National Poison Prevention Week

Keep this number by all phones

Did you know that in 2007 there were over 70 thousand calls for poison exposures handled by the Virginia Poison Control network! The majority of those are for children under 5. Are parent’s forgetting to lock up the cleaners and potential poisons? Or are they not teaching their children that these items are poison? There could be a lot of reasons.

I remember the Mr. Yuck stickers that were used to warn children about poison. They had the green guy with his toung hanging out. My mom lectured me on poisons and not to touch anything with Mr. Yuck on it. So, I found myself affraid of him, but yet fasinated by the yuck – I know I am weird. But, I never drank laundry detergent, so I guess it worked for me. Now we need to support the poison centers in Virginia with their outreach and education efforts.

Hospitals, EMS agencies, Regional EMS Councils and other organizations can take this week as a time to remind their communities of the dangers of poison and toxin exposures and to make sure that everyone has the hotline handy! Because calls to the hotline have reduced illness, death and even health care costs by eliminated needless visits to the ER.

Here are some messages that you can share and some resources for your education efforts:

• Keep the poison center hotline (1-800-222-1222)  near your phone or program it into your cell phone
• Use child-resistant packaging properly by closing the container securely after use.
• Keep all chemicals and medicines locked up and out of sight.
• Call the poison center hotline 1-800-222-1222 immediately in case of poisoning.
• When products are in use, never let young children out of your sight, even if you must take the child or product along when answering the phone or doorbell.
• Keep items in original containers.
• Leave the original labels on all products, and read the label before using.
• Always leave the light on when giving or taking medicine. Check the dosage every time.
• Avoid taking medicine in front of children. Refer to medicine as “medicine,” not “candy.”
• Clean out the medicine cabinet periodically, and safely dispose of unneeded medicines when the illness for which they were prescribed is over.
• Visit www.poisonprevention.orgfor more tips and information or the OEMS Web site on the Virginia Poison Control Network www.vdh.virginia.gov/OEMS/PoisonControl/index.htm

Be safe and enjoy the weekend!

Twitter-ific news!

It takes a lot to be out in a snow storm riding the streets in a giant box on wheels – all to help someone in need! Snow storms don’t stop people from having medical emergencies and it definitely doesn’t stop our superhero EMS providers! That is what the job is about. It takes a special (your definition of special can be placed here) person to do this job! We are glad that you take on this challenge!

Do you want more information from us between the blogs? Visit us on www.twitter.com/virginiaemsand see updates as they happen. The OEMS bloggers will be twittering from meetings, updates and other important events that you may not be able to attend. Check it out – it is fairly new for us, but we are getting the hang of it.

Also – drum role please – dadadadadadadaaa – the OEMS Winter Bulletin is here! Check out great articles, events and be sure to look for Little Gary!  http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/OEMS/EMSBulletin/Winter2009.pdf 

That is all from the OEMS blog front. Be safe out there!

EMS Regulations – Your Turn for Comment

The Virginia Board of Health approved the proposed EMS Regulations to go through the public comment period before being made official. This is your time to speak and let us know what you think of the proposed additions and changes to the regulations.

Mike Berg, OEMS Regulations & Compliance Manager is going on tour to present some informational sessions on the proposed regulations. These sessions will go over the changes, how it will affect you and your agency and gather some of your thoughts on the changes.

If you would like to see Mike or have him come to your area visit the OEMS Web page for session locations and contact information for Mike www.vdh.virginia.gov/oems.

You will also find the draft proposed regulations on the Web site – these are there for you to review and discuss with your fellow EMS providers. We will soon announce the official forum for comments on our Web site and this blog.

This has been a rather serious blog compared to our past blogs, but the EMS regulations is a very important topic, and we feel it is important to discuss this with you all who are in the field and get your input.

Be safe out there!

Rural EMS Health Care Summit

For those of you who live and work in the rural areas of Virginia, you know that it’s a bit different from the city. A traffic jam may mean being stuck behind a tractor, or the cows got out and are standing in the road again. Rural living is great, but when it comes to EMS it can pose some challenges.

Access to training to become certified or stay certified may be limited The drive to get to the patient can be very long, keeping up skills can be hard, because you may not respond to as many calls as an agency in an urban setting. There are several issues that are unique to EMS agencies and providers in rural areas.

That is why the Annual Virginia Rural Health Summit is going to have two days dedicated to Rural EMS. The Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health and Health Policy and the Office of EMS are working together to put together this summit that will be the beginning of many conversations and actions to help support rural health care, especially rural EMS care.

This summit will feature a hands-on budget model workshop and a roundtable discussion that you all are invited to attend. If you want to discuss some of the issues and initiatives that surround rural EMS care, then please come and share your thoughts.

The Rural EMS Summit is being held as a part of the Annual Virginia Rural Health Summit, which works to solve challenges for rural health care and support the state rural health plan. To learn more about the plan and the summit visit www.va-srhp.org/.

