Engine Company EMS and Diligence

Know your Equipment 

By: FF/P Robert Balkun, FF/P Tom Corrone, and Lt. Frank Ricci City of New Haven Fire Department

Failure to be aware of your service’s medical capabilities and equipment can lead to a reduced quality of care in respect to cardiac arrest care in pediatric patients.

In departments that provide both basic and advanced life support services, personnel need to remain aware of the differences in equipment when delivering electrical defibrillation to pediatric patients.

Most AED manufacturers now make both pads for ALS and BLS. These BLS pediatric AED cables can be easily confused with pediatric therapy electrodes for ALS care. To the left are AED pediatric cables manufactured by Physiocontrol.

AED pediatric electrodes have a built in resistor in the cables, reducing the amount of joules provided from an adult setting (typically 200J) to an dosage appropriate for a pediatric patient; cables for ALS monitors like the Lifepak 15’s do not have this built-in resistor.

Defibrillation electrical settings are weight-based for pediatric patients in reference to advanced care, allowing ALS providers to change defibrillation settings via their monitor to the correct amount therefore not requiring this resistor in the cables.

On the packages to these therapy cables, it does state these ALS cables should not be utilized on AED’s, but if providers are not aware of the differences, this can be easily missed.

Refer to your services EMS director and/or local protocols for recommendations and how this may affect care in your service area.

Rumor and insult is the poor mans argument

 Rumor and insult is the poor mans argument

With the close of the election we will get a needed break from the attack adds and half-truths.  Regretfully we will still experience it at a meeting or sitting at the kitchen table listening intently to the latest rumor.

It seems at times there is no way to see through the smoke. Sometimes the    banter is harmless and other times it is meant to demonize an opponent. The most damaging insult or rumor is one that is invoked by an emotional response. We must all guard against this and let cooler heads prevail.

Those in leadership positions or aspiring to leadership must realize that they cannot be part of rumor mill or they will be held accountable for their participation.

As a leader (especially in a political sense) there will come a time when you will have to shine a light on someone’s actions or motives. Always try to attack positions not people. Be mindful that your opponent may be an allay on another issue.    

So why is it so hard for our leaders to stick to motives and the issues? No side holds the moral high ground here. Both sides employ the same tactics. The answer is simple because attacks work. Misinformation and attacks has become as valid as the truth.

Some point to modern day politics, political action committees and the anonyms comments online as the source of contention. Forgetting that pennames and negative pamphlets where common place in our Revolution. The medium may have changed, but the impact is the same.

These attacks are not new. The Coffin Handbills of 1828 represented the start of utilizing surrogates to fund and attack ones opponents. The handbills (political pamphlets) attacked Andrew Jackson for executing deserters in the war of 1812.

Now I feel this is an issue was fair game for a public debate, however John Quincy Adams and his surrogate did not stop there. They followed up with claims about Jackson’s wife and his mother. Going as far as claiming his mother was a prostitute who served British troops.  

Utilizing Political Action Committees and surrogates is necessary to advocate for our service. Our goal should be to stay positive and on message.  We have a responsibility not to betray our service. While the politics of personal destruction continue to dominate the political landscape. We all lose when we stop talking about the issues and continue to talk about each other. 

My father taught me that the worst individual you know would have an average of twenty people attend their funeral. He continued that we must look to find the value in all. Often it comes down to opening yourself up to see a different perspective.  My father is a wise man, but left me to ponder, how do we know they didn’t show up to the funeral just to make sure the bastard was dead?”