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This Week in EMS: A Recap for December 8 - 14, 2007
Responders became busy in the Northeast Thursday after a deadly winter storm moved in from the Plains and Midwest, where hundreds of thousands of people remained without power. The storm has been blamed for 35 deaths, primarily from traffic accidents, as it moved through the middle of the country.
Some areas were expecting up to a foot of snow, and many schools closed in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Dozens of traffic accidents had already been reported on Connecticut roads in the early hours of snowfall.
"We're having, I won't say a crisis, but we have an abundance of crashes literally all across the state on main and secondary roads," said state police Lt. J. Paul Vance.
For more information visit:
Nine people were transported to area hospitals after a multiple vehicle crash in Gastonia, North Carolina Wednesday afternoon. The crash involved six vehicles, including an ambulance with a patient onboard.
Police reported that an elderly man with a medical condition lost control on Cox Road near Interstate 85. He then struck the ambulance, continued down the road, and struck two other vehicles. One of those vehicles then hit a truck and that truck hit another car.
Of the nine people taken to the hospital, two were taken in emergency traffic, local news reported.
See the article online at 9 Injured in Gastonia, NC Pile-Up.
The search for a missing Alaska medical helicopter was abandoned Monday after a week-long search failed to find any signs of life of the three people who remain missing: the pilot, patient, and flight paramedic Cameron Carter, 24, of Kenai.
The decision came two days after searchers found the body of flight nurse John Stumpff and a door from the BK117 Eurocopter on the north shore of Passage Canal near Whittier. Authorities believe the LifeGuard helicopter is under water too deep for divers to explore.
Search efforts had also been hampered by freezing rain and poor visibility. For additional information visit:
- Search for Alaska Medical Helicopter Abandoned after Fruitless Week
- Medevac Debris, Body Found in Alaska
Rescue personnel who responded to last week's mall shooting in Nebraska spent time this week trying to heal from the experience, in which a 19-year-old opened fire at a busy store, killing eight people and wounding five before killing himself.
A mandatory counseling session for fire and EMS personnel was held Wednesday evening, said acting assistant chief Joe Fuxa of the Omaha Fire Department.
"It's a way to bring focus to what they just went through," he said. Counselors tried to get emergency crews to talk about any resulting feelings from the incident, such as anxiety or depression, he said. Responders were also told that free, voluntary follow-up counseling is available.
Papillion fire chief Bill Bowes, who was one of the counselors at Wednesday's session, said the most common emotion expressed at Wednesday's counseling session was the same one people in the community were expressing: disbelief that it happened there.
For more visit the following articles:
Controversy brewed in busy Paterson, New Jersey this week in the wake of a plan to phase out civilian EMTs and have firefighters assume their duties. Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres' said the plan was introduced because it would save money and because the civilian EMTs often fail to show up for work.
Tina Hines, president of the Paterson Emergency Medical Technicians Association, defended her group this week, saying that her 37 EMTs are "playing against a stacked deck." She said it is difficult to staff shifts because of a city instituted a hiring freeze in 2005. "We were downsized, and we don't have anyone to work," she said. For more details visit New Jersey EMTs Accused of Skipping Work.
EMSResponder.com Featured Podcast
EMS Magazine Monthly Insider, December '07
Rod Brouhard has been a paramedic in Modesto, CA with AMR for 16 years. He has also been a preceptor for many years and authored this month's article, Paramedic Preceptors: the Key to Creating a Successful Medic.
Rod explains that he began to research this topic when he was asked to design a preceptor training program for California State University in Stanislaus. "I discovered that there was a wildly different model depending on where you were in the country," he says.
In this podcast Rod elaborates on his article, which is a discussion on these different ways we train paramedic students. His goal for the article is to show training officials that, "Maybe the way we do it isn't the only way it could be done," he says.
Rod also explains how he became involved in EMS and his other projects today, including serving as the First Aid and EMS "Guide" on About.com.
Look for Rod's full article in your December issue of EMS Magazine, and coming soon on EMSResponder.com.
Industry News
In order to bridge the training gap between healthcare providers who regularly provide advanced pediatric life support and those who infrequently care for critically ill or injured children, the American Heart Association has created a new intermediate course -- Pediatric Emergency Assessment, Recognition, and Stabilization (PEARS).
This course supports healthcare providers who do not regularly provide advanced pediatric life support or are not credentialed for advanced pediatric treatment. Specifically, PEARS develops skills in recognizing certain signs and symptoms of a child in cardiopulmonary distress who needs rapid support.
Co-branded with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), PEARS is a video-based course with instructor-led discussion that takes approximately seven hours to complete.
EMSResponder.com Reminder:
It's time to fill in our 2008 EMS industry events calendar at www.emsresponder.com/calendar. If you're looking to promote an event or simply have one to recommend, please submit a listing. You can input your details directly online, and your submission will promptly be reviewed and posted by our staff. For any questions about the calendar, email Heather.Caspi@cygnusb2b.com.
EMSResponder.com Featured Job
Paramedic, VCU Health System (Virginia)
Feel the rush & share the satisfaction of a career with VCU Health System, one of Working Mother's 100 Best Companies. Why go anywhere else when you can turn your career up a notch and work for a nationally acclaimed healthcare facility with the region's only Level I Trauma Center? You'll see, do and learn more at VCU Health System, a Magnet-designated facility providing state-of-the-art care to Central VA. We have opportunities for Full-time, Part-time, & Hourly Paramedics, EMT-C, or EMT-I (Radiology).
Requires VA Paramedic, (EMT-P), EMT-I, or EMT-C certification. Follow the link above for further 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:
Experience with EMS based Unions?
"...Does anyone else have any experience with any of the EMS based unions, or another medical field based union that has branched into EMS?"
Visit www.emsresponder.com/forums to join the conversation or to browse additional topics.
EMSResponder.com Poll
Do union endorsements or organizational political views affect your vote?
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:
- Florida Rescuers Tell of Search Through Garage Collapse Rubble
- Paramedic in Guinness for Getting Hit by Car
- Intubation Device Gets Kudos from FDNY
- Indiana EMS Takeover Joke Turns Sour
- Faulty Ambulance Engines Irk Georgia and Tennessee EMS Crews
- All in the Family for New FDNY EMT
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.
