Continue reading… 2 ambulances of Hardy Rescue Squad back in service | WSLS 10.

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The economic crisis is even hitting the heroes. The Forest View Rescue Squad ideally wants twelve volunteers working every night. Hard times have whittled that number down to sometimes just six people. That is forcing the squad to rethink how it works.

By day, these volunteers are normal citizens.

continue reading… Economic crisis hitting local rescue squad – NBC12 News, Weather Sports, Traffic, and Programming Guide for Richmond, VA |.

Read the entire article:  Albemarle School Receives AED – NBC29.

In Gloucester, you might also see 16- to 18-year-old high school students coming along for the ride.

The Gloucester County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department taps into the services of its Junior Squad — high school students, dressed in their trademark light blue T-shirts, who volunteer their EMT services for certain calls.

“They are a huge, huge help to our department,” said Stacey Williams, the coordinator of the Junior Squad program. She has been with the department for 10 years as a medic. “It’s been nothing but positive.”

Read the entire article:  Making a Difference: Gloucester fire department’s Junior Squad learns valuable first-hand experience — dailypress.com.

I run with Blue Ridge Vol. Rescue Squad, in Botetourt County. Blue Ridge is known as “Rescue 1″. We have three apparatus, two ambulances and one response SUV. The ambulances are known as “152″, “154″ and the response is “150″. We have had a recent color scheme change, from red/white to green/gold. Green/gold being the Botetourt County colors.

Medic 152 is a 2005 Chevy CC4500 Type III made by Medtec. Medic 152 is ALS/BLS capable and runs on diesel.
Medic 154 is a 1999 Ford E-450 Super Duty Type III made by Osage. Medic 154 is ALS/BLS capable and runs on diesel.
Response 150 is a 2007 Chevy Tahoe. Response 150 is only ALS/BLS support.

PLOVER, WI September 9, 2009 – Social Media can empower anyone – emergency responders, patients, and bystanders – to be public information officers (PIO). Learning to use social media tools before, during, and after major incidents is a significant challenge for public information officers and incident command staff of emergency response agencies. PIOSocialMediaTraining.com launched an email boot camp training program September 1, 2009 to aid in that challenge. Subscribers receive ten emails with instructional content to learn about social media. Each email has a specific action step to help PIOs apply the educational information.

The mission of PIOSocialMediaTraining.com is to empower public information officers, incident commanders, and other emergency responders from all types of emergency response agencies to effectively engage in the creation of Social Media to achieve their organization’s unique mission and objectives. Co-creator David Konig explains, “The best way for website visitors to start is by participating in the no-cost PIO Social Media Email Boot Camp, which is an email based educational course on the use of Social Media in both emergency and non-emergency situations.” During the ten email series of lessons participants will learn about social media tools, how to create a “hub and spokes” for distributing content and engaging stakeholders, and how to equip a social media toolkit. Each email draws on best practices, ongoing efforts of other emergency responders, and available tools for creating social media.

The PIO Social Media Boot Camp was created by Dave Konig and Greg Friese who are experienced emergency responders, bloggers, podcasters, and social media advocates. Greg Friese says, “Our intent is to help other emergency responders understand and effectively utilize social media.” Dave and Greg regularly write new columns on social media tools, best practices, and current events for PIOSocialMediaTraining.com/hub/blog.

PIOSocialMediaTraining.comis a production of Emergency Preparedness Systems LLC. EPS411 designs and produces online education for emergency responders. Learn more at http://www.eps411.com or call 715-204-9874.

Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P
Elearning Specialist, Author, Presenter, Paramedic
President, Emergency Preparedness Systems LLC

The Mount Jackson Rescue and Fire Department in Shenandoah County has recently placed into service their new “21-2″, a 2009 International 4300 that was built by Horton. The new 21-2 also represents the new colors of the department.

The current apparatus at the station represent a variety of different color apparatus….everything from green/white, red, and yellow. The fire department and rescue squad were separate organizations with the two consolidating during the last several years.

Mount Jackson currently has a red and white Pierce fire truck being rehabed. When it returns, it will also be painted in the green and black color like 21-2.

Rockingham Memorial Hospital donated 16 heart monitors to local rescue squads on Tuesday.

The machines serve a dual purpose as defibrillators and perform a 12-lead EKG. With this ability, EMS can tell the hospital exactly what to prepare for before the patient arrives.

According to doctors the actual EKG is sent to the hospital via blue tooth technology to save valuable minutes.

RMH says, with these devices in the field, it can save a lot of time. In the past, EKG tests were done at the hospital and then the necessary doctors were called to perform the next step. Now teams of doctors can be assembled while the patient is on the way to the hospital.

via RMH Donates Portable Heart Monitoring Devices to Local EMS.

The discovery was made around 5:30 a.m. after an emergency room registration RN received a phone call from woman saying there was a suspicious man was walking around the facility with a package. The caller also said that the man may have left the package on the grounds.

Read entire story: Baby found in atrium of Norfolk hospital | TOP STORIES | WVEC.com | News for Hampton Roads, Virginia.