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trauma riggs ambulance service february 2010 times employee spotlight hi everyone my name is sandee koehler and i have been part of the riggs ambulance family for 19 years i m 41 years old been married for 24 longg longgg longggg years to gary and have two sons justin 20 and kyle 15 my boys have grown up around most of you heck several of you have transported my sons several times throughout the years either from sports injuries dirt bikes or crashing mom and dad s trucks i think i should have bought stock in riggs when i started my husband gary is a partner in an almond processing company which we sell our nuts all over the world any time you eat something by hersey or m m mars it more than likely has our nuts justin my oldest son and most difficult is in college and playing baseball justin is a tal ented ball player with a bright future in baseball if we can keep him away from that 20 year old partying mentality scouts from the yankee s and mariner s watched him throw 94mph the other day kyle my baby tries to give mom a heart attack as a dirt bike racer robert aulridge says he would like me to adopt him so he can ride all of kyle s dirk bikes kyle is less than a year away from going pro with his true love when i started working at riggs i worked as a full time emt i was so amazed by what my paramedic partners did in saving patient s lives that i too became a paramedic in 1993 and later received my critical care paramedic in 1999 i left the field after an injury and started working in the business office yes i became a bob all you old timers know the meaning of that when i started in the office they had no idea what to do with me or what i had in store for them i can tell you that since i started in the office there is an un written rule about 3:00 and there are alerts for a man is in the hallway currently my job title is medicare compliance specialist/biller ii i do the medicare billing post payments training on documentation epcr committee and all sorts of other duties my favourite thing to do is teach/train about documentation when i was a paramedic intern my fto was doug kopfman whom i have the utmost respect for as a paramedic man was he tough doug critiqued everything i did after every call from my call in which he recorded to making sure i wrote a well documented pcr here s something funny now i frustrate him with how retentive i am about documentation and he taught me as a result of his training i am very passionate about the importance of writing a legally defensible prehospital care report see sandee page 3

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stemi update merced county treatment and protocol for stemi bill crampton education training manager back in september i presented you with a rather long letter regarding our current performance and goals in dealing with stemi patients you are to be congratulated for the progress you have made in an effort to improve more please adhere to the following we still have some work to do here are the key points and what each provider must focus on time to ekg from patient contact has dropped from 9.2 minutes to 8.6 minutes our goal here is 5 minutes from patient contact to 12 lead total scene time has dropped from 19.6 minutes to 18.9 minutes our goal is to be off scene and enroute to modesto within 10 minutes remember good skin prep gets great 12 leads we have had a few false positives many times false positives come from poor skin prep and patient movement i have several examples where the 12 lead is captured the patient is moved to the ambulance rapidly and then the ambulance doesn t move for 10 or more minutes while asa iv s and other treatments are provided modesto is a long ways away provide your treatments during travel time not while sitting on scene overall a good start to making important improvements in your patient care for stemi s continue to focus on that transport time it makes all the difference in saving heart tissue we are planning the 2010 every 15 minute program schedules we ll need help in coordinating and attending these most valuable programs if you are interested in assisting with this program please contact sonya severo community relations manager 725-7037 alex drake starcare winner i was on a stat-medical call in north merced with my medic partner jose arteaga our female patient needed to be cardioverted per the physician who was on-scene with the patient the physician s accent was so strong it was difficult to understand his request the fire department responded as well accompanied by emt and ras employee alex drake his actions and assistance on the scene of this call was extremely helpful to jose and i alex had the adenocard injection with a 10cc saline flush ready to go in the ambulance in the past 3-4 weeks i have been fortunate enough to respond to several incidents where alex s presence and assistance was so helpful alex is a star whether working for us or someone else submitted by david brooks

