Combo Medic

"THE KID PRESIDENT" Going Beyond to Achieve Amazing!!! Sometimes inspiration comes from some strange places...really I'm taking advice from "The Kid President." But I must say, we all should. Watch the clip above. I have watched and discussed this clip many times since I watched on my TED app. The story of this young individual is truly amazing. This video is even more amazing. If you watch the clip and take it at face value it is already something that we should be doing. The Kid President makes a great point. Aren't we all on the same team. The story of today, the story of Easter shows just how much we are on the same team. The captain that led the team has sacrificed more than any of use, but we commonly think that just because we wear a different uniform, or a different title we are truly competitors. If you are a career firefighter you better than those that aren't, when really we take the same classes, we respond to the same type ca

I will be posting my daily post later on this evening, but I wanted to say HAPPY EASTER to everyone. 

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to have every call go as it did with the responders on the show Rescue 911.  First of all, I know that not all of my readers will understand or remember what Rescue 911 was, but many of us will.  Now, it is nothing like the show "Emergency."  In this instance, these calls were real, however they were recreated for the purposes of the show. Rescue 911was hosted by William Shatner, use Captain Kirk himself, would take viewers through cases well beyond the regular call of duty.  These calls were ones where the rescuer was behind the "eight ball" and shouldn't have been able to rescue the victim...but, in the end the reunion was always a tremendous thing as the victim came out of the hospital ready to take life by the horns again. My grandmother would always use Rescue 911 in her CPR teachings at Dentist offices and day cares.  Why, the rescuers would never be thrown up on, and nobody would ever die.  Sounds l

I have eluded to it in my prior editions, but unlike the past, I now receive all my news electronically.  Even if I do receive a print copy of something I will see if I can find it electronically then recycle the print version.  Now, like most of us I don't have the opportunity to go through every website and review the content to see if there any anything that they have reported on that I would like to see.  First, the content changes so rapidly today, and second there are just so many sites and blogs that I like to read it would literally take forever.  There are still some that I would like to report on, but for the most part, they would be out of date by now. So for these reason I utilize an RSS feed that published new content directly to me the minute it comes out and I review it at my whim.  Additionally, I have the papers on my iPad, and I have news outlets (local and national) that I love to watch.  So for that reason I am going to start putting together a week-in-revi

CISM in the Classroom: Episode 165 I started to talk a little about it last night, but tonight I am going to talk about stress in a little bit different way.  In last nights edition, I spoke about the development of stress through our constant work schedules.  Tonight I am going to talk about the actual stress of our jobs.  Emergency services all around has a difficult task of going into places that most people would like to block from their heads.  I'm sure you've heard it, it has been in every emergency services type movie, "we are the ones running into places other people are running out of" (or at least some variation).  Those that say that line are right though.  My brethren in the police, fire, and EMS agencies continue to experience things to the likes most of us never want to see again.  We see individuals taking the lives of others in a movie theater in Colorado, or another that walks into a kindergarden and takes the lives of several innocent children

There are times in which an individual must just get away from it all, and put down the smartphones, tablets, and computers, and pick up something outside the field of EMS and Fire.  Really, I say that right.  You all have been following me for the past month and a half and listening to the different tales that I have told, and followed the literary journeys I have taken you on.  But...there are times in which one must get away from it all.  Every semester when we conduct a new interview process for our Paramedic Program we try to talk with the individuals and see what they have going on in theirs lives.  Not that we are nosey, or just want to pry into individuals lives, we try and see what escapes these individuals have before they start into the paramedic program.  Now if you go an interview a dozen, two dozen, or even a hundred medical school students in their first years you will find that most are already at the point of burnout and are preparing to drop out of the progra

Rome wasn't built in a day...that is just one of the comments you hear when you start to get impatient about something that you want to have happen.  Now, if you are like me you hate that comment.  Well good for them, but I want my ice cream now!  Ok, enough of me complaining, time for the rest of the story (gotta love Paul Harvey).  Now Rome may not have been build in a day, but you know that they were trying their best to make it happen.  The ruling party, the architects, and the builders were all doing their best to make it what they wanted it to be, and they did it in a timely fashion, which is no different then we should be operating on a daily basis as well.  Now, we may not all be building Rome, but we are still building the Fire and EMS services here in our country, and across the globe.  Every day, our Police, Fire, and EMS personnel wake up in the morning to report to their agency and work.  Some providers may work the night shift while others swing shifts, some wo

