Paramedics

Baltimore City paramedics are being trained in the use of endotracheal intubation, an emergency life-saving procedure expected to save "hundreds of lives a year."In the procedure, a tube is inserted into the throat to help remove obstacles from the esophagus and open airways so that oxygen can be quickly pumped into the lungs before any physical damage can occur.The procedure reduces the risk of brain damage or death and prevents the buildup of deadly acid in the body."The No. 1 priority of all medical teaching and practice is optimal management of the airway," said Dr. Richard Alcorta, acting emergency medical services director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS)

A technical training exercise for the Howard County Fire and Rescue Services' special operations team to practice high-angle rope rescues will be conducted beneath the bridge that carries Interstate 70 between Howard and Baltimore counties on Wednesday, bringing more than a dozen personnel to the span and shutting one lane to traffic. "During this exercise, firefighters and paramedics will respond to a practice scenario involving a worker who has experienced a medical emergency while conducting an inspection of the bridge," county officials said in a statement.

Baltimore paramedics have won a victory from the city's Board of Estimates, which cleared the way for them to join the same retirement system as city police and firefighters and retire after 20 years of service.The move is a victory for Baltimore Firefighters Local 734, which has been battling to get its paramedic members into the same retirement unit as their fellow firefighters. The unit represents 143 paramedics.Those workers will "get a better pension over the long haul" than they would under the Employment Retirement System that applies to other civilian city employees, said Lonnie D. Jackson, an official with the union.

A Baltimore paramedic arrested over the weekend and charged with assault had been reported by a co-worker and the incident was caught on tape, police say. According to charging records, police officers were called to the Thomas J. Burke fire station where Battalion Chief Gary Metzbower showed them a video showing 31-year-old Shaun W. White aggressively strapping an intoxicated woman into a stretcher.  The incident occurred on Sept. 8 at 4 a.m. in the 1800 block of Spence St., in Morrell Park.

Amid complaints that Anne Arundel County paramedics are dangerously overworked, County Executive Janet S. Owens has authorized fire officials to hire 10 new ones. The paramedics will replace 10 firefighters - not all of whom work as paramedics - who have retired since July 1, Division Chief John M. Scholz said. Chief Roger C. Simonds still plans to leave vacant 18 positions as part of the county's cost-savings measures, Scholz said. "We know we need paramedics," he said. "The chief's been concerned about their situation for quite some time."

When Vi Wirtz, an 83-year-old Parkville resident, suffered a stroke, she could not speak clearly enough to give important medical information to paramedics. Instead, she directed them to the bright orange card on her refrigerator that contained everything the emergency responders needed to know - her medical conditions, medications and contact information. Last week, Wirtz joined Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., a Fire Department paramedic unit and staff from the county's Department of Aging to announce a program for free distribution of the orange cards and pill organizers.

Officials from the nation's largest organization representing emergency medical personnel said mistakenly declaring a victim dead - as was the case in Northwest Baltimore this weekend - is rare but not unheard of. Jerry Johnston, the immediate past president of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, said statistics are not kept on the number of these incidents, but he is aware of cases in which someone was initially declared dead,...

A federal court decision awarding Anne Arundel County paramedics overtime pay could create new difficulties in a county with a tax ceiling and a Fire Department that spends more on overtime than any other department.Retroactive pay for the 143 paramedics who brought the lawsuit could add nearly $4 million to the EMS/Fire/Rescue budget of $46.6 million, officials said. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals decision, rendered Feb. 18 in Richmond, Va., could open the door to suits for overtime by firefighters who give medical aid.The ruling's possible repercussions could change the Fire Department's structure and harden distinctions between firefighters and paramedics that the fire chief has struggled to obliterate.

Anne Arundel County must pay nearly $3 million in overtime compensationwithheld from paramedics since the late 1980s in violation of federal labor laws, according to a federal court ruling.Senior U.S. District Judge Walter E. Black ruled last summer in favor of the paramedics, who sued to receive time-and-a-half pay for work over 40 hours in a week.But the amount of compensation to be paid was not resolved until Jan. 19, when Judge Black held that Anne Arundel County must pay each of the 128 paramedics affected by the decision amounts ranging from $1,600 to $48,000.

Anne Arundel County must pay nearly $3 million in overtime compensation withheld from paramedics since the late 1980s in violation of federal labor laws, according to a federal court ruling.Senior U.S. District Judge Walter E. Black ruled last summer in favor of the paramedics, who had sued to receive time-and-a-half pay for work exceeding 40 hours in a week.But the compensation to be paid was not resolved until Jan. 19, when Judge Black ordered that Anne Arundel County pay each of the 128 paramedics affected by the decision amounts ranging from $1,600 to $48,000.

A Baltimore City paramedic has been arrested and suspended without pay for allegedly assaulting a patient, authorities said. Shaun W. White, 31, was arrested Friday night on two counts of second-degree assault stemming from a Sept. 8 incident, court records show. Fire Chief Kevin Cartwright, a department spokesman, said an investigation was launched Friday into the arrest and alleged patient assault. Cartwright had no further information about the alleged assault, the condition of the victim or details surrounding the call that brought White and the victim together.

A man was killed after being electrocuted at a construction site in Howard County on Tuesday afternoon, according to the county's Department of Fire and Rescue Services. Police were called to the site where a new home is being built in the 9200 block of Furrow Avenue in Ellicott City shortly before 3:30 p.m. for reports of an electrocution, officials said. An investigation determined the man, whose identity was being withheld pending the notification of his family, was a worker at the site who was carrying metal scaffolding when it touched an electrical wire, officials said.

Erna Segal, a writer and former Maryland Shock Trauma Center public affairs specialist who chronicled the lives and work of the center's medical staff, died Tuesday of complications from dementia at Largo Medical Center in Largo, Fla. The longtime Pikesville and Randallstown resident was 83. The daughter of furniture store owners, Erna Selznick was born and raised in Staten Island, N.Y., where she graduated in 1947 from Curtis High School....

Baltimore County Police have identified the man found fatally shot in Parkville on Sunday as Derrick Gamble, a 31-year-old Northeast Baltimore resident. Police and paramedics first responded about 2 a.m. to Tee-Bee's Bar in the 7100 block of Darlington Road for reports of gunfire and a gunshot victim, they said. They found Gamble with multiple gunshot wounds inside a vehicle in a parking lot, police said. Gamble was pronounced dead on the scene, police said. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has ruled Gamble's death a homicide, police said.

Paramedics assigned to Truck 10 — which the city is planning to close in July — saved a man's life Wednesday morning, the firefighters union said. At 6:20 a.m., an elderly man walked into the firehouse at 1503 W. Lafayette St., where Truck 10 is located, and told paramedics there his son, who is in his 40s, was suffering from a heart attack and having a seizure at a home nearby. The man did not own a telephone to call 911, the union said. Truck 10 responded to the home two blocks away and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation and "advanced life support procedures," the union said.

A fire truck and ambulance collided as they were headed to a building fire Friday night, sending two paramedics to the hospital. Around 8 p.m., two Baltimore City Fire Department units - Engine Company 13 and Medic 15 - were responding to a fire in the 700 block of Lennox St. when they smashed into each other at the intersection of West North Ave. and Park Ave., according to a statement from Chief Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the fire...

A little luck and a lot of technology combined this week to save the life of a Baltimore County teen-ager.Stephen E. Schoolcraft, 15, was helping his stepfather repair a roof in the 2800 block of Alden Road early Wednesday when the aluminum ladder they were positioning swung into a power line."

A fire truck and ambulance collided as they were headed to a building fire Friday night, sending two paramedics to the hospital. Around 8 p.m., two Baltimore City Fire Department units - Engine Company 13 and Medic 15 - were responding to a fire in the 700 block of Lennox St. when they smashed into each other at the intersection of West North Ave. and Park Ave., according to a statement from Chief Kevin Cartwright, a spokesman for the fire...

Paramedics in Harford County rushed a 21-year-old Jarrettsville woman to a hospital Wednesday night for a possible overdose. Emergency crews were dispatched in response to a call that came in at 7:44 p.m. for a woman in the 4000 block of Federal Hill Road, who had possibly overdosed, according to police. The woman was found with a hypodermic needle and transported by paramedics, according to Monica Worrell, a Harford County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman. No further information was available.

A 62-year-old blind man has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice claiming Baltimore paramedics refused to allow his service dog to accompany him in an ambulance after he was struck by a car. Curtis Graham Jr., a Marine who served in Vietnam, was on his way to the city's Veterans Day parade on Nov. 11 when he was hit by a car near his West Baltimore home. Paramedics would not allow Indo, his 2-year-old golden Labrador retriever, into the ambulance, Graham said. "They refused to take a service animal who I need very much," said Graham, who suffered minor injuries.