GPS smartphone app + ambucycles = immediate response

Among the high-minded discusion and topless protest at the World Economic Forum in Davos was a presentation by Eli Beer, Chief Coordinator of United Hatzalah (Rescue).

Creating a Network of Heros describes the process of empowering 1,700 volunteers in Israel to immediately respond to a life-threatening medical emergency.

United Hatzalah's ambucycles are a solution when ambulances that needs to arrive quickly to save lives are unable to travel through congested traffic.

The volunteers have an ambucycle with AED and first aid kit. They have a GPS application in their smart phone that displays the location of the emergency

From their website:

United Hatzalah of Israel is an independent non-profit fully volunteer Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Organization that assists in responding to medical emergencies throughout Israel.

The primary role of United Hatzalah volunteers – trained and certified as EMTs, Paramedics and MD’s – is to provide an immediate response within 2-4 minutes from the onset of an incident: establishing a life-saving bridge of medical care; transmitting vital information to control centers and once the local ambulance service arrives, working alongside its crew to enable a swift transfer to hospital. United Hatzalah's education department is an innovative leader in the fields of public health, safety and accident prevention training.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Porsche pushing buttons

In the last advertising campaign, Porsche promoted the idea that their 911 sports car could be an everyday driver. Chris Woodyard wrote about it in a March 25, 2011 USA Today article: "New TV ad pushes practical side of Porsche 911."

With the 2012 "991" model, the iconic car gets a major update. Third all-new chassis, a little longer than the original 1963 "901" air-cooled model.

Development of Porsche Identity:

New commercial released yesterday. 

Our identity is the 911. This is especially true, even in the 21st century.

Instantly recognisable and originally engineered for the racetrack, it continues to stir the emotions today, just as it did in 1963.

More information on http://www.porsche.com/911

While I am the demographic target for the Corvette generation (old bald guy), the 911 is the only rented sports/exotic car that I still think about (2009: I still want a Porsche).

I came back from that Vegas trip and stopped by a dealership.  Only $90,000.

Unlike Mitt, for me that is A LOT of money for a car.

However, if I get a winning lottery ticket  …..

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Updates From the Consumer Electronics Show

which runs from Tuesday to Saturday this week

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HERE'S A GOOD video review of a new smartphone from HTC introduced yesterday.  Coming soon via AT&T, it's a 4G Windows phone that has an eye-popping 16 MP camera in it:

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The Associated Press tells us that the theme for this year seems to be "Thin is In"

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Nixie's report starts with Ultra Books, only a mention though, but it's worth waiting through the video to see the new Home Drone, a consumer-operated drone controlled by your smartphone that transmits live video images back to your receiver.  You can check the neighbor's picnic!

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Enter the Contest and Start Your eBook Reading Now

Only Three Days Left to Enter

TO HELP INTRODUCE YOU TO the world of eBooks,  Dave Diamantes, author of top-selling eBook Dead Pen Pals has created this simple exercise combined with a contest for your enjoyment and enlightenment.

One of the unique features of eBook purchasing is the ability to download the first chapter of the book for free so you can "browse" and decide if you want to buy it or not.  Our contest is based on this feature and you begin playing by first going to the book's webpage:  www.deadpenpals.com

After you enter the site, move your cursor to the upper left corner of the page and click on "DEAD PEN PALS Chapter One"

That will bring you a .pdf  file containing Chapter One (my download was 5 pages, but the file contracted the spaces between paragraphs.  Don't worry, the actual eBook is formatted properly).  Read Chapter One and then…..

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the name of Duncan Weller's company?
2. What is Beverly Hartley's claim to fame?
3. What is Neil Hartley's cyber-girlfriend's name?

Enter your answers in an email addressed to us:  geezerguys(at)yahoo(dot)com.  Put CONTEST in the Subject line and send it to us by midnight Saturday January 14.

We will draw three names from all the correct entries and those three winners will receive a free copy of Dead Pen Pals.  It will play on all the major brand e-readers, not just Kindle.  If you do not have an e-reader yet, then Dave will send you a paperback version of the book, so everybody has a chance to win!  If you don't want to wait that long for a copy, you can go ahead and order one off the website we linked above.

Ok..get started and Good Luck!

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Kindle Prices Begin at $79

CLICK HERE to compare all models and order.

