EMS professionals are challenged to balance work, family, and other obligations while also staying or striving for mental and physical fitness. The Everyday EMS Athlete is a regular column to recognize and learn from other EMS professionals that are setting and meeting fitness goals. This edition was contributed by Paramedic and founder of the Fit Responder Bryan Fass.

Q: What is your EMS job?
I am a public safety injury prevention, patient handling ergonomics and fitness specialist/consultant.

Q: What are your athletic pursuits and goals?
Functional and diverse training of all types. Life moves and is unpredictable so we must train that way. I strive to constantly challenge my body through all types of training modalities. From traditional weight training, power lifting, tactical-training, anaerobic threshold training, functional conditioning the list and workouts are truly endless.

Q: Do you have race, lifestyle changes, or other accomplishments you are particularly proud of? If yes, please share and describe.
I am proud that the advanced conditioning and training techniques that I employ have allowed me to consistently run an 8 minute mile 5k, I can still sprint a 40 in under 5.5 seconds, I can still safely use 110 lb dumbbells with perfect form and can hold my own with SWAT and Military folks much younger then me. Consistency is the key and the best challenge is against myself!

Q: Can you share a few tips to help other EMS professionals to set and accomplish fitness goals?
Be consistent with your fitness and wellness. It truly has to be a lifestyle and a dedication to yourself second to none. To make fitness and wellness a lifestyle, something that defines you as a person of integrity and steadfastness it must carry through to all aspects of your life. Nutrition, dedication to fitness, wellness and self care. Above all else it is simple consistency that makes anything possible, especially fitness. We can all make excuses NOT to workout out but the true mark of dedication is making excuses to workout.

Q: How can readers connect with you or learn more about what you are doing?
Fit Responder Blog
FitResponder.com
Fit Responder YouTube Channel

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Watching this video of SALT Airway Insertion was an assignment in the first learning plan for my hybrid paramedic refresher. Of course as a long time advocate of incorporating social media content into course work I was a fan from the start. The video is straightforward, well made by a couple of paramedics, covers the basics of insertions, and provides some scenarios for me to consider using the SALT Airway.

SALT Airway Product Review from the Everyday EMS Tips archives.

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Nearly every member of your organization has a camera in their pocket. Start capturing your year in pictures today. Take photos during training, community events, employee celebrations, and more. Then use a simple image editing program to make a rotating slideshow, add music, and upload it to YouTube. This video from Mid Georgia Ambulance is exactly the type of video you want to rise to the top of YouTube search results. The themes are clear – we are good people and we care for each other and our community. Nicely done!

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Day 2 at the American Ambulance Association tradeshow and conference started with another early morning wake up (curse you time change). I was out the front door of the Hilton by 0530 for another run on Las Vegas Boulevard. As I had the day before I ran a round trip from the Hilton the MGM Grand…about 6.5 miles.

View from the 24th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton

American Ambulance Association 2011

Accidental Trial: No Lights and No Sirens for 48 Hours

That morning I attended the session – “Do Ambulance Response Times Matter?” My simple answer is, “No they don’t matter.”

The presenter reviewed lots of research studies regarding response times for different types of ambulance responses. The upshot was that response times only appear to matter for first responder/BLS response to cardiac arrest with delivery of an AED and chest compressions. Do you agree?

The most interesting aspect of the presentation to me was the presenter’s brief mention of his service’s experience during Super Bowl Week, February, 2011 in Fort Worth. As the Packers and Steelers were preparing for the Super Bowl the Dallas Fort Worth area experienced a significant snow and ice storm. Because of perilous road conditions the MedStar service did all “no red lights and no sirens” for forty eight hours. The presenter shared data that compared the two days of no lights and no sirens with the previous week when red lights and sirens were used. They are preparing to publish their data regarding the difference in response times and patient outcomes in the areas of chest pain, stroke, and trauma alerts. Can you guess what they learned …

Request and Response

A quote that resonated with me. The presenter stated, “There is no such thing as an inappropriate request for 911. There is such a thing as an inappropriate response.”

Retraining the public about when and what is an appropriate reason to call 911. The public will continue to call 911, as we have trained them to do. What we can change more easily is the resources we send to the call for help. I have to believe, that because of increasing resource constraints, it will be more and more difficult to send two or more paramedics to every 911 request.

More Tradeshow

Most of my day was spent at the CentreLearn booth in the exhibit hall. I always enjoy talking to our customers about how they are using CentreLearn and answering questions about how to better use CentreLearn.

CentreLearn Booth

I also had some downtime to visit with my friends at Aladtec, makers of EMS Manager and Fire Manager. We discussed some interesting ideas for tradeshow giveaways and how to enjoy Las Vegas.

I also was alerted that one of my videos about safety and risk management is embedded in the eCore EMS scheduling software demo. The eCore operations manager spent the first day trying to remember where he had seen me before. The second day he realized he had seen me in every product demo he had ever delivered. I am honored for the additional views of those videos.

eCore Software Demo featuring Everyday EMS Tips Video

This is a Stryker stretcher in a Flack ambulance. There was some tittering at the conference about a red Stryker cot.

