Expo Eve has come and gone, and boy was it a great experience. The trip out was a long one, I was up by 3am (I don’t even know how I slept) and in the air to Detroit by about 6am. The Captain told us it was going to be an hour and twenty minute fly time, but I swear it took closer to two hours. With ETAs like that, they should just go into the ambulance business. I kid, of course. I was off the plane and into the terminal by 8:10, and made an OJ Simpson-Like run to my next connecting flight at 8:25 (thanks, Joel Nied for that Hertz Commercial Reference) and I was able to get there just in time, ready to make the trip to Dallas. I was greeted on the plane by my good friend April from Pink, Warm and Dry, and her preceptor Dave who had missed their earlier flight and would be joining me on this flight, which after delays for a broken GPS and the apparent necessity to jump start out plane, we were off. The flight was smooth, and we were on the ground in just over two hours. I spent the day wandering around Dallas with April, Dave, and RJ Stine who is better known as Hybridmedic on Twitter, and in the Blog world. We made it down to Dealy Plaza, which was quite the site to see. We all commented on how much smaller it looked than what we had perceived it to be from all the pictures and TV shows we’d seen. After checking in at Expo, it was time to head over to the House of Blues for some dinner and drinks. RJ and I had planned on getting a small group of people together for some food and drinks. That quickly grew to 15-20 people who took over the outdoor porch. Our server, Luis, was kept on his toes, but he did a great job. If anyone is ever in Dallas, I highly recommend the House of Blues for food, drinks, or music. When Charlotte from Zoll arrived, we found out that they had booked a room that night,...

Think back, if you will, to the first EMT class you ever took. It might have been a few months ago, or for some folks, it might have been 20-30 years ago. Now, think about what they taught you about your own safety, and what is most important when you hit the streets. Lets take it a step further. Think now about any EMT Practical exam that you’ve taken, whether it be for your EMT-Basic certification right on up to your Paramedic. Lets take the Assessment station. You walk into the station, stethoscope around your neck, with a State or National evaluator sizing you up and staring you down. You look over your station, and indicate you are ready. Your evaluator looks at their sheet of paper, and begins reading the same scenario that the person before you most likely just heard. It could be a car accident, a shooting, or something as routine as a fall, abdominal pain or a chest pain call. Regardless of what the nature of the “call” is, you take the information in, and start your station the same way. “Scene safety, BSI, number of patients.” You might use different terms depending on where you’re at, but the intention is always the same: Is the scene safe for my partner and I to enter? Do I have the necessary protective equipment on? Do I have the resources I need initially to handle this incident? Now, keep that in mind, and read this article that has made its way around the internet: http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=13191657 Take a moment to compose yourself, pick your jaw up off the floor and stop screaming at your computer. I’m sure you’ve already asked out loud, “What is this guy’s problem?” AMR has not written a policy that needs to be changed, the responding crew followed their training perfectly, and did the right thing by not putting themselves in a dangerous situation. If any other Ambulance service, Private, 3rd Service, or Fire based told their crew to just rush in there, I’d question their devotion to their Field Employees. Tim Noonan over at RogueMedic.com has said it better than I could have. The blame here has been...

Most EMS Professionals are asked to act on their own, and be responsible for their actions and decisions. In a system such as the one I work in, there’s a chance that the EMT’s contact with their direct Supervisor will be limited to twenty minutes at the start of their 8 to 12 hour day, and twenty minutes at the end of their shift. For the rest of the day, they are essentially their own boss. In order for them to achieve the goal of working so independently, we ask them to take inventory of their personal values and remember the goal and mission statement of the organization when making decisions that might not be clinical in nature, but that could have a profound impact on themselves and those around them. That is a lot of responsibility for some people to handle, but we expect them to be able to do it because not only do we ask them to watch out for their own personal well being, we also put the lives of others in their hands. EMS can be an exhausting job. We’ve all been there: we’ll go an entire day without a bite to eat, and barely a bathroom break. We encounter overworked nurses, patients who may or may not appreciate our presence in their lives, and (dare I say) fellow EMS workers who might not possess the same work ethic and goals as we do. Add to that sleep deprivation and you could say that you have a recipe for disaster. As each moment ticks by, that filter between our internal dialogue and our external one grows more and more thin, and the chance that those inappropriate words or actions could slip out increases. Lately, I’ve been on a quest to find articles, tips, and tricks to pass on to my colleagues here in my system that will help them to walk the straight and narrow, and do the right thing, not only for themselves, but also for their coworkers and their patients. With the words, blogs, and tweets that many of you have shared with all of us over the last seven months, I’ve acquired some great tools, and...

The last seven months of my life have been surrounded by a whirlwind of activity. Twitter, Chronicles of EMS, and the EMS 2.0 movement have breathed new life and motivation into me, and one week from today, all of that will come together as I’ll get to share four days with some of the greatest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking with. It wasn’t always like this for me though. If you had asked me one year ago where I thought that I would be today, gearing up to go to Dallas and EMS Expo would not have been my answer. Truth be told, I was in a rut. The roadblocks I was encountering in my system were immense, and seemed almost impossible to overcome. I would come into work and just go through the motion watching the clock waiting for quittin’ time so I could head home. Day in and day out, I felt like I was running in place, or just spinning my wheels. I’ve spoken many times in this blog about that fateful trip to the “left coast” and my week in Alameda County. It all comes back to that for me. It was eye opening. I had a chance to work with people I had never met before who were friendly, welcoming, hard working, and had a completely different outlook from anything that I had seen in my east coast home. They possessed the qualities that I wanted to see in my service. I remember writing their boss at the end of my trip, singing praise after praise about each and every person that I had encountered. My trip was great, and it was hard for me to get on a plane and fly back to my East Coast home, but I had to do it. I brought some souvenirs back with me though. No, I didn’t get any “I Love Oakland” coffee cups or Athletics hats. I brought with me new ideas and a new outlook on EMS. For the next couple of months, I sounded like a broken record: “Well, out in California, they do it THIS way.” Or “Maybe we can try this thing I...

