editor’s note: My take on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes began some years ago when I made a correlation between EMS and detective work, and thought it would be fun to have an alter-ego. My station is located directly across from Baker Street, Holmes’s home in the original stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and […]

I became idiot #1 for a day when this was originally published at EMS1, curious to see if people agree with that assessment without the provocative headline that led the story. ( I didn’t write the headline) Houston was underwater, Florida about to be, and I was nestled in my football chair in New England getting […]

What if . . . We train our dispatchers to ask questions like medics in the field; assess the callers needs to the best of our ability and send the appropriate  resources: 1. Paramedic 2. EMT 3. UBER or similar 4. Police If none of the above is appropriate  or necessary, send nobody. We do […]

I think there are 16 floors, I can’t remember. It’s one of the older housing units in the city. A recent makeover helped, but it is tired. A lady called from the seventh floor, history of COPD and a multitude of other health issues. The call was dispatched as an ALS run, Engine 3 and […]

All she had was a wheelchair, a couch, a bed and a picture of Elvis. The place was clean, when you don’t have anything it’s easy to keep up. From her bed she told us about her pain. Four days now, getting worse every day. Diabetes for twenty of her fifty-three years had taken it’s […]

A big mistake I made when I was struggling with some demons was comparing myself to other firefighters, medics, emergency room staff and cops. I thought if those people can suck it up, why can’t I? Should have been comparing myself with people who are not immersed in the worst. Normal people don’t deal with […]