Owner aboard ambulance, dog stows away The hospital was an hour’s drive from the patient’s home. Mason County (Texas) EMT Tanner Brown and and his partner were 20 miles into the trip when a motorist flagged them down and told them there was a dog on the side of the ambulance. As reported by Michelle […]
Md. county builds $50M EMS center At the dedication of the county’s new 110,000 square-foot EMS center, local officials in Harford County, Maryland observed how “public safety often gets put on the back burner,” and how local emergency response systems tend to go unnoticed — until they are needed. And so it was with justifiable […]
House bill would boost EMS funding We expect our EMS agencies to be as ready and well-equipped as our military services, writes A.J. Heightman in the Nov. 2014 issue of the Journal of Emergency Medical Services. Yet the reality is that EMS receives little to no financial assistance from the federal government to fulfill its […]
Claims responders are treated like ‘disposable heroes’ Practically by definition, emergency responders are regularly exposed to gut-wrenching scenes in the line of duty. The lingering effects of such exposure is well-documented in military personnel, many of whom struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) when they return from active duty. But paramedic Joanne Trofanenko discovered that, […]
‘A medical team with an armed escort’ Firefighter-paramedics in Santa Cruz recently received training in law enforcement tactics that will allow them to enter “warm zones” where a threat remains but the situation is considered safe enough to render aid. According to the story, which first appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel, leading emergency responders […]
12 years of training prepared team for duty There are risky patient transports. And then there are transports where the patient has an infectious disease that kills roughly half the people who contract it. Wade Miles, interim director of Grady Hospital Emergency Medical Services in Atlanta, GA, has led a team that specializes in the […]
Paramedic reflects on the good and the bad When his back started to require more attention on some calls than his patients, Mike Rubin decided to walk away from active EMS duty while he still could. In an article on emsworld.com, Rubin talks about the aspects of being a paramedic that he will miss — […]
How to recognize feigned illness or injury Abuse of EMS comes in all forms. Earlier this month, a Lake Placid, NY man called for an ambulance because he was “too drunk to walk home.” Similar stories abound of those who, for one reason or another, view the EMS system as a free taxi service. Writing […]
Mentally disturbed patient was handcuffed to stretcher Two EMTs have filed a report claiming that four New York City police officers beat a patient handcuffed to a stretcher as the EMTs attempted to transport the patient to a nearby hospital. The police stopped only when the EMTs intervened. According to documents obtained by the New […]
The human cost of testing one’s mettle Steve Whitehead, a Colorado firefighter/paramedic, posted an article on ems1.com recently that urged those new to the job to never forget the lasting, human costs that underlie their daily professional activities. Whitehead remembers his own eagerness to test his mettle when he was just starting out. “At the […]
