Observations

I just received this AMBER Alert from Notify NYC:

Alert issued 04/30/10 at 2:25 PM. The NYS Police have issued an AMBER Alert for the abduction of a child, Shaylenn Brunson from Trinity Avenue in The Bronx at 4:30 AM. Shaylenn is a 4 year old black girl with black hair, blond streaks and brown eyes, 3 feet tall and 48 lbs. She was last seen wearing a white jacket, blue jeans, and pink sneakers. The suspect is Shyuana Brunson, 12 years old and 140 lbs last seen wearing a burgundy plaid shirt, blue jeans, and white Nike sneakers. If the children are seen, please contact 1-800-CRIMESTOPPER.

I added the italics.

Children abducting children at 4:30am on a school night.

It’s things like that which make me just want to go home and become a hermit instead of hearing about such a sad state of affairs. I hope in the end both Shaylenn and Shyuana find their way to someplace safe…

I love technology.

Yet as much as I love technology, there are times when it just goes wonky.

Like with Feedburner’s E-Mail Subscription that has failed to send out e-mails for a few days now.

Like FireFTP that just can’t seem to get past the 12.1mb mark of a 13mb file.

Like Callburner that seems to have decided to record one side of a two sided conversation.

Somedays I think I may just need to go old school…

I think there’s a trend there with all the burning and the fire themed technology going wonky on the same day.

Just sayin’.

Photo Credit: I Will Find The Droids I’m Looking For by Stefan on Flickr

Dear Midwest Ambulance Service,

I am writing this in response to the appearance of your ambulance and staff on the 2/15/10 episode of Monday Night RAW.

First, allow me to congratulate you on the appearance of your crew (both in neat and tidy uniforms) and the cleanliness of your ambulance (including the floor which, from experience, is not an easy thing to keep clean). They were a perfect representation for the industry of professionalism. Having previously worked with the Superstars of the WWE, I am sure they provided a great experience and atmosphere for your employees as they have for myself and my co-workers.

I do however have a gripe, because what would an open letter be without one? I fully understand that the removal of Brett Hart from the limousine (in fact the entire crash itself for that matter) was a staged event. While your employees were undoubtedly under the direction of the WWE producers and medical staff, I think it is important that we accept the responsibility of how we are portrayed on television even while under contract for entertainment purposes.

The fact that Brett was loaded into the back of the ambulance without any safety restraints engaged on the stretcher and then driven off does not send a good message to either the public or your fellow EMS providers. I understand your responders probably felt that to a certain extent they were “under the gun of the clock” by the WWE Producers, but having worked with them first hand I know that while they are indeed time conscious they are also mindful of delivering as authentic an experience to their audience as possible.

How long does it take to fasten a seatbelt? Roughly 1.6 seconds. As a collective we have a responsibility to both provide the highest quality of patient care and to represent that quality to the public accurately. Brett Hart should at least have been strapped in with the safety restraints.

I’d like to thank you for your forthcoming attention to the details that will represent us accurately as the professional and safe healthcare providers we all are.

Keepin’ It Real,

Dave

Over the course of 15 years I’ve probably done somewhere in the realm of 100-200 cardiac arrests. That really isn’t alot when you consider that it’s at most averaging about 10 a year in the median. I would have to say that out of that, I literally have 13 “pre-hospital” saves, meaning that the patient was found without a pulse and was brought into the ER with a pulse of their own and survived for 24 hours.

Out of those 13, there were 8 of them where we found CPR already in progress. While this is in no way a scientific measure, but merely an observation from my personal experience, it makes me think that we should make CPR mandatory knowledge.

While I may hesitate to make it a requirement for citizenship like the Pledge of Allegiance, at the very least it should be mandatory in high school… perhaps as part of the Physical Education curriculum.

CPR is not rocket science.

Thanks for to Rogue Medic for pointing out this great PSA video from the American Heart Association

One of the guys I used to work with sent me the link to this video of a fight in the waiting room of at Brookdale Hospital located in the East New York section of Brooklyn.

Tyler Durden would be proud…

So if these fights are happening before healthcare in America takes a socialist turn with a severely underfunded “public option”… what do you think is going to happen after?

Disclosure: For a brief time I worked the Brookdale Hospital 911 truck

For the benefit of those of you hiding under rocks or on vacation for the last month, there happens to be a debate going on over bills that are supposed to provide HealthCare Reform, including a Public HealthCare Option. While there are alot of issues regarding this, or to be more specific alot of issues regarding the vagueness of the current bill, there are two things that stand out to me above the fray that I don’t seem to hear anyone talking about.

So I might as well.