Just a couple short weeks ago, I mentioned on my facebook account that I was looking for topic ideas to feature here on the #COMBOMEDIC.  It wasn't long will a brother in arms brought up the idea of talking about the automatic CPR devices.  Now, it was quite interesting that I had just received an e-mai back from our physician medical director about his thoughts of these types of devices. It is that time of year again when we start discussing our budgets and putting together proposals to purchase quality equipment to ensure that we are staying in tune with the educational requirements, as well as staying in tune to what our community of practice is using.  March 15, 2013, the Memphis Fire Department ( Article ) purchases another 21 Physiocontrol Lucas 2 devices to place these devices on all front line apparatus.  Physio Control is just one provider of these automatic type devices, Zoll also provides the Autopulse. If you read into the research conducted into CPR, the biggest

" He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." (US Constitution) Now, this isn't going to be a lesson on the US Constitution, but we expect the President of the United States to get up in front of both the House and Senate and provide his viewpoint of where the country is politically.  This speech is written months in advance and the topics are carefully crafted and tested to make sure they have the best impact.  Once the State of the Union is done, the President's staff starts the political spin, and members of Congress start working their way around the country, as does the President, to sell the speech.  We expect this from our nation's leaders, just not the leaders of the emergency services protecting our nation's capital.   The State of the Union is provided annually.  This event is well know and is conducted lik

A couple of nights ago I had the privilege to listen to my old fire department responding to a large commercial fire.  I was pretty far away from the response, so I was actually able to listen to the response via the internet (gotta love technology).  I started listening well after the response started, in fact, by the time I started listening it was already into the 2nd alarm assignment and two walls of the structure had already collapsed.  So while listening I was able to post some of the things I was listening (as to maintain integrity) and acted as a social media based PIO, and what came the next few minutes and the next 12 hours was kind of interesting.  Here is some of what happened.  First, notifications were starting to be made relating to a fire that was extending from the original event to a nice restaurant (that my wife really loves...ok so do I) nearby.  Now, this is not uncommon for large fires to pass on, but after I mentioned this a friend that saw my commentary fro

I mentioned the other day that I really liked stories where the lay people and professionals and come together for a common goal, for a common good.  In that article I posted about the two individuals in South Dakota who dove into a foaming river that was ice cold and ravaging down the banks to save a young child who had fallen into the grasp of the raging waters.  Even when it cost their own lives.   Daily I receive about 300 RSS feed posts from others blogs, to editorials written on ems1.com or JEMS, Firehouse magazine or even CNN Health.  These rss feeds provide me an opportunity to overview the headlines and see what stories I like, which stories I want to read about, what stories I may even want to write about, but overall it is a great way to stay in touch with the field and the changes that continually happen.   Since Monday, I have received three stories which speak volumes about how gracious people are when faced with adversity.   Jogging Off-duty N.Y. Cops Help

video from KTLA5 (ktla.com)Kellan Conner reporting. I first heard about the potential for Virtual Heads Up Display (HUD) glasses a couple of years ago, and man I tell you the tech side of me was positively happy...what could be better, glasses that combines all the neat play toys in the world all at the sound of your voice. I love tech and it is really difficult to keep me away from getting the biggest and best now toys on the market (ok maybe price will), but I got to thinking about these glasses. I quick search on google images will show you the outlook for their design, and it kind of reminds be of Mr. LeForge on Star Trek, The Next Generation. Now, I have already said that I think these things will be really cool, but they do come with a down side. Today, EMS.com published a editorial by Mr. Art Hsieh, a very well respected individual in the EMS community, and one who opinion can only be considered expert in this field. In his editorial he brought up the pros of these

  So you are saying this is the COMBOMEDIC, and not an olympic tracking blog.  And besides that aren't we 324 days away from the next Winter Olympics anyways.  You would be right, I am simply using the olympic balance beam as a segway into the next topic that I wanted to mention.  Now, as I start I want to thank my wife for the topic.  When I asked yesterday I received two great topics and I wanted to get to this one now and I will be writing on the second topic early next week.  When she told me the topic all she said was balance, and I must say that it flew around my head a few minutes before it landed (needed a little more info too).  Then she mentioned the need for families in the emergency services field to come up with a way to balance their work life, and home life.  Now, I am certainly not the first person to say this, nor is emergency services the only profession that must do this, but it is imperative for our personnel to make this distinction and to work on this ba

