I admit I have been having a hard time adjusting to being a part-time field paramedic.  When I went part-time back in the spring (in order to accommodate both increased hours in my clinical coordinator job at the hospital and be around more to take my daughter to her sports events), my plan was still […]

Great mini-documentary on opioid use and racial disparities in Hartford, Connecticut.   Listen to Julissa’s story.   My view’s on the opioid epidemic and people who use drugs has changed dramatically in the over twenty-five years I have been a paramedic in Hartford.  Only by listening to my patient’s stories, patient’s like Julissa did I come to […]

Today at our state’s EMS Advisory Board meeting (held via internet) they had a moment of silence for those in EMS who have passed recently as they do every month.  One of the deaths was an assistant fire chief and former state trooper who was one of the first responders at Sandy Hook.  He died […]

The official word is things are getting better in Connecticut as far as COVID goes.  We continue to slowly decline from our December high.  The governor has lifted the sports pause so my daughter is back having full scrimmages with her regional basketball team, although her middle school has cancelled their basketball season.  My wife […]

I am thrilled that American Medical Response-Hartford and Aetna Ambulance are partnering with the Greater Hartford Harm Reduction Coalition to deputize the city’s EMS responders into the Harm Reduction army.  Crews will provide information cards to overdose patients and their families on where they can obtain everything from rehabilitation services to naloxone and clean needles […]

Connecticut is back in a severe outbreak according to COVID ACT Now. The upgrade seems to be largely based on the daily new cases per 100K population.  For me, I think the daily hospitalizations is a far better measure of the state of the epidemic.  Source: University of Minnesota COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking The cases chart shows […]

EMS continuing education has been changed forever over the course of the last year.  At UConn John Dempsey Hospital where I am the EMS coordinator, we hold EMS CMES monthly.  For years we held them in person.  Over the years we bounced around from venue to the next dealing with issues like parking (for attendees […]

My first Pfizer shot was great.  Didn’t even feel the needle go in.  No side effects.  Shoveled my driveway the next day with no fatigue.  Yesterday at 10:30 A.M., I had my second shot.  Went to bed at 9:30 P.M. feeling fine.  Woke up at 11:00 P.M. feverish, chills, body aches, joint aches, bone aches, […]