In The Arena

Eddy and Jon discuss current events, the podcast itself, reports, tours, and more, in their monthly episode of "Radio Chatter". This episodes focus is in Emergency Management Magazine report entitled "We've Failed Miserably at Preparedness", motel gas explosions, home preparedness, the Visual911+ App and the topic of "Culture Brokers"

A live interview RN/Paramedic Nicole Arbach, Ambulance Educator from North Memorial Health in Minnesota.  Listen to Nicole share her insights regarding protocols and attitudes toward infectious disease prevention in EMS as well as the story of her own son who experienced what infection can mean firsthand.  Recorded live at the Long Hot Summer Conference in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

A live interview with Kirk Hughes, RN, EMT, CSPI, Education Director of the Minnesota Poison Control System.  With years of experience in Fire/EMS and a background as a death scene investigator, Hughes has become a specialist on America’ drug problem.  Is Narcan working? How far behind are we in the drug war?  We have been calling this a pandemic, but how bad is America’s problem really?

As a responder, you are prepared to handle many unexpected situations that you encounter on a call. You have likely found that there are situations and calls you go on that seem to require different response tactics or specialized care that you may not be trained or highly skilled in. Would you know how to respond if you met a child whose behaviors did not appear to be ‘normal’ or typical for their age?  Courtney Willegal joins us LIVE at EMS Today 2019 in National Harbor, Maryland to discuss her new book, “Responding to the invisible child; a tactical response guide to mental health disorders in children”

After a long week in National Harbor, Maryland, Eddy and Jon go over their experiences at EMS Today 2019. 

In this episode, Eddy interviews Antonio Cugini, Director of Marketing for FoxFury Lighting Solutions.  FoxFuy is our main podcast sponsor and the creators of some of the finest lighting solutions in the responder world.  How did they get here?  How has the company grown? What sets FoxFury apart from their competitors?  Listen to Antonio Cugini share about the company’s journey of discovery and the magic of forecasting the responder industry.  Recorded LIVE at EMS Today 2019 in National Harbor, MD on February 21.

This episode is a short rant about the lesson we should all be learning from the recent Century Link 911 outage.  Our reliance on technology has turned us into a society that is more vulnerable than perhaps any in history despite the breakthroughs that originally looked like lifesavers!

During this holiday season, there will be families experiencing pain and loss, responders pulled away from their families for the sake of the call, and while the holiday will be filled with trees, lights and gifts, it will also be a time of pain and agony for so many.  It is a time of the year when perspective can save a life.  Perhaps some lessons from M*A*S*H* will make a difference. 

From the Leech Lake Public Safety Conference in Walker Minnesota December 14th, 2018.  An interview with Rob Pearson from North Memorial Air Care on the art of hemorrhage control and the science of stress training.  Could this research change the way we train? Could the way we train prevent PTSD in responders?

The use of force, in the context of law enforcement, may be defined as the "amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject"Within the world of Criminal Justice, there is probably no other issue that draws as much attention as the use of Police Force, yet the actual definition of what is force, what is excessive force and what is reasonable as opposed to necessary has yet to be determined and may never be.

From the Leech Lake Public Safety Conference in Walker Minnesota December 14th, 2018.  An in-booth interview with EMT Karen Winkler from BinderLift. One of the biggest problems in EMS today is back injuries… could this be the solution?  Statistically,  1 out of 2 EMS providers will sustain an on the job back injury during their career. That means if it ain’t you…it’s gonna be your partner!  

Is there a better way to train responders than by sending just a few members of a department to a national conference? Are regional conferences experiencing a new energy and revival?  From the Leech Lake Public Safety Conference in Walker Minnesota December 14th, 2018. 

What happens when protests and rallies become violent street wars?  As responders, we need to step back from the politics and reasons and rhetoric ask start to ask ourselves, could we do our jobs if this happened here?  Have we made sure we could respond and still serve, protect, rescue and save in a war-zone environment?  Could our social media make this happen here?

In any leadership scenario, a great leader needs to make sure there is a culture that grows things.  So what do you want to grow?  How about more leaders, more passion, loyalty and a raised standard of excellence?  A real leader is trying to build something greater themselves out of people they wish to see do better than they themselves are doing.

If we are to truly contemplate how to respond to “vulnerable populations”, we must allow ourselves a little imagination as we create our response plans.  What population COULD become vulnerable that is not normally and already designated vulnerable? Until we start to imagine what lies beyond what we have ever seen before and we start to recognize the possible needs of the entire population, we can then, and only then start to come up with plans that don’t leave us hanging.  

A follow up from our last episode… are we trusting our gloves too much?  How often are we exposing ourselves to disease by not being strategic about our infection prevention.  What makes a good wall anyway? 

LEOs have a higher risk of being attacked, wounded or even killed at work than almost all other professions. But did you know that statistically they also have a much higher chance of exposure to a debilitating and even life- threatening illness? In this episode, author/trainer E.G Weiss, Jr. talks about infectious disease control for the police officer as well as other responders.