EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ARCHIVES
The Commonwealth’s Approach – Implementing a Common-Language Protocol
Chris Essid
October 10, 2007
Coded language systems have existed for decades and have been extremely useful, particularly for public-safety agencies, because they incorporate a degree of brevity and security in radio communications. However, in current times, coded language is no longer providing the security it once did, nor is it allowing first responders to
The Hospital Incident Command System – No Longer HEICS
Craig DeAtley
October 10, 2007
The professional guidelines developed to help the nation’s hospitals cope with a broad spectrum of emergencies have been so successful and so well-received that they have been expanded, revised, and refined to encompass non-emergency situations as well.
EMS Professionals and the CERTification of Volunteers
Joseph Cahill
October 10, 2007
The willingness of so many citizen volunteers to serve on Community Emergency Response Teams adds an extra dimension of capability to already overworked (and sometimes overwhelmed) EMS staffs. There are a few precautions also worth noting, though.
Protecting Our Protectors: Defending America’s First Responders
Barbara Mikulski
October 3, 2007
It is unconscionable that the “American heroes” who protect “our homes, our businesses, and our communities” have not been given the tools they need to carry out their dangerous jobs. Now they will be, thanks to the initiatives pushed by this legislator.
Homeland Security and Community-Oriented Policing
Joseph Watson
September 26, 2007
The experience of one local agency in using funds provided by a federal education-and-information grant to develop a community-oriented program may serve as a helpful template for other agencies to follow both to qualify for the same type of funding and to serve as a model for team building. The
Partnerships in Interoperability: A Best Practices Model
Kay C. Goss
September 26, 2007
It is axiomatic in the EM (emergency management) community both that regional collaboration is the foundation of emergency management and that interoperability of equipment – one of the keys to a successful collaboration – is 10 percent technology and 90 percent governance. But collaboration cannot be mandated; it has to
Washington State’s Radiological Outreach and Training Program
Allen Conklin
September 19, 2007
The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 forever changed everyone’s view of readiness, especially in the field of radiation. The possibility of a terrorist cell using radioactive or nuclear material as a weapon has raised the consciousness of the Washington State Department of Health, the leaders of which wanted to
Joseph Becker, Senior Vice President of Disaster Services, American Red Cross
Joseph C. Becker
September 19, 2007
The ARC’s new operational framework for the Age of Terrorism. National Preparedness Month. Working relationships with local and state agencies. Pet sheltering, the national shelter data system, and the ARC blood program.
Preparing Hospitals for Use as Fallout Shelters
Kirk Paradise
September 11, 2007
Forward-looking planners in Huntsville, Alabama, are seeking to determine the feasibility of using medical facilities as fallout shelters to cope with mass-casualty incidents involving a nuclear or “dirty” bomb.
Debris Monitors – Cleaning Up and Clearing Out
Kirby McCrary
September 5, 2007
The crisis is not really “over” until the paperwork has been completed – in full, on time, and frequently in triplicate. In the field of debris removal adherence to that old saying is sometimes the difference between bankruptcy and prosperity.
Chlorine Tactics in Iraq; the Challenge to America
Joseph Steger
August 15, 2007
For more than a decade, terrorist groups have been demonstrating an increasingly greater interest in using easily obtained chemicals as components of conventional explosive weapons. In Iraq, the first half of 2007 was marked by an alarming escalation of attacks using chemical-based “dirty” bombs. Meanwhile, police and fire services personnel
How to Expand the EMS Talent Pool
Glen Rudner
August 8, 2007
In planning for large-scale terrorist incidents, U.S. decision-makers at all levels of government – local, state, and federal – must consider, among other things, how to triage and transport the maximum number of casualties at the incident scene with the probably limited assets available. Many first-responder agencies already keep emergency
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