How to assess and heal your stress-damaged relationships
A crowd-sourced educational stress management experience with Mike Taigman and Angela Leath for cops, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics and correctional officers
JEMS – EMS Agencies Combat Patient Offload Delays Due to COVID-19
JEMS article – While offload delays aren’t a new hurdle for EMS, they have become increasingly challenging as COVID-19 cases rise. Hospitals at full capacity have led to ambulances waiting longer—in some cases for several hours—to complete patient handoffs. These delays and subsequent diversions can have a negative impact on patient care and limit the availability of emergency resources. In response, some EMS systems are implementing new processes and technology to combat the extended wait times.
Resilience Dialogues – March 12th, 2021
These dialogues are open forums to explore resilience, all the things that cause stress in our lives, relationships, and more. Please join us for these monthly interactive sessions where everyone, including family members, is welcome. They will be held the second Friday of the month at 9am Pacific Time.
Finding Valid Information & Keeping Up-to-Date on COVID-19
A year into the Pandemic, there is lots of information about COVID-19 out there – more and more based on sound science -- but not all of it. We absolutely want & need the cutting-edge info to help guide recommendations for all things COVID, but we also need it to be based on validatable science so we can rely on it. This article explores some of the ways to find reliable scientific opinion if not completely validated science. It also...
List of Employer & Employee COVID-19 Resources for the General Workplace & Specific Occupations
This list of Resources with links is provides In an attempt to make this updated info available more quickly, this document provides a list, divided into topics, each with links and a synopsis of what each site represents. There are way too many available articles/sites to include them all, so these pages represent some of what I perceive are the best on the subject, at least at the moment selected. Most of the sites also provide links to other sites...
Dept of Homeland Security National Terrorism Bulletin
The US DHS has released a Terrorism Advisory Bulletin to alert all people of a need to be aware of their surrounding and report any suspicious information or activity. It is included here, for Public Safety / First Responder Agencies, who may not be part of a direct intel sharing system. It also includes a few ways that the Bulletin can be used by these agencies as well as information on how to report the info/activity. View/Download...
New Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
This article is for awareness only. A new Ebola outbreak in the Eastern Province of North Kivu, DRC, has been announced by the DRC and WHO. Only two cases have been reported although there are more than 100 contacts, many of them high risk, which are being surveilled. The two cases were women who had close contact and have both died. The first case is married to an Ebola survivor from a previous outbreak in the Region, which just ended...
COVID-19 In the News Update
The available information about COVID-19 is updating/changing on a daily, if not hourly, basis. In an attempt to make this updated info available more quickly, this document provides a list, divided into topics, each with links and a synopsis of what each site represents. There are way too many available articles/sites to include them all, so these pages represent some of what I perceive are the best on the subject, at least at the moment selected. Most of the sites also...
EMS1 – ‘We’ve become numb:’ Combatting PPE fatigue
EMS1 article by Mike Taigman – More PPE training is unlikely to address PPE fatigue; here are 7 strategies that will
COVID-19 Vaccine and Vaccination Update
The two mRNA vaccines have been out for more than a month and 4,263,056 individuals have already completed their vaccination series, while millions more await their second shot in the series, and even more are waiting to begin their vaccinations. This update covers what is known about the current vaccines and what is not, that even after vaccination, it is essential that everyone continue their current protective behaviors, particularly with the finding of COVID-19 Variants in both Canada and the...
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Variants
A year into the COVID Pandemic, and the SARS-CoV-2 virus has mutated millions of times as it transmitted between people. It is what viruses do to survive & thrive. Several of those mutations have resulted in COVID Virus Variants. These variants have been identified by genetic sequencing in the few countries that have been doing aggressive testing for just these changes. Three global variants have been officially identified and, at least temporarily, named. This article outlines why this happens, what...
Paramedic Chiefs of Canada White Paper: Discussion on 10 Guiding Principles for Paramedicine in Canada | February 4th
In this session, we presented the results of research study that has led to the generation of 10 guiding principles for paramedicine in Canada to consider in structuring the profession’s transition and evolution. Collectively, these principles provide a national coordinated vision and guidance on how to proceed within paramedicine in Canada, while permitting enactment in ways that are sensitive to local and contextual variation.
EMS1 – Closing the gap between EMS and inherent safety
EMS1 article by Mike Taigman – A framework to quality improvement initiatives to solve your safety challenges
Paramedic Chiefs of Canada – Revolutionizing EMS: New Models of Care to Address Changing Health Care Needs in the Age of COVID | January 21st
Across Canada, access to appropriate health care is an ongoing challenge, and pressures within our health care system – wait times, hospital overcrowding, patient backlog – have only been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. To address these challenges, integrated primary health care teams across the country are working to help patients receive the care they need in their homes and communities, where they are often happiest and healthiest.
SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Vaccine Update
SARS-CoV-2 Vaccinations to protect against COVID-19 have begun in the United States. This article supplies some FAQs with subsequent discussion intended to help each individual come to their own personal choice on COVID-19 Vaccination based on sound information. This same info can provide an opening for an agency to plan their approach to determining how COVID-19 Vaccinations fit into their Agency and Operational Plan. There is also a list of Resources & Links with supporting materials divided into easy to identify...
EMS1 – Mike Taigman on EMS One-Stop With Rob Lawrence
Catch our own Mike Taigman chatting to Rob Lawrence. Mike discusses his 5-step wellness checkup, how to look after the welfare of others, as well as coping strategies, including his own journey into meditation.
EMS1 – A 5-step wellness checkup
Focus on the 9,000 things you can do, rather than the 1,000 you can’t and follow these tips to reduce stress.
CDC Guidance for Managing the Holidays during COVID-19
The CDC published Guidelines intended to help individuals & families make the best and safest choices for themselves while celebrating the upcoming holidays. Most of the guidance is applicable to other situations and timeframes too. First Responders have two families, a traditional one and a work one, with many share living quarters during their shift. As essential/front line workers, First Responders are often at increased risk and have an ongoing chance of sharing that risk with those they come in contact...
Paramedic Chiefs of Canada – Developing a National Paramedic Workplace Violence Prevention Framework | December 3rd
The presentation provides an overview of research conducted from January to September, 2020. This study focused on frontline Paramedics and leaders across all Canadian provinces to determine what was working well in workplace violence prevention and how that might inform the development of a national WVPF and strategic issues agenda as a springboard for future research.
Paramedic Chiefs of Canada – Building Community Paramedicine into the Canadian Healthcare Landscape: An Economic Analysis of ‘Community Paramedicine at Clinic’ (CP@clinic) from the Paramedic Service Perspective | November 19th
In this presentation, Dr. Agarwal presented a recent economic analysis from the paramedic service perspective demonstrating the potential impact CP@clinic can have for paramedic services. The cost-benefit analysis was discussed in detail, and implications for paramedic services discussed.
