Live from EMS Today 2009

By admin on March 26th, 2009

This is yours truly from EMS Today 2009 held at the Baltimore Convention Center. The photo above shows the entrance to the convention on Pratt street.

The day started off with opening ceremonies from the people at JEMS, the Journal of Emergency Medical Services, as well as a person by the name of Suzanne Frey Sherwood, who gave a presentation on whether or not people from past historic trauma cases (Lincoln, McKinley, Lady Di) could survive today with the right response and care.

After the opening speeches were over, we headed to individual meeting rooms to listen to 90-minute seminar presentations on particular topics. I chose to listen to “Legal Issues in EMS” and “No Ambulances Available: The Impact Delayed Transport Has on Fire Service Resources”.

Along the way I met and talked to paramedics from Miami-Dade as well as Mexico (the ones wearing the Red Cross gear). Apparently the Red Cross is the de facto emergency medical provider in Mexico.

I had a great opportunity to bump into Battalion Chief Chuck King from Howard County Fire & Rescue, who allowed me to participate in a ridealong with station 2, Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department. I rode in unit 26, and had two calls back to back, one a fever, another a SVT. On my way back to Baltimore they got called out for another, so in the space of about 5 hours they got three calls, which is apparently normal volume!