Items

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  2021-04-25

  EMS education in Massachusetts April 2021

  When the pandemic began in March 2020, the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts sent out a notice that all EMS education classes had to halt until provisions could be made that would ensure the safety of students. By summer of 2020, we could hold courses again to certify EMTs, which was a much needed change. Unfortunately, the requirements have not been easy to contend with, but we have made it work. Medical education is not meant to be remote, it just does not translate well, and the limited time that we had in-person made it difficult for the students to truly get the same level of education as previous providers. Thankfully in April of 2021, things are opening up even more and we are heading back to normal EMT classes. This is going to make things much easier for everyone and hopefully we can keep the restrictions out of EMS education moving forward.
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  2020-10-06

  Medical School's response to Covid-19

  Medical schools have had to come up with unique ways to continue to educate future physicians during the lockdowns and pandemic restrictions. This has not been an easy process, and it remains to be seen the long term effect of those who had to go through medical school during the pandemic. However, there will certainly be long-lasting changes to the ways in which we educate medical school students forever after. This article lists 5 ways in which medical school education will be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. They are an emphasis on public health, real-time curriculum adaptation, potential to reevaluate graduation requirements, changes in residency selection, and new approach to crisis management. It will be interesting to see how these things impact the quality of physicians down the road.
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  2021-03-10

  Nursing schools response to Covid

  Covid-19 and the pandemic has had a significant impact on the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers that were nearing retirment had a good reason to retire early, and many others that felt the job became too dangerous or mentally taxing left the medical field forever due to Covid-19. The numbers of nurses have suffered as a result, and that means that during the worst healthcare crisis in recent history, the nurses that were working had even more burden placed on them by staffing problems. This article explains the ways in which nursing schools have responded to try and get more people into the field.
• 
  2021-04-25

  Matthew Williams

  This is the end results from my experiences as an intern with the Journal of the Plague Year archive
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  2021-04-16

  Indigenous populations and COVID assistance

  This article is about the government's assistance to help Native Americans and Alaska natives combat COVID-19. The Biden administration announced that they will put $4 billion of assistance. The money will be used for things like testing, treatment, and vaccines for these indigenous populations. This is critically important as the CDC announced that Native American and Alaskan Native populations are up to 3.5x more likely to contract COVID-19 than white people. One of the things that the article also notes is that confidence in getting the vaccine will also be an important factor in diminishing that 3.5x number. Efforts to educate specific populations on the vaccine will help the money, but there is a lot of work still to be done.
• 
  2021-04-16

  India's escalating COVID numbers

  India has seen an explosion in their reported infection numbers recently. This Medscape article explained that India has recently crossed the 200,000 daily infections mark which puts India as the highest infection rate in the world. The article then explained how at India's largest Covid facility, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, they are past full capacity. It is so bad that they are putting two unrelated patients in the same bed to maximize their patient capacity. This is truly unimaginable! The hospital's medical director, Suresh Kumar, expressed that it is the new variants and human behavior that has caused the recent spike in numbers. Hopefully this is not a preview for what is in store for the rest of the world.
• 
  2021-04-11

  EMT psychomotor exam regulations

  At the start of the pandemic, the state of Massachusetts Department of Public Health shut down EMT psychomotor exams which meant that we could not certify new EMTs for several months. This is a terrible thing for an industry that was already having staffing problems before the pandemic began. Then in the summer, the state began to allow us to hold the exams again but under significant restrictions. We had to limit our exams to 8 students which meant that we were forced to hold several small exams instead on one larger one (a logistical nightmare). The students had to do the exam in full PPE with constant hand-washing and sanitation requirements. This past week, the state sent out new provisions regarding psychomotor exams. Thankfully, now we can hold larger exams again. Many of the other regulations are still in place, but the fact that we can have all of our students test at the same time makes things so much easier.
• 
  2021-04-06

