Archive for July, 2009

Here are some blog posts from EMS Bloggers this past week that I found to be sadly the case too often, informative for the future, and things I wish I had known 10 years ago…

• The Bitter American tells a sad tale of a municipal service belittling another service member for actually providing appropriate care. On one hand it’s no secret that the Philadelphia Fire Department EMS has one of, if not the, worst reputation as a system to work for so I can understand the medic being jaded but irregardless there is no excuse for being unprofessional especially when dealing with other EMS providers
• Greg Friese offers some important tips for those of us embarking on the back to school path this year for either their original certification or looking for that upgrade.
• On the 10th Anniversary of Woodstock ‘99, Steve Whitehead gave an indepth explanation of what GHB actually is. Sadly we didn’t have his expertise in Rome that weekend, otherwise I might have chosen that and won the Blood Panel Toxicology Pool instead of unwisely choosing crack cocaine

And finally…

• Medic 7 made an observation about those 3:00am calls we sometimes get that can make us roll our eyes… when in reality those are the people in that moment who need us the most

Tonight I’m leaving to go see monster trucks in Vermont. Raaaawwwwwrrrrrrr!!!

I hope you have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

A friend of mine linked to a Washington Post article about world-renowned musician Joshua Bell performing in the Washington DC Metro. While the article is actually from 2007 there is a timeless lesson to be learned from it. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Three minutes went by before something happened. Sixty-three people had already passed when, finally, there was a breakthrough of sorts. A middle-age man altered his gait for a split second, turning his head to notice that there seemed to be some guy playing music. Yes, the man kept walking, but it was something.

A half-minute later, Bell got his first donation. A woman threw in a buck and scooted off. It was not until six minutes into the performance that someone actually stood against a wall, and listened.

Things never got much better. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.

The point of the actual article is more to create an inflection in the fact that we might move our lives at such a quick pace that we miss things of great beauty everyday. I’m a believer that beauty, like quality, is actually in the eye of the beholder.

However that is not the portion I want to focus on. The obvious analogy that comes quickly to mind, at least my own, after reading this story and thinking about messages is the age old: If a tree falls in the woods but no one hears it, does it make a sound?

The fact that Joshua Bell played the masterpieces anonymously and with little announcement undoubtedly lead to part of the seemingly apathetic reaction of the crowd. The greater mistake was that he did not make a connection with his impromptu audience. In fact he went to a place where an audience that he might otherwise naturally make a connection with did not necessarily even exist.

Five Tips On Getting Your Message Noticed

So here are five tips to help avoid the pitfalls of playing your masterpieces to little or no audience:

• Go to where your audience has already gathered
• Announce yourself by offering value to the audience
• Connect with your audience individually and, most importantly, thoughtfully
• Clearly communicate a summary of your message
• Don’t become a broken record and constantly repeat your message in the same way because eventually people will just tune you out completely

Make sure you get heard by the right people, at the right time, with the right delivery of your message.

Source: The Washington Post

Awhile ago there was a Lincoln Park, Michigan 911 Operator who refused to send an ambulance because the caller was cursing during the call. So when I caught sight of this tweet today it got my mind to thinking about what the conversation between Meghan McCain (who lives in New York City) and the 911 Operator who answered the phone when she called might have been like:

911 Operator: 9-1-1, what borough is your emergency?

Meghan McCain: Um, it’s not actually in a borough

911 Operator: What city is it in?

Meghan McCain: Umm, not too sure, maybe Seattle

911 Operator: Maybe Seattle? Do you have any definite information?

Meghan McCain: Well I know it’s someone who may have wanted to kill themselves 8 hours ago

911 Operator: 8 hours ago? Are you sure about this?

Meghan McCain: Of course I am! It’s on the Internet! It must be true!

911 Operator: Stay right where you are ma’am, we’re dispatching an ambulance to your location right now for your psychiatric emergency

In all fairness I have no idea how the actual conversation occurred, but that’s my imaginative one. Here are a few more of Meghan’s tweets regarding that incident:

What is she referring to you may be wondering? She’s talking about the middle tweet in this screenshot of three:

Here’s a Twhirl snippet of Rolson141’s Twitter profile from earlier yesterday:

Rolson141 seemed to tweet out his desperation to both Meghan McCain and Martha Stewart after he spent 8 hours celebrating Sarah Palin leaving office. Meghan McCain, by her own admission, found out 8 hours after the fact, but at least she took action. Although she seemed a bit undecided about what to do for a few minutes, I applaud her for actually listening to those who interact with her on Twitter.

