Bugs and Basic First Aid

            The sun streamed from its mid-day vantage point in the Texas sky but the fall temperature outside remained pleasantly cool.  Without hesitation, we snatched up our backpacks, tossed in a lunch and darted outside to go hiking.             The trail was filled with vibrant colors; the leaves a rich Autumn hue, damp earth the color of charcoal and moss, oak intermixed with stone which twinkled as the sunlight caught hold.  The day was perfect…until we got back home.

http://www.surefirecpr.com/blog/bugs-basic-first-aid/

Poisonous Holiday Plants

The specialty food store was lined from the parking lot to the front door with bushy red poinsettias, fragrant wreaths of cedar or pine, and bunches of mistletoe.  It was a veritable Christmas umbrage – a “green-carpet” leading into the store.  I was overjoyed!  The holidays and traditional foliage had arrived, including Christmas trees and holly garlands.  Children scampered past paying little heed to the greenery lining their pathway and hands never failed to reach out, slapping at the nearest plant as the corner was turned.  I began to wonder, where would that hand go next?  Inside a mouth, most likely, came the answer.  Then horror struck and I began to wonder how many of these holiday plants so thoughtfully placed along the ground, eye level with and certainly within every child’s reach, were poisonous. Christmas brings traditional plants associated with the holiday, not frequently seen during any other time of year.  Several of these plants can be dangerous if th

http://www.surefirecpr.com/blog/poisonous-holiday-plants/

Handling Holiday Stress

My dog needed his walk this afternoon so I grabbed the leash and headed toward the beach. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one enjoying the warmer temps outside. Several dog owners were out, strolling along the beach with smiles on their faces. One such person stopped me in passing and exasperated, uttered one sentence, “Enough! Enough! Thanksgiving just blends into Christmas…” (I’ve never met this woman before today). Interesting, she felt the need to express her consternation with a total stranger. Talk about being stressed out!

http://www.surefirecpr.com/blog/handling-holiday-stress/

Air Med One (continued)

Our rotor wash swept the asphalt road clean as we landed three hundred feet south of the wreck.  I grabbed our airway bag and Cindy, the resident MD, stumbled out of the aircraft after me, trauma bag in hand.  I looked back to check her progress out of the aircraft just as she stumbled and nearly fell.  This is going to be a long day, I thought.  The incident scene commander was a crusty, seasoned old guy chief of the volunteer fire department.  The “whop, whop” of the aircraft behind us beat time as I approached him.  He stood in the roadway with his clipboard in his hand.  “OK Chief!” how many patients do you have for us?” I asked. He looked visibly shaken and replied with, “Eighteen victims.” I glanced behind him to the scene spread out on the road: a van, the glint of metal in the sun and a yellow tarp covering what was the driver’s door of the truck.  Sobering at best!  “OK, let’s get started.”  I looked back for my partner and found her hunched ov

http://www.surefirecpr.com/blog/air-med-one/

Air Med One

“Air Med One you’re responding to an MVA incident, multiple victims, with Sheriffs rescue and Air Med Two for MCI in progress.”   I am on duty on Air Med One today with a new, green partner a second year Emergency Medicine resident who has seen very little of the “real world.”  A little short staffed, my new partner, Cindy, is pressed into service and is about to be baptized in a dose of reality.  Our pilot is a very experienced medevac veteran who knows exactly what we’re going into.  He shoots me a knowing look as our pagers alarm with the dispatched call.  Yes, I know, the thought hits me as I look back.  This is going to be rough. The county of San Diego has a sophisticated system of trauma management that was developed to give the best care available to traumatically injured patients.  The county is divided into catchment areas where patients in those regions are sent to designated hospitals for urgent treatment.  The trauma hospitals in those catchment areas

http://www.surefirecpr.com/blog/airmedone/

Heart Attack Symptoms for Women

Heart disease is the number one killer of women. Though breast cancer has, through mass popular fund raising and health education programs, been in the forefront of public health awareness, heart disease in fact takes the lives of more women every year. The American Heart Association (AHA) is working at improving the public awareness of the threat heart disease poses to society and to women specifically. It is known that there is a strong genetic component to both breast cancer and heart disease. Unlike breast cancer however, there are several things that women with heart disease can do to reduce their chances of dying. A key first step in promoting women’s health and reducing morbidity is early recognition of heart attack symptoms for women and efficient treatment of acute symptoms. Complicating this effort is the fact that women do not have ‘classic’ signs and symptoms. SureFire CPR is an advocate for health and health education and supports this community outreach education e

http://www.surefirecpr.com/blog/heart-attack-symptoms-for-women-2/

Pediatric Emergencies

Heavy drums beat rapidly in the background of my consciousness. The lone “dub” in a heartbeat’s “lub dub”…but faster. Dub, dub, dub, dub…

http://www.surefirecpr.com/blog/pediatric-emergencies/