Babylon Town Purchasing Water Rescue Boat

Avenger

Avenger

Well-Known Angler
Going around checking for those safety certificates, no doubt:


www.newsday.com

Babylon Town purchasing water rescue boat

"Most municipalities on Long Island have at least one [Safe] boat, but we don't have any," said Gerard Gigante, the town's public safety commissioner.
www.newsday.com

The Town of Babylon is looking to beef up its response to emergencies on the Great South Bay and beyond with the purchase of a specialized boat designed for water rescues.

The town has contracted with Safe Boats International LLC, of Bremerton, Washington, to build a customized 31-foot Emergency Medical Transport boat for $775,514.

The all-weather aluminum boat will be able to fit two patients on stretchers in a climate-controlled cabin. With a 12-person capacity, it will allow the town to take on multiple passengers if a boat capsizes, said Gerard Gigante, the town’s public safety commissioner.
 
Avenger said:
Going around checking for those safety certificates, no doubt:


www.newsday.com

Babylon Town purchasing water rescue boat

"Most municipalities on Long Island have at least one [Safe] boat, but we don't have any," said Gerard Gigante, the town's public safety commissioner.
www.newsday.com

The Town of Babylon is looking to beef up its response to emergencies on the Great South Bay and beyond with the purchase of a specialized boat designed for water rescues.

The town has contracted with Safe Boats International LLC, of Bremerton, Washington, to build a customized 31-foot Emergency Medical Transport boat for $775,514.

The all-weather aluminum boat will be able to fit two patients on stretchers in a climate-controlled cabin. With a 12-person capacity, it will allow the town to take on multiple passengers if a boat capsizes, said Gerard Gigante, the town’s public safety commissioner.
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With the amount of boat traffic in that area, this as definitely welcomed.
 
longcast said:
With the amount of boat traffic in that area, this as definitely welcomed.
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Maybe. But being there's a lot of boat traffic there's plenty of boaters to help if something happens. I'm wondering what this is going to look like on my tax bill. Remember, it's not just the 3/4+ million purchase price. It needs staff, support and maintenance. The purchase price will pale in comparison. Don't the PD and local fire departments have boats?

You really think they're not going to be out there finding some revenue to support all of that?
 
Avenger said:
Maybe. But being there's a lot of boat traffic there's plenty of boaters to help if something happens. I'm wondering what this is going to look like on my tax bill. Remember, it's not just the 3/4+ million purchase price. It needs staff, support and maintenance. The purchase price will pale in comparison. Don't the PD and local fire departments have boats?

You really think they're not going to be out there finding some revenue to support all of that?
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Be grateful they're spending your tax dollars on something that might save your life rather than a migrant shelter or some other handout!
 
I'm always amazed at all the rescue boats and different law enforcement boats we have on the water. I can't justify it by being happy they are not funding illegal migrants. Seems Cedar Beach will have another expensive static display who will arrive on scene after the survivors are rescued.
 
You make assumptions that all survivors will be in good shape. Many times, being triaged early saves lives. Is the price of the rescue boat worth your son or daughters life?

Ask someone who lives in a rural area how long they have to wait for an ambulance..........same premise.
 
OVERBORED said:
You make assumptions that all survivors will be in good shape. Many times, being triaged early saves lives. Is the price of the rescue boat worth your son or daughters life?

Ask someone who lives in a rural area how long they have to wait for an ambulance..........same premise.
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I'm not assuming anything. I hope I'm rescued before I have to wait for the Town of Babylon rescue boat to arrive. And, are they going to man it with an EMT? Are they manning it at night? Sounds like a huge expense that can't be justified by saying " is the price of the rescue boat worth your son or daughters life".