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Start Your eBook Reading Now

TO HELP INTRODUCE YOU TO the world of eBooks,  Dave Diamantes, author of top-selling eBook Dead Pen Pals has created this simple exercise combined with a contest for your enjoyment and enlightenment.

One of the unique features of eBook purchasing is the ability to download the first chapter of the book for free so you can "browse" and decide if you want to buy it or not.  Our contest is based on this feature and you begin playing by first going to the book's webpage:  www.deadpenpals.com

After you enter the site, move your cursor to the upper left corner of the page and click on "DEAD PEN PALS Chapter One"

That will bring you a .pdf  file containing Chapter One (my download was 5 pages, but the file contracted the spaces between paragraphs.  Don't worry, the actual eBook is formatted properly).  Read Chapter One and then…..

Answer the following questions:

1. What is the name of Duncan Weller's company?
2. What is Beverly Hartley's claim to fame?
3. What is Neil Hartley's cyber-girlfriend's name?

Enter your answers in an email addressed to us:  geezerguys(at)yahoo(dot)com.  Put CONTEST in the Subject line and send it to us by midnight Saturday January 14.

We will draw three names from all the correct entries and those three winners will receive a free copy of Dead Pen Pals.  It will play on all the major brand e-readers, not just Kindle.  If you do not have an e-reader yet, then Dave will send you a paperback version of the book, so everybody has a chance to win!  If you don't want to wait that long for a copy, you can go ahead and order one off the website we linked above.

Ok..get started and Good Luck!

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Kindle Prices Begin at $79

CLICK HERE to compare all models and order.

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Today we present Part Four of a four-part series on devices to download and read digital publications known as eBooks. An eccentric genius named Michael S. Hart invented the eBook (and gave it its name) in the mid-1960's. His first entry into the ether was a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Today there are tens of millions of eBooks and other publications available, and for the past nine months they have taken over from print media in terms of numbers sold.

Part One, which was posted Tuesday HERE reviewed the Kindle e-reader. Wednesday we reviewed the Kindle Fire tablet HERE and Thursday we looked at the Kindle app. for laptops HERE.  Today we conclude with a look at smartphone apps. for eBooks. Next week we will tell you about some eBooks written by firefighters and EMS people that are available and selling well already.

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The Kindle App. for Smartphones
A Review by Dave Diamantes

Amazon is the eight-hundred pound gorilla in the publishing industry. They started-off as an online bookseller in 1995 and released their Kindle e-reader in 2007; one year after Sony released its PRS-500. Bookeen, a French company, introduced its Cybook the same year. Other manufacturers followed suit. The early readers were priced well over three-hundred dollars, effectively putting them out of the range of most casual readers.

Within four years, bad business decisions by Sony and others tilted the table in Amazon’s favor. Sony gambled they could sell e-books for same price as print books. Bookeen and others felt consumers would drop over three-hundred dollars for a device that just displays print. Barnes and Noble got on the bandwagon with their affordable Nook e-reader. Amazon decided to drive down the price of its e-readers, get into the book publishing business, and go for broke. Amazon won.

With over a dozen e-book formats in use by e-reader manufacturers, Amazon followed Adobe’s lead and developed a Kindle reader application, for iPad and iPhone. It’s free and can be downloaded from Apple’s Mac App store or from Kindle HERE. Your iPad or iPhone automatically synchs Kindle content from your Amazon account, so books you buy on Amazon with your PC, are automatically synched with your iPhone or iPad. With the iPhone’s superior screen display, I find reading Kindle books on my iPhone enjoyable, even with my old eyes, although I don’t use it as my primary reader.

For you non-Apple folks, Kindle also has an app for phones with the Android platform. It's free too, and easily downloaded HERE. Like the iPhone, your books are all synched with your Kindle archives so that you can be reading on your smartphone, log off, and then log in later on your Kindle or your PC and it will open where you left off. And like the Kindle itself, you can adjust the type size and add bookmarks. If it works as well as my iPhone does, and I have no reason to think that it won't, then you will really like this app. You can access all your books without having to go through your Kindle which will come in handy while you are on public transit or at the airport.

Do you have a different device that you would like to read eBooks with, such as Blackberry or Windows Phone 7?  Then CLICK HERE to see all the available Kindle apps for many other types of devices.