Martha Stewart however kept it real by continuing her corporate mongering ways and showing a complete disinterest in those who continue to indulge her and keep her out of the poor house:

Martha Stewart recently made some pretty snide remarks about how Twitter was superior to Facebook. In an interview at The Daily Beast she heralded Twitter as the best thing since sliced white bread when saying:

“First of all, you don’t have to spend any time on it, and, second of all, you reach a lot more people. And I don’t have to ‘befriend’ and do all that other dippy stuff that they do on Facebook.”

I didn’t realize that listening to others, engaging people, and building relationships was a “dippy” thing to do. Does that mean that since Facebook has 250 Million users, there are 250 Million Dipsticks in Martha Stewart’s view of the world? Well there is certainly 1.2 million dipsticks on Twitter… those that are actually following Martha Stewart.

As for Rolson141, well I guess now he knows who his REAL friends are… and Martha Stewart isn’t one of them.

Meghan McCain is a writer for The Daily Beast, but did not do the Martha Stewart interview. Perhaps Meghan should take the time to educate Martha on just what Social Media is really about.

The family of Caroline Wimmer have filed a lawsuit against the Fire Department of New York, FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, and The City of New York over a photo of the deceased in her apartment taken after her murder.

EMT Mark Musarella took the photo with his camera phone and then posted it on Facebook. Musarella was employed by Richmond University Medical Center at the time of the incident. RUMC is a participating hospital in the New York City 911 System that is overseen and dispatched by the FDNY. RUMC terminated his employment when they were made aware of the photograph in May. Musarella was also charged with Official Misconduct.

I knew this would happen.

EMS Agencies that continue to ignore Social Media and do not provide guidance to their Responders will find themselves in these quagmires of bad publicity and open to litigious actions. Do your agency a favor, create a Social Media Policy and communicate it clearly.

Source: SILive.com

Here are some blog posts from EMS Bloggers this past week that I found to be clarifying, scary, and the best 60 minutes I spent with my iPod all week…

• Rogue Medic provided a plain english translation for the Trooper Daniel Martin Press Release.
• Tom Reynolds points out that the conditioning of children to surrender their privacy is already underway. It makes me scared of what else we’ll be surrendering through conditioning
• Buck Feris also has Tom Reynolds on this week’s episode of Copy Code Three. Seriously, if you haven’t subscribed to it yet… what the hell are you waiting for?

And finally…

• One of my new favorite blogs to read is In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog. It provides a view of what we do from the most important perspective, that of the citizen. Since quality is in the eye of the beholder, this is a view we should all take into account more often when making our grand response plans. The post this week, Debunking Myths/Learning How To Use Social Media During Disasters, is also something more agencies need to consider

Have a safe weekend.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol have FINALLY released the findings of their investigation into the May 24th incident between OHP Trooper Daniel Martin and Paramedic Maurice White. OHP Public Information Officer Captain Chris West held a press conference yesterday where he read from a statement the findings of the internal OHP Investigation.

According to the statement West read, Trooper Daniel Martin will be suspended for 5 days without pay beginning Wednesday July 22 and concluding on Tuesday July 28, 2009 for “conduct unbecoming an officer”. Trooper Daniel Martin will also be required to go for an anger management assessment. Trooper Daniel Martin has been on paid administrative leave since June 1.

According to Captain West the OHP found that Trooper Martin had the right to stop the ambulance and had justification to arrest Paramedic White for obstructing an officer.

Obviously there is something seriously wrong in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. They seem to only wish to enforce the laws they want to when it is convenient and protective of themselves as opposed to Oklahoma laws passed to protect EMTs and Paramedics. Then again, did we expect anything different from the state that legalized upskirt photography.

This decisions stinks worse than a rotting fish. When a decision like this stinks so badly it’s because, like a fish, it stinks from the head down.

