Inside EMS EMS1 Podcasts

Educating the public about when it is appropriate to call EMS – and how quickly we should get there
This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.
In this EMS Week episode of Inside EMS, Cohosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson dive into where emergency care begins, and how community paramedicine launched a paradigm shift years in the making. They discuss how EMS did a fine job of educating the community about the obstacles and dangers of the job during COVID-19, but need to capitalize on and maintain that momentum moving forward.
Memorable quotes from this episode:
“Community paramedicine has everything to do with EMS week.”
“Advocacy is what this is all about, and we as a profession have kind of fallen down on the job for quite a while on educating the public about the capabilities of EMS, and the obstacles and hardships that we face, and that’s what EMS Week is all about.”
“We need to leverage our advocacy and teach the real first responders, the public, about what’s appropriate to call EMS for and what they can do to crowdsource that urgent care.”
Chris and Kelly discuss:
How emergency care begins at dispatch and nurse triage of 911
ET3 and the telehealth model
Kelly’s experience with treatment-in-place and alternate destinations
Response time standards
Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Contact the Inside EMS team at theshow@ems1.com to share ideas, suggestions and feedback, or if you’d like to join us as a guest.

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.
In this episode of Inside EMS, Kelly Grayson rejoins Cohost Chris Cebollero to discuss his recent medical scare and to celebrate 10 years of Inside EMS.
Kelly recently suffered a massive pulmonary embolus, which severely compromised blood flow to nearly 100% of both his lungs.
Though he admits delaying care was not the brightest decision at the time, he now knows how close he came to losing his life, and is committed to taking his health seriously – both mental and physical.
Notable quotes from this episode
“Be good patients and don’t be stupid. We are the world’s worst at taking care of ourselves.”
“It slapped me upside the face on April 14 that it’s time to start walking the walk about your own health.“
“Even if you have the capacity to rationalize, and the capacity to be clinically analytic during your own medical emergency, ultimately, all it’s going to do is give you piece of mind when you die that you knew what killed you.”
Read more about Kelly’s medical scare:
‘Is this what dying feels like?’A wake-up call and a plea: Don’t be stubborn about your health
After the wakeup call: First steps of a wellness journey“The problem with people testing their limits is that they often find them.”

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.
In this episode of Inside EMS, Host Chris Cebollero is joined by Firefighter/Paramedic Steve Whitehead, NREMT-P, and scholar-practitioner Nick Nudell, PhD(c).
Real-life friends, Whitehead and Nudell bring forth an EMS debate in which they find themselves on opposite sides: the importance of reporting mechanism of injury.
In paramedic school, they teach us to take what we see at the scene and bring that into the hospital – to take photos, describe the damage to the vehicle, etc., Chris notes. But, does it matter?
Chris listens to their perspectives as they state their case, and then makes his decision. Listen in and let us know your thoughts: is reporting mechanism of injury important?
Memorable quotes from this episode
“This is one of the few things in EMS in which we need to own. Because if we make a mistake and we evaluate the mechanism of injury wrong, no one else can fix that for us.” — Steve Whitehead
“For all except the most unusual mechanisms of injury, the photo is likely worthless.” — Steve Whitehead
“The critical things that the trauma surgeons are really trying to get at in that moment when the patient arrives is – is their airway patent, are they breathing, is their blood circulating – they are going to the ABCs, just like we do.” — Nick Nudell
ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Steve Whitehead
Steve Whitehead, NREMT-P, is an EMS instructor with the South Metro Fire Rescue Authority in Lone Tree, Colorado, and the creator of the blog The EMT Spot. He is a primary instructor for South Metro's EMT program and a lifelong student of emergency medicine. Reach him through his blog at steve@theemtspot.com.
Nick Nudell
Scholar-practitioner Nick Nudell, PhD(c), is the manager of trauma research services for UCHealth, in Loveland, Colorado; and the president of the American Paramedic Association. He has more than 24 years of data science, public policy and paramedicine experience at all levels, including as a hospital and ambulance-based clinician, educator, consultant, regulator, program manager, executive and researcher.
His research interests include innovative governance models and improving health system design to reduce systemic healthcare disparities through mixed methods research concentrated on system design and implementation. He is an advocate for social justice and health equity, interested in discovering the most appropriate resources to provide for a person's needs, in suitable locations, at the right time.
Additionally, through his clinical practice, he has gained significant real-world field and academic experience with behavioral health and substance use disorders that contribute to his health equity and social justice scholarship.

