Today in “Alan’s Monday Morning Memo” he mentions the perseverance of the Chilean miners as they survived and were rescued. He also rightfully highlights that

The heroes were the engineers and medical people on the surface who acted with calmness, speed, and precision.

Medical, EMS and rescue teams are surely the superstars in this global story, but they are not the ones who will be compensated as such, for just like the miners:

All they were trying to do when they went down there was to earn an honest day’s pay for their families.

I am requesting that you ( yes you reading this) download the following form and complete them for yourself. Have your family members do the same.

Health Care Proxy and File of Life

EMS providers make some of the worst patients (myself included).  We all get sick, and accidents happen. Save yourself or your family unnecessary stress by having pertinent information available for your colleagues.

Recently Steve showed me his HANYS Health Care Proxy Wallet Card.  I encourage you and your significant other to complete one, and carry yours and a copy of your paramour’s as well.

We added the Health Care Proxy Card to our Resources Page with the updated File of Life sheets.

Complete them now, and put them in your purse/wallet/planner today.

Related:
File of Life
Five Wishes and their Advanced Directive Agent (read only) Form.

Wish 1: The Person I Want to Make Care Decisions for Me When I Can’t
Wish 2: The Kind of Medical Treatment I Want or Don’t Want
Wish 3: How Comfortable I Want to Be
Wish 4: How I Want People to Treat Me
Wish 5: What I Want My Loved Ones to Know

To protect Emergency Service workers from the inherent risks of roadway work, enforcement, and rescue, the New York State Senate enacted the “Ambrose-Searles Move Over Act” in August of this year. This legislation, which takes effect January 1, 2011, requires

every operator of a motor vehicle to exercise due care to avoid colliding with an authorized emergency vehicle which is parked, stopped or standing on the shoulder or any portion of a highway.

The law was named after New York State Trooper Robert Ambrose and Onondaga County Deputy Sheriff Glenn Searles, both of whom were killed in collisions along the roadway.

The law enforcement community has supported the adoption of this legislation for many years and is particularly relevant in light of the increase in the number of distractions (GPS, mobile devices with texting and email, in car movies, etc).

Prior to the adoption of the Move Over Act, NY regulations required every driver to reduce their speed when approaching a stopped emergency vehicle as described in Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) Section 1180(e):

drive at an appropriate reduced speed when … approaching and passing by an emergency situation involving any authorized emergency vehicle which is parked, stopped or standing on a highway and which is displaying one or more red or combination red, white, and/or blue lights

This new legislation hopefully will put a safer distance with the required reduction in speed.

The new VTL Section 1144(a):

Every operator of a motor vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with an authorized emergency vehicle which is parked, stopped or standing on the shoulder or any portion of such highway and such authorized emergency vehicle is displaying one or more red or combination red and white lights… For operators of motor vehicles on parkways or controlled access highways, such due care shall include, but not be limited to, moving from a lane which contains or is immediately adjacent to the shoulder where such authorized emergency vehicle displaying one or more red or combination red and white lights…

Move Over America is a national campaign to educate Americans about the “Move Over” laws. New York State is one of the last three states in the country to enact this safety legislation. Sadly,

As of July, New York state had the most officers struck and killed across all years – 110.

Draw your own conclusion and drive safely!

There are resources specifically for the fire service and media materials including radio public service announcements.

Related: Fire Prevention Week 2009

OurBoots.ca

To reduce preventable injuries and fatalities and promote workspace safety for emergency service workers – because their workplace is every place.

via

The US has taken a monetary penalty approach to getting passengers to use their seat belts. The US DOT and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also continue to promote restraint and other vehicle safety on the roads. There is also a Traffic Safety Marketing site with free resources for running your own campaign.

Across “the pond” in the United Kingdom, awareness has taken a life-saving focus.

The Sussex Safer Roads Partnership is campaigning for occupants to “Embrace Life” and realize the importance of wearing a safety restraint. The “Embrace Life” video has been seen by millions of people throughout the world, with no monetary penalty.

Related:
Distracted Driving
Speed Limit Reduction Ads
NAVY Seat Belt Commercial

The ResQMe is a simple, compact and easy to use device for escaping from a vehicle. I have personally used a ResQMe for gaining entry into vehicles when vehicle doors are jammed and the occupants are entrapped and unconscious.

The window punch spike easily shatters tempered glass on the side windows of a vehicle. As with other safety devices, the ResQMe also has a safety belt/restraint cutter built in. I never have had to use the blade, but I can attest to the window spike/punch performing as advertised.

Below is a brief video of the window punch in action.

The LifeHammer is the older cousin of ResQMe. Both devices punch through the side windows and slice through an uncooperative seat restraint, but the ResQMe is smaller and can attach to a key ring or any place with a zip tie.

There are similar tools on the market, but the ResQMe is compact, reusable and attaches anywhere.

The ResQMe is a simple and easy to use device that can be secured on every emergency vehicle in your fleet and put in every one of your household vehicles. As with any device, ensure that everyone in your department/family knows where the rescue utility is located and how to use it.

