LASO Air 5

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xilix

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I live in Pasadena, where it's pretty routine, especially on weekends, to see Air 5 make several runs from the Angeles Nat'l Forest to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena.

I used to hear Air 5 call Huntington on the Paramedic "Med" channels, but I don't think they are in use. Huntington used to monitor 5F, but I hear nothing there now.

Does anyone know how Air 5 contacts Huntington when they are inbound with a patient ?

Thanks.

- Steve
 

drsn0w

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I don't have an answer unfortunately, but what system is this on? I'm in temple city

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cmdrwill

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Air 5 calls Sheriffs radio and they call the hospital on the old land line. People in the Huntington ER are too busy to monitor any radios. In some instances the ER staff will go to the Med radio to communicate more patient details. The MED channels are split half duplex.
 
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Air 5 calls Sheriffs radio and they call the hospital on the old land line. People in the Huntington ER are too busy to monitor any radios. In some instances the ER staff will go to the Med radio to communicate more patient details. The MED channels are split half duplex.

That's incorrect. In fact, as a base hospital, they're mandated to respond. And Paramedics are mandated to make contact with their base station whenever possible. Exceptions are available but, by and large, it's a mandate.

Base hospitals have a radio, and a landline. 10 years ago, most paramedic units were issued with cell phones and it started becoming more and more routine to landline the base hospital. This furthered HIPPA goals of protecting the patient's privacy. It's not a mandate that the phone be used however, and some Paramedics still prefer the use of their radio.

As a base station, Huntington is required to have a Mobile Intensive Care Nurse available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Only a MICN is allowed to answer the base station. Whenever necessary, the MICN involves the emergency room physician.

No one is sitting around the ER monitoring a radio:
1) When a paramedic uses a radio to make contact, they enter a code via the DTMF pad. This code sets off an alarm inside the ER advising the MICN that a paramedic is making contact.
2) When the landline is used (as is most of the time now), the alarm goes off when the phone call is made.

From time to time, the Paramedics are too busy to make base station contact OR the time to the hospital is too short to warrant it. In those cases, the Paramedics can ask their dispatcher to advise the ER that they're inbound.

You should also note that not all hospitals are base stations, In fact, only a handful are. In the SGV, the base stations are Huntington, Arcadia, and Pomona Valley. Paramedic units are assigned a base station; they don't call whomever they want. They make contact; provide patient info and treatments rendered; and advise the base station of their nearest ER. The base station creates a "run report"; copies down the info; provides an order for more treatment if necessary; and checks to see if the nearest ER is open and available for ALS runs. If the nearest ER is not open, then the Paramedics are directed to the nearest open ER.

Here are the relevant protocols/procedures/etc.

http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhs/206183_3047-1-16.pdf
http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/d...08BaseHospitalContactandTransportCriteria.pdf

Hope this clears up any confusion.
 

scottyhetzel

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Question, most base stations basically trauma Hospitol's ? Most medics have a few local ER'sdepending on the census of the main base Hospitol, so can these smaller staffed ER have base stations? The ER nurse can't prescribe drugs or narcotics without a Dr. Ok correct?

Great report lacoscannerguy....
 
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Question, most base stations basically trauma Hospitol's ? Most medics have a few local ER'sdepending on the census of the main base Hospitol, so can these smaller staffed ER have base stations? The ER nurse can't prescribe drugs or narcotics without a Dr. Ok correct?

Great report lacoscannerguy....

Most base stations basically trauma hospitals? Not exactly. Of the 21 base station hospitals, 9 are not trauma centers. https://ems2.dhs.lacounty.gov/GIS/Maps/Trauma/Trauma_all.pdf
Examples of non-trauma center base station hospitals includes Arcadia, Queen of the Valley, Pomona Valley, etc.

At present, there are 21 hospitals with base stations. The full list is here: http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhs/206577_Base_Dir.pdf

Also, here's a list of radio sites supporting the hospital system: http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dhs/207120_PCS_Remote_Sites.pdf
A full listing of med channels, assignments, etc. can be found here: https://dhs.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dhs/ems/resources/radiocommunication
 

LAflyer

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I've heard Air-5 contact LA County MAC ( Medical Alert Center) on the VMED28 (155.34) radio several occasions with patient info and also updates when transporting and ETA to hospitals.
 

Kingscup

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I believe any hospital can become a base hospital if they meet the criteria. The problem is either many hospitals don't want to become a base hospital for various reasons or they cannot afford to be a base hospital. It takes extra money to be a base hospital and smaller hospitals just don't have the money for it.

Paramedics have what is known as standing orders. They can administer certain medications or procedures prior to calling the base hospital. There is a small percentage or medications/procedures where a base hospital MICN can authorize and an even smaller percentage where only a base hospital physician can authorize. Each county is different so protocols will be different. Some counties, paramedics can administer narcotics prior to calling while other counties need to contact the base hospital. I would say most counties allow administration prior call in for this and have to call in for that.
 

xilix

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Thanks everyone for the info.

LAFlyer - I had totally forgot about the old HEAR channel (155.34). I'll give it a listen.

- X
 
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