Roaches

[Hunter]

Hey all, been a while since I've been active on here, but I just wanted to get a feel for how other agencies out there do as far as this. I currently work for a busy semi 3rd party contract system. In the past I've worked for county run services, Fire services that have single certs and straight private companies. Never have I worked in a place where roaches are a known and systemic issue before, I'm not talking outdoor large roaches, but small German roaches, the kinds we find in really dirty patient's homes. I regularly go into work and when I open the door to the patient compartment of a truck that's been sitting, I see them scatter. It's a problem on every truck and I've had a supervisor tell me, "well all the trucks have roaches." Now I figure maybe it's just me and other places have the same problem so I'm here to ask.

Do your ambulances have roaches?

If you do, does your system do anything about this?
If you don't, do they do something to prevent them?

 

[DesertMedic66]

“Well all the trucks have roaches” should never be an answer or used as justification. If even one rig had roaches in it, it should be taken out of service and the issue handled professionally before returning to service.

If all the trucks have roaches and management isn’t doing anything about it some phone calls to some city/county/state officials should be made.

 

[Tigger]

Lol no the place I do healthcare things in does not have roaches.

 

[DrParasite]

wait, what???? All your trucks have roaches? ewwwwwwwwwww

Here is how I would handle it, if I was your management: hire a professional to get rid of the roaches in every truck.

If I was you, and I was assigned a truck that had roaches, well, that truck isn't in proper shape for me to use, so I need a new one.
If your supervisor says all trucks have roaches, and I need to use that truck, I'm going home sick. and on my way home, I'm calling the state department of health to inquire as to what the policy is on roaches in ambulances. I'm sure they will gladly want to see this for themselves.

 

[Hunter]

“Well all the trucks have roaches” should never be an answer or used as justification. If even one rig had roaches in it, it should be taken out of service and the issue handled professionally before returning to service.

If all the trucks have roaches and management isn’t doing anything about it some phone calls to some city/county/state officials should be made.

I agree but it seems like it's a culture thing, where people "just deal with it." our Vehicle Service Techs have a hard enough time putting Trucks out on the road since the services doesn't really have many spare units.

Lol no the place I do healthcare things in does not have roaches.

I'm of the same mindset, that's why it blows my mind that this isn't a bigger deal.

wait, what???? All your trucks have roaches? ewwwwwwwwwww

Here is how I would handle it, if I was your management: hire a professional to get rid of the roaches in every truck.

If I was you, and I was assigned a truck that had roaches, well, that truck isn't in proper shape for me to use, so I need a new one.
If your supervisor says all trucks have roaches, and I need to use that truck, I'm going home sick. and on my way home, I'm calling the state department of health to inquire as to what the policy is on roaches in ambulances. I'm sure they will gladly want to see this for themselves.

Our current process is we write the trucks up, out of service, someone comes in, sprays the trucks and if we have another incident within a month of the first incident the truck is supposed to get Tented, just like a house would. Instead because we don't really have spares the trucks just get put back in service later in the day.

 

[CCCSD]

I agree but it seems like it's a culture thing, where people "just deal with it." our Vehicle Service Techs have a hard enough time putting Trucks out on the road since the services doesn't really have many spare units.


I'm of the same mindset, that's why it blows my mind that this isn't a bigger deal.



Our current process is we write the trucks up, out of service, someone comes in, sprays the trucks and if we have another incident within a month of the first incident the truck is supposed to get Tented, just like a house would. Instead because we don't really have spares the trucks just get put back in service later in the day.

Multiple H&S Violations there. Time for some phone calls…

 

[DrParasite]

Our current process is we write the trucks up, out of service, someone comes in, sprays the trucks and if we have another incident within a month of the first incident the truck is supposed to get Tented, just like a house would. Instead because we don't really have spares the trucks just get put back in service later in the day.

Um, yeah... I'm going to repeat my earlier advice:

I'm calling the state department of health to inquire as to what the policy is on roaches in ambulances. I'm sure they will gladly want to see this for themselves.

I'm sure the DOH would love to know what the policy is, and what is actually happening.

I'll be honest, the first truck I find infested with roaches, I'm going home sick. The second truck I find infested with roaches I'm going home and never going back to that company every again. I might even call the local new paper and tell them what is occurring, after I get off the phone with the department of health. Because that's just gross and unacceptable.