It you use Twitter to follow anybody in EMS, you will certainly have hard that the son of FDNY Fire Commissioner has now resigned from his position as an EMT for his use of the 140 character microblog service.  Now, the FDNY isn't going to have a problem with the use of the service, but they will have a problem with derogatory comments that affect much of their vast community. The New York Daily News  (Article)  is one of many news agencies that has carried this story.  Joseph Cassano started to take heat as news of his twitter posts began to hit the wires.  The Fire Commissioner's son was using the Twitter service to express his displeasure at population groups following calls in the capacity of EMT.  Now, evidently his motives for serving in the FDNY EMT corp was to gain a position in the fire department that his dad serves as the leader.  While serving in this capacity, Mr. Cassano made racist and insensitive remarks about people that he was called to serve, as well as

deviantart.com When I set out to do the COMBOMEDIC, I wasn't sure what I really wanted it to be.  I have read those form the PodMedic, RogueMedic, Everyday EMS Tips and many many more.  Each one seems to have a unique pitch and view on the emergency services community and it was really hard to pick a niche outside what is already there.  For the past 12 years I have served in both the fire service, EMS and emergency management and have been working on my education in all areas as well. So what were my goals for the COMBOMEDIC.  Well first of all, I wanted a forum to write my thoughts about topics of the day, or multiple topics in a day.  And I think I have really been able to accomplish that.  I have been able to discuss why I think there is issues with an organization not proving CPR to an individual who could have used the help, to an individual surviving a fall from 8000 feet.  It really has been fun, and hopefully you have been able to enjoy the topics as well. Secondl

Sleep deprivation a problem...not is you ask responders in the Fire and EMS. If you ask researchers it is. I have been reading a lot of articles lately on the effects of sleep deprivation on emergency responders and the results aren't good. Now, as a badge of honor emergency responders (police, fire , and EMS) live to respond and will do it every opportunity they can. Fire and EMS traditionally responder work a variety of shifts many of which are variations of a 24 hour rotation.  During these shifts, those responders are required to complete training, station duties, truck inventories and check-offs, as well as respond to the number of routine and emergency calls for service that are phoned in during a given rotation.  In addition, when you do have an opportunity to sleep, that sleep is interrupted by additional calls or simply that you don't achieve a deep sleep to allow you to hear your call. Now sleep deprivation has an effect on multiple things, two of which I

I'm going to venture to say this guy will be a wine drinker for the rest of his life after a vineyard saved his life. How many people can actually say they have survived a fall from 8000 feet. The answer, nobody, and probably will never see this happen again. For anybody that has ever went skydiving, or studied the art of parachutes, you know that when you jump, the odds of your primary chute failing is extemely low. If you are in that minority, the chance that your reserve chute also fails is lower than zero percent. Well ok, maybe not that low, but you get the picture. In this instance, the patient was subjected to just that, his primary and secondary chute failed and his only wish was that he didn't land on a spike becuase it would be messy. Instead he landed in a vineyard after a 30mph flight through the sky. Now, as an emergency responder, what would you have expected to see when you arrive. First off, you prepare with the scene, bsi, but then you realize t

As emergency responders on the job, we are responsible for the response, detection, on-scene care, care  in-transit, transfer to definitive care, and reporting of our patients injuries or illnesses.  When the star of life was created in 1977, each spoke of the star was given a term that corresponded with an aspect of our responsibility. Naples News (www.naplesnews.com) in Collier County Florida presented a cose that was rebroadcast on www.EMSWORLD.com regarding the loss an an adult due to circumstances the parents state were unacceptable.  In review of this case, a 25 year old male patient went into cardiac arrest which prompted his parent to dial 911.  At this point the contact made to the emergency services system was consistent with any call.  The call was made by the mother of the patient after the father found the son struggling to breath in his bed.  The call was then answered on the other line by the 911 call process who took all the information and then started the proces

Who should know CPR...really, EVERYONE! Now, when you listen to instructions from people, some will say it's so easy even a kid can do it. And this time it is true. Wow, truly a great story coming out of Marietta GA as rebroadcast on www.EMS1.com. A mother was screaming when she realized that her infant wasn't breathing. In steps the responders...two kids? Yep that is right two kids who learned the steps of CPR from signs in their own school were able to instruct the mother on how to do CPR and now the infant is alive to continue bringing joy to her family. Over the years, CPR has changed drastically. First you weren't able to do compressions if you felt a pulse, now you can. Before the biggest emphasis was on opening the airway and breathing, and now it is on compressions. Before you had to attend a lengthy CPR course to receive certification, and now the American Heart Association has utilized commercials to instruct on their Push Hard and Fast Campaign.

