Dangers

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Study Finds EMS is a Risky Occupation

Little has been known about the occupational risks for emergency medical services (EMS) personnel, but a new study finds it is a far more hazardous profession than previously believed. Only four previous studies have evaluated EMS injuries, but most provided limited data. (Occupational Fatalities in Emergency Medical Services: A Hidden Crisis, p. 625) In the most comprehensive study to date, the EMS occupational fatality rate from 1992 to 1997 was estimated at 12.7 fatalities per 100,000 EMS workers, more than twice the national average for workers and comparable with rates for police (14.2) and firefighters (16.5) during the same period. Ambulance crashes appear to be the most likely cause of death for EMS workers. The study’s authors examined three independent databases, including the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), and the National Emergency Medical Services Memorial Service (NEMSMS), to help develop the most comprehensive picture to date of the occupational hazards for EMS workers. According to the study, EMS personnel, which include emergency medical technicians and paramedics, are exposed to a wide variety of occupational hazards, including ambulance crashes, assaults, infectious disease, hearing loss, lower back injury, hazardous materials exposure, stress, extended work hours, and exposure to temperature extremes.

The brave fearless 'Fighters' that step out into the night, working under extreme conditions, for which we have no insight.Their continued schooling is never ending, for to them, your life is only just beginning. Crawling through pieces of what used to be a car, to find a person lying there in need of CPR.

They are called Paramedics, a link between life and death, all give a priceless gift, the gift of breath. The equipment they must carry, you may not understand, but one kneels beside you, as another takes your hand. They feel the Angel standing there, but refuse to let you go, searching their deepest thoughts of knowledge that they know.

Until such time their job complete, and you return to them, only then will they place you in a physician's hand. They no sooner leave the hospital, another call comes through, lights flashing, sirens screaming, fighting traffic to get to you.

A child this time in need of help, unsure of what went wrong,they begin their protocol of survey, soon realize this one is gone. On bended knee, heads hung low, a tear slips down their cheek, always asking questions, looking for answers that they seek.

The shift will be a long one, twenty four hours to be exact, a proud profession that they chose, without even looking back. And the next life that they save, to bring a loved one home, perhaps it will be your life, or it could be their own family.

It is always interesting to see how the uninformed general public views the public safety sector. From the comfort of your office, where it is apparent you have nothing better to do then stare out the window you come up with these gems of wisdom.

As for the amount of emergency vehicles at the scene of a fender bender on the freeway I ask you this, do you know how many paramedics, EMT's, police, and firefighters die at the scene of fender benders because the general driving public is too busy to pay attention to the road? These are the same drivers that manage to have an accident in bumper to bumper traffic.

The number of vehicles is to protect the emergency workers because the general public cannot be trusted to. As to the question of why do all of these vehicles need to respond, well ask your local personal injury lawyer. It used to be that an adult who was alert oriented could make a decision not to be transported to the hospital, but then the lawyers needed to be heard from.

So, after many police, fire and EMS workers have been sued as well as the towns and cities they work for, to protect themselves, those uninjured victims have to be carefully interviewed, examined, and documented before being released after refusing medical attention, since the lawyers will try to rip us apart if it is not done well. As for the charges imposed on those who use the services, it is a question of need and budgets.

If all public safety departments never charge those who use the services, then the taxes for the entire population would be higher. If you don't call 911 or are never involved in a traffic accident, or any number of accidents that can befall an average citizen, you will never have to pay. ( On a side note, many if not all auto insurance policies cover ambulance and fire dept charges for an accident, and homeowners or business insurance covers the cost for fires and other needs of emergency services).

If you think you know everything about the operations of your departments, why not go and ask for a ride along on the ambulance and see why they are so busy taking grandma with a sprained ankle to the ED. It is because emergency services cannot refuse a call.

If you call 911 for a hangnail, an ambulance has to respond, and if you demand a transport to the hospital, we have to take you. Since if we refuse, the lawyers have a great time raking up billable hours. If you think this should be changed, go to your elected representatives and get them to pass laws to give complete immunity to rescue workers, and laws to allow for the emergency dispatchers, paramedics, police officers and firefighters to decide on who needs transport and who is abusing the system.

If you can do that, maybe you can tell me how to differentiate between a massive anteriolateral MI or is it a cold by using a blood pressure cuff, a stethoscope, and a penlight.

(Below is a response to a message that had been posted on a NAEMT list that was criticizing the number of Emergency Vehicle’s on scene of a minor injury accident, on a busy highway, as well as the use of patient refusal forms and billing. The individual claimed the response is triggered to bill patients even if they were not transported, and finally the individual claimed that large responses are triggered because of “bored firefighters, police and EMS Personnel.

In the State of Michigan a patient is not billed unless the patient is transported, also as Neal Smith points out below the number of Rescue personnel are too often killed or injured in this type of scene.

01-03-2007 A 30-year-old Detroit Michigan man took two EMS Medics and a neighbor who came to check on his well being hostage. Norman Dorise called 911 at 3:15 p.m. indicating that he had suffered an injury to his leg. An EMS unit and two Medics were dispatched to the home.

When the Medics entered the home, Dorise pulled a gun on them, as well as a neighbor who came to the house. The three were held at gunpoint. Detroit Police were notified and responded; eventually police talked Dorise into releasing both the Medics and neighbor. However a short time later Dorise; existed his residence brandishing the gun and then pointing the gun at Police.

