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This Week in EMS: A Recap for Feb. 9 - 15, 2008
It's been a violent week with four school shootings across the country, including one in a Louisiana EMT class.
In the largest scale shooting, a former student at Northern Illinois University opened fire on a science class Thursday, killing five students and wounding 16 before committing suicide. Four people died at the scene, including the gunman, while two others died at a hospital. At least two of the wounded were reported in critical condition as of Thursday night.
The EMT class shooting occurred Friday, Feb. 8, when a woman shot two fellow students to death and then committed suicide at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.
In the other shootings, a Memphis, Tenn. teen is accused of critically injuring a student Monday during a high school gym class, and an Oxnard, Calif. teen has been declared brain dead after a shooting at a junior high school.
Read more at:
- 6 Dead in Northern Illinois U. Hall Shooting
- Louisiana EMT Student Kills 2 Classmates, Commits Suicide
Two major ambulance crashes were in the news this week.
One person died and three were injured Thursday in an accident involving an Iowa ambulance. The accident in Bondurant involved an ambulance from Baxter with three people on board.
A witness said he watched as a vehicle rolled into the path of the ambulance. "The ambulance never had a chance to hit the brakes," he said. The conditions of the victims were not immediately reported.
On Tuesday, two Texas EMTs were transported to a hospital after their ambulance was struck from behind by an 18-wheeler.
Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Barry Evans said the two Champion ambulance attendants were treated for back and neck injuries but were released from a local hospital.
Read more on these incidents at:
Responding to criticism of slow EMS response times, the mayor of Philadelphia, Pa. has announced a $3.8 million funding increase for EMS overtime and hiring.
Plans are to hire 40 new EMS personnel, to increase overtime for existing staff, and to purchase supplies and equipment, including two new EMS vehicles, all with the goal of reducing response times.
A similar announcement was made in D.C., where upon city council approval, D.C. EMS will receive $3.7 million in extra funding to enhance services. The plans are based on recommendations of a task force created as part of a settlement with the family of slain reporter David Rosenbaum, who received an inadequate EMS response.
For more on these visit:
EMSResponder.com Podcasts:
Following this January's two EMS responder line of duty deaths at motor vehicle accident scenes, we asked for safe staging advice from two experts: EMS Magazine contributors Rick Patrick and Dave Long. Click above to hear their top tips for safe staging and safe road operations.
EMSResponder.com Featured Job
EMS Captain -- Virginia Beach, VA
This position serves as the officer in charge of a group of subordinates in either the field, office or formal classroom setting for the EMS Department. Individual will respond to EMS calls and provide advanced life support care, and may also be assigned to specialty areas such as operations, administration, training, or regulation and enforcement.
Salary listed at $49,262.64. Closing date is March 2, 2008. Click above for details.
Visit www.EMSResponder.com/jobs to find additional listings or to submit listings.
EMSResponder.com Hot Topics
NIMS - Compliance vs. Competence
In a Feb. EMS Magazine article, author Skip Kirkwood suggests that while many agencies are now officially "NIMS compliant," not much has actually changed in practice. "Practitioners have either refused to change the way they've done business for years, or they've continued the same old practices with a different vocabulary," he writes. He goes on to discuss what it takes to become truly NIMS competent in his article, "NIMS and ICS: From Compliance to Competence."
Have you made similar or different observations? We welcome your comments.
Click above to participate, or look for other topics at www.emsresponder.com/forums.
EMSResponder.com Poll
Has any EMS equipment in your care ever been lost or stolen?
Visit the poll on the lower right side of EMSResponder.com to participate. View previous polls at www.EMSResponder.com/polls.
To submit a poll idea e-mail Heather.Caspi@cygnusb2b.com.
EMSResponder.com Reminder:
It's time to nominate candidates for EMS Magazine's 23rd Annual Braun Industries/Monster Medic EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award. Follow the link for details.
Other top headlines this week on EMSResponder.com:
- Attack on Virginia Firefighter/Medic Probed
- Paramedic Shortage Strains Maryland County
- Spears' Hospital Escort Prompts New L.A. 'Britney Law'
- With Overtime, 3 Pittsburgh Medics Top 130k in Annual Pay
- Milwaukee Paramedics Foil Armed Robbery
- Pennsylvania 911 Operators Disciplined Over Delay
About Heather Caspi, EMSResponder.com Editor-in-Chief
Heather Caspi has been a public safety journalist since 2000, beginning as a reporter for sister site Firehouse.com. She later became the assistant news editor for Firehouse.com and Officer.com, and led the launch of EMSResponder.com in 2005. She graduated from the University of Maryland with degrees in Journalism and English Language and Literature, and earned her EMT-B at Merritt College in Oakland, California. She can be reached at Heather.Caspi@cygnusb2b.com.