I can't help it...I really enjoy hearing stories about people taking the risks associated with helping others. Now, I completly advocate for calculated risks, and in this event the bystanders thought the risk of their lives versus that of a 6 year old child was a good exchange, and for the 6 year old it was. Now professional rescuers are looking for those that entered the raging river in hopes of a successful outcome. South Dakota rescuers are attempting to mitigate minimal visability from a foam riddled river looking for the two individuals who rescued a boy. As reporters state, the Foam is a by-product of chemical agents that are leaked into the river causing grave circumstances for the two. Now those very same responders are presuming those two individuals have drown in the icy river in which they were able to extricate the 6 year old from. (http://www.emsworld.com/news/10894951/woman-man-drown-in-icy-south-dakota-river) Take Care and Stay Safe! Combomedic twitter

If you didn't know, I have been working on a project with Greg Friese, Rob Theriault, and Bill Toon who are the co-hosts of the EMS Educast (www.emseducast.com).  This project is known as the EMS Educast Mini Edition.  We have put together 4 episodes so far to go along with their regular EMS Educast, and we find topics of interest that will help the EMS Education community.  As these episodes  continue to post, I am going to put a little more information here about how the topic was developed. In the latest edition that posted this morning (15 Mar 2013), I discuss relate sports with EMS education. Now, I was once a professional basketball fan and loved to watch Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bull as they went for the 6 National Championships.  It was a sight to see, a cohesive team operation that while it focused on a superstar, each member would step up and show what needed to be done in those last clutch minutes.  BJ Armstrong, a young talented athlete would control the flow of

 On a national level, EMS services in Washington DC and Detroit have taken a beating lately regarding the operational aspects of their services.  From local reporting in Detroit and DC to national attention on Firehouse.com and JEMS.com, these services have been hit for potential mismanagement and operations hazardous to the lives they are charged with protecting. Now, both of these situations are very public and magnified due to the overall size of their department.  Are the DCFD and DFD the only departments that are experiencing, or have ever experienced this...the answer would be no, but because they are under a microscope, all problems will be visable. Detroit Fire Department . Charlie Leduff of Fox2 Detroit has been an open source of review for the Detroit Fire Department. Over the last several months, his investigative journal reports have gone "viral" being reposted to youtube, and rebroadcast through other services such as Firehouse.com, EMS1.com

It has been an interesting morning, and you know this because I am actually submitting this blog first thing this morning (ok, maybe not first thing...but you know what I'm talking about).  I have been out of my office since last Friday, and I am just now catching up on my rss feeds.  Now, like many of you I have multiple RSS feeds dedicated to the fields of fire and EMS, as well as to the Healthcare field.  As you can image, these feed boxes were jam packed with articles that have circulated since last Friday and just ready for me to read over their words.  There were several good articles, some that were just funny, and one that left me thinking I needed to watch Silence of the Lambs again (strange HUH!).  In looking over these RSS feeds, I found a common topic that I thought was interesting.  Now, what was intersting was the topic was common, but the outcomes were anything but.  As you can tell by the little picture I included with this version it has to do with ambulances

Yesterday, I was privileged to have an opportunity to speak with rising Freshmen students from two neighboring counties.  These students were learning about a "Day in the life of a College Student" and were presented with the arts, sciences, and our tremendous Paramedic Program.  During this opportunity, one of the students asked a question regarding the highest authorized speed an ambulance can drive.  Now, I understand the basis behind his question, but it made me think while I answered.  Now, I have driven fire trucks, ambulances, and support vehicles through vast amount of roadways in both perfect conditions and not-so-perfect conditions.  I have driven them quickly, and no-so-quickly, and luckily I was never involved in an accident.  Now over the years, I quickly became more mature when driving and truly embodied the principles noted below in the Tennessee Codes Annotated. With due regard for safety...what does that mean.  Driving an emergency response apparatus is