Saturday, June 18, 2016
Friday, June 17, 2016
Another fun day at the range
Headed over to the Clark County Shooting Complex to get my optic zeroed in. Was very windy and not a whole lot of people there, but was still good times to be had. Now that my optic is properly zeroed, my carbine should now work as I intend it to do, so long as I use decent ammo of course...LOL!
OK that's off my checklist of things to do, what's next...?
OK that's off my checklist of things to do, what's next...?
Day By Day membership drive
Day By Day is doing their annual fundraiser. Come on by and chip in to support a web comic that is going strong for the 10th straight year!
Monday, June 13, 2016
Sunday, June 12, 2016
More thoughts on the Orlando attack
Peter offered this discussion in which he reinforces some of the essentials when dealing with a mass shooting event.
Divemedic and Nicki also offer their observations, while over at Sense of Events comes this real piece of work.
It appears to be confirmed that ISIS is now claiming credit for the attack, as reported here and also by CBS News.
There had been some statements made that hinted that ISIS would try to start something during the month of Ramadan, which had kicked off late last week. Combined with the apprehension of another suspected assailant out in L.A., this makes for interesting times.
And I thought this was gonna be a quiet month...silly me!
More later, including my adventures doing the second clinical rotation this past Friday.
Divemedic and Nicki also offer their observations, while over at Sense of Events comes this real piece of work.
It appears to be confirmed that ISIS is now claiming credit for the attack, as reported here and also by CBS News.
There had been some statements made that hinted that ISIS would try to start something during the month of Ramadan, which had kicked off late last week. Combined with the apprehension of another suspected assailant out in L.A., this makes for interesting times.
And I thought this was gonna be a quiet month...silly me!
More later, including my adventures doing the second clinical rotation this past Friday.
More nonsense from POTUS
I just found out from a friend about the massive shooting in Orlando, FL this morning, and have been watching various news outlets both on TV and online. It looks like at this point that the (late) gunman had possible radical Islamic tendencies, although right now only Fox News is stating this, so I will hold judgement until the authorities get their ducks in a row.
What really annoyed me was the President's statement where he stated about halfway through that this tragedy was another example of the need for more gun control. Typical...the anti-gun crowd never passes up an opportunity to use tragedy to push their agenda.
Meanwhile, my thoughts and sympathies are with the family of those who have lost their lives or have been injured by the shooter who is hopefully rotting in hell at this moment.
What really annoyed me was the President's statement where he stated about halfway through that this tragedy was another example of the need for more gun control. Typical...the anti-gun crowd never passes up an opportunity to use tragedy to push their agenda.
Meanwhile, my thoughts and sympathies are with the family of those who have lost their lives or have been injured by the shooter who is hopefully rotting in hell at this moment.
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
The clinicals
I mentioned in a previous post that I was doing the first of my two clinical rotations for my EMT course at Desert Springs. I wanted to go into what had occurred there...
I showed up bright and early at 7 am, wearing the prescribed clothing (class polo shirt, dark blue slacks or pants, black shoes and belt is what was specified; I substituted my EMS pants for the slacks which was acceptable), and after the nurses and techs had their morning meeting, I was paired up with one of the ER techs, who then proceeded to give me the 50-cent tour of how the ER department was laid out and where things were. Most of the morning was spent in restocking the supply carts which were adjacent to each bed and assisting the tech in bringing patients to their rooms from the ER once they have been admitted and stabilized.
This continued until just after 10 am, when we were advised that there was a 'code blue' inbound, meaning a patient in severe cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening condition. In this case it was the former.
We went out to meet the ambulance, and when the rear doors were opened, there was a firefighter paramedic performing CPR on the patient, with the ambulance paramedic bagging her through an endotracheal tube (ET tube for short). They got her inside, CPR continuing along the way, to a bed, then they moved her to the bed from the gurney, and it was a crazy but organized process to get her wired up and start the process. I wasn't the only student there, there was an additional EMT student from the same training center I was (different class), and a paramedic intern. After an interval it was my turn to do CPR. It wasn't really too much different from performing it on a mannequin, but what had unnerved me a bit was when I glanced over at the patient and saw her eyes were open and fixed, staring straight up. I steadied myself, told myself 'just remember your training', and continued.
After about 2 minutes of so, I handed off CPR to the other EMT student, then stood back a bit to catch my breath and continued observing the process. They had an IO line put in by the paramedics at the scene, but it wasn't sufficient to do continuous medication administration, but by the time they pumped various drugs in, including epinephrine, we managed to get a weak pulse and rhythm going, which got her stabilized. The ER physician then established what is called a central line, a specialized IV going into the femoral vein at the upper part of the leg. It allows medical staff to put in a regular IV and administer drugs to the patient more easily. After that was done, most of us then moved away while a few continued their work on the patient.
