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Are Justin & Mark the 21st Century Gage & DeSoto?

SPEND MOST OF THE WEEKEND WISHING I WAS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Friday night was the world premiere of Episode 1 of the Chronicles of EMS. It covered the visit of Mark Glencourse, a Paramedic team leader for the north east ambulance service based in Newcastle upon Tyne and author of the 999Medic blog, with Justin Schorr, a San Francisco firefighter/paramedic who is know to many as The Happy Medic.

emsmediaTV25 copy

This adventure started almost a year ago, with Mark and Justin comparing their different ems systems through their blogs. Two other paramedics, with experience in filmaking, raised the discussion to a higher level. They documented Mark’s visit to San Francisco.

Thaddeus Setla completed a documentary about Alameda County EMS, LEVEL ZERO. For Chronicles of EMS Setla used four high definition cameras. For reasons unknown to me, Justin and Mark kept referring to Setla as the “Jedi Master.”

Chris Montera is Colorado based paramedic who functioned as the producer for the Chronicles project. Montera is CEO/Producer and Host for EMS Garage, EMS Leadership and is the Producer of EMS Educast podcasts.

HOTEL FRANK

The world premiere was in an eclectic Union Square hotel with wi-fi installed a week earler. Like many emergency service adventures, this event worked on a short lead time, with just-in-time (or a little late) deliveries. Watching the streaming video, the 60+ attendees seemed giddy before the showing and tipsy after the premiere.

justin4 The episode was stunning, an example of REAL reality TV. Interesting people telling compelling stories rich in texture. It helps that Justin and Mark are photogenic and articulate.

I enjoyed the interaction between Justin and Mark. During the week they were filming, both posted blog updates, Thaddeus set up a facebook fan page, and a couple of dozen ems-oriented bloggers/tweeters commented on the adventure.

For some of us, the premiere finally allowed us to see the stories we read about months ago.

TWO THEMES

The first is the difference in transport options, UK does not HAVE to transport every patient encountered.

The second is that there is no charge for ambulance service in the UK. The concept that access to emergency care would be affected by the ability to pay really troubled Mark, providing a moving final scene in the movie. Glencourse

There also was a hilarious short where they acted out Mark’s perception of United States ems. Can see Zoll working on the credit card option for the 12-lead. The paramedic can swipe the credit card to process the ambulance payment before the leads are connected to the patient.

SOCIAL MEDIA

On Saturday afternoon, Setla and company set up two additional episodes. Roundtable discussion about the Seat At The Table, sort of a “what’s next” discussion of the impact of the process in getting Episode 1 completed, changes in the paramedic profession (EMS 2.0) and a new generation of ems “true believers.:

The final episode was a round table on the impact of Social Media on EMS. Covered public education, training, HIPPA and quality improvement.

Justin and Mark will be at the EMS Today conference in Baltimore, March 4-6. Details will eventually be posted on the Chronicles web site.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by fossilmedic on February 13, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, News • Tagged: Chris Montera, Chronicles of EMS, coems, EMS 2.0, fossilmedic, Justin Shorr, level zero, Mark Glencorse, San Francisco, SFFD, thaddeus setla

A delayed meet

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I wanted to attend the San Francisco premiere of the Chronicles of EMS at the interesting Hotel Frank.

chroniclesblog-200x150 Would get to meet a few famous bloggers: The Happy Medic, 999Medic, Life Under The Lights and (bonus) Motorcop!

But sadly concluded that I could not swing an overnight stay at the west coast.

SNOWMAGEDDON

The campus closed early Friday afternoon at the start of a heavy snowstorm. Here is what my schedule became:

GWU_snow_schedule

This morning most of Washington DC remains closed, including government and schools. Snowmageddon has exceeded the snowfall of the Blizzard of 1899. Thankfully, Snowmageddon has not had the artic cold that hammered the East Coast 111 years ago, where DC set a February record of −15 °F (−26 °C).

Snow fell in Washington for 51 hours, from February 11 to February 14, 1899, accumulating 20 inches. The Washingtoniana Division, D.C. Public Library documents include reports of artic winds creating ten foot high snowdrifts.

EMERGENCY SERVICES

Foggy Bottom Amb 23, from dcfd.com

I was working on Rescue 18 (ambulance) when the 1979 President’s Birthday blizzard rolled in the afternoon of February 19.

About 2 am we ended up on the median of Arlington Boulevard. Backing out the ambulance, I could not see the emergency lights when standing ten feet behind the ambulance – whiteout.

The storm dumped 19 inches in 12 hours. Followed by an ice storm two days later.

Dave Statter has been covering Snowmageddon challenges: serious fires, near-misses, damaged and destroyed fire stations (HERE).

IF I HAD BOUGHT A PLANE TICKET

I still would have not made it to the Friday night Chronicles of EMS premiere. The DC area airports have been closed since Tuesday.

Hope to see Justin and Mark at the 2010 EMS Today Conference in Baltimore. I should be dug out by the first week in March.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by fossilmedic on February 11, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics • Tagged: 999Medic, Chronicles of EMS, fossilmedic, Happy Medic

Around the Fire Web

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* There is a new fire blog that just started up that we are going to be watching. It’s called A Firefighter’s Own Worst Enemy and is being published by a fire marshal in the Mid-West. It focuses on training aspects related to inspections and pre-planning, to start with. Check out his first posting HERE.

* STATter911 has collated an extensive supply of videos and more reports on those twin Family Dollar store fires in Rochester yesterday HERE. Be sure to scroll down to the next story about the strange Search & Rescue practices of a New Zealand FD that left a woman in a burning building because they presumed she was dead (she wasn’t).

* FireNews.net has an interesting story from Winston-Salem about the consequences from the city’s change to a more aggressive commercial inspection program HERE. Needless to say, the business owners like the “old way” better where they didn’t have to comply with the codes.

* Medic999 proudly announces that the joint venture with Happy Medic known as the Chronicles of EMS has passed the 2,000-fan mark on their Facebook fan page. Read about it and what they’re up to HERE.

* Don’t forget that the best way to scan the top fire and ems blogs each day (after you first check Firegeezer, of course) is to click onto the FireEMS Blogs community website where you have direct links to the best blogs along with summaries of what the latest topics are. There are also links to leading forums and regional news sites. So CLICK HERE and get acquainted with the layout and see the benefits of launching your web visit there.

Posted by firegeezer on November 24, 2009 • Filed under: Fire Blogs • Tagged: Chronicles of EMS, Family Dollar, FireEMS Blogs, new blog, New Zealand s & r, Winston-Salem

… after they see Paris

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How will you keep them down on the farm, after they have seen Paris?

Popular 1919 song reflected on the results of farm boys seeing the sights as World War I soldiers.

San Francisco Paramedic/Firefighter Justin “The Happy Medic” Schorr spent his first day riding with North East Ambulance Service Paramedic Mark “999 Medic” Glencorse.

He may never be the same. From his post:

I was able to have a quick interaction with some of the Firefighters assigned to the station with Mark and the Ambulance crews, nothing more than a quick introduction between calls, but it was later in the morning when I learned I don’t have it nearly as good as I thought.

While heading out to the pouring rain, I bumped into the station cleaning crew mopping the floors. The fireman don’t do the big housework. No wonder mark was so surprised when I gloved up and cleaned toilets back home.

Later in the morning still, I met the Station’s French Chef. They don’t cook their own food either. These are two things I think identify the firehouse as a home. It seemed more like a school than a fire house.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward