Randy Pausch, 1960-2008

Randy Pausch died this morning. He was a Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and a best-selling author, who achieved worldwide fame for his "The Last Lecture" speech on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University.

Below is his "Last Lecture" titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". It is 1 hour 16 minutes long, and I encourage all of you to watch it.



Mr. Pausch had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006, endured chemotherapy and surgery, and in 2007, was told his cancer was terminal and was given 6 months to live. He made it longer than that, and created that lecture not for his students, but for his children.

I need your help

I have helped many people and organizations over the years: financially, emotionally, spiritually. Some of you read this blog. Now, I need your help.

I need to raise about $1200 before Aug 23rd, to pay for my paramedic program (Books, tuition, malpractice insurance, uniform, etc). That is the first day of class. Until my month-to-month costs go down or my income goes up, I am barely keeping my head above water. BUT I NEED TO GET MY PARAMEDIC LICENSE. This is a part-time paramedic program through a local highly-rated community college. When I am done after 4 semesters, I will have earned another degree (An associate degree, but another degree nevertheless). But most importantly, it will enable me to provide a much higher level of care to my patients.

If you can help, I ask you to please make a donation through this link:

Can you help? Please? All donors will get recognition (unless they request otherwise) through a donors list on my main web page.

Paramedicine and its dangers

I have previously mentioned that being an EMT or paramedic can be dangerous. Inner city medics are keenly aware of this, so are some suburban and rural medics. Some medic units have been known to pack weapons in certain areas, due to the high dangers. Others are known to wear Kevlar vests (Reasonably bulletproof). Personally, I consider it unethical to carry a gun while providing medical care, although I was tempted one time when I worked on an ambulance years ago in Los Angeles.

Once in a while, an incident occurs that drives this home to us again. That such incident occured this morning in Maplewood, MO, a suburb of St. Louis. A young firefighter-paramedic, 22-year old Ryan Hummert, was shot and killed this morning while responding to a car fire. As they got out of their fire engine, they were shot at from a home across the street. Two police officers were also shot, one critically.

It is a reminder that we must always stay vigilant, no matter where I am providing care. Especially where we are providing care. It isn't unheard of for hunters to be in the same region as the races that I provide emergency care at. Not that I would think of a hunter intentionally shooting at me, but weapons fire is possible anywhere.

How NOT to keep your EMS gear

A few weekends back, I worked a motocross practice session. I was told there was gear out there for me, but since I have been burned once before, and discovered that there wasn't any gear when I got there, I brought some of our company's gear along. A trauma bag, a board, and my personal "fanny pack" (overstuffed, and is basically a small trauma bag sans oxygen).

When I got there, I was told that the gear was waiting for me. Well, it was. Here is what it looked like:

At first glance, it is dusty, but looks ok. Not a huge problem. I prefer clean gear, even when working in a dusty environment, but if the inside is clean and organized, I don't mind. However, when I opened the gear, it was a jaw dropper:


This stuff was FILTHY. As you can see on the outside of the blue trauma bag, that dirt isn't just a dust layer. IT IS CAKED ON. In the blue trauma bag, The OPAs were coated with dirt (Would you place a dirty device in someone's airway? I know I won't!), there were no NPAs, the scissors were also dirty, the white cloth tape was brown, the pocket mask was dirty, there was basic gear missing (such as 4x4s, plastic tape, saline for irrigation, triangular bandages, and other items). There were gloves in there, but they too were filthy. Some looked like they had been used. There was trash left in the bags (primarily 4x4 packaging). Some had spots of dried blood on it. I gloved up and picked most of the trash out. At this point, I realized that I didn't want to touch this bag, let alone use it on a patient. The spine board was ok, but the C-collar attached to it was really dirty (Bad place for it anyway). I decided to work out of my gear and closed it up after taking these shots with my cellphone.

The O2 bag was a little better. They had put splints in there (and apparently cut on to create a smaller splint out of a larger one), but most of the stuff was cleaner than the trauma bag. The BVMs needed to be replaced, as they had been in there for a long time, and looked like they were brittle from the heat (This is Sacramento, after all).

Keep in mind that this equipment is used by at least 2 EMTs that regularly work that venue. I was brought in on an emergency basic when neither was available. I mentioned the condition of the gear to several people. I told them that this was a danger to the patients that are being served, and that I refused to use it, as it could and most certainly would impact care, and was unprofessional.

I sure hope they clean this gear ASAP. Is it that hard to put a little pride in the gear provided to those who care for your patrons? Empty the bags and wash them. Its amazing how well these bags clean up. They may end up looking brand new again. In the meantime, I will be sure to make sure my gear is with me if I work out there again.

Wow! Attendance Topper at Rivercats game

I worked at Raley Field last night (For those who don't know, I am an EMT out there. Talk about enjoying baseball and medicine at the same time!). We had an incredibly busy night. I never got to see a single hit or play during the game. Not that I could have if we were standing by our office...

The Rivercats set a new attendance record last night. Maximum capacity of the ballpark is considered to be 14,414. Last night, it was... get this... 15850! Yeah, 1,436 more people than maximum capacity. Talk about standing room only! It actually made getting to patients more difficult, since we have to literally call out "Coming Through!" to get through the crowd. My partner had one of the "Sleep Train" whistles that they gave out at the game. He was blowing it while we were pushing through to get to patients. It actually worked, and got the guests attention!

Can't go into the gory details, but we sent 2 to the hospital, one from heat exposure, and the other from a fall. As I said, busy night at the ballpark! But I love this work!