This Week in EMS: A Recap for December 29 - January 4, 2008

Happy New Year to all of our readers, from the staff of EMS Magazine and EMSResponder.com! We also wish you a Safe New Year.

The year 2007 reminded us once again, however, that we must expect the unexpected and do our best to prepare for a variety of disasters. Just as Minneapolis-area agencies were faced this past August with the collapse of the I-35 bridge, and just as Virginia responders were faced this past April with the worst school shooting in U.S. history, some organizations will once again have to handle the "unimaginable" in 2008. We can't know where and when this year's big incidents will occur, but we can all do our best to be prepared.

For a review of the top EMS news of 2007 -- including major incidents, issues and legislation - visit EMSResponder.com: Year 2007 in Review.

Among this week's top headlines, a medical helicopter crew had a scare early Tuesday during a patient drop off at Ohio's University Hospital.

The helicopter, owned by Patroleum Helicopters Inc., had safely transferred a patient just after 5:30 a.m., but as they were leaving, the pilot had an operational problem. The helicopter then made a hard, off-center landing on the helipad, leaving much of it dangling over the edge of the building.

The situation resulted in damage to the helicopter and required assistance from local firefighters to secure the scene. The flight crew was not injured in the incident.

To read more visit EMS Chopper Makes Hard Landing at Ohio Hospital.

Reviews continued this week of the response to the fatal tiger attack that occurred Christmas Day at the San Francisco Zoo. Concerns remained not only about the tiger escape, but about how the emergency response unfolded.

Police dispatch logs released Friday and fire dispatch records obtained by The Chronicle suggest a chaotic scene. According to reports, 911 calls may have been delayed, and it may then have taken rescuers as long as 13 minutes from the first 911 call to find the body of Carlos Sousa Jr. as he lay bleeding at the tiger exhibit amid the confusion.

Reports also suggest that emergency responders and zoo officials made an unsafe decision to wait for zoo employees with tranquilizer guns, during which time the tiger attacked its second and third victims. Police then shot and killed the cat. Police and fire logs further detail the response. To read more visit:

• Confusion and Delays Recorded in San Francisco Zoo Response
• Tiger Kills 1, Mauls 2 at San Franciso Zoo

Also this week, a Northeast Philadelphia woman died after waiting more than an hour for a city ambulance, which then broke down on its way to the hospital.

A second ambulance arrived an hour and 40 minutes after the original call, but ended up taking Deborah Payne, 55, to the morgue. She had been declared dead in the stalled ambulance.

"I don't think it could have been a worse situation," said Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, whose department runs the EMS system. "This hurts. It's painful for everyone involved."

For more on this visit Philadelphia Woman Dies During Botched EMS Call.

In a tragedy for the EMS community this week, a helicopter searching for a lost hunter in North Alabama crashed early Sunday, killing all three crew members on board.

The aircraft was from the Missouri-based Air Evac EMS. Emergency officials identified the victims as pilot Michael Baker, Allan Bragwell and Tiffany Miles, both of Florence. Their ages were not immediately available.

According to the TimesDaily in Florence, Bragwell was interim director of emergency services at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield and Miles was a former nurse at the hospital.

Read more at Three Killed in Alabama Chopper Crash.

California rescuers will need to watch as state legislators revive efforts to repair the state's oversight of EMTs, despite the governor's recent veto of legislation requiring mandatory EMT background checks. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he embraced the idea but that the legislation was flawed.

According to the Sacramento Bee, which has been closely following the issue, Assembly and Senate health committees have scheduled hearings for January to evaluate rival bills. Each aims to bolster the county-run EMT certification system with universal background checks and a state license registry similar to what exists already for paramedics.

For more information visit California Legislature Resuscitates EMT Control Bills.

EMSResponder.com Featured Column:

Book Corner: January 2008

"Happy New Year, everyone. This month's Book column has a little bit of something for most everyone," writes Book Corner columnist Norm Rooker.

