EMS One-Stop

This episode of Inside EMS 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 episode of Inside EMS, Host Chris Cebollero discusses goal setting for a successful 2023. Chris breaks down the top 5 golden rules for making your goals and resolutions a reality.

Chris notes, “success does not happen by chance, you have to create the opportunities that will create your success.”

Listen for more on:

1. Developing a motivating value statement

This is a great show to outline a blueprint for your success in 2023.

This episode of Inside EMS 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 the first episode of the 10th year in EMS, Cohost Chris Cebollero is joined by the legal powerhouse of Page, Wolfberg & Wirth’s EMS Attorneys Doug Wolfberg, Esq.; and Steve Wirth, Esq. to discuss the case everyone is talking about.

An Illinois prosecutor has filed virtually unprecedented first-degree murder charges against two EMS providers over the death of a patient in their care. Wolfberg and Wirth broke down the points of the case and the lessons for EMS in an EMS1 article, "Malpractice or murder: When do EMS providers cross the line from negligence to a crime?"   

In this episode, Wolfberg and Wirth share their first impressions of the case and the body camera footage of the incident.

Wolfberg noted what hit him was the “callous, cold, very detached, aggressive demeanor of the providers.” “You get into EMS because you care for people – how do you get to the point to what we saw in the video – that’s really where I keep coming back to,”  Wolfberg said.

Wirth added, “it wasn’t until I looked at the video that I felt outraged – outraged is the word that comes to my mind – how could a human being deal with another human being in this fashion – basically treat another human being as an inanimate object.” He asked, “how does this happen … because we can’t allow this to happen; we can’t.”

Are first-degree murder charges warranted in this case? See how EMS1 listeners are weighing 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. 

In this episode of EMS One-Stop, our host, Rob Lawrence, kicks off a series on international EMS, interviewing EMS leaders across the globe on how their systems are operated, the challenges they face and the successes they have had.

Rob begins his podcast journey with Rwanda, a country and EMS system close to his heart. Rob has advised the Rwandan EMS system and monitored their progress for many years. In this episode, he welcomes Rwandan EMS Leader Jean Marie Uwitonze from the Rwandan Ministry of Health, Division of EMS; and U.S. Trauma Surgeon Dr. Sudha Jayaraman, director of the Center for Global Surgery at the University of Utah.

Rwanda is one of the only countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to have a publicly run, national ambulance service, which was established in 2007. Uwitonze highlights the development of EMS, and training and certification levels in Rwanda, as well as the next major project to develop and enhance emergency communications across the country.

Dr. Jayaraman describes her involvement (for over a decade) in the development of EMS in the country and notes, “We all know that there is no point in having a wonderfully qualified surgeon in the hospital if there is no means to get the patient there.”

The founders of the Women in Emergency Services association discuss their mission

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 episode, Rob Lawrence chats with the founding advisors of the new EMS association – Women in Emergency Services (WiES):

• Amy Gnojek, CPA, MPA, CACO, founder/principal consultant, Apex360

The guests discuss the formation of WiES and its aims, mission and four pillars:

1. Empowerment

They also discuss how they hope to influence and impact the lives of thousands of women working in the emergency services industry.

Bianchi and Anderson also discuss their roles in current legislation and the upcoming Cost Collection survey as well as the AAA Vanguards Awards, which will honor those who blazed the trail for fellow female EMS professionals. The Vanguards will be presented in collaboration with Women in Emergency Services.

This episode of Inside EMS 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.

Our co-hosts bid farewell to 2022 by counting down the most talked about and debated stories from this year's slate of Inside EMS episodes. Join Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson as they discuss EMS-police relations, patients' gender identity requests, legal conundrums and more. 

Check out the stories referenced in our episode: 

• Video: N.Y. officer on desk duty after handcuffing EMT in hospital

This episode of Inside EMS 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.

This week, Cohost Kelly Grayson is joined by guest Host Greg Friese, MS, NRP, editorial director for Lexipol, and the pair discuss the traits of a great EMS book. Grayson and Friese, both fans of the genre of EMS literature, discuss the importance of clinical accuracy, a narrative arc that connects the patient responses, and author point of view. They also dive into whether the EMT or paramedic author needs to both experience and convey personal transformation through the narrative. Listen closely as Grayson and Friese shout out some of their favorite EMS authors and books. 