Reviewed by Dave Diamantes.
Dave is a retired fire captain and now operates a code training and consulting firm.  He is also a published author of several books and has now moved into the eBook realm.

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Today we present Part Three of a four-part series on devices to download and read digital publications known as eBooks. An eccentric genius named Michael S. Hart invented the eBook (and gave it its name) in the mid-1960's. His first entry into the ether was a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Today there are tens of millions of eBooks and other publications available, and for the past nine months they have taken over from print media in terms of numbers sold.

Part One, which was posted Tuesday HERE reviewed the Kindle e-reader. Wednesday we reviewed the Kindle Fire tablet HERE and today we look at the Kindle app. for laptops. On Friday we conclude with a look at smartphone apps. for eBooks. Next week we will tell you about some eBooks written by firefighters and EMS people that are available and selling well already.

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The Kindle App. for Computers and Laptops, a Review
by Mike Ward

How I Got Started

I was introduced to Kindle through a free book offer by a favorite author, based on my Amazon purchases.

The catch was that it was an eBook, accessible through a Kindle application that I needed to download and install on my laptop.

Great marketing. I got hooked.

From Amazon's Kindle for PC webpage:

• Get the best reading experience available on your PC. No Kindle required
• Access your Kindle books even if you don't have your Kindle with you
• Automatically synchronizes your last page read and annotations between devices with Whispersync
• Create new highlights, notes, and bookmarks and manage those created on your Kindle
• Search for words or phrases within the book you're reading
• Use the built-in dictionary to seamlessly look up the definitions of English words without interrupting your reading.
• Full screen reading view, color modes, and brightness controls offer an immersive reading experience
• Real page numbers for thousands of books in the Kindle Store. Now you can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in a book club or class

Similar packages for MacBook, iPad, Blackberry, iPhones and Android phones.

Mike's Kindle Experience on a PC

Infinitely varible text size.  Unlike Adobe Acrobat .pdf documents, Kindle books are infinitely sizeable, automatically re-adjusting the layout of the text.

Pictures and charts are not as variable. I have compared the paper and Kindle version of a couple of books. Pictures and symbols on Kindle do not maintain the same paper formatting. 

It is like reading Firegeezer on a smart phone, the pictures and symbols go to the center of the screen. 

I like that I could select three different backgrounds: white, black or sepia.

An Addicting Experience

Bill "Firegeezer" Schumm mentioned that he was reading many more books on his Kindle. I noticed that I quickly accumulated two dozen books in my Kindle library, many purchased because I wanted to read it RIGHT NOW.

During the Winter Carnival I have hammered through a surprising number of Kindle books.  In addition to the immediacy, the lower price of ebooks made it easier to make a purchase decision.

As Greg pointed out in his Kindle Fire review, Amazon coordinates your Kindle application with your Amazon.com account. Significantly increases the desire to buy right now.

The Kindle application for the laptop is better than I expected, even with all of the excessive page turning.

Follow these links to download the application: 
Windows Laptop
Android

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Tomorrow:  Part Four, Kindle apps for smartphones

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Today we present Part Two of a four-part series on devices to download and read digital publications known as eBooks. An eccentric genius named Michael S. Hart invented the eBook (and gave it its name) in the mid-1960's. His first entry into the ether was a copy of the Declaration of Independence. Today there are tens of millions of eBooks and other publications available, and for the past nine months they have taken over from print media in terms of numbers sold.

Part One, which was posted Tuesday HERE reviewed the Kindle e-reader.  Today we review the Kindle Fire tablet and Thursday we will look at the Kindle app. for laptops.  On Friday we conclude with a look at smartphone apps. for eBooks.  Next week we will tell you about some eBooks written by firefighters and EMS people that are available and selling well already.

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The Kindle Fire, a Review
by Greg Friese

The Kindle Fire is the 7” tablet from Amazon.com. Powered by the Android operating system the Kindle Fire delivers adequate to outstanding functionality as a web browser, streaming audio and video player, e-Book reader, gaming device, and buying machine.

I have had the Kindle Fire, my first tablet computer, since late November. Since then I have used it primarily to read many ebooks, read and delete lots of email, update my social network status, and watch the first season of Arrested Development.