Norm's latest reviews include stroke educational materials and three works of medical fiction:

• THE SPEED OF DARK, by former Texas paramedic Elizabeth Moon
• DANGEROUS DOSES: A True Story of Cops, Counterfeiters, and the Contamination of America's Drug Supply, by Katherine Eban, and;
• PARAMEDIC TO THE PRINCE: A Paramedic's Account of Life Inside the Mysterious World of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by Patrick (Tom) Notestine, a California paramedic who has spent over a decade working in Saudi Arabia.

Click above to read Norm's review.

Industry News

Ice Rescue Training Announced for 2008

Lifesaving Resources announces its 2008 Ice Rescue training season to include 4 Ice Rescue Technician Courses and 1 Ice Rescue Train-the-Trainer Academy. To date, Lifesaving Resources has conducted over 70 Ice Rescue Technician Courses and have certified over 2,000 Ice Rescue Technicians to date.

The Ice Rescue Technician Courses are one-day, comprehensive, and fast-paced educational programs designed specifically for Fire, Rescue, EMS, and Law Enforcement Personnel. Courses are conducted at the new Lifesaving Resources' Education Training Center in Harrisville, NH and are conducted from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Courses consist of a 2-hour classroom session, followed by a 2.5-hour on/through the ice practical session, a 45-minute lunch break, another 2.5-hour on/through the ice practical session, and a final 1-hour classroom session.

Dates for the 2008 Ice Rescue Technician Courses are:

• Saturday, January 19
• Saturday, February 02
• Saturday, March 01
• Saturday, March 15

Click the above link for additional information.

EMSResponder.com New Feature

You may notice that articles on EMSResponder.com now have a clickable icon in the upper right corner that says "digg it." We're trialing a new feature in conjunction with the content sharing website digg.com. Anyone who signs up at Digg can click on these icons to recommend the article link to millions of other Digg readers. If you think anything on our site is especially interesting or important, this is a great way to recommend it to a broader audience. Visit digg.com for more information about participating.

EMSResponder.com Reminder:

It's time to fill in our 2008 EMS calendar at www.emsresponder.com/calendar. If you have an event to recommend, please submit a listing. For any questions about the calendar, email Heather.Caspi@cygnusb2b.com.

EMSResponder.com Training Drills

Two new EMS training drills are now available on EMSResponder.com, courtesy of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute.

They are Managing Soft Tissue Injuries and Trauma Basics: Managing Lower Extremity Fractures.

View additional drills at www.emsresponder.com/features/drill.jsp.

EMSResponder.com Featured Job

EMT-Paramedic, Union County, NC

Requirements for this position include a minimum of an Associate's Degree in EMS along with at least one year of experience in emergency medical service work, or any equivalent combination of training. In addition, the candidate must be certified by the North Carolina Medical Board as an Emergency Medical Technician-Paramedic. Click the link above for additional information.

Visit www.EMSResponder.com/jobs and our linked partner sites for additional EMS and public safety job listings. Also, watch for our expanded employment center coming soon.

To submit an EMS related job listing e-mail Heather.Caspi@cygnusb2b.com.

EMSResponder.com Hot Topics

Among this week's hot topics:

Central Lines and Such

Under the ALS and Treatment and Protocols subforum, a member asks, "Prehosp, what lines can we access when we can't get an IV or need to use something right away?"

Visit www.emsresponder.com/forums to join the conversation or to browse additional topics.

EMSResponder.com Poll

Do you like to be on duty during the New Year's Eve holiday?

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:

• Pennsylvania Fire Truck Collides With Ambulance
• Philadelphia Has First Woman EMS Chief
• Boston EMS Approves Contract With Drug Testing
• Florida EMS Agency Scrutinized after Unattempted Rescue
• Patient Walks Again and Finds New Calling as Paramedic
• Cleveland EMS Employees Win Ruling on Work Shifts

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.