On EMS Remembrance Day, we speak with Jana Williams, Tony O’Brien, and James Robinson of the National EMS Memorial Foundation about honoring fallen EMS providers, the annual National EMS Memorial Service, and the drive to build a permanent memorial in Washington, D.C. Learn about Moving Honors (a traveling Tree of Life memorial that visits communities June 1–July 2), the Weekend of Honor (July 17–19, Alexandria, VA), MIT’s pro bono conceptual designs, and how volunteers power this effort. Hear firsthand why memorials matter to families and colleagues and how remembering supports safety and healing. Want to help? Attend or volunteer for events, donate to the three memorial organizations, or contact your senator to support reauthorization in Congress (S.2546). Share this episode to spread the word and help build a permanent home for EMS remembrance and honor our colleagues' service.

Join the JEMS Podcast as we celebrate EMS Week 2026 with Dr. C. Ryan Keay and Chief Christopher Wray. They cover the frontline issues shaping modern prehospital care: sustainability and stewardship of whole blood programs; rural supply-chain challenges and drone delivery ideas; rapid adoption of point-of-care ultrasound; growth of treatment-in-place and mobile integrated health; AI for documentation and decision support; and legal/operational considerations for body-worn cameras. Dr. Keay and Chief Wray share practical examples, federal policy priorities, and how reimbursement and community partnerships can sustain clinical advances. This episode honors paramedics, EMTs, dispatchers, flight crews, educators, and leaders while offering actionable insights for agencies planning new programs, quality review, and cross-sector collaboration.

Mike Brown hosts this JEMS Podcast Save a Life Day special during EMS Week 2026, joined by Chief Rom Duckworth and Dr. Shira Schlesinger. We celebrate EMS professionals and focus on two lifesaving interventions: bystander CPR and bleeding control. Topics include barriers to community CPR, Sidewalk CPR Week and practical, low-cost ways to increase engagement. They discuss Stop the Bleed realities: tourniquet over application concerns, the need for tourniquet correction and conversion by trained prehospital clinicians, and strategies to co locate tourniquets with AEDs.

Mike Brown talks with Dr. Kathleen Adelgais and Dr. Manish Shah during EMS Week 2026’s EMS for Children Day for a conversation about where pediatric readiness in EMS stands, and where it still needs to go. Drawing on findings from the 2024 Pediatric Readiness Project national assessment, they examine the progress agencies have made, the persistent gaps that remain, and the practical steps EMS leaders can take now to better prepare for pediatric patients. With more than 7,000 of roughly 15,000 U.S. EMS agencies participating, the survey produced an overall readiness score of 66, highlighting strengths in equipment and supplies, medication and patient safety, and pediatric protocols, while also revealing continued challenges in family-centered policies, pediatric quality improvement, and disaster preparedness.

Mike Brown hosts an EMS Week Safety Day conversation with Dr. Douglas Kupas, president of the National Association of EMS Physicians, on practical strategies to protect providers and transform EMS into integrated healthcare. Topics include evidence on reducing lights-and-sirens use; rising ambulance thefts and simple vehicle interlocks; low-cost countermeasures like 3D‑printed stretcher buckle covers and pager-sized CO detectors in first-due bags; training options for managing assaults and the shift toward treat-in-place, mobile integrated health programs; and reimbursement reform. This talk offers practical, field-tested ideas for agencies, medical directors, and EMS providers who want safer, smarter EMS operations.

On today’s EMS Week Education Day episode, Mike Brown speaks with Dr. Navin Ariyaprakai and Michael Kaduce about how national partnerships, accreditation, and modern learning strategies are reshaping prehospital care. They explain why accreditation lifts program standards, improves outcomes, and strengthens medical director involvement; and give examples where evidence changes field practice. They cover the difference between initial and continuing education, the value of timely, collegial feedback from medical directors, and pragmatic uses for microlearning and emerging micro‑credentials in continuing education.

In this special 2026 EMS Week episode of the JEMS podcast, Mike Brown hosts Gamunu “Gam” Wijetunge from NHTSA’s Office of EMS and Dr. Nicholas Cozzi, an emergency physician from Chicago. The conversation centers on a significant shift in emergency medicine: moving high-level clinical interventions like blood transfusions directly to the point of injury. With roadway fatalities hovering around 40,000 annually, NHTSA is prioritizing "post-crash care" by aggressive funding through the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program.

Beyond the equipment, the guests discuss the power of data linkage between dispatch centers and hospitals to measure bystander intervention and long-term patient survival. Dr. Cozzi highlights the human element, sharing how simple acts—like sending letters of praise to field clinicians—boost morale and strengthen the bond between medical directors and front-line providers. From grant deadlines on May 26th to Save a Life Day demonstrations in D.C., this episode outlines how federal advocacy and local clinical excellence are converging to save more lives in the field.

Dr. Jonathan Warren discusses practical uses, evidence, and implementation challenges for prehospital ultrasound. We cover lung ultrasound for acute heart failure and B line quantification, trauma FAST exams, cardiac arrest applications including focused pulse checks and transesophageal echocardiography, and how prehospital transfusion and early diagnostics change diagnostic momentum on ED arrival. Dr. Warren also outlines real-world barriers to sustained uptake—cost, training, tech issues, clinical workflows—and describes a national survey from the ACEP prehospital/austere ultrasound subcommittee aimed at identifying why adoption often dwindles after initial implementation.

At FDIC International 2026, our panel of EMS providers and critical‑care physicians break down ventilation during cardiac arrest: what the science supports, where practice still fails, and practical fixes you can use tomorrow. We cover why bag‑valve‑mask ventilation is a high‑risk skill (and best performed as a two‑person procedure), how over‑ and under‑ventilation change intrathoracic pressure and cardiac output, and why properly opening the airway and achieving a seal are fundamental. We discuss supraglottic airways, intubation pitfalls, CPAP and high‑flow strategies, the pros and cons of mechanical ventilators in the field, and the role of objective feedback devices. The panel emphasizes regular, low‑cost simulation training, equipment readiness, pit‑crew coordination, and the hard truth: patients die from poor ventilation more often than from the absence of intubation.

Dr. Brandon Morshedi, a paramedic turned emergency physician and EMS medical director, joins Eric Chase to map a practical path toward EMS 3.0. He explains his driving “why”: improving the systems of care he and his family rely on. The conversation ranges from training paramedics as clinicians and the realistic role of degrees, to on call decision making—when to contact your medical director versus a receiving hospital. Dr. Morshedi outlines priority research areas (resuscitation science, prehospital transfusion, and low acuity treatment in place), federal traction for alternative reimbursement models, and a ten-year horizon for the paramedic practitioner credential.

Quick favor: take our 3-minute (anonymous) listener survey to help shape what we cover next: https://sprw.io/stt-lfjMN