Night shifts often entail working past midnight into the early morning hours and is a common feature of shift schedules for most in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and other sectors of public safety.
For those in EMS who frequently work night shifts on a regular basis, or occasionally on a rotating schedule, fatigue and daytime sleepiness are common – especially during the early morning hours. Fatigue related to shift work can carry over into the post-shift work period and impact how alert, sleepy, and fatigued one feels during the first 24 hours post-shift – the recovery period, which sometimes does not feel much like recovery.
Shift work is not going away. Our society operates 24 hours-a-day and emergencies are not scheduled. All who work in public safety, including EMS, understand that we must be available at all hours and quickly respond to the needs of the acutely ill and injured. […]
Pittsburgh’s favorite dietician, Leslie Bonci, creator of Active Eating Advice, talks about trying to eat healthy and take care of yourself when working those odd shifts, only having access to vending machine or fast food.
She may have been the first female EMS pilot in Pittsburgh but, she sees herself as more than that! Maria was based at M-4. On this podcast, she reflects on her time at STAT MedEvac, the friends she made and how it impacted her life in a positive way.
In a time of continuous change, it’s as important as ever to explore the perspectives of those in EMS. The EMS Trend Report, now in its seventh year, helps us understand and mitigate the impact of the many challenges faced by the industry. We encourage all members of the EMS community to weigh in on this survey with their observations, attitudes, and practices. The last day to fill out the survey has been extended to this Friday, February 25, 2022!
The questionnaire will only take about 10 minutes to complete online, and you will not need to review or access detailed data from your agency to complete the survey.
Please complete the short survey here. Your response is confidential and will be used to create summary values for publication in the 2022 EMS Trend Report.
The story of Freedom House Ambulance is little known to many, but it pioneered the forefronts of mobile emergency medical services in the start of the 1960s for public safety professionals. Founded in 1967, Freedom House Ambulance served Pittsburgh citizens in the Hill District and the Northside when national standards for ambulances and paramedics did not exist yet.
In a time where skills for a professional paramedic were nonexistent, Pittsburgh police officers provided ambulance service for the city by transporting patients in the back of the police cars. The revolution for better medical care was advanced by Phillip Hallen, president of The Faulk Foundation from 1963-1999, along with various dedicated helping hands. Freedom House Ambulance was designed to provide unemployed African Americans with careers through the help of Morton Coleman of the Pittsburgh mayor’s office and the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. At the time, Hallen involved James McCoy, president of […]
Women-led directors in EMS are few and far between in the public safety industry. For Nora Helfrich, RN, EMT-P, recently retired EMS director for Tri-Community South EMS, she worked her way up to become a leader in her organization, the state of Pennsylvania, and beyond.
Tri-Community South EMS was established in 1977 as the result of an effort to improve medical care in the communities of Bethel Park, South Park and Upper St. Clair in Pennsylvania.
Helfrich joined Tri-Community South EMS in 1980 and became the director in 2000. After a nearly 42-year colorful, stepping-stone EMS career, she retired in October 2021.
Early in her career, she started as a volunteer with Tri-Community South EMS and worked her way up until she held every position within the organization in the beginning as a part-time EMT to full-time EMT. From there, she attended a paramedic program at community college, graduated, and earned her […]
What exactly is community? A sense of belonging? An identity shared amongst your peers? Or this overabounding sense of unity under the veil of uplifting one another? In many ways, it is the combination of all three. As Veteran’s Day approaches, we transition into this sense of vulnerability, understanding that our daily struggles pale in comparison to the efforts of our soldiers, both domestic and abroad. Our peaceful existence is at the hands of the brave men and women who don our nation’s colors and fight in the name of our freedom. Our community hinges upon our security but this security also transcends to the homeland when these defenders of freedom return back to civilian life.
At this intersection, is where we find Master Pilot Nick Hardy and his 30+ years of helicopter experience. Serving in the Army as a Pilot from 1990-2001, […]
Recently, local and EMS professionals from around the country attended Beyond the Street (BTS) Workshopto sharpen and enhance their leadership skillset. According to Anthony W. Minge, Ed.D., senior partner at Fitch & Associates, an emergency services consulting firm, cultivating leadership in the EMS industry is more important now than in any time in the history of the profession.
Recruitment and retention are trendy, top-of-mind topics in the industry. Top leaders are leaving the profession, because the old guard is retiring, but recruitment has not been replenishing at the same rate. Minge says, “We are losing a good amount of leadership from the people who built this industry.”
“We have to fill that void and build up the people, either the ones climbing the ranks or just arriving in the industry,” Minge continues. “We bring professionals together nationwide to share their experience but also to master some of the basic management […]
