As EMS providers, we deal with tragedy every day.  We see people at their worst and are expected to put on a stern, professional face and take control of each and every scene, but what happens when the person that you are dealing with is one of your own?  Emotions run high, and while the expectation should remain that we put those feelings aside we are, after all, human. Throughout my career, I have had to care for colleagues who have had medical emergencies.  I had to do CPR on a past fire chief from the town I grew up in.  I’ve transported an old crew chief of mine when his heart rate was 40 and he was on his way to get himself a pacemaker.  Tragedy can strike at any time, and although we look at ourselves as impermeable to it, we are just as mortal as everyone else. What it comes back to is knowing our own limitations.  When it is in the best interest of our patient, there is nothing wrong with “tagging out” and letting someone else take control of a call that has a clearer head than you might at that moment.  It takes a clear mind to properly care for a patient and we need to remember that as paramedics and EMTs, we need help sometimes too, and we just need to be humble enough to ask for it. There is a lot of pressure on prehospital providers, and I do not think that many people in the public safety and medical communities realize and accept that.  Often, an EMT or paramedic is expected to deal with a patient on a one-on-one basis.  Take, for instance, a STEMI patient.  Quite often, a single paramedic is expected to obtain baseline vital signs, perform and correctly interpret a 12-lead EKG, give medications, start an IV, reevaluate the patient, and make the proper notifications to the emergency room. If that same patient walked into an ER, the tech would perform the EKG.  One nurse would administer meds and start that IV while another one charted.  The secretary would make the notifications to the cath lab, and the resident or attending physician...

There comes a time when we all reach a crossroads in our lives when we are forced to make a decision of where to go and what to do next.  I reached that point just the other day and have decided that it is time to make some changes in my life.  I’ve realized that there is more out there beyond my little world and I want to go out and explore a bit. The gut checks that I have had to do on myself have been becoming more and more frequent, and I feel that it is time to put myself first, which is something that I frequently fail at.  Far too often I have made my job and other responsibilities while pushing my own well-being to the back burner.  It has never been a smart decision and always seems to go against the “practice what you preach” concept that I advocate for so frequently, but I am learning. Changes take time, and they take effort.  The next steps in my life are going to be a sizeable challenge but if… no.. WHEN the ends justify the means then I know I will be happier and in a better place in life.  The first step for me is an obvious one: my quest for the coveted Disco Patch has begun!  The next six weeks of my life is going to be spent nose in a book studying for an upcoming National Registry test.  From there, the possibilities are limitless. One thing that is not going away or changing is my love for writing.  In fact, my upcoming adventures are a real inspiration and I would like to invite you along for the ride.  It might be a bit bumpy, but eventually things are going to smooth out and everything will be okay. The only question that I have though is: do those disco patches come with a leisure suit or do I have to buy that...

It is hard for me to believe that it has been a whole year since an EF-3 tornado tore its path through Western Massachusetts.  We were very lucky that day.  Loss of life and the occurance of injury was surprisingly low.  Most importantly though I was lucky enough to work with some amazing people that day.  Back on June 13th of last year, I shared some thoughts on the day that I would like to invite you to read. Late last year, however, an even better opportunity was presented to me: I was given the chance to write a chapter for a book called Springfield Tornado: Stories from the Heart.  The book was officially released today, and I am extremely proud of it.  Clicking on the title of the book, or the picture below will take you to the ordering page for the book.  If you ask me, it is worth the read, but of course, I am biased....

With Emergency Medical Dispatch becoming the gold standard across the country we need to remember its limitations while appreciating its virtues.  EMD is far from perfect.  An example of this is the recent call in New York City that was reported by The Daily News where a woman died with an associated 14 minute response from the ambulance crew.  The initial nature, sick and not eating, warranted a non-emergent response, but 8 minutes later, when the woman began vomiting blood, the response was upgraded based on the information received. The public outrage from this fourteen minute response was so severe that one of the EMT’s was assaulted by a family member.  Although being upset does not justify assaulting someone, especially a person who is there to help out your loved one, I can understand to some extent why this woman’s son was as angry as he was. In a situation like this though who is to blame?  Was it the EMTs who arrived as quickly as they were sent?  I’d say no.  Is this woman’s other son who presumably has no medical training the one that we should look to when seeking someone to blame?  Again, I would think not.  How about the Emergency Medical Dispatcher who asked the questions and went off the information given to him or her from the non-medical trained witness to this tragedy?  Nope, wrong again. Although mistakes are going to happen especially in a system as large as New York City’s I think it is actually the FDNY’s administration’s fault that something like this happened. When a person picks up the phone and calls 9-1-1, their expectation involves ambulances, fire trucks, police cars, and anyone else they might want to be racing across the city, lights and sirens blaring coming to help them no matter how major or minor the situation is, and we allow this expectation to continue.  We allow people to determine what an emergency is rather than letting the experts make that determination. The emergency rooms have it right.  If you’re having chest pain, if you’ve been stabbed or shot, or have something time sensitive that needs immediate treatment you theoretically jump as close to...

Since it is EMS week, I decided to take some time and look back over my career.  This is my nineteenth EMS week which is a staggering statistic for me.  I knew from day one that I loved this field, but there was a part of me that always doubted that I would stick with it as long as I have. I have picked up a lot of hobbies and side projects over the years but nothing has stuck with me the way that EMS has.  From the first day that I was eligible to get on ambulance that has been where I have wanted to be.  It is hard for me to pin point one reason as my motivation has changed as I have evolved and progressed in my career.  On that first call I think that it was the adrenalin rush.  It was being involved in that emergency and stepping up and seeing it through to the end.  I remember watching the paramedics working out of Community Medical Center and thinking of them almost as gods.  I was always amazed at what they were able to do.  They were larger than life to me, and I could never imagine myself being in their shoes. Once I got my paramedic card in the mail, I was motivated by all of the new things that I would be able to try, but I was also terrified.  I remember sitting in my car getting ready to head into work for my first shift as a cleared paramedic, dry heaving in the parking lot because I was so nervous.  I saw great opportunity in what I was doing, but I also saw great responsibility, and having that responsibility was very scary for me, and I feel like that showed through in my medicine for the first year or two that I was a practicing paramedic.  I could be quite high strung and on edge at times. As I got more comfortable though I feel like I progressed into a pretty decent paramedic.  I was not the strongest by far, but when I was unsure of something, I was always quick to ask.  I knew my limits,...