  COVID-19 variants

  This is an article about the variants of COVID-19 that are either present or emerging in the United States. It is meant to keep EMS providers informed with up-to-date information so that they can provide the best care to patients. Some of the variants are more dangerous/have more symptoms than others. It notes that there is 5 variants of concern, which have increased transmissibility and increased hospitalizations/deaths. While this is not great news, it is a good thing that there are currently no variants in the world that are considered variants of high consequence by the CDC, which essentially means that medicine does not have effective means of treating it. Hopefully this remains the case and we can start to see a drop off of the variants of concern soon.
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  2021-04-07

  First Responder Monument NYC

  Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the controversial governor of New York, announced earlier this month that they plan to build a monument to first responders in New York City. First responders were among the group of people that were on the front lines of the pandemic response. This monument will be designed to honor the efforts and sacrifices by New York's first responders. In the coming months and years, I think we will see many other states do a similar thing for their first responders and healthcare workers.
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  2021-03-11

  Healthcare providers honor Covid-19's One Year Anniversary

  This article is about the one-year anniversary of Covid-19 and how healthcare providers are celebrating and honoring the occasion. Healthcare workers and EMS providers have spent the past year on the front-lines of the Covid response. They have sacrificed much and have seen unprecedented horrors during this pandemic. This article features several social media posts from various healthcare agencies. In all of these posts, they acknowledge the patients and providers that we have lost in the past year, but also celebrate the efforts of the providers in trying to help the public during this pandemic.
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  2021-03-12

  Long-term Vaccine Effect Research Project

  This article is about the Healthcare Worker Exposure Response and Outcomes (HERO) research project. They are trying to understand the long-term effects of the Covid-19 vaccine. The population that they are using is first-responders, who were among the first group to receive the vaccine in most states. The project plans to conduct periodic surveys over a 2 year period. Since this vaccine was produced in record time, and especially the lack of available data to the long term effects, it is an important project. The project also surveys the first responders regarding their mental health during the pandemic. It includes fire fighters, EMS providers, and law enforcement.
• 
  2021-02-09

  MEDS disinfection system

  This article is about a new sprayer disinfection system used in the back of ambulances that had potentially covid positive patients in them. The video features Neptune Township New Jersey's ambulance personnel explaining the system and its benefits. The MEDS system uses electrostatic energy to charge the disinfection spray so that it will cover more surfaces effectively. This is ultimately better and safer for our EMS crews and their patients to combat against the Covid-19 virus. Disinfection is an important process in proper medical care, and this system is effective and quick which allows our EMS personnel to do their job better and safer.
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  2021-03-22

  BIDMC and Long-term Covid Patients

  This article is about the new team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston whose purpose will be to study and support Covid-19 patients with long-term symptoms. These "long-haulers" have an array of physical and mental problems after their recovery from Covid-19. Unfortunately, since research on this virus and it's effects are quite new, experts are still finding out more everyday. This team at BIDMC is one of a few multi-disciplinary teams in the country that is specifically established to provide comprehensive care to these "long-haulers." With so many people contracting Covid-19, teams like this will be critical in how we move forward. As a matter of public health, we need to better understand if there are physiological changes to things like our lung and airway structures, brains, and other organs from having Covid, and if they are permanently damaged or not. This team will not only help these patients, but also help discover important answers for the public as a whole.
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  2021-03-18

  Disparities in Healthcare during Covid-19

  This article is about the disparities in populations that have been impacted by Covid-19. The CDC found that American Indian, Alaska Native, African American, and Latino people were almost three times higher than non-Hispanic white people in hospitalizations during the pandemic so far. These numbers are, unfortunately, more a reflection on our healthcare system as a whole, not just specific to Covid. Dr. Felicia Collins, a distinguished graduate of Harvard Medical School, is the keynote speaker at the 2021 Alvin F. Poussaint, MD Visiting Lecture and will be discussing these healthcare inequalities. On top of having an MD, Dr. Collins also has a Master's in Public Health (also from Harvard), which gives her a unique perspective into healthcare at the individual and population levels. Analyzing healthcare data through the lens of a physician must give her the ability to contextualize healthcare disparities in a way that others would not. This sounds like it will be an interesting lecture on a very important topic, and will of course be held over zoom.
• 
  2020-08-17