Previous Kindle Experience

Before the Kindle Fire I had read several books on a gently used 1st generation Kindle that was given to me by a friend. I enjoyed the reading experience on the digital ink screen and the speed of downloading new books. I also added the Kindle android app to my smartphone. I quickly adapted to reading on the backlit phone display and tended to read on my phone since it was always with me. The 1st generation was quickly collecting dust as I read many books on my phone, including the 2nd and 3rd books of the Millennium trilogy. While the free Kindle reading app works great the primary limitation is constantly turning pages. Lots and lots of swiping.

What I Like

I selected the Kindle Fire because of the price, $199 which is several hundred dollars less than the cheapest iPad. I was also drawn to the intention of the Kindle Fire to create a whole new space for handheld tablets rather than the other Android powered tablets that are trying to compete with the iPad.

Initially the Kindle Fire had a little more heft than I expected but as I have become used to size I appreciate its weight and dimensions. It is easy to hold in front of me like a book, light enough to rest on my lap while I watch a video, and durable enough that I don’t hesitate to hand it to my kids for them to play games and read books.

Out of the box my Kindle Fire was already synced to my Amazon.com account and after connecting to my Wi-Fi network and completing a software update my previous Kindle purchases were immediately available on the Kindle Fire. From unboxing to operational only took a couple of minutes.

The Kindle Fire, unlike the other Kindle products, has a digital backlit display and a touch screen. I think the screen is vibrant and easy to read. Video aficionados might complain about the video quality, but for my needs and budget it is more than adequate. One of the touted benefits of the digital ink screen, available on other Kindle models, is the ability to read while in bright sunlight. This is relatively meaningless to me since I don’t sit in the direct sun to read. I will always pick a shady spot. So far I have yet to find lighting conditions, from my home to my office to the car to the airplane, that the ambient light made it difficult to read the screen.

The Kindle Fire is a high powered buying machine. It is seamlessly integrated with Amazon.com. I have used it to purchase everything from hardcover books to ebooks to Frank Lloyd Wright legos to a dozen jars of Jiff Natural Crunchy peanut butter. The Kindle Fire includes a free month of Amazon Prime (annual price of $79). Prime membership includes 2 day free shipping on tens of thousands of items and unlimited streaming of thousands of television shows and motion pictures. My month of membership corresponded perfectly with the Christmas shopping season and we purchased more from Amazon.com than ever before. Pretty clever play by Amazon. After the free trial ended I signed up for the annual Amazon Prime subscription.

Most books are available for the Kindle and prices range from free to $15 or more with most titles available for $9.99 or less. As an added benefit Kindle owners can receive a free book each month from the Kindle lending library. Not all titles are available but I was able to read the first two books of the Hunger Games trilogy in my first two months of ownership. I couldn’t wait another month for the third book so I bought it.

Every day more and more ebooks are available through my local public library. The interface to find and check-out books is not very intuitive, but after some false starts I have figured out. In a simple, but multiple step process I can find a book available through the library, place a hold on the book, receive email notification that the book is available, check out the book through the library, link to Amazon, and download the book for a 7 or 14 day lending period. It only takes a couple of minutes and the lending period is more than enough for me to rip through most books.

The Kindle Fire powers up quickly like a smartphone and smoothly launches applications. I use it a lot for the times when I want to simply browse the web or play a podcast rather than booting up my laptop or desktop.

The Kindle Fire only installs apps from the Amazon Android app store. I am not sure how Amazon selects apps, but the store does not have all the choices of the Android Market. Everyday the Amazon Android app store gives away a free app. The apps I have downloaded for free normally costs from $0.99 to $7.99. Some are advertisment free versions of apps I already use, like TripIt, others are games, and others are interactive ebooks. My two favorite downloads were the interactive ebooks for Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Charlie Brown Christmas that were given away just before Christmas. My kids love those stories and enjoy the interactive features built into the books.

Needs Improvement

The Kindle Fire is not perfect and iPad owners would be frustrated by the limitations of the Amazon app store, responsiveness of the touch screen, and the speed of the web browser. But if I wanted all those things I would have spent an extra $200-300. The Kindle Fire only connects to WiFi and does not connect to a 3G/4G network. Again if I wanted to spend another $30 per month on a data plan I would have bought an iPad. For the times I don’t have a WiFi signal I can use my phone to connect to the internet on a 3G network.

