This Week in EMS: Woman Killed in Ambulance Crash...NYC Hospital Closure...Film Tackles Ambulance Diversion

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Ind. Woman Killed in Crash with Ambulance

A woman was killed Thursday afternoon when she pulled out in front of an ambulance headed to an Indianapolis hospital, police said.

Pa. Ambulance Service Plan Upsets Providers, Municipalities

Erie County Executive Barry Grossman wants to adopt a plan that guarantees that the closest ambulance service will be dispatched when someone calls 911, regardless of municipal boundaries.

Study Shows Bystander Use of AEDs Saves Lives

Victims of sudden cardiac arrest who are treated with AEDs by bystanders have a much greater chance of survival than their counterparts, according to landmark research by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium, just published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

EMS Training Center

Filling the Gap

Emergency responders have needs. The Department of Homeland Security's TechSolutions program exists to help solve them. Established by the department's Science & Technology Directorate, its goal is to identify capability gaps for the various emergency services that can be bridged with research and development efforts in partnership with industry.

EMS Revisited

October 1991 Luby's Shooting

Robert L. Kelley worked as a firefighter/paramedic for the Killeen (TX) Fire Department from 1982-97. In October 1991, he responded to the Luby's restaurant shooting in which gunman George Hennard killed 23 before shooting himself, which was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history before Virginia Tech. This article is an excerpt from a journal Kelley kept about the response to the shooting.

Featured Articles

Firestorm Film Tackles Ambulance Diversion

In EMS, we know all about ambulance diversions and offload delays. But communicating these complex problems to the public at large is an ongoing challenge. Educating those constituents--who elect society's leaders and shape the priorities to which they tend--is vital to reducing this problem. That's going to require telling the story in an understandable, accessible way. And that's what makes Firestorm such a potentially important film.

A Death of Historical Significance

Since 1849, Saint Vincent's Hospital has provided emergency medical care to the citizens of New York City. Sadly, the hospital and its paramedic program will close its doors in 2010. This article details the amazing story behind Saint Vincent's Hospital, which received and treated patients from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, the sinking of the Titantic in 1912, and patients from both the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as running one of the nation's most respected paramedic programs.

Salvaging the Students of Saint Vincent's

When a venerable New York hospital closes and takes its paramedic education program with it, other institutions and one dedicated educator step up to finish the job.

Featured EMS Magazine Article

View From the Ground: Haiti EMS Response

On January 12 a 7.0-magnitude earthquake violently shook the densely populated capital and surrounding areas of Haiti, forever changing an already ravaged country into what many described as sheer apocalypse. As the world reacted to Haiti's need, NYC Medics, an international relief organization, mobilized and within five days had placed two teams on the ground in the country. Over the next eight weeks, NYC Medics deployed a total of seven teams-nearly 60 paramedics, nurses, physician assistants and doctors. During this initial response to the earthquake, NYC Medics treated roughly 20,000 patients.

Continuing Education

The Power of Capnography to Guide Respiratory Care