Agreed. Ive been to a lot of marathon medical planning meetings, and they've always treated it as a planned mci drill. I'm sorry I can't go to the debriefing today... it would be interesting to hear what the response/feedback is after the cisd stuff is over.
Boston Marathon Explosion
- Thread starter MassEMT-B
- Start date
I was down on the south shore on a dialysis run when the whole thing went down. My partner and i were just talking about how smoothly the day had gone. Then my phone started vibrating off the hook with "Are you ok?". We cleared our call as fast as we safely could and then headed north. Once in the city we were sent to the staging area, and spent a couple hours or so in the long line of trucks on Columbus Ave. Ended up not being needed there (as most trucks), and spent the rest of the evening clearing the backlog of discharges to free up beds. Stayed for extra overnight coverage, but thankfully we weren't needed beyond our normal call load.
Strong work all. Don't be afraid to seek help if you need it.
Strong work all. Don't be afraid to seek help if you need it.
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Our church is sending a group of pastors and clergy out East this afternoon.. It's never a bad idea to take a time out and have a cup of joe with someone like them..
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But that's the point. Boston EMS and EVERYONE ELSE involved with the race was in place and responded to the (bombing) event. They did have their 'toys out' and they were ready to use them. And for that they should be applauded.
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Exactly. If they weren't as prepared as they were, they'd have been highly criticized for it.
Boston EMS has put tremendous effort into managing the race as an MCI and it paid off. I don't think they just accidentally happened to have the right people in the right place at the right time, as some seem to suggest. I don't think you'd necessarily get the same results at any marathon. I do not think things would go as well in my city, sadly.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm suggesting that if this had happened at any other time, say 4th of July, New Years Eve, post Red Soxs game, where everything wasn't already set up, that things would have ended up much worse.
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And what's your point of saying that?
The fact is that they were prepared and it proves that preparation pays off.
You've said twice now that if things weren't already set up that the outcome would have been different. That's like saying if the two planes didn't crash into the Twin Towers they wouldn't have collapsed.
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For what it's worth the marathon is not the only thing that sees this sort of EMS coverage. 4th of July and News Years Eve (just as examples) see a lot of extra EMS resources already in play, though the transport capability is not the same as with the marathon. I can't help but notice that every large event that I go to outside of Boston has a much lower EMS presence than in Boston. I'm not saying it's ever inadequate, just that for whatever reason there is extra redundancy built into many of Boston's large events.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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Actually, that's no where close to what I'm saying since the attack still happens. It's like the difference between a trauma team working up a patient with prior warning (thus being able to assemble and prepare) and no prior warning. Are you seriously going to argue that the fact that command posts, significant resources on scene, and an operating incident command system both made managing it significantly easier... and is unlikely to be present in pretty much any other incident?
It's like saying Drug X is a wonder drug (given conditions A, B, and C) where conditions A, B, and C pretty much are never present.
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I'm still trying to figure out what point you're arguing.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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Atypical setup is atypical. Atypical situations makes extrapolation difficult to impossible.
In other words, when looking at the EMS response in a wider lens...
Your millage may vary.
Not valid everywhere.
Buyer beware.
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But again, you posted...
The reason they should receive your praise for this response is that they were prepared. Now keep in mind that the command posts and medical tents were not there (primarily) in case of a terrorist attack. They were to treat those suffering from injury or illness during the race. As a secondary or latter reason, they were there in case something like this happened.
They adapted to the situation and took care of business. If you don't give them praise for that, then that's sad.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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Emphasis added.
un·bri·dled
/ˌənˈbrīdld/
Adjective
Uncontrolled; unconstrained: "unbridled lust".
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My point is still the same. They should get your unbridled praise. They were prepared, they responded, they kicked ***.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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It's significantly easier to adapt a command system that's already in place than create one from scratch.
They were prepared because... well... they were set up for a huge event. Any other day they would have been much less prepared. We can't recognize that little fact apparently.
This is like a fire engine practicing hose drills when the house across the street catches fire. Um, they better "kick ***" because there's no real excuse for not doing so.
They were prepared because... well... they were set up for a huge event. Any other day they would have been much less prepared. We can't recognize that little fact apparently.
This is like a fire engine practicing hose drills when the house across the street catches fire. Um, they better "kick ***" because there's no real excuse for not doing so.
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But that's the point, JP. The system was in place.
Achilles
Forum Moron
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It's a yearly event, they see how well it went the year prior and adapt for the next year. I give them praise, but JP has a really good point.
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No, he doesn't. He's saying that they shouldn't receive "unbridled praise" because they were set up to respond to the event. He's saying that if this happened on a different day then the response would be different. Well, duh. Of course it would be. But that's not what being discussed.
JPINFV
Gadfly
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That's exactly my point. There's a huge difference than if the system wasn't in place. This is essentially having a full on MCI drill... and having an MCI across the street. If you can't provide a competent response in that situation... well... umm... disband the entire thing because it's just that rotten.
99.9999% of MCIs will not have command posts established and running prior to the event.
99.9999% of MCIs will not have ambulances idling on scene waiting.
99.9999% of MCIs will not have the response area already back filled.
99.9999% of MCIs will not have hospitals already holding space open because they know they'll get slammed with patients anyways.
99.9999% of MCIs will not have a significant medical presence on scene (essentially next door), including paramedics, nurses, and physicians in essentially a field hospital stocked with supplies.
This IS THE yearly MCI drill for Boston. When Boston rolled out a new patient tracking system for MCI patients 5-6 years ago they tested it tracking Boston Marathon patients.
Apparently, we're not supposed to recognize that this was unlike 99.9999% of MCIs because... well... I have no clue why we can't recognize that.