  Community Paramedics Help Protect Homeless Populations from Covid

  This article discusses the use of community paramedics in the Covid-19 prevention efforts for San Diego's homeless population. Community paramedics are specifically trained paramedics that shift their focus from the treatment/transport to the hospital model, to a home-care model where the patient receives treatment and stays at home. In this case, they are being used to staff clinics at homeless shelters to provide care and Covid testing to their homeless population. The article references a 2017 hepatitis A outbreak in their homeless population and how that event has influenced the efforts during Covid to prevent a major homeless population Covid-19 outbreak. The article also explains the complexities of running these clinics but that it is worthwhile to aid a community that is among the most vulnerable to Covid.
• 
  03/14/2021

  Michael Levesque Oral History, 2021/03/14

  Michael Levesque was a paramedic working on an ambulance at the start of the pandemic. He had a pregnant wife at home and was in the process of switching his career into nursing. He recalls the memories of working on the ambulance and taking care of Covid patients, as well as how Covid impacted the EMS services overall. He also discusses how it felt to be starting his career as an Emergency Room nurse during a global pandemic. In both cases, his job put him directly on the front lines of medicine. He discusses the early problems of lack of knowledge and equipment to properly handle this pandemic. He also explains the mindset of an expecting father, working in a high risk environment, and then coming home to his pregnant wife. Michael’s unique life circumstances and career path gives his interview a perspective that few people experienced.
• 
  03/14/2021

  Layne Williams Oral History, 2021/03/14

  Layne Williams is a Physical Therapist Assistant who was working in a hospital during the pandemic. Her role shifted during the early months of the pandemic and she found herself doing any job that was needed to help with the increased numbers of patients coming into the hospital. She recalled the surreal feeling of walking into her first Covid positive patient’s room and how the mentality of healthcare providers shifted as more information came out about Covid. She also discussed the challenges of being a healthcare provider while living with her husband who is not in healthcare. Her job certainly exposed her to increased risks and those risks spilled over to impact her home life. However, her overall impression from the pandemic is that it showed what the healthcare field is capable of achieving when challenged.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Covid Baking Trial and Error

  One of the things that I have recently attempted during the end of the Covid 2020 year and into 2021 is to learn how to bake using healthier fats and alternatives. I love cookies and other baked goods, but I could certainly use less butter and unhealthy fats in my life. Instead, I have spent the past few months of the Covid plague year trying to learn how to substitute things like avocado and applesauce for butter. Sometimes this works really well, other times it comes out horribly. I am trying to use this crazy Covid year to become better in the kitchen with healthier and delicious cooking/baking, but it can certainly be a frustrating process. At least it is fun and a productive use of my time in a time when nothing is open.
• 
  2021-02-07

  Kitchen Organization during Covid

  During Covid, I started to cook a lot of different foods that I had never before. I was always cooking simple things with chicken and potatoes mostly, sometimes pasta and other easy dishes. During Covid, I started to experiment with new styles of cooking and cuisines. I quickly found that my small kitchen was filling up with items and ingredients which was causing chaos and disorganization. I bought a bunch of bins to get things organized. For all of the terrible things going on during the Covid year of 2020, I tried to take advantage of the time by upping my kitchen game as best as possible.
• 2021-02-07

  Covid Rice and Beans Stock Use

  When Covid hit in late February/early March, wide-spread food shortage rumors started to circulate everywhere. The news, social media, friends and family, and seemingly everyone continuously talked about the likely shortages that were going to start to take place. For a good week or two in March, it almost felt possible that our networks for food supply could be shut down, which resulted in everyone stocking up on certain items. One of the few things that I picked up was a big bag of brown rice and a pack of 15 cans of black beans. I hid those away in case the worst would happen. Now, nearly a year later, I am using those supplies and reflecting on the unprecedented panic that was going on at the time that I purchased these items.
• 2021-02-07

  Brussel Sprout Failure

  I have been growing Brussel Sprouts for a few years now. I love growing, eating, and cooking with them! I was looking forward to my harvest of Brussel Sprouts during the 2020 season, especially with the Covid lockdowns and all of the stress involved. It was terrible to see that pests ruined all of my Brussel Sprouts plants so I had none. It was the biggest failure of my garden this year and was made all the more disappointing with the Covid situation going on. Here's to the 2021 season and hoping that I can harvest delicious sprouts!
• 2021-02-07