The first issue I see is the “incentive” payment plan primarily affecting doctor’s and hospitals. The theory is that if a patient comes in for an illness, is treated, and afterwards does not have complications or issues then the doctor and hospital get paid a set amount. If the patient DOES have complications, the additional cost incurred by the hospital/doctor will NOT be covered. Now while I think it is a good idea to hold hospitals and doctors accountable for positive outcomes, what incentive does the patient have to positive outcome?

Now of course in theory every patient’s incentive should be good health… but what about patients who are told to quit smoking, but don’t. Or patients who are told to lose weight, but don’t. Or patients who are told to stop drinking alcohol, but don’t. Is it fair to hold healthcare providers responsible for patients who choose not to listen to them? At what point does medical advice infringe on a patient’s liberties and freedoms… or for that matter at what point does a non-compliant patient’s action infringe on the liberties and freedoms of the healthcare provider?

This of course brings up another issue… RMAs. If a patient Refuses Medical Aid on the scene of a car accident, but then goes to the doctor the next day, is the public going to have to pay for that doctor’s visit even though the patient initially refused medical aid?

Something to think about. Maybe the government should look at ways to incentivize me as well.

The second issue has to do with the whole saving money through better efficiency. While I’m a big fan of electronic records for patient, I can’t help but wonder how a hospital’s record keeping department feels about it. So I have to wonder, how many jobs will we lose through this process? What is the government going to do for these people who have been made obsolete through efficiency?

I may be entirely off base with my concerns here… and if I am, feel free to tell me…

I have to thank Applicant for this post. I found them through a StumbleUpon spree last night while listening absent mindedly to Congressman Scott (D-Ga-13th District) have an emotional implosion during a town hall on healthcare reform when pushed on the issue by one of his constituents that was being replayed on CNN. I thought their post had more relevance. The actual post I landed on had this image:

Now those of you who are observant may point out the use of the word “wanker” and “post” to probably identify it as a UK incident. Chances are that you are indeed correct considering the slang, but that doesn’t change the underlying lesson to be learned.

What you say on a social network is representative of your employer, your family, and most importantly you as a person. Being careless on social networks with your words can lead to problems with any of the above.

“But the First Amendment protects my freedom of speech!“, you may say… to which I will inform you that while it does in fact protect your right to free speech, it does not guarantee you protection of employment for that speech. This goes back to my Responder Do’s and Responder Don’ts when using Social Media… although it really can apply to everybody. Even if you use your social networking for strictly personal reasons, speaking ill of your employer is something not to take lightly.

Historically speaking The Well, a virtual community since 1985, had a policy of You Own Your Own Words (YOYOW). The words you use to update your status, post, or comment are yours.

You need to own (and own up to) them.

Source: Applicant

This past weekend I had the joy of spending a thrilling day at the 4-Wheel Jamboree at The Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, Vermont. Of course it wasn’t without it’s slight snag, a 5 hour trip to Vermont took 7 and a half thanks to Mother Nature dumping precipitation on I-95 the entire way up. She did however make up for it with a beautiful sunny Saturday for the show.

My favorite of the day was Spike Unleashed being driven by Rich Hilgendorf! Now I know, being a member of the service I technically should have been behind Jeremy Slifko and Backdraft, but I have an unusual kinship with all things canine.

An interesting thing happened after the introduction of the 8 driver’s and their trucks. The announcer asked for anyone who works in “law enforcement, fire, or EMS” to stand up. On his second call he said “medical field”, but the first time still counts! He then asked everyone to give those standing a round of applause for all that they do. Why is this so important? Because he actually mentioned EMS. It impressed me in a very positive way.

The show itself was great. As it turned out, about a minute into his freestyle, Spike Unleashed flipped over. The response on the field was very quick, as in 10 seconds or so to get to the overturned truck. Not only did Hilgendorf come out unharmed, he was able to drive Spike off the field to the roar of the crowd.

As I was watching Spike drive off the field, I kind of just chuckled to myself knowing that had we been in New York, just the mechanism of injury alone would have required Hilgendorf to get a full c-spine immobilization or sign an RMA stating that he knows he could die by not having that done.

On a somewhat happier note though, whenever I go to these exotic locations I always check and see what the venue EMS is like. Having worked events in some of the world’s most famous venues, I often find that they would prefer to have you hidden away in the basement than to allow people the notion that something might actually go wrong. It’s the Disney Experience Theory gone insane. Thankfully The Champlain Valley Exposition doesn’t share those same fears…

Right there in all it’s blue and white glory is a trailer that proudly proclaims the Emergency Medical Services. Even though Spike was done for the day, seeing that trailer put a nice big smile on my face.