News

This Week in EMS: A Recap for Feb. 2 -8, 2008

02/07/2008

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It has been a busy week for the nation's responders, with two major disasters and four deaths in the EMS community.

After a series of tornadoes ripped across Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama on Tuesday, at least 55 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

This was reportedly one of the 15 worst tornado death tolls since 1950, and the nation's deadliest barrage of tornadoes since May 31, 1985 when 76 people were killed in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

On Wednesday, ongoing searches paid off when rescuers discovered a baby 150 yards from where his home once stood, in a field that had already been combed once for survivors. "It looked like a baby doll," said rescuer David Harmon. "He was laying there motionless... and he took a breath of air and started crying."

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After an explosion at a Georgia sugar refinery Thursday night, six people were dead, sixy-two people were taken to Savannah-area hospitals and nine were airlifted to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Augusta. Ambulances and emergency workers from 12 counties were called to respond.

"It was like walking into hell," said Joyce Baker, a Red Cross first aid instructor who raced to the scene to pitch in.

Dr. Jay Goldstein, an emergency room doctor at Memorial Health, reported that many of the victims there were in critical condition. "We've seen people that have had burns to their hands all the way to about 80 to 90 percent of their body," he said.

Four line of duty deaths struck the EMS community this week.

On Saturday, West Islip, N.Y. EMT Edward Mueller suffered a fatal heart attack within 24 hours of responding to his last alarm. The 50-year-old EMT had responded by ambulance to a car fire at 9:15 p.m. on Feb. 1. That night he told his wife that he wasn't feeling well, and the following day, while visiting his daughter at her college, he suffered a heart attack and was pronounced dead.

Monday afternoon a Brown Township, Indiana rescuer was killed in a head-on collision when a Jeep Cherokee crossed the center line and struck his oncoming ambulance. Fire Capt. David Sherfick, who was operating the ambulance, and the Jeep's driver were pronounced dead at the scene. A second rescuer in the ambulance was in good condition with unspecified injuries.

Two Texas paramedics, as well as their pilot, were killed after their medical helicopter crashed Tuesday night into the Laguna Madre Bay off the South Texas coast. Rescue workers recovered the bodies of all three members of the Harlingen, TX based Valley AirCare crew: paramedics Michael T. Sanchez and Raul Garcia, and pilot Robert Goss.

Read more in these articles:

It was also a busy week in New Orleans, where Mardi Gras 2008 will go down as the busiest ever for NO EMS.

It was a Carnival season they aren't likely to forget, with four murders and a myriad of injuries from floats, falls, assaults and other incidents.

"We were in awe at the call volume. You could hardly talk on the radio. It was crazy," said Jeb Tate, a NO paramedic. "There's just no way to describe it."

Read more in this exclusive EMSResponder.com report: Mardi Gras 2008 Sets New Orleans EMS Record.

EMSResponder.com Resource:

Freeway Operations and Roadway Safety

This handout from EMSResponder.com contributor Dave Long of North Memorial Medical Center (MN) is being distributed in the wake of two recent EMS responder line of duty deaths at MVA scenes.

"This information and guideline will help prevent this type of injury," Dave writes. "Remember, a 'Move Over Law' is just a law, and drivers and motorists can make mistakes. Always remember that some motorists are distracted drivers and even the safest scenes can become dangerous and even deadly for all responders on the freeway or roadway scene."

EMSResponder.com Featured Job

EMS Faculty - Northcentral Tech., Wausau, WI

Salary $ 41,145 - $67,545 D.O.Ed./Ex. Application closing date is March 7, 2008. Click above for details.

Visit www.EMSResponder.com/jobs to find additional listings or to submit listings.

EMSResponder.com Hot Topics

EMS' Dirty Secret

In a controversial report in the Feb. issue of EMS Magazine, author Thom Dick exposes issues long ignored in EMS regarding the health and safety of our most valuable asset - ourselves. Thom goes on to ask how EMS can consider itself a profession when most of its providers are volunteers, and discusses what can be done to secure a healthy future for the EMS industry and EMS community.

The article is the result of a flood of feedback to Nancy Perry's editorial in the Oct. 2007 issue of the magazine entitled "EMS' Dirty Secret: Are You Paying the Price for Being In EMS?"

What do you think - are you paying the price for being in EMS?

Click above to participate, or look for other topics at www.emsresponder.com/forums.

EMSResponder.com Poll

Do you live and work in the same service area?

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:

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.