We’re sent to the courthouse where a marshal takes us back to a holding cell. A thin, bearded man with cuffs around his wrists and his legs chained is bent over in the bare cell, grimacing. “Guess he got nervous about seeing the judge,” the marshal says to us, “Developed himself some back pain.” “I’ve […]

I had three people tell me to read this obituary a woman wrote about her sister who died at thirty-two after a long struggle with addiction. Madelyn Linsenmeir, 1988-2018 Powerful.   While I am most moved by the first part that describes Madelyn and shows the clear love of her family for her, I am […]

I see Maria outside the Spanish market, squatting against the building. She is a tiny woman in her fifties who was introduced to heroin thirty years ago when she was living in New York. The father of her son used it occasionally and when he used, she was obligated to sniff some as well. It […]

“EMS personnel and physicians involved with protocol development for EMS systems in the United States, United Kingdom, and similar settings with limited exposure to advanced airway management should reconsider the routine use of endotracheal intubation as the first-line strategy for airway management in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.” This is the conclusion of an editorial in the […]

The opioid overdose epidemic continues to rage in Connecticut, although numbers again show the carnage may be plateauing. The Connecticut Medical Examiner’s Office just released the overdose death numbers for the first six months of 2018. Connecticut Medical Examiner’s Statistics  515 people died in contrast to 500 and 538 in the two previous six month […]

  A walk in the park to stretch the legs while on post. The medic walks past a row of port o-potties from a weekend event. One port-o-potty is not fully closed.  A sneaker blocks the door door. On second glance the sneaker is attached to a foot. Open the door and an unresponsive man […]

Check out this web site to read about eleven people affected by the opioid crisis, including a paramedic who injured his back on the job. The Opioid Chapters

The next drug to add to the EMS formulary should be water. That’s right. H20. How many times have you been on a call and the patient has asked for water only to be told by every EMS responder in the room, “No! You can’t drink anything!” Really? The reason we don’t let people drink […]

Misinformation and inconsistent recommendations  regarding fentanyl have resulted in confusion in the first responder community. – Fentanyl Safety Recommendations for First Responders (Revised) from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. It seems every week responders are getting exposed to Fentanyl, being rushed to the hospital, with many getting Narcan, all often without exhibiting any symptoms […]

I wrote an op-ed this month that was published by the Hartford Courant. Insight: I See What Heroin Does. Let People Shoot Up Safely Included was a checklist: 5 Things to Know About Heroin Addiction I read an article a few days later that said that when called an “overdose prevention site,” as opposed to […]