Apr 11, 2017

Last week, the Asbury Park Press posted a letter to the editor entitled “Letter: Emergency response teams must have volunteers.”  The piece was written by John Bendel, a town councilman from Island Heights, NJ; the same Island Heights, NJ where I got my start in EMS more than twenty years ago.  John’s letter is a reply to an editorial done earlier in the week called “EMS system deadly hodgepodge” which addressed several the shortcomings of New Jersey’s EMS system, many of which were identified more than ten years earlier by a study done about the state’s slowly dying prehospital care system. To say the least, Mr. Bendel’s letter sparked a fire in my belly.  I wanted to address some of the points that he attempted to make here. “Sure, it would be nice if every Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) were as qualified as the legislation you endorse would mandate.  But if they were, far more would be paid professionals than volunteers.  In America where health care still bankrupts families, that’s a big deal.  We need volunteers.” Let’s address the semantics of this statement first.  “Health care” is not bankrupting families.  Many have begun pointing out that it is health insurance that is doing this.  Skip Kirkwood has taken to frequently correcting people telling them that what they are seeing is attempts at health insurance reform, and not health care reform.  He’s right. Now, on to the meat and potatoes of this statement.  First, what is the issue with creating more jobs, and putting more money, and insured individuals, into society?  Why is it so bad that some would like to see people compensated for the hundreds of initial training and numerous hours of refresher and continuing educational training that EMTs are required to do?  Career EMS providers (because professionals can be paid or unpaid) guarantee that someone is going to be there when the tones drop.  Volunteers cannot always make that same assertion. And let’s talk, for a second, about the chain of survival that drives health care.  With the exception of bystanders, every other link in that chain is staffed with employed, compensated individuals.  Nurses, doctors, dispatchers, people who work in rehab centers,...

“I’m just a volunteer EMT.” Have you ever heard anyone say that?  Neither have I.  Just about every volunteer provider that I have encountered in my career, regardless of how long they have been doing it or what their dreams and aspirations actually are take a ton of pride in serving their community.  As many readers already know, I come from a family full of volunteers and an area that up until about ten years ago, the area that I grew up in was almost 100% maintained by volunteer EMS.  Sadly, volunteerism is on a decline, and there are many, many reasons for that.  A few weeks ago, EMS 1 reposted an article and tried to tackle some of those reasons with a few really good articles. One article cites expanded EMT training for lack of volunteers.  EMS 1 Editor in Chief Art Hsieh then wrote what I feel is an excellent reply pointing out a lack of change and evolution as the culprit.  Both stories make some excellent points. In the past, I have written rather candidly about the problems as I see them that the New Jersey State First Aid Council presents to EMTs in my home state.  Their organization demands different standards for staffing a volunteer ambulance than a paid ambulance to try and keep volunteer EMS alive.  Essentially, they are trying to create a new level of care that is specific to their services resulting in them keeping the EMS system in New Jersey on life support. In many states EMT students are expected to learn more than they have ever been asked to before.  They are asked to expand their assessment skills, provide more invasive treatments, and give medications that previously were reserved only for paramedics.  To be able to properly understand how those medications work, a greater knowledge of body systems is also required. Enough is enough.  Sure, obtaining an EMT certification takes more time now than it did even five years ago, but there is a good reason for that.  No one is trying to circumvent the volunteer system in any state.  The changes instead are in place to improve the level of care that patients receive...