In my opinion the biggest limitation of the Kindle Fire is the Google apps, like gmail, Google Voice, and Google Reader, are not available in the Amazon Android app store. I can access these Google products through the web store but as phone app users know the browser is less efficient than the actual apps. I have not heard if or when the Google apps will come to the Kindle Fire, but I am hopeful.

The touchscreen on the Kindle Fire is OK. I think the screen on my Motorola Milestone phone might be more sensitive and precise to touch than the Fire. A recent software update seems to improved the Fire, but the thing that is really missing is a Swype keyboard. The auto-complete keyboard on the Fire is good and must have some sort of memory of my frequently used words, but my words per minute is much less than my swype keyboard.

The other thing that is really missing from the Kindle Fire is a microphone. I didn’t realize how often I was using voice search on my smartphone until I started talking to my Kindle with no results. A microphone would allow voice search, speech to text writing, and making calls with Skype or Google Voice.

The Kindle Fire is for You

If you spend lots of time away from your desktop computer and want to have a tablet for reading, web browsing, and watching videos the Kindle Fire is a great device. The price is low enough that loss or damage would not be crippling financially, especially when compared to losing an iPad or laptop computer. Also if you regularly have WiFi access – in your home, station, or ambulance – the Kindle Fire can get you online quickly to browse, shop, or read your favorite blogs like Fire Geezer or Everyday EMS Tips.

Read More about the Kindle Fire
3 Kindle Fire Feature Requests
3 Ways to Get the Most out of your Kindle Fire
3 Lists of Trilogy Books
Books for the Everyday EMS Reader

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Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P is the Director of Education for CentreLean Solutions, LLC. He writes the Everyday EMS Tips blog and co-hosts the EMSEduCast Podcast. Greg is a paramedic, educator, author, speaker, and marathon runner. Connect with him @gfriese or Facebook.com/gfriese.

Tomorrow:  Part Three, Kindle Apps for Laptops.

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Today we begin a four-part series on devices to download and read digital publications known as eBooks.  An eccentric genius named Michael S. Hart invented the eBook (and gave it its name) in the mid-1960's.  His first entry into the ether was a copy of the Declaration of Independence.  Today there are tens of millions of eBooks and other publications available, and for the past nine months they have taken over from print media in terms of numbers sold.

With that in mind we want to get you acquainted with the various tools to receive, store and read eBooks because in an eyeblink they will become a necessary part of your everyday routines and entertainment.  Part One is about the small device generically known as an e-reader.  There are about four leading brands currently sold but we are using Amazon's Kindle for an example.  They all generally work the same way, so this review will be applicable to whatever model you choose to purchase for yourself.  Tomorrow, Part Two will cover the Kindle Fire tablet and Thursday we will review the Kindle app. for laptops.  On Friday we will finish with a review of smartphone apps for e-Books.  Next week we will tell you about some eBooks written by firefighters and EMS people that are available and selling well already.

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The Kindle e-reader, a Review
by Bill Schumm

Reading a Book On a Kindle

Amazon's Kindle has a 6-inch screen mounted in a frame containing all its electronics that is approximately the size of a paperback book but much thinner and lighter.  They are approximately 1/3-inch thick and weight between 7 and 9 ounces.  There are three different models that come in five differing configurations but they all operate the same way.  The screen displays in what is called e-ink, a digital product that is not backlit like a regular computer screen, but has all the appearance of print on paper.  This permits you to read the book in any type of light including "at-the-beach" daylight.  Its a very fascinating and effective technique and is found in some other brands of e-readers too.

The device is easy to hold and certainly not fatiguing, but the super thinness makes it a little difficult to grasp over a period of time.  However this is remedied when you put it in a protective case that you will definitely want to have.  Not only does the case make it easier to handle, but most of them do a good job of providing safe handling and transporting of your reader.  I will talk more about cases later in this series, but trust me, you will want one.

The Kindle is powered by an integral rechargeable battery that never needs replacing and will easily last 6 to 8 weeks between recharges.  The charging cord is included with your purchase.

