Month in Review: October 2016

EMS World is dedicated to bringing readers the most current and relevant information. At the end of every month, we present the top news stories, videos and most popular social media posts of the month. Here is the month in review for October 2016:

Top news:

On October 15, a Fla. fire chief took his own life after making a post on Facebook regarding PTSD. The 48-year-old drove his pickup truck into the woods and shot himself after letting dispatch know where he could be found. Earlier in the day, he had posted on Facebook about struggling with PTSD. His post read: “PTSD for Firefighters is real. If your love one is experiencing signs get them help quickly. 27 years of deaths and babies dying in your hands is a memory that you will never get rid off. It haunted me daily until now. My love to my crews. Be safe , take care. I love you all.”

A fire chief in Pennsylvania was terminated after he took an aerial ladder to a funeral. Chief Keith Weavers, who had held the position of fire chief for 13 years, requested the fire department supply a ladder truck to hang an American flag at a funeral. The request was denied, but Weavers took the apparatus to the funeral anyways. He was terminated in a 6-1 vote by the borough council for insubordination.

An overdose on carfentanil had Maine police on high alert. The 24-year-old had to be revived with five doses of Narcan after overdosing on the elephant tranquilizer, which is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. The man was taken to the hospital after being revived. Police and other first responders were on high alert, because the drug is absorbable through the skin and can be potentially harmful to anyone who comes in contact with it.

MedStar in Texas was the host to two nurse/paramedics from Switzerland. Giorgio De Ambroggi and Giacomo Sommaruga came to Forth Worth to participate in a two-week internship with MedStar to learn what EMS services in America are like. The pair learned about the MedStar system, clinical protocols used by EMTs and paramedics, ambulance staffing, 9-1-1 dispatch, MIH programs and more.

New York Presbyterian, in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University and the FDNY, launched a mobile stroke treatment unit. The unit was the first of its kind on the East Coast. The unit is staffed by two paramedics, a computed tomography technologist and neurologist. The unit also contains equipment and medications specific to diagnosing and treating strokes, including tPA.

Top videos:

Calif. EMT Sued After Posting Graphic Photos of Patient’s Injuries Online—A 21-year-old motorcycle crash victim filed a lawsuit against an EMT who posted graphic photos of the patient’s injuries to his Instagram account. The crashed caused the patient to lose a leg and nearly killed him.

9-1-1 Dispatcher Faces Charges After Admitting to Hanging Up On Callers—A Houston woman was charged with two counts of interference with an emergency telephone call after allegedly hanging up on callers because she “did not want to talk to anyone at that time.” The 43-year-old allegedly disconnected 825 calls over a five-month period.

The EKG Badge: A New Best Practice—The Rapid-Cardiac Analysis Tool (R-CAT) EKG Badge from EKG Concepts is a patented, award-winning tool used to help medical personnel accurately and rapidly interpret both EKG rhythm strips and a 12-lead EKG. A short, two-and-a-half minute video demonstrates how the product works.

Retired S.C. Firefighter Raises $1 Million for Hands-Free Hose—Ken Blocker, a retired firefighter from S.C., went on CNBC’s “Make Me a Millionaire Inventor” and secured a $1 million investment from DreamFunded CEO Manny Fernandez. The “Aqua Blaster” hands-free hose is meant to prevent injury and reduce the amount of firefighters needed to operate a hose.

Safety Measures Questioned After Honolulu Firefighter Falls From Rescue Basket—Video showed a helicopter basket snagged on a utility pole during the rescue of a hiker who had suffered a medical emergency. The firefighter falls out while the helicopter transports the hiker to safety. The incident came just months after a firefighter died during an ocean rescue training.

Top Facebook posts:

25-year-old paramedic describes life on the job—A 25-year-old paramedic describes what it’s like to work in EMS at a young age in an interview with VICE. The man hits on low pay in EMS, and how difficult it would be settle down and have a family as an EMS employee. “My solution of picking up overtime or having other jobs for different ambulance services could totally fall apart if I wanted to have a family,” the man says.

Volunteer firefighter with cerebral palsy does what he can to help out—Cody, a volunteer firefighter in Texas, can’t run into burning buildings or do some other intense tasks, but he finds ways to help out. “I don’t let that pull me down,” Cody says. “To me, I’m the same as everybody else.”

Halloween cakes perfect for EMS—Food Lovers shares the creation of a perfect cake for EMS: a severed, gruesomely injured human leg. With intense detail down the toenails and the gouges in the skin, this cake is realistic enough to give people a scare.

18-year-old shift commander in the world’s murder capital tells her story—Maria Martinez, an 18-year-old shift commander of an ambulance service in San Salvador, El Salvador, the world’s murder capital, sits down with Refinery 29 to tell her story. The homicide rate is one per 1,000, and Martinez says when she leaves for work, she has no idea if she’ll survive the night.

“Injuries incompatible with life”—After responding to a horrific call, an Australian ambulance officer was under fire in the media for using the term “injuries incompatible with life.” People called the term callous and disrespectful on social media.