  Instant Pot cooking

  I bought an Instant Pot a year or two ago when it was the new and big thing in cooking. When I got it, I like many felt quite overwhelmed by the device. Therefor, I really only used it every once in a while to cook rice. Otherwise it stayed packed away in my kitchen. Then the Covid lockdowns started in March, which resulted in more time at home and a desire to do other types of cooking. I started to watch Youtube videos on the various functions and countless recepies. During the lockdowns, I have used my Instant Pot to make everything from soups/stocks/stews to tacos and all sorts of different types of dishes. I would say that I used the Instant Pot more than (or as much as) any other tool in my kitchen during the lockdown.
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  2021-01-31

  COVID-19 Gardening in 2021

  The gardening industry saw a jump in the number of home gardeners in 2020 unlike ever seen before. People, with time on their hands and nowhere to go, jumped into the home gardening world. As a home gardener myself, I think that this is a great thing. I have been trying to convince friends of mine for many years now how easy and enjoyable growing some of your own food is. During Covid, many people picked up the hobby. I hope that people stick with it as there are so many benefits. However, I saw last year what panic buying and the uptick in home gardeners did to the industry. At times, it was nearly impossible to find seeds or gardening supplies. For this reason, I have already purchased all of the seeds that I will be using in my garden (a full 2 months before I would have normally even thought about buying them). The photograph is of a couple of the new seeds and varieties that I can't wait to start in the Spring.
• 2021-01-31

  Freezing Masks

  I live in Massachusetts, which certainly isn't the coldest area in the United States, but it is definitely not warm during January and February. Whenever I go out in public areas, like when I am walking my dog downtown or going to work in Boston, I always wear a mask. I personally feel that wearing a mask is a personal responsibility that we owe to everyone else around us. I work for hours wearing the mask, and have no problem doing so because it's the right thing to do. However, it has been particularly cold in Massachusetts the past week or so, which has meant that my mask freezes almost immediately when walking around. The condensation from my breathing quickly freezes from the inside which makes wearing the mask even more uncomfortable than usual. Then, when I get inside, the frozen condensation defrosts and the inside of my mask is soaking wet (not pleasant!!). But at the end of the day, we do what is necessary for the common good, and winter and the virus will soon be behind us!
• 2020-01-19

  Third Semester Teaching during COVID-19

  I teach a few medical-based courses at Northeastern University. We are now in our third semester during the COVID pandemic. Working with the university, we have been able to keep our courses in-person which has been critical for the students to be able to practice the skills required to be healthcare providers. The students wear full PPE (facemasks, eye protection, medical gowns, and gloves) to enable them to work closer than 6 feet with each other. This, along with the university's robust testing procedures allow the students to come in for classes. Thankfully this is the case, as these are skills and experiences that cannot be properly learned in a remote setting. Our students feel safe, and appreciate the university working with us to be able to provide the in-person experiences during this pandemic.
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  2021-01-24

  Major League Baseball Minor League Season Cancelled 2020

  The article from the screenshot is about the Major league Baseball minor league cancelling their 2020 season and the economic impact that it had on the team's ownership (most of which are mom and pop owners) and the city's and towns that host these teams. With the cancelled season, these places and people were not receiving any revenues, and in many cases, these games were a major source for the money coming in. The athletes themselves were still paid, but did not play. This may impact the future of the game in unknown ways. Some of the things that are important for these athletes is that they continuously play which keeps their skills up as well as their physical condition, but most importantly, it allows for the teams to see their talent and promote them to the "big leagues." With the 2021 minor league season in jeopardy, the future of the game is in question.
• 2021-01-14