There is a large population out there who has no idea what services we provide. The sad thing is, even after receiving our services, they still don’t get it. About seven years ago, I was working an overnight with one of my former partners. We were both avid people watchers, so a majority of our time was spent in the Entertainment District of our city. On most Friday and Saturday nights, this section of town lived up to its name. On one particular Saturday night, we were doing our usual “loop” checking out all of the sites, when we turned the corner, and found a group of people standing in the middle of the road flagging us down. When we pulled up, we noticed a woman lying in the middle of the road, and a car parked off to the side with a large “star” to the windshield. The woman’s friends informed us that she was walking across the street when she was struck by the motor vehicle in question. She was now unconcious. My partner and I went to work, assessing her, and starting a quick trauma workup on scene before we headed off to the hospital. As many of you know, part of that trauma assessment involves the concept of “exposing” the patient to assess for injuries. Due to her unconcious nature, our patient’s clothes were cut off. We kept her covered though to preserve her dignity. When we were getting ready to leave for the hospital, she regained conciousness. She asked me what happened, and I explained to her the events that led her to be boarded and collared with an IV in the back of my ambulance. She told me that was impossible. I asked her what the last thing that she remembered was, and she shared with me the events leading up to the accident, stating that the last thing she remembered was walking across the street, and then here she was with me. No matter how much I tried to explain to the woman, she was convinced that she was not hit by a car. Was it the alcohol? Was it just defiance? Was it a head injury?...

“The Genisis for change is Awareness.” – Michael Angier That quote was shared with me by a colleague of mine the other day, and it inspired me to write this blog. . . There has been lots of talk about what needs to change about EMS for EMS 2.0 to take effect, and be accepted. Ideas have to change, Medical Directors have to adapt to different ways of thinking. I think that what we need first is we need to develop strategies for the movement at the street level. More people need to be aware of the ideas and thoughts that are out there. I’ve taken it upon myself to take some steps to help make that happen. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, some of us here in my company have started putting a bug in people’s ears at the earliest stage: when the new EMT walks through our doors. Level Zero: The Movie has become an official part of our New Employee Academy. The instructor that showed the movie and the class loved it. Along with the movie, a series of handouts were put together by our Lead Supervisor (who is also an EMS 2.0 advocate) that revolved around professionalism, and how to handle one’s self. I’ve taken that a step further. As I’ve found different blog posts and articles that I like, I’ve printed them out, and left a stack in our Deployment Office for people to take and read. Additionally, I usually carry some of them with me as well, and I’ll hand them out to interested folks when I run into them on the street. One prime example of this was an article written by Chris Kaiser of Life Under the Lights last week called “What Difference Does EMS Make? Choose Your Own Ending.” The article itself had a profound effect on me. Chris a terrific writer, and the message he conveys about how our job effects those around us, and the personal pride that we should take to “become the best EMS Provider (we) can” played over and over again in my head. I handed out this article to one employee in particular who seemed very interested in...

For this edition of EMS in the New Decade, I’ve asked my father, Peter Kier to share with us his experience related to the events of September 11th, 2001. My father is an 18 year EMT and has over 20 years experience as a Prehospital Provider in New Jersey. A few days after September 11th, he was able to participate in the recovery efforts at Ground Zero. These are his thoughts and reflections on those events nine years later. As we approach the anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy, I can’t help but think back to the trip we took to New York on September 15th. When the attack happened, I had this compelling need to go and help. With all of the training and experience I had I was sure I could be useful. But, I also felt the need to be there, to experience first hand what I was seeing on TV night after night. Our First Aid Squad finally got a chance to participate when we became part of a convoy of 21 squads and Paramedic units assigned to help assist FDNY EMS units and other volunteer squads that were already in the city. With a stop in Newark to get a briefing, pick up supplies and eat, we ventured into New York by way of the Holland Tunnel, which had been closed to public traffic since the attack. It was an eerie trip into the city, being the only vehicles on the normally crowded highways, almost like a Sci-Fi movie about being the last people on earth. Once on the other side, the reception from the crowds that lined the streets was something to behold. In an article I wrote for our town paper, I likened it to being treated as a rock star. Nine years later I can still visualize the people, hear them cheering and I continue to wonder why. This was 4 days after the attack, but they were still out there, giving us food and water at every intersection. To this day I will never understand that. Maybe they had the same need as I did, to be there, to help and participate in whatever...

An employee walked up to my window this morning to pick up his gear before going on the road. We engaged in some small talk, and before he left, this was the exchange that we had: Employee: “Hey, EMS 2.0!” Me: “Where did you hear about that?” Employee: “(My partner) told me about it.” Me: “Wow! Who told her?” Employee: “Its out there, man. People are talking about it.” Our conversation shifted briefly to some of the movement’s origins, and then he was off to start his day. For those of you who know me, you’ll realize that rendering me speechless is not an easy task. This employee was almost able to do it. All it takes is telling one person a day about what EMS 2.0 is, and what it means. They will take care of the rest. People are talking. People are taking notice. People want to listen. People want to...