Former San Ramon Valley Fire Chief Richard Price was having lunch one day when he saw one of his engines stopping in front of the restaurant. Someone in an adjacent business had suffered a cardiac arrest.

What really bothered him was that he, a trained responder was only yards away and he had an AED in his vehicle. Had he been alerted, he could have provided care much sooner than waiting for the responding professionals.

That moment was the genesis of what would become PulsePoint. This incident left the Chief wondering if technology could produce a way for CPR trained civilians to be notified of an arrest near them and advised of the location of an AED.

This program has grown astronomically since it’s inception. Technology has improved with next gen devices that can detect cardiac arrest, a large AED registry that supports the program and dispatch collaboration. If you ever wanted to be involved in saving a life, PulsePoint may provide the opportunity.

PulsePoint is a 501(c)(3) non-profit; unique due to history starting in a fire department with university partner. The two main initiatives of the foundation:

PulsePoint Respond

Emergency AED Registry

Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month

Contact PulsePoint at [email protected]

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

Tim Conley and Dr. Kateryna Riabko from Med Global to talk about the training mission they worked on together in Ukraine. Med Global provides surgical and nursing training along with equipment training with things like ultrasound devices. They also work to train medical staff on chemical weapons that might be released during the war there.

The training in what is called “dry decon” or decontamination without water. Research has showed that everyday medial supplies can be used to wipe down patients who have been affected by chemical weapons or exposures. Towels, surgical or trauma dressings, gauze, chucks, or other common medical supplies can be used to remove contaminants

There have been confirmed examples of use of some banned chemicals and irritants by Russian troops in the eastern parts of Ukraine on the front lines there. There have also been reports of chemical leaks caused by air raids on specific civilian infrastructure in several cities.

Find out how to support Med Global in a variety of ways. You can visit Med Global’s Help page and find the method that best matches your skills and resources.

Also on the show were co-hosts Sam Bradley and Jamie Davis.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

Disaster Podcast host Sam Bradley reached out and connected with Dr. Joe Holley while deployed in the field. Joe has been hard at work with the FEMA IST (Federal Emergency Management Agency Incident Support Team) while they supported teams in the field for Hurricane Helene. He and his wife Kimberly are currently in North Carolina finishing up the immediate search and rescue support for that region.

As the immediate life threat focus shifts to the next storm, Joe and his teams are replenishing resources and refreshing team members to redeploy to staging areas pending the landfall of Hurricane Milton. The new disaster threat will stretch team resources thinner as they prepare to respond following another major hurricane in just a few weeks. Joe ensures that the teams are ready and refreshed in a way that will enable them to carry out the new missions tasked for them.

Hurricane Milton has intensified to major hurricane status with predictions of category 4 or even 5 intensity on the scale that measures wind velocity at time of landfall. Add in the potential for catastrophic storm surge ahead of and during the storm’s impact, this weather event is one for residents of the affected areas to pay attention to. Stay tuned to the Disaster Podcast for more ongoing coverage and reports from the responders in the field.

National Hurricane Center Website

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

On this episode of the Disaster Podcast, host Sam Bradley takes the helm to lead a discussion with our team about the impending impacts of Hurricane Milton on the central Florida Gulf Coast. Disaster Meteorologists Dan DePodwin and Kyle Nelson jump in with their expertise on the current track predictions. Disaster emergency management expert Becky DePowin shares her takes on preparedness messaging leading up to the storm as well.

Hurricane Milton is predicted to intensify to major hurricane status with predictions of category 4 or even 5 intensity on the scale that measures wind velocity. Add in the potential for catastrophic storm surge ahead of and during the storm’s impact, this weather event is one for residents of the affected areas to pay attention to. Below are some of the links mentioned during the show for listeners.

National Hurricane Center Website

Pinellas County, Florida Emergency Management Website

Disaster Podcast team member Dr. Joe Holley and his wife Kimberly are currently deployed with federal USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) and IST (Incident Support Team) resources in the response to Hurricane Helene’s impacts on the Appalachian Mountain areas of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. We hope to have an update from the field in a future episode of the show so stay tuned to your podcast apps for those podcasts.