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emerald stirfry with beef ingredients 1/4 cup mirin or semisweet white wine like riesling 1/4 cup orange juice 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1/4 cup water 2 tablespoons canola oil 8 ounces beef round tip steak sliced 1/4-inch thick 3 cloves garlic minced 2 cups fresh snow peas 6 ounces 1 large bunch broccoli 1 1/4 pounds trimmed and cut into small florets 1 bunch asparagus 1 pound trimmed and sliced on diagonal into 2inch pieces 2 cups 8 ounces frozen shelled edamame 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water 1 teaspoon sesame oil directions combine mirin or white wine orange juice soy sauce rice vinegar red pepper flakes and water in a small bowl in a large wok or very large 14-inch saute pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat add the beef and cook stirring until just browned about 2 minutes transfer the beef to a plate heat the remaining tablespoon of oil over medium heat and cook garlic until fragrant about 30 seconds add snow peas broccoli asparagus and edamame raise heat to medium-high and cook for 3 minutes until vegetables are slightly softened add the mirin-soy mixture and cook stirring until edamame are cooked and asparagus is crisp -tender about 4 minutes add the beef and dissolved cornstarch and stir to incorporate cook until mixture thickens slightly and beef is heated through an additional 2 minutes drizzle with sesame oil and serve excellent source of protein fiber vitamin a vitamin b6 vitamin b12 vitamin c vitamin k iron phosphorus zinc good source of thiamin riboflavin niacin folate calcium magnesium manganese potassium selenium submitted by greg bonifay sandee continued from page 1 well i guess that is me in a nut shell because i could go on and on i just thought of something i could write a book i have no doubt it would be a best seller it would leave your pants wet and give you a twelve pack abdomen from laughing so hard nineteen years of riggs ambulance by a fly on the wall for all you new comer s to the riggs ambulance family welcome to the family to all the old timer s thanks so much for making me part of the riggs ambulance family a family i love enjoy most of the time hehe and am proud to part of the baby naac certified as in every department at ras the business office is always striving to improve and upgrade the services we provide one of our goals for 2010 is to have all our billing staff team members become certified ambulance coders through the national academy of ambulance coders janeen salvadori debbie samuelson have completed the program and received their naac certifications this month congratulation on your achievement and your commitment in following accurate timely and compliant billing standards news updates as of february 1st merced city fire department will be co-responding to all priority 1 calls within the city limits of merced jennifer quevedo has moved to a part-time position to attend the lvn program at merced college nakia garrett has taken a full-time position in the comm center all new vehicles and the current supervisor vehicles have been labeled with `reflective vinyl for better visibility and safety yosemite national park it s hard to believe we live so close to one of the natural wonders of the world yet so many of us have not taken advantage of what the park has to offer we encourage you to visit the park you will not regret it for more information on the park services and activities visit the website at http www.nps.gov/yose

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what our patients are saying the crew is always efficient kind and patient their demeanor is one to be admired and their service is greatly appreciated the crew was robert auldridge troy and ewing and trainee adam hibdon dispatched by sara fitzpatrick jay dowsing you were very good with my mother-inlaw we d like to thank you for the service and care you took with her she passed away on 10/10/09 the crew was vinh nguyen and zack rose dispatched by katie culotta jennifer quevedo the ambulance team made it clear that my health was their first priority and they explained my condition clearly and expertly no suggestions thank you the crew was megan hazeltine dispatched by alicia hugie jennifer quevedo i m 77 years old and i m overweight so i need a step to get into the front seat to ride with my husband to the hospital because he doesn t speak and is 85 years old thank you again the crew was derrick olzack dispatched by katie culotta jennifer quevedo michael said it was fine valley school on wardrobe had to call so i can t say or rate this but it sounded like you guys were efficient thanks the crew was gerad neely and anthony howie dispatched by adam kadach jennifer quevedo your service has been used by me two times my ambulance of choice thank you the crew was craig kelly and robert smith dispatched by jay dowsing martha guevara just keep up the great team work that you guys have and thank you very much for caring for me when i really needed you guys great work a the crew was gerad neely and megan hazeltine dispatched by alicia hugie jennifer quevedo there was a woman who drove and a man who administered most of my care it was excellent the crew was joe drago and tamara keil dispatched by katie culotta martha guevara no improvement needed the crew was carly alley chris unruh and steve melander dispatched by katie culotta nakia garrett the emt and paramedic were the best service i ever had in my life let me tell you we just had to use amr their service was not good at all i would like for the emt and paramedic that we had on this day to be rewarded for their wonderful job and how they treated my kids best of the best good job and keep it up feel free to call me if any questions the crew was derrick olzack and former employee jake ballinger dispatched by sara fitzpatrick heather farris first time use they did very well the crew was robert smith jesse fernandez and trainee lance doyle dispatched by sara fitzpatrick heather farris none they were great thank you the crew was gerad neely and bilinda williams dispatched by sara fitzpatrick jennifer quevedo

