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At a recent conference, Inside EMS Podcast co-host Kelly Grayson spoke with a responder who 10 years ago couldn’t save a little girl, and blames himself for what he saw as mistakes that let her murder go free.
“It still affects him deeply enough that he couldn’t keep it together, and stood in the exhibit hall and cried in public,” Grayson said. “His story was a litany of everything that is wrong with how we deal with mental illness, stress and depression among EMS providers.”
In this week’s podcast, he and host Chris Cebollero discuss how agencies can offer more support to providers deal with mental health issues and suicide.
“We need to have responsibilities in our own organizations,” Cebollero said, adding that it should also extend to the state and regional level. A call that may not have a lot of meaning to most may in fact be the tipping point for another provider, based on what else is going on in his or her life, they said.
“Agencies need to do a better job protecting their most valuable resource, and that’s their people,” Grayson said.
They also encouraged responders to check out the Code Green Campaign, which aims to raise awareness about responder suicides and mental health issues.
News
In the news section, they discuss three Texas medics suspended after an internal investigation revealed a powerful sedative was misused on patients in three separate incidents. The original reporting was misleading, implying that administering Versed contributed to the patents’ deaths and led to the suspensions.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Grayson said.
“If they’re guilty of anything, they’re guilty of not following protocol,” Cebollero said. They agreed that in a situation like this, EMS managers have an obligation to correct an inaccurate news story.
They also talk discuss a Calif. woman who says she called 911 for medical assistance after suffering several seizures, only to be forcibly arrested for public intoxication, resisting arrest and battery on a police officer.
“There are a lot of times when we don’t consider metabolic challenges when we deal with these patients,” Cebollero said. In EMS, especially when it comes to frequent fliers, it’s easy to get tunnel vision and miss important patient information.
“I think this is a failure,” Cebollero said.
Grayson agreed.
“When you have a patient with an altered mental status they may be drunk, they may have a head injury, they may be hypoglycemic or they may quite simply be a jerk,” he said. “And it’s all too possible they’re all four things at once.”
In a feel-good moment, they also talk about Buddy, a beagle mix that hitched a ride on the back of an ambulance to be with his elderly owner.
“When they were flagged down, what could they do? They hopped out and let the dog in the back of the truck,” Grayson said. “… Good for the EMTs for allowing it.”
Cebollero agreed, saying sometimes doing the right thing means fracturing a few policies, and it’s great to hear some good news in the media about EMS.
Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:
