When I was in Los Fresnos, I got radio systems for our ambulances that could be programmed to operate on twenty frequencies. Since we were near the center of the county we provided backup services for Brownsville, Harlingen, Port Isabel, Rio Hondo, and South Padre Island, which together covered the whole county, so we had each of their frequencies, as well as the sheriff's, and neighboring police and fire department frequencies. Otherwise, there was too much time lost relaying information. Plus, most Valley EMS services were private so there was a lot of competition going on, along with the cooperation, so it helped to know what everyone else was doing. Rather than wait to be dispatched to an emergency, I'd often send an ambulance that way (code one) as soon as I heard the police department traffic; then when we were dispatched, our response times were great.
Toward the end of my EMS career, there was a move toward doing away with the ten-codes, which often differed from agency to agency, in favor of plain English. The switch to cellphones for at least part of our traffic moved that along, I think.
Guess some things were changed from when I done it in the mid 70's. I worked for three different ambulance companies. We covered Los Angeles County and Orange County in So. California. In fact, one of my stations was in Huntington Beach and on Sunday afternoons, we'd sit on "Stand-By" by the Huntington Beach Pier. Sort of a cool way to spend part of a Sunday afternoon. One company I worked for, we drove vans, but the other two I was in a Cadillac. Back then, our light bar was yellow and red, not blue and red as is today. Sort of funny, but one guy I worked with, really didn't like the Paramedic Program at all. He told me "by the time they (Paramedics) get to a scene, hook up their stuff, etc., I would already have the patient at the ER."
A number of years ago, the EMS, Fire and Police did away with the radios and went to cell phones. We had a massive wildfire. Guess what? The fire took down all the power and phone lines. Most of the cells in the area became nonfunctional. We had all kinds of responders out who could no longer talk with each other or with dispatch. A panicked call went out to HAM operators for help in communicating, since the EMS radios and such had been mothballed and were no longer available. The emergency services folks went back to radios, at least for back up, and they still use them. Most of the HAM repeaters were still functional, as they were on mountain tops, solar and wind powered and above the fire (and vandals).
When they first started the paramedic program, the paramedics would respond separately, and only when needed. I think there are still cities where that is done, particularly where EMS is provided through the FD. When I got into EMS, nearly all of the EMS providers offered Basic Life Support services only, without paramedics. Los Fresnos and Harlingen were the first to advance to the Mobile Intensive Care Unit level, which some states referred to as Advanced Life Support. We had the ALS level too, but it was between BLS and MICU. I was in the first paramedic class offered in the Valley and began teaching it afterward, so I helped to advance the others to the ALS and MICU level. With an MICU service, the responding crew would include a paramedic, so the first ambulance on the scene would have either an EMT-P and an EMT-B, an EMT-P and an EMT-I, or two EMT-Ps. In that way, there was no wait.
That could happen, but we had both. When 9-11 was put into service, dispatches were by radio so there was always that.
This happened yesterday but I wasn't online to hear the call... I can't even imagine my head being run over and still being alive....YIKES! This happened in Central Fresno, an area I avoid like the plague. FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A robbery ended with the victim's head being run over by the people who are suspected of attacking her. Fresno Police say that a woman was robbed around 7:30 Wednesday near N First St and E McKinley Ave in Central Fresno. Police say, the woman was selling government phones in the parking lot near Best Boy Donuts. She was getting ready to pack up and leave for the day when 3 women approached her and stole the plastic tub with her phones inside of it. The victim chased after the suspects who jumped into a car and sped away, hitting the women and running over her head as they took off. Police found and arrested the suspects about five minutes later at McKinley and Cedar with the stolen phones still in their car. The victim is now at Community Regional Medical Center in Downtown Fresno. She is in critical condition, but is expected to recover. Doctors are checking to see she has any bleeding to her brain. Fresno Police are asking any witnesses to the crime to contact them. Report a Typo