Co-host Jamie Davis is on a break in Germany, currently dodging impacts from post-Tropical Storm Kirk as it strikes areas of Central Europe.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

This week we look at the needs of first responders who have fallen on hard times. The Primum Non Nocere Foundation (pnnf.net) provides short term resources to help out our brothers and sisters who need a bit of help in a time of need. Founder Louis Cazzetta comes on the show with co-hosts Sam Bradley and Jamie Davis to discuss the important work he’s doing.

PNNF has been formed with the purpose of assisting pre-hospital care workers and providers with much needed support during times of despair, desperation and need. EMS workers and their professional counterparts have been overlooked in our country for far too long. Their civil services are a vital part of this nations infrastructure. We at PNNF and our network of generous donors want to give back in any way possible to these public servants. Our cumulative support continues to change the lives of all of the men, women and children in need.

Also on the show were co-hosts Sam Bradley and Jamie Davis.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

The Disaster Podcast team assembled to look at the impacts of Hurricane Helene on the Florida gulf coast at the big bend region. It will also have significant impacts on inland areas in Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and even southern Indiana and Illinois.

The Hurricane made landfall as a category 4 storm with sustained winds around 140 miles per hour. Storm surge in coastal regions expected in excess of 10 feet, with some areas having surge from the Gulf of Mexico up to 20 feet. Hurricane and tropical storm warnings extend to the northern South Carolina coast and inland up to Atlanta, Georgia.

Dr. Joe Holley and his wife Kimberly have been deployed with federal USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) and IST (Incident Support Team) resources. Joe shares their expectations for what they expect to see once the storm has passed and they can move in to begin their rescue work along side local and State rescuers.

Our disaster emergency management expert, Becky DePodwin and host Sam Bradley were also on the call to lend their expertise to the discussion.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

Disaster Meteorologist Dan DePodwin joins our podcast this week to review the impacts of Hurricane Francine. This storm struck the Louisiana coast and moved inland over Mississippi, Tennessee and surrounding areas. Dan and the co-hosts also discuss the impacts of wildfires in the west. California, Oregon, and Washington states bear the brunt of the recent spate of serious wildfires. Dan shares how these large areas of fire create their own weather patterns.

Also on the show were co-hosts Sam Bradley and Jamie Davis.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

Dan Harris, Battalion Chief with Memphis, Tennessee Fire Department joins us in his other role as one of the Paragon Medical Group disaster educators. He shares key memories of training evolutions and how he learns from the jurisdictional differences he encounters with his students. Dr. Joe Holley joins the discussion as well and shares several anecdotes about Dan’s contribution to the training team.

Also on the show were co-hosts Sam Bradley and Jamie Davis.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

In this episode, we chat with Jameson Morgan, Director of Partnerships for goTenna. GoTenna is a company that provides critical network communications solutions for military, government, and emergency services personnel. It enables them to maintain contact in rough environments where standard communications methods experience difficulties.

Also on the show were co-hosts Sam Bradley and Jamie Davis.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.

Our disaster meteorologist, Dan DePodwin, joins us this week to talk about Hurricanes Debby and Ernesto. Debby caused widespread flooding from Florida to upstate New York. Dan and Becky DePodwin share an experience driving during the passage of Debby’s remnants in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

Ernesto sideswiped Puerto Rico and parts of other Caribbean islands. As many as 70% of the Puerto Rican power grid was knocked out for several days following the storm’s passage. Ernesto continues on into the central Atlantic and bears down on Bermuda next.

Also on the show were co-hosts Sam Bradley and Jamie Davis.

Thank you as always to Paragon Medical Education Group for their long-term support of the Disaster Podcast. Dr. Joe Holley and the team at Paragon continue to provide excellent and customized disaster response training to jurisdictions around the U.S. and internationally as well.