  Vaccine Clinic and Personal Vaccine

  I work at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA. My role is usually in education with a background in pre-hospital emergency medicine. Because of my background as a paramedic, I was asked to work in the vaccine clinic for the hospital staff as an observer. My position was to keep an eye on the hospital staff for 15 minutes after they received their Covid vaccine, just in case there were any reactions. Thankfully, my shifts have been very uneventful due to the safety of the vaccine. It was fascinating to talk with the staff when they came back for their second dose, as I was given insight into their experiences with the first dose. This meant that when I went in for my first dose in mid-January, I fully knew what to expect. I received the Moderna vaccine. About four hours after getting the shot, my arm felt quite sore. By the night of the vaccine, my shoulder was throbbing, but it was manageable. For the price of some shoulder pain, the opportunity to receive the shot during the first wave was well worth the discomfort. I get my second dose in early February, so I will see then if I feel as crummy as some of my friends and co-workers have after the second dose.
• 
  2020-08-09

  First Potato Harvest

  I have been a home gardener for a few years now, and love to cook using the things from my garden. When Covid started to hit the US in late February/early March, the resulting panic resulted in widespread shortages in the grocery stores for many common items of American households. News reports consistently told us that food supply networks were in jeapordy. I had never grown potatoes before (though I have grown sweet potatoes), but I decided that for its nutritional value to space ratio, it would be worth growing potatoes this year. Thankfully, the media had seemingly overblown the shortage problem (at least in my area), but that didn't matter because I enjoyed growing potatoes and had a great harvest. My first dish I made with my homegrown potatoes (and homegrown carrots) was a delishous pot roast. I was able to include a glass of y homebrewed beer to complete the meal. Sitting down for this meal was certainly a bright spot during the pandemic and was the culmination of several months of labor and enjoyment.
• 
  2021-01-13

  Pandemic Hacks

  At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed for a bit of time that the infrastructure of the world was on shakey ground. Thankfully, our food supplies and economy did not collapse. However, the experience and extra-time during the pandemic led to me trying to become more self-sufficient in my livelihood. I have had a vegetable garden for years, but I started to grow different things this year than before. The picture above was my sweet potato harvest experiment, which I was pleased with and had a good amount of nutritious sweet potatoes. I had similar results with things like beans and regular potatoes (very nutritious and filling). On top of these things, I also tried to learn how to make products that I used regularly (even if these were more luxury items than necessities). Growing various herbs and spices, I began to make my own salad dressings, marinades, sauces, and pestos. Additionally, as a fan of craft beer, I enjoy drinking new and exciting beers but do not enjoy paying premium prices. During the lock down, I learned how to brew my own delicious beer for less than half of the cost from the store. All of these projects were fun to do, diminished boredom, and are skills which I can use to enrich my life moving forward.
• 2021-01-13

  Covid Holidays

  My family normally meets at my parent's house for Christmas every year with my Dad's infamous filet minion dinner. However, I have not been there in-person for the past decade or so because I always work on Christmas. Unfortunately (or I suppose fortunately), paramedics are needed to staff ambulances on holidays. Though I did not work on Christmas this year, I was still unable to go to the family party due to Covid. The biggest difference this year for me was that for the first time, I was not the only family member who participated in the holiday party remotely. This is not to say that I was happy that my family could not get together like normal, but there was something oddly comforting to not being the only person on zoom/whats app/etc. during the holidays. Everyone prepared their own dinners at home, we jumped on zoom and did a family toast and showed each other our respective meals. We all logged off to eat and then jumped back on to continue to celebrate the holiday and do the annual secret Santa exchange. Overall, it was a more normal holiday for me than for the rest of my family, but it was overall a great Christmas.
• 
  2020-12-07

  Healthcare Education in the Covid-19 Pandemic

  These are my students who are training at Northeastern University to become Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) The pandemic has created restrictions that have made training the healthcare providers of tomorrow more challenging than ever before. Students must be in full personal protective equipment including a facemask, faceshield, gown, and gloves. Between faceshield fogging, trouble breathing in the masks during more rigorous physical components to training, and many other obstacles to their learning, the students have shown inspiring levels of resilience. Their strength during these difficult times serves as a constant reminder to me of the ability of the human spirit to overcome any and all challenges, and inspires me to continue to try and find ways to mitigate the effects of the challenges due to the pandemic. Students deserve a proper education and experience, and it is up to educators to match their students efforts in overcoming the barriers that Covid-19 has constructed.