News

This Week in EMS: A Recap for January 19 - 25, 2008

HEATHER CASPI, Editor

01/24/2008

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Tragedy struck this Tuesday in Kentucky when a paramedic and her pregnant patient were hit by a truck while getting into the back of an ambulance.

The patient had earlier crashed her car on icy U.S. 460, and the director of Paintsville EMS, Christa Burchett, 33, responded. As Burchett was assisting the patient just after 9 a.m., a passing 18-wheel tractor-trailer slid on the ice and struck them. The patient was killed on impact, and Burchett died at Paul B. Hall Regional Medical Center at 10:04 a.m.

The truck struck two other vehicles in the process and a second truck overturned while trying to avoid the accident. No charges were expected.

The incident hit home for many area rescue personnel. Colleagues said Burchett's life revolved around her job and her 14-year-old daughter Olivia.

For more information, including funeral details for this Sunday, January 27, visit Kentucky Paramedic, Patient Killed at Crash Scene.

In another line of duty death reported this week, Missouri Paramedic/Firefighter Louis Berra of the West County EMS and Fire Protection District was found dead last Friday morning in the bedroom of his firehouse.

Berra, 48, normally woke early to go for a morning jog. When his colleagues noticed he wasn't awake, they checked his room and found him collapsed there. As of this report, no cause of death had been determined.

Berra had been in the rescue services for 23 years and is survived by his wife and two teenaged children.

Find the article online at Missouri Paramedic/Firefighter Found Dead at Station.

Officials in Kentucky are pushing for a statewide trauma system, and progress was expected this week as State Rep. Bob DeWeese, a surgeon, planned to file the necessary legislation.

Kentucky is currently one of only a handful of U.S. states that do not already have a trauma system.

The system would provide more education for doctors, nurses and paramedics, would encourage more hospitals to seek designation as trauma centers, and would enable statewide guidelines and protocols on where patients should be taken for triage.

Many trauma patients are currently taken to hospitals out of state, and for some in rural areas, getting to those trauma centers may take hours.

For more on this visit Push for Trauma Care On in Kentucky.

Also among this week's top news, two private planes collided Sunday in southern California near the small Corona Municipal airport.

Two people were killed from each plane, and a fifth person was killed inside a Chevy car dealership that was hit by the wreckage.

Witnesses said one plane disintegrated into pieces while the other stayed intact as it spiraled down. A witness also reported seeing two of the bodies fall from the sky and land in the car dealership parking lot.

Industry News

National Medical Airlift Service Seeks Support

A relief service organized to enlist thousands of pilots to transport patients, medical workers and supplies during national emergencies is being compromised, according to members of Congress.

Mercy Medical Airlift received a nearly $1 million government grant after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to create a special unit to help with national disasters. However, the group says it is frustrated by its inability to get FEMA to include it in disaster planning efforts, and says that Congress also needs to pass legislation to protect volunteer pilots from lawsuits.

Without the protection, some pilots may stop volunteering and some relief groups may be reluctant to use pilots' services during a disaster, the group fears. Click above to read more on these efforts.

EMSResponder.com Featured Column:

EVOC-ing Safety: A is for Acceleration

Just as EMS providers convey confidence with their voice and body language, so too do they convey confidence with their driving, writes author/instructor Tom Mannisto.

Click above to read his full column.

EMSResponder.com Reminder:

It's time to nominate candidates for EMS Magazine's 23rd Annual Braun Industries/Monster Medic EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award.

Just tell us, in 500 words or less, why he or she deserves to be considered for this honor. The winner will receive a $600 check and free travel, lodging and registration for EMS EXPO 2008, October 13-17, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the award will be presented.

Click above for the contest rules and online nomination form.

EMSResponder.com Featured Job

EMS Coordinator/Paramedic -- Cottage Grove, Minnesota

Requirements include possession of a valid Minnesota Driver's License and the ability to obtain and maintain Firefighter l certification within one (1) year of appointment.

Applications close Feb. 15. Follow the link above for information and application instructions.

Visit www.EMSResponder.com/jobs to find additional listings or to submit listings.

EMSResponder.com Hot Topics

Tattoos

"What are your thoughts on tattoos and uniform regulations... How does you agency handle it? Do they enforce their regs on it? Has it caused frequent problems with crews, or with patients?"

Click above to join the conversation, or start your own at www.emsresponder.com/forums.

EMSResponder.com Poll

Have you ever used your EMS skills for emergencies encountered off duty?

Visit the poll on the lower right side of EMSResponder.com to participate. View previous polls at www.EMSResponder.com/polls.

To submit a poll idea e-mail Heather.Caspi@cygnusb2b.com.

Other top headlines this week on EMSResponder.com:

About Heather Caspi, EMSResponder.com Editor-in-Chief
Heather Caspi has been a public safety journalist since 2000, beginning as a reporter for sister site Firehouse.com. She later became the assistant news editor for Firehouse.com and Officer.com, and led the launch of EMSResponder.com in 2005. She graduated from the University of Maryland with degrees in Journalism and English Language and Literature, and earned her EMT-B at Merritt College in Oakland, California. She can be reached at Heather.Caspi@cygnusb2b.com.