We have several (new) ResQMe devices to give away – please complete the form (expires July 31, 2010) and we will mail the tools to the winners.

If you don’t win one from us, they are also available on Amazon.com (two pack).

Related:
PowerFlare LED Give-away

• Boss Behaviors
• Legal traps to avoid
• Time management
• Coaching and counseling
• Progressive discipline
• Risk management
• Case studies
• Strengthening your credibility
• Improving your productivity
• Communications
• Ethics

The first part of the bootcamp focuses on the transition from buddy to boss and the ethical boundaries encountered. Managing your team, fleet, and organization while being ethical and balancing your personal life is *the* challenge. There are plenty of positives of being promoted to a supervisor: new title, increased pay, and being off the road. There also some negatives, as well as challenges that clinical education does not prepare a new supervisor for.

So often, departments place more emphasis on the promotional process than preparing newly promoted supervisors to function effectively.

Jon covers the different types of employees (A, B, C), and the corrective action needed for each type of employee. A employees, or “alpha dogs”, need little direction and operate on a conscious competence. They are role models for other employees. B employees comprise approximately seventy percent of the workforce. They are the anchors in the organization and are unconsciously competent. The remaining ten percent, C employees, are unconsciously incompetent. C employees require a lot of supervision and can consume almost ninety percent of management’s time!

You’ll learn from current experts who’ll share the bottom line on over 20 essential topics that new supervisors must know.

Jon discusses how experts, such as Retired Fire Chief Alan Brunacini from Phoenix, Arizona, focuses on simple objectives, such as getting to the scene promptly, giving a good first impression, and being nice (customer service). Your crew needs to know what you expect of them, and they need to strive for the natural and common-sense principles of responding and treating patients. How you convey the Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines (SOP/SOG) is your challenge. Whether you adopt the Red-Yellow-Green coloring system, use what already is in place, or design your own process will be what you have to fall back on when there is a deviation from procedure. The interactive workshop will dive into case studies to strengthen your time management & productivity, communications, ethics and progressive discipline.

Jon talks about how EMT training doesn’t set the newbie up for success in your organization. As the supervisor, you need to have a mentor or Field Training Officer (FTO) to guide the newcomer. There is more to the standard policy and procedures to be covered; socialization and organizational culture are another component of the agency process.

Digging deeper, there are some organizational problems cannot be fixed by training. Attitude and effort cannot be amended with a training session. Assessing performance problems take considerable analysis and energy.

Jon and I also discussed how current trends are affecting EMS in the past ten years. Many organizations are struggling to do more with less. There are fewer resources available and demands for Emergency Services are increasing. EMS doesn’t always receive the same allocation of resources that other first responder colleagues get. EMS also doesn’t get the same respect, which can stem from the lack of team work and cooperation behind the curve as establishing EMS as an occupation.

Clinically, Emergency Medicine is driven by complex decisions and procedures. A lot of the decisions are pushed back to Advanced Life Support (ALS) providers, which changes the job. This may be good for patient care, but certainly makes it harder for volunteer or mixed agencies to field a crew. It is hard for EMTs to develop a skill base where ALS immediately assumes care. Basic EMS providers or first responders do not get to “practice” their skills if ALS is on the ambulance or arriving in a fly-car the same time as the basic crew arrives. There is less of a mental challenge with an ALS provider on scene than having a Basic EMT have to adapt to a situation.

As a provider you have to bring your A Game to tackle the job. This creates a big issue for the occasional medic, possibly making them extinct. More and more procedures and equipment are added to the “pre-hospital toolbox”. These responsibilities have shifted from a controlled in-hospital setting to the field. As a provider, you previously assisted with medications. Now you administer medications, and more medications are added each year. The number and variety of instruments, methods and technology to be familiar/proficient with all precipitate a battle for volunteers and agencies.

Sometimes policy changes result in additional responsibilities being shifted onto agencies. “Clinical performance and supervision of staff are two areas that the organization has to concern themselves with more. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, just what I see”, Jon said.

These are insights of recent changes and predictions of what will continue to occur. With the insight of future challenges, the Bootcamp topics will help better prepare your squad to adapt to these developments.

Intended audience includes providers of emergency medical care, including first responders, EMTs, Paramedics, fire fighters, critical care nurses, and all those involved in pre-hospital, emergency and trauma care.

Topics:

• Between Good And Evil – Predicting and Preventing Violence in American Institutions
• Precious Cargo – Complex Pediatric Emergencies
• Tactical and Operational Medicine – A Primer
• Battlefield Emergency Care – Lessons Learned in Baghdad
• Picking Up The Pieces – Managing Catastrophic Emergencies One Patient At A Time
• Resiliency, Heroes And Healing

National faculty including:

• Roger Depue, Ph.D., Retired Unit Chief of FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit
• Scott Bolleter, BS, EMT-P, Flight Paramedic
• Lt. Col. John Groves, RN, MSN, Clinical Nurse Specialist U.S. Army
• Greg Winsor, RN, BSN, FBI Special Agent Operational Medicine Coordinator

For more information download the Brochure/Application.