This Week in EMS: A Recap for June 9 - 15, 2007

Has your agency made special plans or taken unique steps to prepare for major multicasualty events in your jurisdiction? If so, we invite you to tell us about it. EMS Magazine will profile the best examples of extraordinary planning/preparedness measures in a feature story appearing in our September issue. Help us share your hard-earned insights and outside-the-box approaches with others who may benefit from them. E-mail john.erich@cygnusb2b.com with thoughts, ideas, suggestions and examples, or call 800/547-7377, x. 1106. Your fellow responders - and the citizens they serve - will thank you.

Reminders:

Next week, June June 17-23, is the International Fire Fighter and EMS Safety Stand Down, sponsored by the IAFC and the IAFF, to encourage responders to suspend all non-emergency activity and instead focus entirely on safety.

Whether or not your agency is participating in this program, a safety review is always a great idea for all EMS responders, to keep yourself and your crew in good health. This timing also coincides with EMS Magazine's focus on vehicle safety in the June issue.

We hope you'll take some time over the next week to review a compilation of some of the top safety and wellness resources published in the pages of EMS Magazine and online at EMSResponder.com. These links are available at Safety Resources Offered for the Fire and EMS Safety Stand Down, June 17-23.

June is also Home Safety Month, sponsored by the Home Safety Council. This year's theme is "Hands on Home Safety," which asks the public to take some simple hands-on steps to create a safer home environment from hazards as falls, fires and burns, and poisonings. Read more on EMSResponder.com or visit the program website for materials.

Awards

Nominations are being accepted for EMS Magazine's 22nd Annual EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award, sponsored by Braun Industries and ZOLL Medical Corporation. Nominations must be received by July 2, 2007. For full contest rules and instructions please visit www.emsresponder.com/paramedic.

EMS Magazine is also accepting nominations for the 2007 EMS Magazine/National Association of EMTs Gold Service Award. For contest rules and to submit nominations, go to www.emsresponder.com/goldaward. Nominations must be received by August 1, 2007.

EMSResponder.com Poll

This week's poll asks, "What do you spend the most time doing between calls?"

Visit the poll on the lower right side of EMSResponder.com to participate.

Other top headlines this week on EMSResponder.com:

• Medic Describes Deadly Pittsburgh Blaze
• School Bus and Car Collide in California, One Dead
• Ontario Firefighter Resuscitates Bear Cub
• Virginia Crews Help Deliver Toll Road Baby
• Florida Teen Calls 911 While Impaled by Fence
• Surgeon Amputates Boy's Arm On Florida Expressway