Jon Lee joins the podcast to discuss following the evidence and pharmacology research insights
This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.
In this episode, one of Chris Cebollero’s favorite authors, Jonathan Lee, joins Chris for a discussion of his most recent article, a research analysis examining the benefits of midazolam vs. morphine.
While morphine is the go-to drug when it comes to cardiac events, once you look at the research, there are some red flags, Lee notes.
Lee’s analysis focused on
The in-hospital mortality had no significant difference between midazolam versus morphine
The frequency of serious adverse events in using morphine versus
Listen in to the discussion.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Jonathan Lee: Front-line pharm
KinderMedic
Research analysis: Midazolam vs. morphine
About our guest
Jonathan Lee is a critical care paramedic with Ornge in Toronto, Canada, with over 25 years of experience in 911, critical care, aeromedical and pediatric critical care transport. Jonathan’s teaching experience includes classroom, clinical and field education as well as curriculum development and design across a number of health professions.
He is currently delivering KinderMedic, a program he developed to improve the confidence and competence of prehospital providers caring for acutely ill children. In addition to his clinical practice, he is also adjunct faculty in the Paramedic Program at Georgian College. Jonathan is a freelance author and has been invited to speak across North America and Europe on topics such as pediatrics, analgesia and stress.
Jonathan has previously served on committees for professional organizations including the Ontario Paramedic Association and NAEMT. He is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Critical Care from Cardiff University. Jonathan can be contacted via Twitter and LinkedIn.
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Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Contact the Inside EMS team at theshow@ems1.com to share ideas, suggestions and feedback, or if you’d like to join us as a guest.
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This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.
In this episode of Inside EMS, cohost Chris Cebollero reflects on his time in the military and the privilege of serving in the military’s Honor Guard. Chris explains the significance of the 13 folds of the American flag and the honor felt in folding the flag that would be given to a family member of a fallen servicemember.
Chris is joined by Folds of Honor’s Senior Vice President of Outreach, Luke Sherman. Sherman is a past chairman and now senior member with the Board of Directors for the National Tactical Officers Association; a 29 year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department; and owner and principal with Aegis CPG, a Tulsa-based security consulting company.
Sherman shares how the Folds of Honor scholarship program will now benefit first responders, including paramedics and EMTS.
Lt. Col. Dan Rooney started Folds of Honor after his second tour of duty in Iraq. As a fighter pilot in the Oklahoma Air National Guard, he became painfully aware of the realities families face when a loved one in uniform is fallen or disabled.
On his return flight home, the pilot announced the plane carried the remains of Corporal Brock Bucklin on board. Lt. Col. Rooney watched as Corporal Bucklin’s twin brother walked somberly alongside the flag-covered casket to meet his family on the tarmac.
Lt. Col. Rooney committed to meeting sacrifice with hope through Folds of Honor, providing life-changing scholarships to the spouses and children of America’s fallen or disabled servicemembers. Folds of honor has awarded more than 44,000 educational scholarships totalling about $200M since 2007
And now, the mission expands to the families of America’s first responders.
Additional resources
Learn more about supporting Folds of Honor’s mission to help fund educational opportunities for military and first responder families, or to apply for a scholarship at FoldsOfHonor.org.

This episode of Inside EMS is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.
According to Bureau of Labor statistics, for healthcare workers, assault is the most common source of nonfatal injury or illness requiring time off of work.
In this episode of Inside EMS, Host Chris Cebollero is joined by Jason Brooks, BAS, EMT-P, I/C, to discuss the rising frequency of assaults against EMS providers.
Brooks owns and operates DT4EMS, LLC, providing defensive tactics for escaping, mitigating and surviving violent attacks. He has been in the EMS profession for over 25 years, serving as a firefighter, paramedic, paramedic educator and EMS administrator.  He has spent nearly a decade studying the issue of violence in healthcare.
Together, they discuss:
Personal defense and de-escalation training
When to de-escalate domestic violence cases
What to do when verbal de-escalation fails
4 rules of physicial and mental defense
When to leave the scene
Notable quotes from Jason Brooks
If you’re being threatened, you need to make the decision, “is this safe for me to stay here?”
“It's not patient abandonment to leave a scene that's unsafe.”
“There's no law out there that says that you have to sit there and be abused, be assaulted, etc. If it's unsafe, we need to know that care can end.”
“If it gets to the point where it's escalated so quickly, if you have to leave equipment behind for your safety, leave it.”
Additional resources
Special coverage: Protecting EMS providers from violence
Preventing violence against EMS personnel
Research Analysis: Preventing downstream consequences of EMS assaults
Rate and review the Inside EMS podcast
Enjoying the show? Please take a moment to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. Contact the Inside EMS team at theshow@ems1.com to share ideas, suggestions and feedback, or if you’d like to join us as a guest.