Once that initial excitement was over, me and the tech went back to doing various tasks, then it was lunch time. I left the ER and headed to the cafeteria for a decent lunch, resting off my feet for about an hour, then back to the ER I went.
Now, one thing to keep in mind that despite the earlier excitement, it was actually a pretty slow day in the ER there. So slow in fact, that the tech I had been shadowing was given an early-out around just before 2 pm. So I was paired up with another tech, and the afternoon was spent with assisting the other ER nurses with various tasks, cleaning and restocking, and patient moves. By the time 7 pm came about, my feet were about to commit hari-kiri, my lower back was hurtin' for certain, and I was pretty wore out in general. I managed to (barely) make it to the parking lot, pulled out, and headed home, stopping to eat dinner at Denny's along the way as I was in no shape or mood to even microwave dinner, let alone do regular cooking.
Overall, it was a very interesting experience. I managed OK and got a decent write-up on my sign-off sheet, and I felt I was a little bit better prepared for the second rotation. That one will be at a different hospital this coming Friday morning, We shall see what transpires then...
I showed up bright and early at 7 am, wearing the prescribed clothing (class polo shirt, dark blue slacks or pants, black shoes and belt is what was specified; I substituted my EMS pants for the slacks which was acceptable), and after the nurses and techs had their morning meeting, I was paired up with one of the ER techs, who then proceeded to give me the 50-cent tour of how the ER department was laid out and where things were. Most of the morning was spent in restocking the supply carts which were adjacent to each bed and assisting the tech in bringing patients to their rooms from the ER once they have been admitted and stabilized.
This continued until just after 10 am, when we were advised that there was a 'code blue' inbound, meaning a patient in severe cardiac arrest or a similar life-threatening condition. In this case it was the former.
We went out to meet the ambulance, and when the rear doors were opened, there was a firefighter paramedic performing CPR on the patient, with the ambulance paramedic bagging her through an endotracheal tube (ET tube for short). They got her inside, CPR continuing along the way, to a bed, then they moved her to the bed from the gurney, and it was a crazy but organized process to get her wired up and start the process. I wasn't the only student there, there was an additional EMT student from the same training center I was (different class), and a paramedic intern. After an interval it was my turn to do CPR. It wasn't really too much different from performing it on a mannequin, but what had unnerved me a bit was when I glanced over at the patient and saw her eyes were open and fixed, staring straight up. I steadied myself, told myself 'just remember your training', and continued.
After about 2 minutes of so, I handed off CPR to the other EMT student, then stood back a bit to catch my breath and continued observing the process. They had an IO line put in by the paramedics at the scene, but it wasn't sufficient to do continuous medication administration, but by the time they pumped various drugs in, including epinephrine, we managed to get a weak pulse and rhythm going, which got her stabilized. The ER physician then established what is called a central line, a specialized IV going into the femoral vein at the upper part of the leg. It allows medical staff to put in a regular IV and administer drugs to the patient more easily. After that was done, most of us then moved away while a few continued their work on the patient.
Once that initial excitement was over, me and the tech went back to doing various tasks, then it was lunch time. I left the ER and headed to the cafeteria for a decent lunch, resting off my feet for about an hour, then back to the ER I went.
Now, one thing to keep in mind that despite the earlier excitement, it was actually a pretty slow day in the ER there. So slow in fact, that the tech I had been shadowing was given an early-out around just before 2 pm. So I was paired up with another tech, and the afternoon was spent with assisting the other ER nurses with various tasks, cleaning and restocking, and patient moves. By the time 7 pm came about, my feet were about to commit hari-kiri, my lower back was hurtin' for certain, and I was pretty wore out in general. I managed to (barely) make it to the parking lot, pulled out, and headed home, stopping to eat dinner at Denny's along the way as I was in no shape or mood to even microwave dinner, let alone do regular cooking.
Overall, it was a very interesting experience. I managed OK and got a decent write-up on my sign-off sheet, and I felt I was a little bit better prepared for the second rotation. That one will be at a different hospital this coming Friday morning, We shall see what transpires then...
A blog I am newly following
I came across Indignant Conservative Mom's blog via a link to another blog I regularly peruse, and have found it to be a very interesting read.
The blog is the creation of Danielle Hollars, an Army veteran, and happily married mom of 6 kids (check out her about me section for her family pic). Her recent post regarding Trump as a potential CINC is definitely spot on, and another reason why I am sticking with the Libertarians this time around again.
The blog is the creation of Danielle Hollars, an Army veteran, and happily married mom of 6 kids (check out her about me section for her family pic). Her recent post regarding Trump as a potential CINC is definitely spot on, and another reason why I am sticking with the Libertarians this time around again.
Friday, June 3, 2016
Another legend goes away
Just found out Muhammad Ali had passed away tonight. I remember how iconic a character he was when I was growing up in the 1970's and 80's. May his soul rest in peace.
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