Anecdotal is Sometimes All You Got
This call required a real team effort to achieve the outcome, a Rescue 9-1-1 show segment. It may have been the outcome but it was the farthest thing from my [...]
Sirens to Wedding Bells
This call definitely resulted in an outcome I was not expecting. Working the ambulance we were dispatched to the report of a gunshot wound nearly 30 miles away next to [...]
Didn’t See That Coming
Most organizations that handle 9-1-1 EMS calls have their "frequent flyers". In some cases these are people who have chronic conditions which are either fragile or self-exacerbated by not following [...]
Not Exactly a Safe Scene
I understand organizations that have policies saying EMS crews stage until the "scene is safe". The problem I experienced over my career is that despite your best efforts not to [...]
Hurricanes – Time to Review The Challenges
It's been awhile since we have had a hurricane season that actually produced hurricanes. I have pulled up a few posts from previous years that may have some value for [...]
Staging Normally Sucks
In the later stages of my career I was volunteer as a paramedic/fire-fighter on a combination paid/volunteer fire department. We also did first response medical. Personally towards the end of [...]
You Can’t Save the World
I suppose all members of the medical field go in with some aspiration of "saving lives" during the course of their work. At some point we come to the realization [...]
I Wish I Knew Before What I Learned After
My first post in this series I mentioned to be aware of the quiet patient. I'd like to say I learned that lesson that day...but it didn't happen that way. [...]
Memorable Calls – My First Run as an EMT
This is the first in a series on emergency calls that have stuck in my head after all this time. After a couple decades in the field it's an odd [...]
Organizational Couch Potatoes – A False Sense of Preparedness
I was rummaging through some old files the other day and I came across my copy of the After Action Report (AAR) for Quakex97. This was a joint local, state [...]