Well, sometimes you die. People die almost every year on new Hampshire’s Mount Washington, which is not all that isolated. But, as the signs at the trailheads point out: “At night, these mountains are as remote and desolate as they were 200 years ago.”
I can’t imagine myself as the extractee, just sitting there on a small lump of rock unimaginably thousands of feet up a cliff. But then again, I am nuts enough to volunteer myself to a buddy who does cave rescue to be hauled down into a cave and then hauled out again [I used to cave, though outside heights terrify me, I’m ok slithering through caves. Go figure.] as a training exercise for his cavers. [I am the weight of a very large man, but smaller and easier to haul out sizewise, but will give the experience of hauling out a heavy man. The whole not being terrified or injured will also make the training exercise much better.]
Nevertheless, if you are making yourself sick enough to need EMS treatment, you’re putting your own life at risk as well as using expensive resources. If the weather is unexpectedy hot then I recommend you plan shorter trips, drink more fluids and spend more time indoors recovering. Getting caught out once or twice is understandable, but no-one should be calling out EMS services “often” for easily avoidable situations.
Yep. When my gf and I hiked up the mountainous rainforrest in St Martin, they actively try to dissuade you from proceeding. They tell you that they purposely do not keep a log of who starts/finishes the hike, so if you do not return they will not know. They tell you that you should sit and rest when you become lightheaded (not if, when).
Yet, we do the hike every year.
I thought the biggest problem in the US is not getting an ambulance, but getting the insurance to cover it?
Wouldn’t it be a lot cheaper for you to get an electric bike or similar to get around if you are disabled, that doesn’t overexert yourself? With a small thermometer clipped to it so you can see the actual temp. yourself?
Also, why can’t you defer or curtail your activities once you notice that it’s hotter than 50s? If part of your disability is that you can’t sense temperatures yourself, then you must take precautions like using a thermometer, taking regular stops, checking your pulse etc.
If you need medical care in 10 minutes or something bad will happen, and it’s going to take 3 hours for an EMT to reach you then paying for it isn’t really your prime concern. There are lots of places in the US where it can take anywhere from a few hours to days for medical care to reach you; although the latter are more wilderness situations.
It’s generally the policy of wilderness search and rescue groups not to charge for their services so people won’t be reluctant to call for help. It’s sort of funny to think that after a huge mountain rescue effort, possibly involving military helicopters and dangerous slingload rescues, the rescuee doesn’t get charged a dime, but they will get charged for the ambulance ride across town if the helicopter can’t land at the hospital.
Electric bikes weigh a lot and the charge only lasts for about 20 miles, and they’re kind of cheating. Part of completing a 50 mile bike trip is the sense of accomplishment after it’s done. As far as the temperature, I’m always hopeful that it’s just me or that it will get cooler. Also, lot of times, when I start the trip it will be in the 50’s, but the next day the temperature will soar unexpectedly.
I can sure understand not wanting a disability to limit you. I also understand why it feels so great to push the envelope once in awhile. But if you need to call emergency services often, something isn’t right here. It’s like the EMT’s become your pit crew, your support team. You go, hoping you’ll be OK and determined to make it, but secure in the knowledge that if you don’t, the EMT’s will help you out. Seems a little dangerous for you, and it’s not exactly what they’re there for. Isn’t there some intermediate option, like arranging for someone to stand by in case the weather turns unexpectedly hot, and you prudently decide not to continue and call them?
When I’m on vacation in a foreign place where nobody knows me? I’ll admit it’s not an ideal situation, but I fell that society hasn’t come up with a good plan on how to deal with people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Sometimes (although very rarely) when I’m in my home town and I go out on a hot day it gets to hot and I’ll have to call an ambulance from outside of the supermarket. Lots of times when I’m on vacation my legs will just give way and I have to kneel on the shoulder of the road because I can’t get up yet because I need to rest my muscles to gain more strength and people will see me on the shoulder of the road. Sometimes they will ask me if I’m alright and I’ll tell them that I’m fine, but sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they will just call 911 and tell them that a biker is down by the side of the road and is injured and the police will come and tell me that if I can’t get up on my own accord, I should probably go to the hospital because otherwise people will just keep calling 911 or the police.
Not to mention the fact that my wife is a doctor who sometimes works in the ER and tells me that some of the same patients are there practically every single day.
You know Copper, denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
People like you are exactly why emergency care costs are spiraling up.
For ghu’s sake, get a freaking car. Save your exercise for the gym where there is air conditioning, or CALL A FUCKING TAXI BEFORE YOU TANK OUT FROM THE HEAT. Did your damned wife neglect to mention that your lack of ability to control your temperature is destroyed because of this charming habit of abusing your damned body? You can DIE when you lose the ability to control your core temperature? Start taking care of yourself, stop using EMS as a damned taxi service.
I considered taking this to the pit, but I didn’t think that would be particularly constructive.
