On Wednesday, December 2, 2015 at 1:37:04 AM UTC-6, Micky wrote:
On Tue, 01 Dec 2015 15:19:47 -0600, wrote:

I was watching that old tv show "Emergency" (being re-run on Me-Tv).
They rescued someone trying to commit suicide by turning on the gas. As
soon as the paramedics arrived, they carried the person outdoors, then
brought in a large fan and plugged it into an outlet to remove the gas.

WHOA. That did not seem right. Plugging in that fan could have caused a
spark at the outlet or inside the fan's motor, and BOOM!

I know this is TV and not always realistic, but that show "Emergency"
generally seems pretty realistic.

Dr. Walter Graf died a month ago. He was in his 90's. He doesn't get
any credit on the web, except in 3 obituaries, but his obituary in
the Washington Post said that he was a doctor in LA in the 60's when
the only thing an ambulance would do is take you to the hospital. Same
with the rest of the country. He got some vans outfitted with some
equipment, and got the law changed so that nurses I think it was, on
ambulances, could do more medical procedures than before.

http://www.latimes.com/local/obituar...029-story.html
s recently as the 1960s, a patient being rushed to the hospital with
crushing chest pain would be treated en route only with sirens and
sympathy.

Alarmed by high death rates and encouraged by new technology, a small
group of pioneering physicians started equipping ambulances with
defibrillators and paramedics who knew how to use them. Although today
the idea seems straightforward, it was a radical departure from
established protocols and was credited with saving countless lives.

"What it all means is that if you have any regard for your health and
are over 40, you ought to move to Los Angeles," Dr. Walter S. Graf
told The Times in 1978. "Your chances for avoiding sudden death are
enhanced."

Graf, a cardiologist who helped establish the modern system of
paramedic emergency care, died Oct. 18 at his Los Angeles home, family
members said. He was 98.

....
The idea was to speed to heart attack calls with a Daniel Freeman
nurse and a portable defibrillator. Later, training was expanded to
include firefighters and emergency medical technicians €” groups that,
according to Graf's studies, performed just as well as nurses at
saving cardiac patients.

"It's easy to take for granted the incredibly elaborate, sophisticated
EMS system that we have today, but just 50 years ago, it did not
exist," Dr. Clayton Kazan, the medical director for the Los Angeles
County Fire Department, said in a statement. "While ambulance
transportation existed, virtually no medical care was provided until
the patient arrived at the hospital."

Graf's "Heart Car" €” named for its Heart Emergency Assistance Response
Team €” helped spark "a movement that has been responsible for saving
innumerable lives worldwide," Kazan said.
...
In interviews, Graf said he was inspired by the work of Irish
physician Frank Pantridge, who chronicled his success with emergency
care in a British medical journal.

"Amazingly, the reaction of the British medical establishment
consisted for the most part of disbelief, ridicule and even
hostility," the Guardian, a British newspaper, noted in its 2005
obituary of Pantridge.

"It was to be 16 years before the concept of taking the care to the
patient was fully accepted," the Guardian wrote. "The reaction in
America was totally different, and the creation of mobile units was
both swift and comprehensive."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...ea1_story.html
I think this article was the same. No time to read it again.


IOW, because of that group of people, LA led the country in emergency
medicine practiced by those in ambulances, and later from the fire
department.

I watched the show a lot too years ago, and sometimes now, on MeTV,
and I didn't realize until 30 days ago that it represented a real
milestone in medicine.

What's strange is that this man gets no notice in Wikip, If you look
in the History of Ambulances in wikip, it talks about other people.


I was always told that if there is a gas leak, get out of the building
and leave the door open. Call 911, and they will shut off the gas and
open all doors and windows.

Personally, I'd likely shut the gas off at the meter (or tank if it's
propane), as soon as I got outdoors, but many people dont know about
that sort of thing.

My heart stopped in an ambulance and a paramedic beat the frak out of my chest to get my heart going again. It's not safe for anyone to badmouth paramedics and firemen around me. I can't beat you up but I can run over your foot and bite you. ヽ(à²*_à²*)ノ

[8~{} Uncle Living Monster