Inside EMS

Why social work plays a big role in Lexington (Ky.) FD’s community paramedicine program

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

This week, our co-hosts welcome two members from the Lexington (Ky.) Fire Department, Lt. Ken Howell and Firefighter Mackenzie Gross, to discuss the organization's community paramedicine program. Gross also serves as one of two social workers in the program. 

The discussion flows as our guests outline their efforts and share how to progressively develop as a community medic. Gross, who serves as one of two social workers for the LFD, explains the importance of social work in conjunction with a community paramedicine program. 

 

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Additional resources

Looking for more information about community paramedicine? Check out these additional EMS1 resources: 

• Chris Cebollero's work to bring reimbursement to community paramedicine
• How community paramedicine is a risk reduction program for your citizens
• How to hire effective community paramedics

ATCEMS Chief Rob Luckritz: 100 days in

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

Just over three months ago, Rob Luckritz assumed his new appointment as the Chief of Austin Travis County EMS, Texas. He got the job after a very public selection process where he not only competed against internal, time served candidates, but also a list of very qualified external candidates. Thanks to the transparency of the process, the public, both in Austin, and far and wide, were able to follow the process every step of the way.

In this episode of EMS One-Stop, Host Rob Lawrence catches up with Rob Luckritz to discuss his first 100 days in office. Luckritz describes his reception so far, what he has found and his future plans for ATCEMS. He also offers advice for young EMS leaders aspiring to get a senior job at an organization such as ATCEMS and how to prepare for an EMS leadership career.

Luckritz also takes part in a quick-fire round, highlighting his thoughts on our current EMS challenges from recruiting to available ambulances and everything in between.  

EMS certifications: How the draft NREMT resolution could impact the profession

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

This week, Inside EMS co-hosts Chris Cebellero and Kelly Grayson discuss a drafted resolution by NREMT that could affect certifications at all levels. 

If the resolution is approved following a public comment period, the National Registry executive director would update the initial certification requirements for all levels of certification (EMR, EMT, AEMT, and paramedic) to include successful completion of an EMS education program that meets or exceeds the National Emergency Medical Services Education Standards and:

• has an CAAHEP-accreditation, or
• has been issued a CoAEMSP “Letter of Review,” or
• has received state EMS office approval.

Listen to the discussion and weigh in below with your comments. 

EMS Shark Tank: Drs. Ed Racht and Joelle Donofrio-Odmann

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

In this edition of EMS One-Stop, Host Rob Lawrence welcomes Ed Racht, MD, chief medical officer at Global Medical Response; and Joelle Donofrio-Odmann, DO, deputy chief medical officer, San Diego Fire Department, to discuss what the future holds for EMS. The discussion focuses on how we get others in the house of medicine to realize what we do and appreciate it. 

EMS1 is the premier media partner at the Pinnacle EMS conference, and Rob, Mike and Remle are also part of this year's Pinnacle Shark Tank Innovation Generator pre-conference session. In this series of podcasts, the EMS cast of the Shark Tank will join Rob to discuss their own hot topics.

Bodycam analysis: How providers can ’stop the fight’ with agitated patients

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

On this week's podcast, our co-hosts analyze bodycam footage released by the City of Dallas after a patient died in police custody while being transported in the back of a Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance. According to a Dallas police deputy, the patient "became quiet and started to lose vital signs" while en route, and died shortly after arriving at the hospital. 

Listen as our co-hosts break down the video and share tips for handling a similar situation. 

Chris Cebollero’s work to bring reimbursement to community paramedicine

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

In this week's episode, co-host Kelly Grayson interviews fellow host Chris Cebollero about his efforts to create a universal reimbursement plan for community paramedicine work. For the last three years, Cebollero has collaborated with a commerical payer to establish a pilot program that levels the reimbursement playing field, regardless of the type of EMS delivery system – fire-based, public, private, etc. The program is expected to expand to 10 states this year. Cebollero also discusses the logistics of the program, how agencies get up to speed and trained, and what it means for the future of community paramedicine in EMS. 

Shark tank

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

In this edition of EMS One-Stop, Host Rob Lawrence welcomes Remle Crowe, PhD; and Mike Taigman to discuss research, improvement science and project implementation. Along the way, they also cover the UCLA Prehospital Care Research Forum, a red lights and sirens project update, and their top research projects.

EMS1 is the premier media partner at the Pinnacle EMS conference, and Rob, Mike and Remle are also part of this year's Pinnacle Shark Tank Innovation Generator pre-conference session. Over the next few weeks, the EMS cast of the Shark Tank will join Rob to discuss their own hot topics. 

The role of EMS in active shooter scenario preparation, response

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

This week, Inside EMS co-hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson discuss the recent mass shootings across the country in New York, Texas and Oklahoma. What does the increase in shootings mean for EMS providers and should agencies prepare? Should organizations increase training for these types of scenarios? The discussion also revolves around hardening targets, arming teachers and industry impact. 

Additional resources:

• Rapid response: 5 ways to be prepared for an MCI in your community
• Child death calls: How to talk to your family and support your mental health
• Preparing a workforce to deal with emotional trauma

 

EMS response to the current outbreak of monkeypox

This episode of EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.

In light of the recent monkeypox outbreak, both the CDC and Atlanta’s National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) have issued specialist guidance to both EMS and healthcare.

To discuss this emerging issue, Rob Lawrence is joined by Alexander P. Isakov, MD, MPH, professor of emergency medicine at Emory University.  He is also the director for Emory’s Section of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, whose faculty and staff provide medical oversight for 911 communications centers, first responders, and air and ground ambulance services in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

Additionally, Dr. Isakov founded and directs the Emory-Grady EMS Bio-Safety Transport Program, which supports the Emory University Hospital Serious Communicable Diseases Unit and the CDC for the transport and management of persons confirmed or suspected to have a high consequence infectious disease. 

Discussed in the podcast are the signs and symptoms of monkeypox, methods of transmission, precautions for providers and notification requirements. The conversation also includes COVID-19, and the current upward trend in cases.

Patient care: What’s your ’perspective’?

This episode of the Inside EMS Podcast is sponsored by FirstNet, Built with AT&T. FirstNet uses the latest technology to keep your lines of communication and data open – to help you respond faster, smarter and safer.

In this episode, host Chris Cebollero interviews co-host Kelly Grayson about his new book, "Perspectives, Volume I: An Emergency Medicine and Public Safety Anthology." The concept for the book came from a successful excercise on Grayson's blog, in which he would create a fictional patient and elicit the perspective of an ER nurse and a police officer to understand how they see the same patient. 

For his book, Grayson expanded on the concept, and invited a number of public safety and public health professionals to collaborate on the work. Our co-hosts discuss how readers should approach the book, where the idea came from and what a lay person can glean from the pages.