Visit www.vaems.org/rhs today to learn more and register! Or contact Carol Morrow with the Office of EMS at carol.morrow@vdh.virginia.gov to see how we may be able to help cover the cost of your hotel.

March 10 – 13, 2009
Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center
One Partnership Circle, Abingdon, VA 24210

To fly or not to fly?

One of the OEMS bloggers is participating in the State EMS Medevac Committee meeting right now. There is a lot of great discussion on four major issues that affect Medevac services in Virginia. These would include regulations, centralized dispatch, utilization and safety.

The committee has created four work groups for each of these topics. Two of the groups have already met and are beginning their work on proper utilization of Medevac and safety standards for Medevac.

These issues are very important right now, especially the safety issues. It seems that we have had a lot more Medevac crashed in the U.S. recently, and we want to do our part to keep the Medevac teams safe.

Do you have comments, recommendations or have information that you would like to share on these topics? If so, please respond to this blog and it will be shared with the proper work group. This is a way for you to be more involved in the continued development of the EMS system in Virginia.

We hope to hear from you!

We’re back and we have news to share!

Wow – time flies when you are having fun. It has been way to long since we posted to the blog. The OEMS bloggers hang their heads in shame. It is a sad day when we don’t take time for our blog fans! However, we are back on track.

Here is some news from the upper basement of the Madison Building:

1. Twitter – are you twittering? We are! Check us out at www.twitter.com we are listed as Virginia EMS!

2. Are you registered to attend the Virginia Fire Chief’s Association Expo and Symposium? It is right around the corner and will be a great event. OEMS will be there teaching and we will have a fabulous booth with lots of cool stuff. Register today at www.vfca.us.

3. Are you an EMT instructor, Emergency operations instructor or an ALS Coordinator? If you are and you have not attended an update and will expire between Jan. 31, 2009 & June 30, 2009 you will have your certification extended until July 31, 2009. This is to allow the Office of EMS additional time to schedule traditional updates or provide an alternative format. Only those who have not attended an update will be granted the extension. Please contact the Office of EMS training division for more info. www.vdh.virginia.gov/oems

4.  EMS providers don’t want to be the ones being transported! Being aware of things like heart disease risks and what to do to take better care of yourself is important. Today is Wear Red Day to bring attention to heart disease in women (a serious epidemic!) go to www.goredforwomen.org and learn how you can help and how you can prevent heart disease!

5. Be on the lookout for information on the Rural EMS Summit! Coming next week!

Symposium is in full swing

Good morning OEMS blog fans! It is a foggy day in Norfolk, Virginia, but it is bright for those who are learning the latest and greatest in EMS and discovering new ways to be a better leader and more!

The pre-conference classes on Wednesday were a huge success and yesterday most of all of the registrants made it here for these classes. Not only are these people enjoying learning, but they are getting to have some fun as well. Last night we had our annual EMS Idol Karaoke competition which hit a high note! I was going to do my rendition of Flo Riders “Low”, but the other OEMS bloggers begged me not to. So I listened, which was probably good for those who were in the audience.

Tonight we will be hitting the horse races and the casino for Monte Carlo casino night! The black jack tables are calling my name! These events are a great way to unwind and enjoy time with friends after a long day of learning.

We will be sending you some more photos and hopefully some video as well!

See you soon!

Our favorite time of year!

Next week the majority of the Office of EMS staff will be packing up and heading down to Norfolk for the 29th Annual Virginia EMS Symposium! We have been busy bees getting everything ready and finalized and hope that all participants have a great time and enjoy all of their classes.

The OEMS bloggers will try to come to you live from the Symposium next week, with pictures and video to go along with our fabulous commentary! Be sure to log on next week to see what is going on at Symposium – even if you are there you may want to log on to see if you missed anything.

See you all next week!

Happy Halloween!

Something wicked this way comes – the ghouls, ghosts and witches will come out tonight wandering from house to house, demanding treats or else we will be tricked. We hope that these little ghouls, ghosts and witches stay safe and have fun, but in EMS we know that Halloween often brings real nightmares. The calls to 911 are usually greater on this creepy day, and with it falling on a Friday, we can pretty much guarantee a sleepless night for many of the brave souls who will man the ambulances.

We hope that you all stay safe while you are out as well – you may not be in costume, but you should be wearing reflective gear while on the streets! A reflective vest over your super hero EMT uniform is the best way to stay seen and stay safe while responding to an incident on the streets. And to help those in your neck of the woods stay safe be sure to remind children to never trick-or-treat alone, without a flashlight or in a costume that they can’t see or move well in. Taking the ambulance through a stroll through the neighborhoods can also help illuminate the walk ways with your head lights, but also be a simple reminder for people to stay safe.

When the haunting is done – we can get an extra hour of rest when we turn our clocks back one hour Sunday morning. Don’t forget – of course I probably should keep my clocks where they are, I may actually be on time for once!

Happy Halloween from the OEMS Bloggers!

Don’t be that guy!

The Florida Health Department put together these great PSA’s here is one for you to watch after your read the blog post below!