The debate has started in the Blog and Twitter worlds regarding EMS Pay. Is it possible to support a family on a 40 hour paycheck as an EMT or Paramedic? Many say “no” and its hard to find people who can make it work. In the Company I work for, the desire for more money is always there, but I feel that there is a big misconception in a lot of EMS Services, my own included. Like it or not, EMS is still in its “toddler” phase. We’ve just learned to walk, and we will eventually learn how to run. We’re sitting here, eyes at table level looking at that juicy prize that is just out of our reach, and we need to figure out how to get it. For the time being, we might need to work for less money and show our value, so we can get more pay in the future. We need to let our field develop and play active rolls in its development. Many, however, want to be given pay for a job not yet done. People want the pay in order to make them professionals. What we need to do is be professional to earn that desired pay. The important task to focus on now is to work on our image in the public’s eye as providers, people, and caregivers. We need to show the population that we serve what we are capable of. It’s rather clear that we, within our community, convey our message to each other. This is evident simply by looking at the Social Networking movement that many of us are involved with. We need to find a public forum. We need to find a way to get people listen. Public education I feel is a great path for us all to start down. Bring people in for mass CPR classes, and couple it with a piece about who the EMTs and Paramedics are. We need to try and establish partnerships and get involved with organizations like the Red Cross. When our people go above and beyond, put them out there, and show the world what they have done. None of us want the world’s...

Hello, everyone! The time has come to get a hold of your EMS 2.0 Pin! Wear it with pride, and let those around you see that you support the movement. If just two people asks each of us what it means, and they buy in to the movement, and then they tell two people…. well… you see where I’m going with this! This first batch of pins is going for a very special price of $7. After the first 100 pins are gone, I will be figuring out how many more I need to order. After this first batch, the price will be going up to $10 a pin but that will just be to cover my expenses for shipping. As of right now, ALL PURCHASES will be done through Paypal. Please just make sure your shipping address is correct. Also, please bare with me. I’m doing all of the shipping and organizing myself. I will be sending them out in the order they were received. ALL Proceeds from the sale of these pins will be going to Justin, Ted, Mark, and the entire Chronicles of EMS Team! This is a great way to show that you believe in the EMS 2.0 Movement, and an easy way to display it professionally on your uniform. Come on, people! Lets get the word out, and get people talking! For a picture of the Pin, and a Link to purchase one, go to http://medicsbk.tripod.com Finally, I am looking for some help from anyone who might be good at working with Websites. Drop me an email or a message on Twitter if you’re...

  Before I get to the meat and potatoes of this blog I feel I should firs clarify a few things. The fire departments in this country are staffed by some of the hardest working most highly skilled professionals I’ve had the pleasure of working with.They risk their lives everyday, and put others before themselves without a second thought.If I could shake each of their hands and thank each of them personally for that I would. Their job is a very important one, and they are an essential piece of the Public Safety model in this country. Over the past 30 years, Fire Suppression and more importantly Fire Prevention has greatly improved nation wide.Fires are down almost everywhere you go.Fire inspection regulations and building codes have become more strict.Fire Fighters are better trained and better prepared to do their jobs than they ever have been.They have achieved their desired result: less fires.Now, with less fires, the question that comes up is “what do we do with all of these fire fighters?”You now have all of these municipal employees doing so much less work at higher wages than they’ve been paid in the past.The result: find more work for them or lay them off. None of this should be viewed as the Fire Departments’ fault.The blame should be placed (dare I say) on our local and state Politicians who stare at spread sheets all day and worry about the all mighty dollar.Lets face it, if Fire Prevention wasn’t what it is, and Crime was instead exponentially down, Ambulances would be driving around with the words “Police Department” on the side of them.The Cash Cow that is the ambulance business would be moved to which ever department was in the bigger budget crisis. Getting back to the problem at hand though, the answer to budget shortfalls has been simple for many departments: Respond to Medical Calls, either in a first response capacity or take over the ambulance.Lets face it, Ambulance runs mean volume and money.Money means jobs.Its a no brainer, right? Wrong.The result in some of our largest cities has been to put a band aid on a sucking chest wound.Take a look at these examples...

Up until about five months ago, I found myself in a real down period in my career. I wasn’t really sure where I wanted to go, or where I wanted to end up. All I knew was I needed to freshen things up a little bit. Then, one afternoon, I got that call with the offer to do some time in Alameda County. As I had previously mentioned here, it was a great experience, and that is where I learned about Chronicles of EMS. In the months since, I’ve imersed myself in the Chronicles, and I’ve begun exploring the Social Media aspect of the choice I made for my career: Emergency Medical Services. This has included reading up on some great blogs, spending quite a bit of time making friends on Twitter, and most importantly, my discovery of the EMS 2.0 movement. Recently, I got thinking, what can I do to support and spread the word? For me, it has started with the word of mouth. I’ve told some of my colleagues where I work about it, and steered as many people as I can in that direction. I’ve cornered Paramedic and EMT Instructors at my place of employment, and made efforts to contact my old college professors, all in an attempt to let them know about this great thing I’ve found, in hopes that they will share it with their students. Last week, another idea came to mind. I was trying to think of a way to bring the EMS 2.0 agenda to those around me, and hopefully spark some questions and interest in this new movement that I was becoming so proud of. I loved the t-shirts, but I wanted something I could wear to work, since that’s where I spend my time with the people who this should matter to most, and that’s when it hit me: a pin. The idea I came up with is simple, really. The half blue and half red Star of Life signifies the first obstacle that EMS 2.0 must overcome: the unification of EMS. Maybe if I’m lucky, two people will come up to me and ask “hey, what’s that pin about?” And they will...

Many of us in the EMS community were shocked this morning when we woke up and read the News Headline about the Bucks County, PA Paramedic who was killed by a Psych Patient he was chasing after. I found out about it from my new friends on Twitter. My thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and children who are now left fatherless. So I went to work today, just like any other day, in my mid-sized far-from-safe American City. It was quite the typical day for the most part: MVA’s, a nice mix of medical, trauma and behavioral calls, busy ERs.. I’m sure many of you know how it goes. But one call stood out to me as soon as I was advised about it. One of my crews had responded to an address for an unknown, which turned out to be a suicidal male. When they arrived, they found a rather irate man in a domestic dispute with is girlfriend. He had taken a handful of pills in an attempt to harm himself. When one of my medics advised him that he had lost any option by his actions of staying at home, and was going to have to take a ride to the ER, he got even more upset, and pulled a knife on my crew. Somehow, the two Medics were able to get it away from him. At this point, they called on the air, and requested that the police department expedite their response. That is when I found out about it. They then stated that the patient was fleeing the scene, and gave out his description. The scenario played over in my head, based on what I had read earlier in the morning. What was going to happen next? My first concern was the safety of my Medics, and making sure they stay safe. I arrived on scene moments before the police department, thankfully to find both medics standing on the front step of the patient’s apartment building, both unharmed. They showed me his weapon of choice: a kitchen knife with a half broken off handle. The patient’s girlfriend then pointed out that he was returning to the...