Continuing forward from our reoccurring COVID-19 Webinars, “A National Conversation” where we gather brief “snapshots” of current provincial and/or national states on a variety of pressing topics related to COVID-19. The focus in this webinar was on “Community Paramedics during a Pandemic.”
Police, Fire, EMS, and Corrections personnel (my apologies if I missed anyone) are all taught and practice situational awareness. This practice is what allows so many First Responders to go home safe after shift. In the usual application of situational awareness (Is the scene safe? Am I?), most threats to that safety can be seen or heard. That changes when the threat (amongst all the others that remain) is literally microscopic. And, the signs and symptoms of illness, a) look like...
There is a lot of available information for Health Care Workers and EMS, but not very much for Law Enforcement who have several roles as part of their work that puts them at increased risk for being infected by COVID-19. This document raises the awareness of that risk and offers a clearinghouse of resources specifically for Law Enforcement, First Responders/Public Safety.
JEMS Editor Emeritus AJ Heightman interviewed FirstWatch president Todd Stout on COVID-19. Todd shares some history of FirstWatch helping with health surveillance and emerging infectious diseases, ways that FirstWatch customers are using data during this pandemic, the importance of resilience, and our commitment to helping provide helpful and actionable information for all first responders via our health intelligence pages, webinars, and articles.
EMS1 article by Mike Taigman - Leaders from Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service and Snohomish County Fire District detail how they’re monitoring the COVID-19 surge and preparing for the worst-case scenario.
Continuing forward from our recent COVID-19 Webinars, “A National Conversation” where we gather brief “snapshots” of current provincial and/or national states on a variety of pressing topics related to COVID-19. The focus of this webinar was on “Supporting Staff during a Pandemic.”
Continuing forward from our recent COVID-19 Webinars, “A National Conversation” where we gathered a brief “snapshot” of current provincial and/or national states on a variety of pressing topics. The focus of this webinar was on Patient Management including IAED Protocol 36 and other topics.
Any time there is a novel virus, regardless of what it is or where it came from, there is a learning curve for virologists, infectious disease doctors, epidemiologists, other health care workers, first responders and the public. This is even more pronounced when it is a global event, since different countries note and report different data points and have different thresholds for including these elements in a report. Those countries with their own robust health systems, especially with epidemiologically-based public...
How to take care of yourself and your family during this crisis Coronavirus transformed our lives nearly overnight. Suddenly, we’re bombarded with messages: Stay home, shelter in place, avoid sick people, flatten the curve, not enough ventilators, you may be a carrier for days without symptoms. It’s no wonder people all over the world have a higher collective stress level than any time in modern history. And if you work in emergency services, you can’t stay home or avoid sick people. The extra layers...
Continuing forward from our most recent COVID-19 Webinar, “A National Conversation” where we gathered a brief “snapshot” of current provincial and/or national states on a variety of pressing topics, join us for this next installment delving into a few specific topics more specifically.
A new COVID-19 resource page on EMS.gov provides easy to find links to the most relevant and up-to-date information from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), NHTSA Office of EMS and other Federal agencies involved in the response to the pandemic. This includes guidance for treating potential COVID-19 patients, information on PPE use and supplies and processes for handling healthcare providers who have been exposed to coronavirus.
This is an overview of the new features and training session on using them, as well as existing Academy Analytics features, to monitor your calls taken using the MPDS EIDS tool and/or Protocol 36. Geared toward those who have Academy Analytics, but is open to all.
Executive Summary: For those Public Safety Agencies reporting an employee’s possible exposure, and expecting notification of a positive COVID-19 disease result from the hospital or public health officer, the expanded Ryan White Act of 2009 update has been published by NIOSH/CDC and will address this issue. Furthermore, emergency response employees covered by the Act have been defined. Full Report: The CDC/NIOSH has updated the Infectious Diseases and Circumstances Relevant to Notification of Emergency Response Employees: Implementation of Sec.2695 of the Ryan White...
Emerging Disease Surveillance and Triage using the MPDS ProQA software Click here to view the recording. Click here for a pdf of the slides. Mentioned during webinar: Link to Academy Analytics COVID-19 features, click here. Link to webinar on Monday, March 30th, about using Academy Analytics for COVID-19, click here. We will post the Q&A if we receive any more answers that were not covered in the webinar. This presentation covers the various software tools available in the ProQA-medical software program for managing the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as surveillance approaches...
FirstWatch Medical Director, Silvia Verdugo Puts COVID-19 in Perspective in JEMS Interview
With new funding from Congress, the NIH has launched a website with training and educational resources for workers confronting COVID-19 in the workplace, including emergency first responders, hospital workers, and others at risk due to possible exposure to the virus via their work assignments. This training will be part of the already established Worker Training Program. Use this link for specifics about the COVID-19 training program and links to other training programs and resources. National Institutes of Health
Canadian Paramedic Services National Conversation led by Darren Sandbeck, Senior Provincial Director & Chief Paramedic, Alberta Health Services Emergency Medical Services This conversation was in the tradition originally started with a conference call among Canadian EMS leaders sharing information during SARS. This highly successful information and best practices sharing approach was continued, with help from FirstWatch, during the H1N1 and Ebola outbreaks. This session was led by Darren Sandbeck. Click here to view the recording. Click here for a pdf of the slides. Situational Awareness for All Public Safety...
EMS1 article - Our friend Catherine Counts PhD from Seattle shares data visualization resources to help manage the response to our pandemic.
EMS1 article by Rob Lawrence - Communication, PPE and decontamination strategies highlighted the 4th FirstWatch and Paramedic Chiefs of Canada COVID-19 webinar
This joint webinar of PCC, AIMHI, IAED, NAEMT, CAA, and FirstWatch was the 4th in a series. We were proud to see that over 1,300 people registered for it. With Matt Zavadsky from MedStar moderating, our presenters for Solano County, California were Dr. Bela Matyas from Solano County Public Health, Ted Selby from Solano County EMS, and Jimmy Pierson from Medic Ambulance. They provided incredibly useful and practical information from their ongoing experience providing care for COVID-19 patients quarantined at Travis Air Base. One example of insight shared is how they balanced the needs of the community for EMS coverage with the...