Chief of the OHP, Colonel Van M. Guillotte should consider himself an ineffective leader and a liability to both his department and the public. He should tender his resignation immediately or he should be removed by those with the authority to do so.

If those with the authority to do so fail to act, then they should not be re-elected to their position.

People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people. -V

SOURCE: Fox23.com

UPDATE: OHP Slaps Trooper Daniel Martin On The Wrist!

While the world continues to await the Oklahoma Highway Patrol’s verdict of it’s ambulance traffic stopping Trooper, the Paramedic that Trooper Daniel Martin is seen holding in a chokehold has filed a lawsuit against him for his actions at the incident in May.

According to Fox, Paramedic Maurice White is seeking punitive and compensatory damages against Trooper Daniel Martin. The lawsuit ascertains that Trooper Daniel Martin used unreasonable force during the traffic stop. The lawsuit is also highly critical of the lack of action taken by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol over the last two months.

Trooper Daniel Martin has been on paid administrative leave since June 1. It has been previously reported by the OHP’s own PIO that the investigation was concluded sometime ago, and yet there had been no word from the OHP as to the findings of the investigation. Now that Paramedic Maurice White finally files a lawsuit, the OHP is suddenly ready to disclose the action to be taken with Trooper Daniel Martin.

I can’t help but feel that no matter what the outcome is with Trooper Daniel Martin, that Colonel Van M. Guillotte should also tender his resignation immediately for incompetence through gross inaction.

If we cannot trust the CHIEF of the OHP to be able to be fair, just, and quick when his people have acted wrongfully, then why should we trust ANY of the OHP to do the right thing?

There is no reason why. Send Trooper Daniel Martin and his incompetent boss Colonel Van M. Guilliotte to the unemployment line.

Source: FOX News

I find this utterly amazing.

Oklahoma Trooper Daniel Martin is still on paid leave, and Captain Chris West told The Oklahoman the investigation into his actions back in May has been “wrapped up for some time now”.

“There’s no doubt this is a slow play,” said Richard O’Carroll who is Paramedic Maurice White’s attorney. “They’re just hoping to stall long enough so that you guys will stop asking questions.”

I have to agree with Richard O’Carroll in this. We’ve all seen the original video, we’ve seen the dashcam video, we’ve heard from the Trooper’s lawyer, we’ve heard from the patient, and the public has spoken. The only people we haven’t heard anything solid from are the people who oversee Trooper Daniel Martin.

The Oklahoma State Troopers obviously need to take a lesson from the Police Chief of Lincoln Park, Michigan who was quick and decisive when taking action against his offending officer. Dragging this out is only going to make the scrutiny that much worse on the decision rendered.

Really.

Source: NewsOK.com

One day when I was in 5th grade, at the ripe old age of 11, I decided that I should take the free time I had in class to write a letter to Santa Claus. A few of my classmates asked me what I was doing, to which I told them about my correspondence with Father Christmas. I was quickly mocked by them for my missive.

One of them went so far as to ask me, “How can you believe that Santa Claus is real?”

I answered his inquisition as any good boy would, “Because my mother says so.”

Last week FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate gave the keynote address at the Natural Hazards Workshop in Bloomfield, Colorado. You can read a great summary of his speech at In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog. I would like to focus on one particular aspect of the summary from Fugate’s speech:

He noted a pervasive feeling within government that somehow citizen-generated content is “suspect”. But he said that it is time “to trust the public,” adding with a laugh, “They are not evil.” Fugate said officials have to understand that they “cannot control it” but instead “need to harness it.”

Fugate held up his smart phone at the podium calling it his “tricorder” in its ability to do so much eliciting laughs and appreciation from some in the crowd.

Craig Fugate says that harnessing the power of Social Media and the mobile power it holds is what needs to be done. If you have ever doubted what I said before about the need for EMS Agencies to have Social Media Policies or the need to become a trusted information source in a crisis… then let that doubt end now.

Why?

Because Craig Fugate says so.

For those of you who would try to make a point that obviously I am naive since I seemingly believe what I am told so readily, allow me to point out a relatively famous Op-Ed regarding the existence of Santa Claus. Therefore, while I still believe in Santa Claus because my mother says so… I believe in the power of Social Media because I have witnessed it and have evangelized it since before Craig Fugate gave his speech.