Realtime status, training assets, and a home for the Brown EMS Corps
I think that at Brown we do a lot of things right. However, I have a question to ask: why is our jump kit so heavy? That red bag weighs a ton. I consider myself to be a pretty big guy, but even I have trouble lugging that stupid bag up five flights of Keeney. The gear I carry in the fire service is usually lighter. I honestly had some back soreness after carrying that monstrosity around all night on our spring weekend shift.
[Ed note: Dispatches From NJ is new column from Dani Levine, Brown EMS emeritus and EMT-of-the-Year 2009, and Tim Satty, Brown EMT at large and Satty Says author, both originating from New Jersey and currently providing care to the Garden State. These are their stories.]
Most of you probably know that if you want to maintain your EMT license, you are required to complete a refresher course every couple of years. Now, this is not a problem if you are a Brown EMS affiliate recertifying in Little Rhody, for you have the likes of Mark and Brendan to review EMT course material with you and help you on your way to becoming one of those lifelong EMTs. However, those of us lucky enough to be licensed in a less advanced (though totally cooler) state must complete a refresher with instructors who last practiced EMS during the Jurassic Age and currently acquire their facts about the world from Snapple bottle caps.
[Keep reading! More after the jump:]
We are excited to introduce a new featured columnist to brownEMS.org, Tim Satty. I have had the good fortune of knowing and working with Tim for nearly three years now, and can say that his experience in EMS and Fire is a huge asset to brown EMS. In addition to being an excellent provider, he is very passionate about the brown EMS corps. What follows is his first column on the topic of SPINEBOARDING.
In my mind one of the most idiotic things we do in EMS is backboard every trauma patient that presents to us with any sort of head or neck complaint. You cannot find me a single person that is comfortable on one of those babies. If you didn’t have back pain before being boarded, you do after.
Tim’s article in full after the jump:
