A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #53 Always have your partner’s back A long time ago, in another life it seems, François and I rolled on a call for a patient who was 75-percent intoxicated and 25-percent angry and insisted he needed to be seen in an Emergency Room. We […]
Hal Newman
157 posts
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #52 Build on strengths Dean DiMonte was raised in a tight-knit family where stepping up to help people in need was as much a part of family life as getting together for big dinners and sharing laughter and stories. His parents are the […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #51 The sanctity of porcelain When I left Montreal to move to Baltimore to pursue graduate studies in Emergency Health Services, my EMS colleagues organized a going-away bbq dinner. They wished me well as I headed south to a place where calls for […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #50 Kick at the darkness…* Welcome to the 50th episode of The Positive Paramedic Project. I started The Positive Paramedic Project after receiving yet another letter, e-note, or phone call rejecting my application for an EMS posting. I am sorry I can’t remember […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #49 Bake birthday cakes On average, when someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest, irreparable brain damage occurs within four to six minutes. On average, in a big city, the time between recognition of a life-threatening event and the arrival of a trained and equipped […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #48 Asking why? I’m a very secular human being. I don’t do synagogue or church unless my presence is required to celebrate a christening, confirmation, bar/bat mitzvah, marriage, or funeral. I don’t have routine conversations with God. Words I’ve spoken in church are […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #47 Take care of Mrs. Rosenberg Mrs. Rosenberg is still dead. I was there when she died. She was everybody’s grandmother. She called 911 after enduring crushing chest pain all night. She said she didn’t want to wake anyone up. It’s been fourteen […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #46 Make a real difference Okay, here’s the deal. If you’re looking to add EMS to your department’s portfolio of services simply as a means of padding sagging fire response statistics, building an argument for increased funding, and, as a distant afterthought, providing […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #45 Accept the role The Karma Police assign you For many of the emergency services communications specialists/dispatchers who worked with me over the years at CSL EMS, a lasting memory of our time together was the inevitability that I would call in on […]
A nugget of Big Medicine every day. #44 Be gracious when recognized If you’ve been a paramedic as long as I have, you’ve rolled on thousands of calls and interacted with people in communities near and far and, in my case, in other countries. Often your calls have included lengthy […]