CT EMT and Student Thrives in Unfamiliar Circumstances
Sten Spinella The Day, New London, Conn. (MCT) Dec. 25—This is part of a series that highlights the work of those who stepped up to help others during the difficult days of 2020. To read other articles in the series, go to www.theday.com/brightlights2020. Sydney Bryan, a Connecticut College senior, is working two EMT jobs during a pandemic while taking classes. Who does this? Her dance professor at Conn, Heidi Henderson, may know the answer: “Sydney, evidently!” But, why? “She’s a person who’s interested in things. She doesn’t just float through...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 28, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Coronavirus News News Feed Connecticut COVID-19 EMT Source Type: news

The Autopsy, a Fading Practice, Revealed Secrets of COVID-19
By MARION RENAULT Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The COVID-19 pandemic has helped revive the autopsy. When the virus first arrived in U.S. hospitals, doctors could only guess what was causing its strange constellation of symptoms: What could explain why patients were losing their sense of smell and taste, developing skin rashes, struggling to breathe and reporting memory loss on top of flu-like coughs and aches? At hospital morgues, which have been steadily losing prominence and funding over several decades, pathologists were busily dissecting the disease’s first victims — and finding some answers. “W...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 27, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: AP News Coronavirus Source Type: news

Studies Find Having COVID-19 May Protect Against Reinfection
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Chief Medical Writer Two new studies give encouraging evidence that having COVID-19 may offer some protection against future infections. Researchers found that people who made antibodies to the coronavirus were much less likely to test positive again for up to six months and maybe longer. The results bode well for vaccines, which provoke the immune system to make antibodies — substances that attach to a virus and help it be eliminated. Researchers found that people with antibodies from natural infections were “at much lower risk … on the order of the same kind of protection you’d g...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 26, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: AP News Coronavirus Source Type: news

Students Learn How to Save Lives with University of Rhode Island EMS
By Lauren Poirier University of Rhode Island’s Emergency Medical Services has dealt with almost every medical emergency you could imagine, from heart attacks to car accidents and from the flu to sports injuries. However, the 85 student volunteers who are the backbone of the service never expected they would be dealing with a worldwide pandemic in their undergraduate years. Even so, as one of the oldest collegiate emergency medical services in the country, which provides on-site emergency medical service and ambulance transport to area hospitals, the team wants the URI community to know that it has the skills needed...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 25, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Operations Spotlight EMS Rhode Island Source Type: news

A Child So Sick They Feared the Worst, Now They Urge Change
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Associated Press MONTPELIER, Idaho (AP) — Kale Wuthrich watched doctors surround his son in the emergency room, giving him fluids though IV tubes, running a battery of tests and trying to stabilize him. He was enveloped by the confusion and fear that had been building since his 12-year-old suddenly fell ill weeks after a mild bout with the coronavirus. “He was very close at that point to not making it, and basically they told me to sit in the corner and pray,” Wuthrich said. “And that’s what I did.” Related: COVID-19 in Kids — It’s Not a Small Problem Shortly after Thanksgi...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 24, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: AP News Coronavirus Idaho Patient care Pediatric Care Source Type: news

NY Dispatcher Coaches Couple as Baby is Born in Parking Lot
Maki Becker The Buffalo News, N.Y. (MCT) The husband sounded nervous. “My wife’s in labor. I think she’s actually going to have… just deliver… right now.” Calling 911 from an empty parking lot near Buffalo Niagara International Airport, he could tell that his wife, Cassandra, wasn’t going to make it to the hospital. The Cheektowaga public safety dispatcher sounded steady and reassuring. Dispatcher Jennifer Mazgajewski would help the couple make it through the next eight harrowing minutes — an exchange captured on an audio recording of...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 24, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Communications & Dispatch News News Feed New York Source Type: news

Watch: OH EMS Medical Director Receives COVID Vaccination
In an effort to encourage EMS providers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as to participate as vaccine administrators, OH Gov. Mike DeWine included Carol Cunningham, MD, FAAEM, FAEMS, and several other EMS providers in his Coronavirus briefing on Wednesday. Dr. Cunningham is the State Medical Director for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Division of EMS, a board certified emergency physician at Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center, and an associate professor of emergency medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University. She is the co-principal investigator for the NASEMSO National Model EMS Clinical Gu...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 24, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Coronavirus Medicine Ohio Source Type: news

Photos: REMSA Vaccinates Workers with Moderna Vaccine
REMSA in Reno, NV, received the Moderna vaccine on Tuesday. Since March, the agency has lost 40,000 staff hours due to COVID-19, either from diagnosis or exposure. In less than an hour, they were able to vaccinate 50 frontline healthcare workers. They will continue to vaccinate their team members throughout the weekend. Photos courtesy of REMSA. Related: New York City’s Paramedics, EMTs Receive Vaccines Related: Pinellas County (FL) Implements Model Vaccination Programs for Skilled Nursing Facilities and Emergency Personnel The post Photos: REMSA Vaccinates Workers with Moderna Vaccine a...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 24, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Coronavirus Photo Gallery Nevada REMSA Source Type: news

Children Get Toys from Santa in Event Honoring Slain FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo
John Annese New York Daily News (MCT) Pandemic or not, Santa Claus delivered thousands of toys to children in the Bronx — all in the name of slain FDNY EMT Yadira Arroyo. Arroyo’s family members dressed like Santa and Mrs. Claus and handed out toys to more than 2,000 children who lined up with their families outside the playground named after the heroic first responder Wednesday afternoon. “We were supposed to do this between 2 and 5:30. By 1 o’clock the lines were around the corner, so we started right away,” said former EMS union head Israel Miranda, who helped organize t...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 24, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: News News Feed Spotlight EMT New York Source Type: news

Parents Convicted in 2009 ‘Balloon Boy’ Hoax Pardoned
DENVER (AP) — A couple convicted of criminal charges in the so-called balloon boy hoax that fascinated the country more than a decade ago were pardoned Wednesday by the governor of Colorado. Richard and Mayumi Heene reported their 6-year-old son had floated away in an homemade UFO-shaped silver helium balloon in 2009. Dozens of emergency responders and two Colorado National Guard helicopters scrambled to save the boy as video footage of the enormous balloon floating far above the ground made national news. But the child was never on the balloon, and he was later found unharmed at his home in Fort Collins, about ...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 24, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: AP News Colorado Source Type: news

New York City ’s Paramedics, EMTs Receive Vaccines
By JIM MUSTIAN Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Verena Kansog hasn’t visited her mother in a year, fearing her work as a New York City paramedic would expose her to the coronavirus. But after a grueling separation, Kansog is headed home for the holidays after becoming one of the first members of the city’s fire department to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. “It means the world to me,” she said. “I understand people are hesitant to get it, but I really hope they follow our suit.” Related Occupational Fatalities Among EMS Clinicians and Firefighters in the New York City Fire Department; Janu...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 23, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: AP News Coronavirus EMS EMT FDNY New York Paramedic Source Type: news

Pinellas County (FL) Implements Model Vaccination Programs for Skilled Nursing Facilities and Emergency Personnel
Special JEMS “EMS TODAY SHOW” Join JEMS Editor Emeritus A.J. Heightman and Pinellas County, Florida, EMS/medical direction officials as they discuss model COVID vaccination programs implemented for emergency responders and skilled nursing home facility (SNF) residents and staff. Ulyee Choe, DO, director of the Florida Department of Health (DOH) in Pinellas County; Angus Jameson, MD, Pinellas County EMS medical director and Charles (Chuck) Walker, Pinellas County EMS clinical services coordinator responsible for quality assurance discuss the planning and implementation of these important programs. Related...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 23, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Coronavirus Exclusives Florida Medicine Nursing Homes Source Type: news

Cleveland (OH) Will Start Vaccinations with First Responders
Cameron Fields cleveland.com (MCT) CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland will begin giving paramedics and EMTs the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Christmas Eve, Mayor Frank Jackson announced Tuesday. Jackson did not know how many employees in the divisions of EMS, fire and airport fire rescue will receive the vaccine in the first phase. But Cleveland Department of Public Health Interim Director Brian Kimball said the city will receive 4,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine for its first phase of vaccinating first responders. The department will look to i...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 23, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Coronavirus News News Feed Cleveland EMS Medicine Ohio Source Type: news

Rural MT Ambulance Service Raising Money for Cardiac Equipment
DiscussionZOLL Launches Remote View Capabilities on the X Series Monitor/DefibrillatorWatch Now: The Unbox It Series: ZOLL AED 3 BLS The post Rural MT Ambulance Service Raising Money for Cardiac Equipment appeared first on JEMS. (Source: JEMS Patient Care)
Source: JEMS Patient Care - December 23, 2020 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: JEMS Staff Tags: Equipment & Gear News News Feed Operations Montana Zoll Source Type: news