Editor’s Note: With this story now being five years old, I have removed the names of those involved.  I do, however, feel that there are a lot of lessons that we can learn from this situation. Late last week Kyle David Bates posted an article from a New York State college paper about a New Jersey EMT from the Newton First Aid and Rescue Squad in Newton, NJ.  In the article this EMT describes such events as “driving over 100 MPH” in an attempt to beat the “golden hour” and being covered in a variety of patients’ bodily fluids.  The outcry and comments on the from EMTs, some of whom know this person personally, are mostly filled with disdain for the way the article painted EMS professionals as a group as an unprofessional group of adrenaline junkies more concerned about what they are able to accomplish with a heavy right foot than the outcome of their patients. The response of the Newton First Aid and Rescue squad was to post a message on the department’s Facebook page denouncing the article, stating that the EMT had been suspended and disciplinary action was being taken effectively hanging him out to dry to take full blame for the statements and quotes within the article.  It stated that the article was written “without the consent of the squad and its officers.”  The only problem with that is, as KDB so aptly points out, the squad’s 2nd Lieutenant was quoted in the article as well. The entire course of events is a real comedy of errors, the fallout of which is far reaching.  Not only have personal reputations been effected, but the squad’s integrity has been brought into question and potentially the values of EMTs everywhere could be brought into question. 1.  The Newton First Aid and Rescue Squad – First of all, a full admission of what knowledge of the article prior to its publishing needs to be explored and put into public record.  I am basing this off of the squad’s swift stroke of the virtual pen in putting the entire burden on the shoulders of an 18 year old kid. Also, it would be wise for the First Aid Squad to take...

2011 was a big year for me and a big year for EMS in the New Decade.  Born from some ideas discussed over a few beers in Baltimore was The First Responders Blogging Network, and I was fortunate enough to be one of its first members which brought about my domain move from Blogspot to www.medicsbk.com. While as of late there were a few technical glitches, I saw a number of visits and got some great comments, so I decided to share with you the top five articles viewed by you, the reader.  For those new to the blog, I welcome you to check out content that you have not yet seen.  For the faithful readers that have been with me all year, I invite you revisit some of this year’s most viewed and share your thoughts on them. 5.  A Punch in the Gut – In July, the Baltimore Fire Department’s EMS Training Center was shut down.  Read my thoughts on that here. 4.  IntuBrite Laryngoscope Blades – As part of my involvement with the Podcasting Studio at EMS Expo in Las Vegas, I was able to choose what I felt was the most innovative product on the show floor.  Here is my selection. 3.  A Call to Volunteers – Over the course of the last year and a half, I have become quite vocal about the New Jersey State First Aid Council and their efforts to bust EMS in New Jersey back to the stone age.  Here is one of those articles. 2.  EMS in New Jersey – A Call for Action – Here is yet another view of EMS in New Jersey, this one dealing directly with NJ State Bill S-818 and my thoughts on it.  Again, this was a very hot topic this year, and I invite you to read this, especially if you are a New Jersey EMT. 1.  Goodnight, ALCO – On October 31st 2011, AMR Alameda County closed their doors.  A lot of great paramedics and EMTs were forced to find other work in different counties or hop on board with the county’s new provider.  I owe a lot to the folks out in ALCO.  This is...

Last weekend, I went back to my old stomping grounds in New Jersey to enjoy some good beer, BBQ food, and some great times at the annual Summerbrew in Island Heights, NJ, the town I grew up in.  In a town of roughly a thousand year round residents, the fire department hosted brew fest is a pretty popular event. The event brings out an interesting cross section of people for me personally.  I get to catch up with people that I grew up with from my town, but I also get to see a number of people from the fire and EMS community that was such a huge part of my life through high school and college.  As the years go by, we shake our heads and think back to what we considered to be “the good old days” that always keep me saying, “I miss my volunteer time, but I miss it back then, not now.” Fifteen years ago, I was an excited 18 year old EMT, just three years into my career.  There was no where that I felt more comfortable or confident than running a call.  When the tones dropped, I was all business, and back in the best days of Squad 21, I was surrounded by some of the best providers I’ve ever encountered.  We had experienced people who were patient and had a passion for what they did.  They were problem solvers, and clinicians.  Any challenge that was thrown at us was one that we would overcome together.  When you moved beyond patient care, the compassion that my squadmates showed for the people they encountered was incredible.  The patients always came first.  It was the way it should have been. Back then, respect was earned, it wasn’t expected.  The volunteers worked twice as hard to prove themselves to the medics that intercepted them day after day.  Every blood pressure was dead on, every splinting job was second to none, and every hand was held.  Dispatchers knew who they could count on, and we all looked out for each other.  It always put a smile on my face to hear “Good afternoon, Scott.” when I’d sign on the radio for...