What's your favorite book by an EMT or paramedic? How did that book influence your education and career in EMS?  Listen to the full conversation and add your comments on the topic below.

Kelly Grayson is the author of "Perspectives, Volume I: An Emergency Medicine and Public Safety Anthology", and the follow-up, Perspectives, Volume 2.

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. 

Host Rob Lawrence welcomes guest Scott Moore, Esq., owner of Moore EMS Consulting, LLC and an active EMT for over 30 years to discuss the fourth annual survey of employee turnover in the EMS industry prepared and authored by the American Ambulance Association; Newton 360; Doverspike Consulting; and Rosanna Miguel, PhD. The survey presents turnover data from 119 EMS organizations, representing more than 12,000 employees.

Up for discussion: how turnover rates have changed, the cost of replacing an EMT or paramedic and how turnover rates are increasing in part-time providers. Moore also shares one thing that has not changed in the 4 years of the AAA turnover survey: the dissatisfaction with pay and benefits.

Moore has held various executive positions, including chief executive officer, vice president, director of human resources and operations, at several ambulance services in Massachusetts. He is a licensed attorney, specializing in human resources, employment law, reimbursement, and compliance matters. Moore is the human resources and operational consultant to the American Ambulance Association and frequently lectures at EMS conferences.

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. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently announced a directive for police and emergency medical workers to hospitalize people on the streets and subways who have severe, untreated mental illness. Adams said the directive was an effort to curb a recent wave of crimes involving people experiencing homelessness and will allow law enforcement and EMS to involuntarily hospitalize people who pose a danger to themselves, even if they don't pose a risk to others.

The directive, which has been met with major concern – as voiced in a New York Times op-ed by an FDNY Paramedic Lieutenant, is fraught with concerns in the burden being placed on EMS to solve the mental health crisis.

In this episode of EMS One-Stop, Doug Wolfberg, EMS attorney and founding partner of Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, LLC, joins host Rob Lawrence to discuss how the directive is a departure from the usual mental health standard.

“The Mayor’s office is using a very aggressive and untested interpretation of the state mental health law to essentially deputize EMS clinicians to involuntarily remove anyone who is mentally ill and unable to meet their own basic needs,” Wolfberg notes.

This episode of Inside EMS 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.

This week cohost Kelly Grayson is joined by guest host Greg Friese, editorial director for Lexipol, and the pair discuss a Canadian research study on the diversity of CPR manikins used in instructive social media posts within North and South America.

During a two year period, researchers found that fewer than 10% of the more than 200 manikin images used in social media instructional posts represented Black or Asian patients, while fewer than 2% represented overweight individuals.

“I kind of rolled my eyes at the study itself, but it does speak to a larger issue,” Grayson said. “No CPR manikin looks like me; none of them have legs and they all have at least one less chin than I do, but [this research] does speak to a larger issue in EMS, and society as a whole, about diversity and inclusivity in our profession.”

What do you think about the study? Listen to the full conversation and add your comments on the topic below.

• The 'hidden curriculum' in EMS education: Teaching the good, the bad and the ugly

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. 

Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022, Christopher Manson, vice president of government relations in the Illinois-based OSF Healthcare System, came up with the idea of sending American ambulances full of supplies to Ukraine.  

After reaching out to the Government in Kyiv and the Ukrainian Consulate in Chicago, and connecting with others working to send aid to Ukraine, on March 29, 2022, the first ambulance full of medical supplies and equipment left for Ukraine on a 747-800 aircraft. 

Since then, five additional shipments of ambulances have traveled from the United States to Ukraine via aircraft and ship for a current total of 18 ambulances and tons of medical supplies.

In this episode of EMS One-Stop, Host Rob Lawrence welcomes Christopher Manson and discusses the challenges, logistics and successes of the program, and also Mark Tenia, media manager for the Richmond (Virginia) Ambulance Authority, who highlights their recent donation of an ambulance for Ukraine and the process for gaining clearance for the donation.