Mounted search and rescue

["Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>]

Irv, there are methods to get that person into the saddle that work. ;-)

        - Jorene

-----Original Message-----
From: IRVIN LICHTENSTEIN

Note to Tomi- The reason everybody was scared, including the horse, was the
lifting of the patient to saddle height and transferring his body (and
weight) across the horse.  The thought of dropping the patient was foremost
in everybody's mind.  If you try to use the good leg to mount normally you
are swing a splinted leg over, which is what you are not supposed to do, and
you cannot use the bad leg to take his weight either. 

Note to Jorene: Under PA Act 45, the EMS Act, licensed EMS medical providers
(ambulances) are entitled to bill for services rendered and usually bill the
patient's medical insurance providers but rarely attempt to collect from
individuals.  NY state allows billing for frivolous calls and false alarms
and has collected from several who tripped personal locator beacons for a
ride home.  One teenager in Chester County PA was sentenced to restitution
after faking a fall into a quarry that caused his companions to call in a
drowning while he went to Disney World. I believe that ambulance services
all over the world are allowed to bill for services rendered.  The only
difference is who they bill: the patient, the insurance company, or AAA.

Under the revised PA EMS Act, SB1204, (5/22/07 pending) all wilderness
providers (even first aid) will have to become licensed agencies consisting
of individual providers under the category of special operations EMS
agencies.  There is no funding to get a license but a licensed agency can
apply for EMS funding, like the AFA, SAFER, and other programs. And we can
bill insurance companies, maybe.