Getting a Book to Read

 There are three ways to acquire a digital publication and only one of them involves a computer.  Most of the time you will download the eBook directly from the seller's website by connecting to their digital store either via a WiFi connection or a wireless cellphone-type connection.  The third method is used by some smaller purveyors who download their product over the internet onto your computer, then you use a USB cable to transfer the file from your hard drive to the e-reader.  Kindle and Nook both make large use of the wireless method because Amazon and Barnes & Noble (the Nook people) have hundreds of thousands of titles already available for this transfer.  With the Kindle it is fast and simple to get a book.  First you activate the wireless connection that Amazon calls their Whispernet.  For all intents and purposes, this is simply a cell phone that can only dial one number and connects you with the Amazon inventory and ordering process.  After bringing up the title you want and simply clicking on it, your order is instantly processed, charging your account and downloading the book directly onto your Kindle, all in less than a minute.  No shipping charges and never out of stock.

Amazon's wireless server is AT&T, so you can log on from almost anywhere.  If you are out of their service area, then you can utilize the built-in WiFi program and log on via the internet.  Kindle has the WiFi installed on every model of their e-readers and give you the option of having the 3G wireless added for about $20 more.  I strongly recommend getting one with the wireless feature in it.  It is more than worth the price difference and there are never any charges for the wireless connections, nor any monthly fees.  Your only expense is the purchase price of the Kindle and whatever book you order.

With Amazon, technically your purchase goes into your "private archives," a digital storage space on their computers where a copy is then downloaded to your Kindle.  After reading your book you can send it back up to your archives for storage until you want to look at it again.  If you have two or more Kindles on the same account, any or all of them can download the book so that more than one member of your family can read it.

Finding a book to purchase is simple.  You do it the same way you do now by going onto booksellers' websites and ordering.  Shopping for an eBook carries an additional benefit in that many, if not most, books will let you download the first couple of chapters for free so that you can read them before deciding whether or not to buy it.  I have used this benefit and it is definitely a big plus in shopping.  Aother benefit that comes with digital publications is that more and more of the books, especially the fiction titles, come with an audio file that provides your choice of a male or female voice reading the book to you.  All Kindles (and Nooks, I believe) have speakers built in for this option.

As far as sources for books goes, almost all public libraries are now offering eBooks for card-holders who just log on to the library's website and "borrow" the book which is downloaded to your computer.  After your 2- or 3-week loan period is up, you either renew it or it gets electronically retrieved.  No more late fees and no more waiting for somebody to turn in the book you are waiting for. Review our previous discussion about library usage HERE.

Comfort Settings

Some more nice features about the Kindle that you don't get in printed books are the ability to change the font size of the print to one larger or smaller that is more comfortable for you along with the option of increasing or decreasing the spacing between the lines.  Making these changes is very quick and simple.  You also have the option of displaying your book pages in either the page or landscape configurations.

Adding to your workability with the Kindle is the easy ability to highlight words or complete passages and to "bookmark" a page for later reference.  And don't worry about losing your place because when you shut the Kindle off, it will return to your place when you turn it back on, even if you stopped to look at another book in the meantime.

Something that takes a bit of getting used to is the lack of page numbers.  Naturally when everybody has their own font size settings, you will have various number of pages for any one book.  Instead, there is a little number on the lower left corner of the page that tells you the percentage of the book that you have read, so you know about where you are and how much is left until you reach the conclusion.  I look at it as every book has 100 pages, and compensate accordingly.

So far, the Kindle's e-ink displays only in black & white, so color illustrations come through in gray scale.  The Nook has the selling feature of being able to display color images, as does the Kindle Fire which will be reviewed tomorrow.

You will also find that you read a book faster than you used to.  This is partly because turning a "page" is done by a simple finger movement without taking your hand off the device.  Reading through the book is a lot more efficient than when you read through printed books for that reason.

Will the printed book become extinct?  Not in the near future.  Reference books such as technical manuals and compilations like the World Almanac will always be more convenient in paper bindings.  But at least 90% of what you are reading now on paper will migrate over to digital in a very short time.  It has already started and as I mentioned at the beginning, book sales are already more than 50% eBooks now.

I really do like my Kindle and I strongly recommend that you purchase a Touch model and definitely one with the wireless connection option.  Prices dropped just before the end of the year and competition is lowering them constantly.  You would do well to go ahead and get one soon and start getting acquainted with them.