Sure, if he's on scene he could save your son or daughters life. So could the CG, Police or the current TOB whatever it is boat that hangs out a Cedar Beach or Gilgo now. I would rather be rescued by another boater who is on scene and have them race me to one of the many marinas, if necessary, as a call is made to one of the many TOB Fire Departments for an ambulance. How long do you think it will take for a TOB Rescue Boat to arrive if he's at Cedar or Gilgo (basically mid-TOB hangout) when the accident just happened at the Babylon Village Pool area. You better have been rescued before he gets there. I'm hoping, when he finally arrives, he will do a report along with the CG and Police while I'm in an ambulance heading for the hosipital.
 
Again, what would you rather spend the money on?

Politicians can and will find and fund something alot less useful than a rescue boat.
 
If I were King, I would continue what NYS Senator Phil Boyle started. Deep wound treatment and stabilization. I went to a couple of his seminars. They were fantastic. Instead of spending $750,000 on another rescue boat and who knows how much on crew and maintenance, let's educate the public on how to respond to an emergency. With all the money saved without buying another town boat and crew, we could hire someone who really knows what to teach the public so they are not afraid to get involved when an accident happens. This will not only cover marine accidents but auto and home accidents. First aid is not complicated. Do whatever it takes to safely stabilize the wounded. Yes, maybe their neck is broken but if they are face down in the water, you must move them. First aid is easy to teach. If someone is bleeding profusely, stop the bleeding. It's not hard to do if it can be done. If you can't stop it, oh well, the TOB rescue boat is still ten minutes away and the patient will probably bleed out. Bleeding out is proobably one of the most immediate concerns with a boating accident. Propellers and skin do not play well together. People are afraid of blood for many reasons. Most observers are shocked at what they are seeing as blood is spurting due to a cut artery. I would teach them and show them photos and videos of what the scene might look like and how you coud help without it being the first time you saw a bloody scene. I would make the first aid course worthwhile to take. Perhaps free car and boat registration for the first year. An ad campagin, show the people how easy and important it is to help a wounded person immediately before they bleed out. Teach them the priorites in first aid. Teach them how to evaluate and stabilize someone in the water if bleeding is not a concern while waiting for one of the many rescue boats to come. Teach them how to evaluate the situation and how to proceed. We don't need another hole in the water to throw money in. Saving a life is a life event you will carry with you forever. Ask any first responder. Let's think out of the box.
 
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Great. We can eliminate so many EMT positions with all the civilians trained!

Perfect!

Let's trust that the civilian, who practiced on a mannequin a year ago will remember the steps for stabilizing a femeral artery puncture with blood everywhere on a rocking boat with people screaming or an adult intubation for an obstructed air way....and on and on. Want some more realistic scenarios?

Yeah....first aid is not complicated!

Like I said, a rescue boat is not the worst way to spend tax dollars.
 
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Guys, I know it sounds far fetched. Overboard, it's a discussion. I never said we had to eliminate so many EMT positions. I said we don't need another very expensive rescue boat that won't get there in time for injuries you mentioned above. You made my point, those people are in dire need of first aid immediately. If there's an EMT on the TOB boat and he's 10-15 minutes away, that's not going to help. Someone with a femoral artery puncture with blood everywhere on a rocking boat as you say, needs attention right now. They will bleed out. I promise you, after you are properly taught how to apply a tourniquet and you are now in a bad situation while watching your buddy or God forbid, your child bleeding out, with proper training you will keep your head and help that person. It's not that hard. You must go from being a shocked observer to a responder. Those people on the boat screaming, might not be screaming after a first aid course. They will become part of the team. An obstructed airway needs attention right now too. Again, you made my point, immediate attention is needed. If they have limited breathing, calm them as best you can and get them to the nearest marina while someone calls for an ambulance. We have numerous Fire Department along the coast of the TOB. If the airway is blocked completely, they are going to die without immediate hands on assistance. Again, the rescue boat that's 10 minutes away is not going to help them. Treat them the best you can and get them to land fast because in both scenarios, they could die without immediate first aid. I know from experience.

I come from a military background. I taught in the world famous U.S. Navy D-WEST School (deep water environmental survivlal training) as a survival instructor. Many of you might have seen a clip of our training facility in the movie, Officer and a Gentleman. One of the characters freaked out on the Dilbert Dunker as he was crashed into the water while strapped in a simulated aircraft. At this school, we turned kids into men. We took their fear away. From there I went into a major airline as a pilot instrutor. We took girls and guys from the general public and taught them how to become crewmembers and how to react in an emergency. Just look at the flight attendants in the recent Delta crash. They worked as a team and got all the passengers out. Before their training, they would have been the person you mentioned above screaming instead of helping. Again, I know this sounds far fetched to some but it's really not.

Remember some of the useless courses we had to take in high school or college, like a language or underwater basket weaving in art class. Screw that. Start teaching real life first aid and other really useful life experience courses. I know it won't happen overnight. The government made us take an eight hour course to learn the basics of boating. You could teach the crucial steps of first aid in less time. A course could be built that people would love to come to. Does that make you an EMT, absolutely not, but if you have had courses and you learned the basics, you could save a life by remaining calm and acting immediately. Stop the bleeding, clear the airway, call 911 and get the person to land fast. The bay is only three miles wide at the widest part in the TOB and dotted with fire departments. If one of the many rescue boat gets to you before you make it to land, great, let them takeover. Otherwise, you are on your own and your child is dying in front of your eyes. What are you going to do?
 
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Too funny crabman.......well, not so funny if you were king, as you put it.

You have guys bitching and moaning about taking a mandatory boating safety course, you think they're willing to take a full blown EMT curriculum?

"Save a life by remaining calm and acting immediately"... really? I've seen Med students crap themselves in the heat of an emergent situation, you think the full time salesman and weekend boater can handle a situation with a simple tourneqet?

As the saying goes, if it were so simple, everyone would do it.

We can agree to disagree on this one.
 
You're still engaging in the false choice and rationalizing that this is a better waste of money than other wastes of money.

@Crabman is right. If you've ever been to the Jones Beach Airshow you've seen how many agencies are patrolling our waters. You have Nassau PD, CG, Wantagh FD, Park Police, DEC, Bay Constables, Suffolk PD etc. Are we going to be measurably safer if we spend millions of dollars every year to buy, staff and maintain a boat that is no more likely to be on scene than any other?

This is just another patronage/payoff that's just going to keep jacking up our taxes.

And BTW, nobody's bit¢#ing about a safety class. We're bit¢#ing about more freedom being lost and added cost to accomplish absofu¢#ingloutely nothing.

This is just more pavement on the road to hell. Feelings and good ideas only justify paying to pave it with gold
 
Overboard, there you go again, going overboard. Please don’t twist my words. You say "We can agree to disagree on this one." No we can't when you are twisting my statements.

Please show me where I said: "take a full blown EMT curriculum".

I said: Take a first aid course with tourniquet training and "does that make you an EMT, absolutely not".

Yes, I'm thinking out of the box and to some it might sound impossible to accomplish. Hey, you never know. I'm a positive guy and I believe first aid is important for people to learn. This wouldn't be mandatory class in schools but with the right instructor and advertising, students would love to attend. Some kind of incentive besides saving a loved one could be used to get the general public interested. No Mandates. Overboard, are you in the medical field because anyone in medicine or any EMT would tell you how easy it is and how important it is to apply a simple tourniquet. This is why we need classes. We need to educate people about simple first aid. And how, with a wound like you stated above, a person will be dead in minutes while the $750,000 rescue boat with it's $250,000 a year crew is still untying from the dock at Gilgo. A pants belt, a tee shirt, a dock line, anything to wrap around the leg or arm and tighten will work. I can assure you, staring and screaming never works. You wrap the limb and tighten until the bleeding stops. Then you race to the nearest marina while dialing 911. Yes, it is that simple.

What are you going to do? Sit there and watch them bleed? You need to take a basic first aid course that includes tourniquets and deep wound punctures. Senator Boyle had a few seminars and they were great. From your accident above, I can assure you, in the time it takes for you to read this one post, your loved one would have bled out if you just watched and waited for the rescue boat.

