I don't get how that works, Like if they're private,
(41:17):
are they like working with only private.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Hospitals or can they go to a state hospital.
Speaker 4 (41:23):
I think that they can get a contract from the state,
they can be they can have a license to operate
within a state or a county or wherever, and I
think they go wherever they're called to. I know that
there can be like competition among them, so like multiple
ambulances will show up at a scene. Sometimes it's just
it's it's it's kind of a bit of a cluster
(41:44):
as far as competing with the local EMS services, and
I think it's on the decline from what I've seen.
Speaker 1 (41:52):
Yeah, but when you call nine to one one, do
you have a choice?
Speaker 4 (41:56):
So what you can do? I think it's kind of
like uber where like the nine to one to one
dispatcher has a log of companies or services, like public
funded or private services that it can be issued to
and they send out the alarm and whoever takes the
call goes and gets it interesting. So the problem is
(42:18):
is I saw a Las Vegas Review Journal article about this.
Las Vegas was debating whether to just totally privatize their
EMS services. Their EMS just like went berserk. They're like no,
like this doesn't work. The private companies are late. I
think they were late like ten thousand plus times in
one year in Las Vegas. Their response time tends to
(42:40):
be less than the actual fire department or EMS is.
It's just not as it's just not as preferable. And
the reason why ambulance private ambulance services came about or
became widespread, this idea that you should just privatize everything
and then that competition will keep everything going. And that
hasn't necessarily panned out to be the case. And from
(43:00):
what I see, New York is actually scaling back on theirs, right.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, I think Juliani is one of the people that
really tried, and of course, you know, no surprise given
his politics, trying to privatize the industry. But apparently a
lot of those had gone bankrupt basically, yeah, and that
during the during the housing boom, the financial collapse. Strangely,
(43:27):
or maybe not strangely, because I don't understand it, a
lot of private equity firms started buying up ambulance services.
Speaker 4 (43:33):
Yeah, that's there, you go, there's the downfall.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
It's just so interesting.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
I know that this is one of those where someone's
gonna knock our socks off with a great email.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
Yeah. I think Also one more thing about the private
ambulance services. It's not like they're just a bad idea
all around. Sure, in a locale that is underserved, if
a company wants to come and set up ambulance services,
that would be great for that area. Yeah, because they
have a far you know they have They can get
places faster in an ambulance than they could have before
(44:04):
in a place where you've got your EMS overstretched in
the counties, Like, no, we're not hiring a single additional
EMS worker. A company that sets up shop can actually
take up the slack Like there are good aspects to it.
Like it's not just like some terrible idea, but in
practice that hasn't worked out as well as as one
(44:24):
would hope from what I understand. Yeah, yeah, EMS workers
like email us like explain this because I really like you.
I do not get who's footing the bill. It has
to be insurance companies, and then if you don't have insurance,
it has to be just the person, the individual.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Yeah, and I think we have. We waded into the
waters of doing a nine to one to one podcast
once and didn't. Isn't that correct? Because it was. I mean,
we'll do it at some point, but I remember thinking, oh,
that's a good, easy ish one and it ended up
like being super convoluted.
Speaker 4 (44:58):
Yeah. I think I think we should do that. We
shoul should also do just eers in general too.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:04):
So that's a bit about paramedics. Sounds like there's way
more to it, right, Yeah, but you got anything else
for now, no, sir? Okay, Well, since Chuck said no, sir,
it's time for listening to maw all right.
Speaker 1 (45:18):
I'm gonna call this we helped the dude win something.
Speaker 5 (45:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
I love this one.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
Hey, guys, been listening to your show for about four
years and always wanted to write in, But now I
have a great reason. A local store was doing a
giveaway a few days ago, and they posted that the
first people to show up and answer correctly would win
a prize. The question was bacon and eggs was not
always a breakfast food and what year did it become so,
and who was the man behind the marketing idea. So
(45:44):
this guy sounded super excited because he knew the answer. Immediately,
I thought of your show and the uncanny ability of
mister Edward Burne's to pop up in seemingly strange histories.
I remembered your pr episode and knew it was sometime
in the twenties. So I hopped in my car and
took off for the business. When I got there, I
told him the answer with a startled look. They told
(46:04):
me I'd want a huge case of meat, and not
just junkie stuff either. This play sales to restaurants and
businesses all across the country.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (46:15):
I was super stoked. Good meat.
Speaker 4 (46:17):
He's like I won meat, and not just like terrible meat,
like good stuff too.
Speaker 3 (46:22):
When they asked if I had to look it up,
I told them no, that I listened to stuff you
should know, and they retained it in the back of
my mind. They asked for the name of the show,
and they said they were going to play it for
all the workers there during the day, so now they
can get more difficult.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
And random questions.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
And he said it doesn't in there.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
I went back later in the week and the same
girl i'd spoken to recognized me. So they had two
other people come in that had known the answer from
stuff you should know as well. All right, even though
we live in super rural Utah, you apparently have a
large following. And that is from John Robson.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
Thanks John Robison. I hope you have a health the
EMS service out there to come find you after you
eat that box of meat.
Speaker 3 (47:05):
Yeah, and you know what, let's hear from Salt Lake
City because we have debated a live show there and
just didn't know if we had the support.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
So I want to hear it.
Speaker 4 (47:14):
Okay, so we want to hear we want to hear
from Utah in's and EMS workers.
Speaker 3 (47:20):
Yeah, if we get ten people that email us and
say to come to Salt Lake City will come.
Speaker 4 (47:25):
I think we should set the bar higher than that.
Oh okay, okay, Well, if you want to let us
know that you're from Utah and you want us to come,
or you're an EMS worker and you've got some good
stories for us, you can send us an email. It's
probably easiest to stuff podcasts at house. Stuffworks dot Com
has always joined us at our home on the web,
Stuff Youshould Know dot Com.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Stuff you Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (47:51):
For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Hosts And Creators
Chuck Bryant
Josh Clark
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United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
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