CLICK HERE to view the options available and the different models that Amazon is selling.  Scroll down the page a ways and you will see a comparison chart for all models plus scads more information on the gadgets.  And if you wish, you can order one from that page, too.

Tomorrow:  Noted blogger Greg Friese will review the new Kindle Fire tablet.

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My first Winter Carnival on the job

Brian and I joined the volunteer fire department at the same time. At 18, he was already focused on his goal to be a physician, attending classes at the local university.

To expand his portfolio, Brian was working as a part-time emergency department technician at the flagship community hospital.

I spend Christmas Eve evening as the ambulance crewmember in charge on the VFD ambulance, Brian was working at the hospital.

It was a dry and warm day, almost hitting 60 degrees. Was above freezing that night, much warmer that the night we ran the sports car crash on the parkway (story here).

Carrying people to the hospital

Advanced First Aid was the certification required to ride as the crewmember-in-charge.  Gasoline and oxygen were the two primary elements of care.

Already experienced the thrill of a 90+ mile-per-hour transport doing chest compressions in a low-top Cadillac ambulance. My shoulders were firm against the ceiling as the backboarded patient was on the stretcher. That 472 cubic inch motor was strong!

Our new Ford/Swab modular ambulance came with an advanced resuscitation tool, a Brunswick HLR 50-90 oxygen powered mechanical resuscitator. Bought a second one for the high-top Cadillac

pontiacambulance provides a video of the operation:

Our experience was that the chest compressor would "walk" even with the chest and shoulder straps tight.

When the fire company responded to assist on a cardiac arrest, they would place the patient in a "Reeves" flexible stretcher.

The plunger would be further secured with triangular bandages tied to the sides of the Reeves stretcher.

The fire company prided itself on the speed and smoothness in applying the HLR machine. It was one of the skill drills frequently performed in the station.

Telephone dispatch

Ambulance runs after 11 pm were dispatched over the "red phone." It was less disturbing than striking the station's tones, turning on the bunkroom lights and activating the volunteer pagers.

Fire companies were rarely dispatched with the ambulance. The ambulance would need to call for assistance once arriving at the scene. A little tricky, since none of the ambulances were provided a portable radio.

"Husband is gurgling in the bed"

That was the information dispatch gave me over the red phone at 4 am Christmas morning.

We were still responding to the incident when our fire company was toned out. The wife called back and used one of the few trigger phrases for an automatic fire company ambulance assist – cardiac arrest.

Many of the lights were on at the house and front door was open. She was doing CPR when we ran up the stairs with oxygen, suction, bag-mask-valve and aide bag. 

Following the HLR protocol, we got him off the bed and into a larger room.  Suctioned his airway, placed an oral airway and started two-rescuer CPR with the bag-valve mask. 

By time we were in a rhythm, I could hear the faint sounds of a wailing Federal 2QB.

I assured the wife that we were doing everything possible for him, and that another crew would be arriving soon to move her husband to the ambulance.

If we had not called dispatch, or were not standing at the ambulance, the fire company assumed CPR was in progress. 

Two of the guys pulled out the HLR machine and Reeves. The engine driver would re-position the ambulance for rapid departure, then set up the stretcher.

The performance was great. Smooth packaging and quick movement to the back of the Ford/Swab ambulance.

We were getting pulses with compression throughout the transport.

Once we got him on the hospital gurney, the physician looked into the wide and fixed pupils with an ophthalmoscope. The vessels radiating from the optic nerve showed coagulated blood, appearing as a railroad train.

The appearance of "box cars" in the back wall of the pupil were a grave prognosis. It was used as an indicator of death when ambulances delivered pre-paramedic cardiac arrest patients.

Ran into Brian, who was looking a little shell-shocked. This was the fourth or fifth patient he had to wheel to the morgue since 11 pm Christmas Eve.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

We had done everything we knew in 1971.

In re-telling the story, I feel like Squad 10 Firefighter Johnny Gage after he "rescued" an electrocuted lineman in the two hour pilot of the Emergency show. 

I wonder if there would have been a different outcome if we had an AED?

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

If you are working, may your day be boring. I hope that it is full of food, laughter & joy.

Please spend a minute thinking about our brothers and sisters in the armed forces that are deployed in hostile, desolate or dangerous environments.