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health safety the week of february 8th cascade systems will be removed from the stations and all o2 filling will occur at ras 22 by authorized personnel only stations will be stocked with 2 main tanks and 6 portable tanks a reminder to only stock a total of 2 portable o2 tanks in the vehicles this will be very important so we can maintain accurate tank counts please direct all questions to steve melander farewell to 111 throughout ras there are tears of joy or sorrow at the decommissioning of unit #111 either hated or loved the 2002 horton type iii ambulance was purchased from leader industries as a demo unit soon afterward major electrical issues were encountered resulting in us sending it back to leader for rewiring these issues persisted throughout the life of the unit when the original chassis reached 250,000 miles the unit was sent back to leader to remount the box on a new chassis which then logged another 267,000 miles so the box has traveled over half a million miles about a round trip to from the moon we have several individuals interested in buying 111 for further use so 111 may live on just not at ras anymore mercy medical center merced move day ras will be leading the patient move day between the old and new mmcm campuses on sunday may 2 2010 a canadian-based company health care relocations has been hired by mmcm to coordinate the move they estimate we will be moving approximately 100 patients which will require 13 ambulances 3 als and 10 bls ras is reaching out to regional providers to assist us in the move including westside ambulance district pistoresi ambulance and american ambulance as of this writing ras anticipates providing 8 of the 13 ambulances needed the moving of patients will begin at 0700 and is expected to be concluded by 1300 extra gurneys at the new hospital will facilitate faster turn-arounds as the crew will not have to wait for their patient to be moved from their gurney before returning to get another patient if you are interested in participating in mmcm move day please contact rianna new supervisor vehicle operations supervisor greg petersen is getting a new s2 unit a 2002 ford quad cab although the pre-owned vehicle has over 80k miles fleet maintenance manager john layton gave it a clean bill of health as with our recent ambulance purchases buying used vehicles make good economic sense right now acquiring another supervisor unit allows greg and steve to take their vehicles home as they often volunteer to respond to calls on their days off if they are available greg s old vehicle will be assigned to the acting supervisors old school siren it s not every day you see a growler type siren on emergency vehicles but two of the pre-owned ambulances we recently purchased from the los angeles area had them mounted on the cab between the two overhead light bars the noise these would have produced inside the cab would have been deafening and not really compliant with dot and kkk ambulance siren specifications growler sirens seem to also be a collector s item as several employees have tried to talk john out of them they go for up to $750 on ebay!

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injury prevention update dr sheila and mark met with ras managers on tuesday february 9th to review the results of the employee survey and to outline future injury and illness prevention initiatives the company-wide survey results produced some interesting results see inset survey results with two clear messages there is work to be done by all of us to be safer in our jobs and to communicate better mark and dr sheila will be returning to ras in early march for a few days for new employee training and to safety prevention survey results again talk one on one to as many ras employees as possible to solicit feedback on the training they provided in december and to get input on future education programs i would participate in a stretching routine at work if money is so tight why is ras spending money on injury consultants a valid question the cost of hiring mark and dr sheila over the next two years will total about $250 per employee the potential cumulative costs of a serious injury financial physical health career etc for any of us could easily dwarf this amount think of these services as a very good investment in our most valuable resources i would support healthier nturition and beverage choices personal protective equipment is readily available i feel management listens to me there are clear open communications where the company delas with safety concerns in a timely manner i am willing to be a leader in promoting safety i feel comfortable complimenting or correcting a coworkers i strictly follow safety rules i have seen my coworkers performiing unsafely workforce safety culture rating company s safety culture rating i am committed to safety ras is committed to safety 0 20 40 60 80 100%

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