No one ever said being a medic was easy. Do the best you can. Know your protocols. Use sedation with caution. Act on your patient’s behalf.
Category: Uncategorized
Blog Under Construction
I am pleased to announce the relaunch of my blog on a new server. I began this blog almost 20 years ago on the blogger network. Quite a number of years ago, I was recruited to move my blog over to an EMS network, which I did in hopes it would increase my viewership. They…
Pediatric Cardiac Arrest
I just watched a fantastic and very thoughtful lecture of pediatric cardiac arrest given by Dr. Peter Antevy as part of the Refresh2021 free national registry program, which I encourage everyone in EMS to sign up for. Register for Refresh 2021 When I precepted as a paramedic in 1995, my preceptor told me when we had a…
Connecticut EMS Overdose Data
In Connecticut, when EMS responds to an opioid overdose, after they have taken the patient to the hospital, accepted a refusal, or presumed a patient dead, they are required to contact the state poison control center and answer a series of questions about the overdose. The program, known as SWORD (Statewide Opioid Reporting Directive), that…
Ventilation and Prolonged Exposure
We are told to keep six feet of distance from each other, but how effective is this the distance in preventing the spread of COVID-19? The answer may well be, yes, it helps, but it is not the full answer. In a new article published in the British medical Journal provides a fuller view of…
Part-Time
For over twenty-five years I was a full time street medic. I have been part-time now for only a few months. I have tried to work at least 20 hours a week, but there have been a couple of weeks when I have only worked once, and one week where I did not work at…
Bizarre Foods Hartford
From 2012-2014, I kept up a blog called A Paramedic’s Guide to Take out in Hartford. I haven’t updated it since then, but am considering doing so. In the meantime, I came across this old entry called Bizarre Foods Hartford, and since all five restaurants are still operating (open for carryout), I thought I’d post…
A Boy
In 1999, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Hartford Courant about a police shooting in the city. The newspaper reported that an unarmed 14-year old black boy had been shot in the back by a white police officer. They put the story on the front page under the headline Family, Police Want Answers: No Weapon…
Harm Reduction
Connecticut’s harm reduction workers are out on the street everyday trying to make the world safer for those caught in substance use. This is particularly important in this time of COVID-19. I am often questioned whether or not harm reduction – syringe services, community naloxone, overdose prevention sites, drop-in centers– are not just enabling users….
I Can’t Breathe
I have heard many people say “I can’t breathe.” Sometimes the people are full of it, other times they are dying. I have also heard the response line, “You’re talking fine.” I’ve heard EMS say it and I’ve heard police say it. On May 25, 2020 , George Floyd said to officer Derek Chauvin, I…
A Visit
He is an old man with a stooped back, wearing tan work pants and shirt with his name on the right breast and his company’s name on the left. He has gotten out of his old Pontiac, and wearing a face mask, walks toward us as we come out of the dialysis center with an…
Surgical Masks and Aerosolization
COVID-19 is spread primarily in respiratory droplets. Here’s why you need to put a surgical mask on your patients and why we should all be wearing masks ourselves when we are in public. These illustrations come from a study by Vapotherm. COVID-19 Transmission Assessment Report
Shower
The fire department had three of their men in full gowns when we arrived. The patient was up on the fourth floor, unable to walk, they said. They weren’t certain what was wrong with him — he wasn’t answering questions–but he had been shaking and vomiting all morning, and he had just gotten out of…
A Home
A beautiful spring day. The sky is robin’s egg blue. The air smells like fresh cut grass. We cut our sirens on approach, and are driving now through the residential neighborhood. Kids are out on their bikes. There are joggers aplenty. Nearly every house has someone out beautifying their yard. Neighbors talk and laugh with…
Rick James, David Crosby and Mike Pence
A large man stands handcuffed, surrounded by six police officers by the side of the road. Nearby two citizens have their iPhones out recording. The man does not mince his words. “I’m going to kill all of you. I hate cops. I’m going to eat you. You’re gonna be in my belly.” It is clear…
Battle Royal
He is naked in the nursing home hallway, rolling over and over. We manage to get a sheet under him and lift him up onto our stretcher. His room air pulse saturation is 74–severely hypoxic. The nurse, who told us he was COVID positive, said he walks around the wing and can hold a normal…
Easter
I worked the city today, and after a slow start, banged out 5 calls, and then they sent us in. Volume is down, plus today, as a holiday, we get double time and a half. I could have stayed at the base and clocked the last three hours, but I wanted to get home to…
See-Saw
The see-saw emotions of this epidemic are unrelenting. The data is looking better. While Hartford continues to increase its hospitalizations, the numbers are slowing and both statewide and downstate, the numbers are going down. While there were another 41 deaths, this number is also starting to slow and be less that what was once feared. …
Rest Day
For the first time, net hospitalizations fell in Connecticut. Still 1,938 people remain hospitalized. Another 50 died. As I’ve mentioned I follow the patients EMS has brought into our hospital who test positive so I can alert EMS for them to check if they had any exposures. For the most part now, it seems they…
A Different Day
I worked twelve hours in the city today. My partner and I lucked out as far as the COVID calls went. I heard a ton of them go out, including a couple of cardiac arrests that sounded like they fit the bill of a person not feeling well for a couple of days with a…