Does a Stryker cot need to be yellow?

Amazing Dinner
After the tradeshow break down I headed to the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino for dinner at the Milos restaurant. We were treated to an amazing meal that started with an egg plant and zucchini appetizer and was followed by two varieties of out of this world grilled Mediterranean fish. The meal was capped with a flourless chocolate cake that simply melted in my mouth with each bite. It was one of the best meals I have had in a long time. I will definitely be going back to Milos.

This image does not accurately show how amazing this dinner was

Does this look better?

Our fish being plated

Best cake ever!

Red Eye Flight Home

I left Las Vegas on the red eye flight to Detroit for a connection back to Wisconsin. I was surprised to have a great three hour nap … most likely made possible by a single Nyquil gel tablet. Just enough to dry me out, take the edge of a lingering ear ache, and help me sleep.

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While working on a CE lesson about seizures I was struck by the reality that EMS professionals very rarely see the patient seizing. We usually arrive when the patient is post-ictal. I have seen very few seizures in progress and most of the seizures I have seen were tonic-clonic and not absence seizures.

I visited YouTube, the number two internet search engine, and searched for absence seizures and found this video of a 5 year old. At the request of the video creator I am not able to embed the video so go to YouTube-Absence Seizure now and come right back.

Subtle Signs

If it weren’t for the annotations added to the video I am not sure I would have recognized the seizure signs. The signs are very subtle – swallowing, hair tugging, stopping purposeful activity, and not responding to the adult. Then the seizure ends and the child quickly resumes her previous activities.

Concerned Mom

Can you hear the concern in mom’s voice? I sure can. It made me think of all the times I have been called to assess a “sick” child and found a child that was anything but sick. On so many of those occasions mom apologizes or you can still hear the fear and worry in her voice, but there is nothing there to support the concern. This video is a good reminder that mom usually worries for a reason – something bad happened that was abnormal.

Could be a Lot Worse

A lot of what if’s arrive from this video … what if the child had been under water when she had the seizure or walking across the street or riding her bike or climbing the stairs. An absence seizure could potentially precipitate a traumatic injury.

Learn More

This video also reminds me of how complex seizures are and relative to that complexity I really now. The Epilepsy Foundation has been distributing a free continuing education lesson on EMS Response to Patients with Seizures that has been getting a great response from EMS.

Using Videos for Simulation Education

At the NAEMSE Symposium educator Twink Dalton shared a great tip. She posts pictures on the screen above the high fidelity patient simulator to help put the EMS professionals into the environment, understand the mechanism, or see things on the patient’s skin that can’t be simulated. Use a video like this to have a class discussion about absence seizures, assessing a pediatric patient, or preface a pediatric patient simulation.

Another Absence Seizure Video

Also from YouTube. It is not normal for a toddler to lay still when a camera is in her face. As you watch this video look for subtle signs and then try to pinpoint the moment when the seizure breaks. I think it happens a few moments before the adult starts talking. What do you think?

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I only thought Flash Mobs surprised flustered mall visitors with Christmas carols. Turns out Flash Mobs are also teaching equally bewildered fair goes and mall visitors to push hard and push fast. To both my surprise and general relief I have yet to be caught in the midst of a Flash Mob. How about you?

First CPR flash mob movie I found.

The best behind the scenes flash mob footage. Reassuring to know practice is involved. Unfortunately I can’t find the actual flash mob performance.

A flash mob that might have considered picking a more crowded location.

Be wary of a flash mob if you see lots of people with the same shopping bag.

Having taught lots of CPR classes I caution flash mobs about choosing attire other than scoop neck shirts and low rise pants.

I think a little viewer education about what is happening might be a good addition to the CPR flash mob.

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Slides from my 2011 EMS World Expo presentation, Using Social Media to Market Your EMS Agency.

If you are interested in having me present this or other topics at your conference please contact me.

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The Center for PARAMEDICS education program is impressively using social media tools to distribute education.

Center for MEDICS YouTube Channel

Center for MEDICS Flikr Stream

EMS education programs can use social media tools like YouTube and Flickr to:

1. Post and share videos of proper assessment and treatment procedures for study and review

2. Promote the quality of the program’s students and instructors

3. Recruit students to the program

How else can EMS Education programs use Social Media sharing tools like YouTube and Flickr?

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One of the most common requests I get for online education programs is how to set and manage a ventilator. You can probably find lots of ventilator instruction videos on YouTube.

Can’t find a video specific to your service’s ventilators? Then make and post your own videos.

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This is one of several covers from the band “Shock Advised.” If you visit their YouTube channel you can also see them performing in the apparatus bay. It appears as if they are playing an EMS week barbecue. Also wondering if this is Sean Eddy’s (MedicMadness.com) band???

And a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T for EMS …

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