"I've seen Med students crap themselves in the heat of an emergent situation."
Perhaps they need to be in another profession. Although I don't believe you witnessed med students crapping themselves.

"You think the full time salesman and weekend boater can handle a situation with a simple tourneqet?"
Absolutely. From your reply in a earlier post, they better know how to apply a simple tourniquet if the femoral artery is, as you said, "punctured and blood is everywhere". Have you ever seen a cut femoral artery or any artery cut on person? Please answer, inquiring minds want to know because, from your statements, I’m sorry to say, you have no idea how easy it is to stop the blood loss instead of sitting around watching while waiting for help. You need to take a first aid course. And learn how, a tourniquet is a simple technique to save a loved one. Please, ask any of your poopy pants med students how fast someone will bleed out into unconsciousness and then death with a cut femoral artery. We are talking less than five minutes until death. In five minutes, I could teach you how to apply a tourniquet and unless you are a complete idiot, which I know you are not, you will never forget how to do it. Saving a life is special.

We don't need another rescue boat. Especially a $750,000 rescue boat and expensive crew and maintenance. As Avenger said, when seen together, the current fleet of official safety boats is more than enough. I guess the TOB has a bunch of tax dollars burning a hole in their pockets.
 
So this post brought back a long ago incident which seems relevant to a subject being spoken about.

I was in my sophomore year of high school and was taking the mandatory health class in the curriculum. I do remember some of the giggles and comments regarding the section on sex, but I am sure you all remember those moments too.

We were tasked with writing a paper for the class and I always looked for a way out of having to go to the library, read the research and write a paper. Not that I could not, I just hated the necessary creativity it took to get to the word count and I was downright lazy.

The teacher did give us an option - sign up with you local district on a Saturday and take a first aid course and a CPR course. Fantastic! No paper and all I have to do was give up a Saturday. Glad (now) that the instructors were very serious about the course and made sure we were not only paying attention, but participating.

Found it to be interesting and passed the exam with 100%, both on paper and execution of what we learned during the day.

Fast forward a mere 2 weeks from the course. It was a weekend, not sure if Saturday or Sunday, and my parents were not home and the neighborhood was relatively quiet. I happened to be in the shed, of course, playing with some fishing tackle.

The neighbor behind us was a NYC cop and he was a big boy in his own right. Well, he was working on molding for the house and that table saw was making that whirring sound. That sound was broken by the "thump thump thump" of 3 fingers being cut off. He let out a blood curdling scream and I ran to look around the shed and saw blood all over the house and he was holding his hand between his leg bleeding profusely.

My brain caught up to my body on the other side of the fence and once I got to our neighbor I remember half "tackling" him to get him to sit down and in one motion pulled his arm up and wrapped his hand with his shirt that was resting on the table. I know, hygiene, but he was in shock and I would not leave him to grab something in his house.

Our other neighbor heard the commotion and took over applying pressure on his upper arm and I was tasked with picking up the fingers and getting them on ice. I did remember the instructor telling us to not put directly on ice, but in a bag, in ice.

While we were attending to this, I made sure another neighbor who showed up was in charge of calling an ambulance.

Again from the class, somebody has to take over and keep people from standing around causing more of a problem.

Well, he went to the hospital and they were able to reattach his fingers although the use of them was severely limited.

I remember when he got home from the hospital he asked to see me. He stared at me and with a tear in his eye, he said "Thank You". His wife later told me that the hospital told her the fingers were in really good shape from the "trauma team" in the yard!

So yes, even a "trained" 15 year old can stabilize someone in a traumatic situation with a good outcome under an unfortunate situation.
 
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Why do people correlate citizen response with reducing EMTs?

There's a lot to unpack here, but not wanting to spend a couple mil a year for a boat does not equate to diminishing the chitty politics of how we treat EMTs.
 
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