Officers on scene ordered the suspect to put down the weapon when he failed to do as told police officers were forced to fire striking Dorise several times in the buttocks, arms and pelvic regions.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy on Wednesday charged Norman Dorise of Detroit with three counts of kidnapping; one count of extortion; three counts of assault with intent to commit a felony; six counts of felonious assault; five counts of assault and resisting and obstructing a police officer and one count of felony firearm in connection with the New Year's Day 2007 incident.

If Dorise is convicted of kidnapping which carries a maximum penalty of up to life in prison in Michigan, in addition the other charges could result in a total of 38 years behind bars.

This story will continue to be updated.

Sources: The Detroit News

Medic from Agency

Ambulance hits van carrying prisoners

An ambulance heading to an emergency at the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden crashed into a Sheriff’s Office van that was transporting inmates on Saturday, March 17, 2007.

The Rural Metro ambulance running with its lights and sirens on slide on the snow-slick road, It then hit the sheriff’s van, which was carrying about 15 inmates, stated a Rural Metro spokesman. The van tipped over on its side, Lancaster police reported that no one escaped from the van and that there were no major injuries.

Car, Ambulance collide

March 18, 2007 A Berlin Heights, Ohio, teenager was seriously hurt when his vehicle and an ambulance collided Friday March 16, 2007, a 17 y/o male, was flown to University Medical Center after the collision.

The young driver was northbound on Route 53 as a Marblehead Ambulance was headed east on Route 163 with its lights and siren activated, responding to a call. The Medic driving the Rig, Gordon Waugh, 44, of Marblehead drove through a red light and collided with the teen driver. The ambulance then struck another vehicle that was stopped at the red light the ambulance then went off the north side of the road and came to rest in a restaurant parking lot

There were four passengers from Marblehead in the ambulance: Dean Heberlein, 36, and Christie Heberlein, 32, who were not hurt, and Megan Hayner, 28, and Jane Podsiadlo, 50, who were taken to Magruder Hospital with minor injuries.

Ambulance Crash Kills Woman

March 18, 2007 A Carson California woman in her 20s was killed Saturday night March 18, 2007, in a three-vehicle crash that involved an ambulance and at least one overturned car.

Melissa Mae Fernandez Reguindin, 22, of San Marcos, was killed when the car she was riding in slammed into the back of an ambulance that had stopped to help a disabled vehicle at about 8:30 p.m. on the westbound Gardena Freeway.

The vehicle flipped over and burned with Fernandez Reguindin trapped in the front passenger's seat, A 26-year-old Carson man in the back seat suffered major injuries and was transported to a nearby hospital.

SUV crashes into Ambulance

A McHenry Township Fire Protection District ambulance was struck and rolled over early Saturday, March 18, 2007, leaving rescue personnel with minor injuries The names of the injured Medics were not released.

The ambulance was southbound when it was struck by a sports utility vehicle driven by 60-year-old Robert J. Voss The ambulance was on its way to a call and had its lights and sirens on.

Voss was westbound and allegedly proceeded through the light, striking the ambulance; He added that both parties claimed to have the green light. Voss was cited with failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.

Ambulance personnel in the U.K. have suffered 99 physical assaults last year according to figures released by an NHS security watchdog.

The assaults on West Midlands ambulance staff were published today by the NHS Security Management Service as part of a report on assaults on NHS staff nationally.

November has been declared as NHS Security Awareness Month and staff throughout the Trust is already being given advice and information on personal safety, as part of the national campaign.

Steve Elliker, Local Security Management Specialist, for the Trust, is responsible for tackling violence and aggression against trust staff and seeking prosecutions against anyone who physically assaults staff. He is also responsible for protecting trust sites and assets and the security of drugs on trust sites and vehicles.

The assaults were recorded between April 2006 and March 2007.

So far there have been 28 successful prosecutions stemming from those cases and more are still in the court system.

Mr. Elliker said: "We do everything we can as a Trust, working with our staff, police and the Crown Prosecution Service, to bring anyone who assaults our staff, to court and to give out a clear message that this kind of behavior simply will not be tolerated."

Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Marsh, said: "Although attacks on staff are relatively rare, we want to send a strong warning to anyone out there that we will always make every attempt to prosecute anyone responsible for attacking members of our staff.

"While we understand our staff does sometimes arrive during traumatic and upsetting circumstances, they have a right to go about their work safely and the public have a duty to respect that and not to put our staff at risk of attack."

Throughout November, staff will be reminded of the policies and procedures for personal security and for reporting any incidents which do occur.

With approximately 3,000 operational staff, responding to 500,000 emergency calls every year, attacks on staff are the exception, rather than the norm, Mr. Marsh said.

He added: "However one assault is an assault too many."

Across England, statistics showed that in 2006/2007 there were 55,709 physical assaults against NHS staff, including 1,006 against ambulance trust staff nationally.

This was a reduction of 2,986 assaults in comparison with 2005/2006.

Ambulance crews to get stab-proof vests

03-28-2008 AMBULANCE crews will wear stab-proof vests as part of a trial to decide whether to introduce them permanently in Worcestershire. The chain-mail vests would protect crews against knives, handguns, hypodermic needles and stiletto heels if health chiefs decide to bring them in.

The two-month trial was announced by Anthony Marsh, chief executive of the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, at a board meeting with a report on the trial expected within six months. Vests with a slash proof collar have already been introduced by Essex Ambulance Service NHS Trust and in parts of London. Each piece of body armour has to be tailor-made for the wearer and weighs about 3.7kg (8.1lbs). Mr Marsh was the chief executive of the Essex Ambulance Service NHS Trust when he announced "with a heavy heart" that stab proof vests would be introduced there in May, 2005.