I realise that society is not set up do deal well with disabled people - that sucks. I also understand that it must be great to still be able to be active and get about despite your limitations and I can totally understand why you would want to carry on doing that. I’m not suggesting you stop entirely. However if your habit of being “hopeful” that the day will cool down is resulting in often needing emergency medical treatment, that isn’t being optimistic, that’s putting yourself at risk through outright denial. Just like a diabetic or an asthmatic refusing to take their medications because they “hope” they’ll be OK without them. And quite frankly, I would have thought that finding you repeatedly need people to bail you out of situations you have created yourself would not be that great for your sense of achievement.
And the fact that other people are in the ER daily does not justify you in creating situations that end up with you there frequently.
Are you telling me that there is no support group in the whole US for people with MS? Really? Because in my town there are two groups! (Although I doubt the wisdom of having two different groups; but one is a branch of the General German group for MS). Even if you don’t have a specific MS group, what about general handicapped groups? Don’t you have any groups that offer vacations to elsewhere, with a list of facilities and helpers? What about the Order of Saint John, the Maltese Cross - do they not have a branch in the US, with young people volunteering as helpers? No assisted living service where you can get a helper for special occasions for a modest fee?
If it’s specially about the biking, is there no bike club or disability-outreach club, where handicapped and non-handicapped people enjoy activities together? Really? Nothing at all?
I quite agree that society needs to improve - but to claim that there is nothing available at all, just EMS, sounds … strange to me, even for the US. The Yanks pride themselves on all the voluntary charity work after all, so I’d expect more groups, than Germany. Even taking into account that you don’t have a draft and thus no pacifist service for old and disabled people.
I was on a sidecar motorcycle tour in Colorado. One of the riders went wide on a right hander into a guard rail, broke his leg badly and sliced open his abdomen.
This was on the West side of Gore Pass:
We had to send a rider back up to the summit to get a cell signal so he could call an ambulance. It took about an hour and a half to get an ambulance there, I think they came from Granby, not sure as I was warning traffic approaching the blind curve from above.
The case was beyond their ken, and they called in a helicopter from Denver, which got there in another hour or so. The chopper landed in a meadow/swamp down by forest road 216 in the link above, about a half mile from the accident site. They took Jon down to the landing site in the ambulance.
His leg was pretty messed up, but it turned out the gash on his abdomen was very shallow, and he was doing OK a week later when I visited him in hospital.
You do like to live dangerously don’t you? Yes, “society hasn’t come up with a good plan on how to deal with people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis”, just as they haven’t “come up with a good plan to deal with people suffering from paraplegia” (like me). If you put yourself in a state where you have to call 911 regularly you are going to wake up dead one of these days when 911 doesn’t come fast enough. You are also using a far greater percentage of available emergency resources over the long term than someone performing sensible activities based on their capabilities. I may be unusual for someone with a significant disability, but although I do take advantages of what is available to me I try not to take **unreasonable **advantage of what is available. I’m sure you can find activities that get you out and about without risking your life. They are a little hard to find, but it is even possible to find bus tours in the US and overseas that cater to the disabled (I’ve been on a few).
I put myself in a state where I have to call 911 every morning when I wake up. I’m not sure if I should start a new thread because this one is going in a different direction (mods?), but I fall on a daily basis, several times a day. Most of the time I just get up with a scratch or two, but one day I could hit my head and get a brain injury. Falls clinic was of little help, and there are no more MS support groups in the area, except for a caregivers support group 45 miles away, even though the county that I live in has a prevalence of MS over 3 times that of the general population in the country. In my opinion, that is evidence of society not being able to meet my needs.
You didn’t answer my question if there are no charity groups at all available in your area, that provide nursing services. But if you need assistance for your living on a daily basis, why don’t you either hire an assistant or move into a special facility that provides one? Yes, that costs money - but I thought disabled people in the US are on Medicare/aid?
If the next support group is 45 miles away, you need either to move, or get people to found a new group closer to you. If your state has a high prevalence of MS, but little support, somebody close to you with enough energy needs to start campainging the state for better support. Or you need to move into a different state with better support and laws.
Have you ever thought about that there are only limited 911 services available, and while you are calling for one ambulance because you don’t know/ can’t conceive of a middle way between “no help at all” and “Emergency service”, there is a real emergency, like a traffic accident or heart attack, in the same area, where a person is seriously injured or dies because you delay the ambulance, when it’s just a matter of better planning and preparation?
copperwindow,
You can come ride all you want in my PSA an I will be honored to help you at any time.
For those that are flaming him about supposed abuse of EMS, I as an EMT do not agree. I would bet this Gentleman has an insurance card that covers his use of healthcare, unlike the hords of substance abuse cases that all EMS deals with every day.
Pedal away my friend and enjoy Gods creation!
Check out the Great Lakes area also, Lake Superior’s North Shore is nice and cool most any time as long as the wind isn’t blowing from the East.
Gbro