This is the second year I have been making Monday morning posts. As 2019 closes, let us see what most interested the 48,246 visitors to CompanyCommander.com in 2019.
Top Five 2019 Monday Posts
A view means that the article was opened through the WordPress site.
12,116 views of A frigid night, a “reset” fire alarm system and a near-tragic lesson
I used a personal near-miss event when I was an engine company officer to discuss fire alarm activations in commercial and industrial occupancies. This one took off. 3,300 Facebook shares
5,031 views of Paramedicine is not Fire Suppression: a response to Chief Ludwig
This 2018 post was updated in March 2019. This is a response to Chief Gary Ludwig’s Firehouse.com column “EMS: Do You Need a College Degree to be a Paramedic?” Chief Ludwig was reacting to a position paper advocating an associate degree for new paramedics starting in 2025. Originally posted in September 2018, there was a total of 8,341 views and 567 Facebook shares.
3,784 views of Why a Degree Requirement has Nothing to Do with Old School Medics and Everything To Do with the Future of Out-Of-Hospital Care
This November 2019 post was a reaction to a NEMSMA Google Group discussion that wondered if there was a plan in place to move the paramedic degree advocacy beyond the Prehospital Emergency Care position statement posted a year ago.
This article was posted the same week that the Los Angeles County Fire Department established Advanced Provider 11, a non-transport unit staffed with a nurse practitioner and captain/paramedic. 1000 Facebook shares.
2,949 views of Four Levels of Firefighter Skill Competence: a Fire Officer’s guide
While working on the 4th edition of Company Officer: Principles and Practice, I rewrote the section on skill competence. This February article came from that research. 731 Facebook shares.
2,888 views of What Happens When The “All Hazards” Fire Department Becomes A “Mostly Medical” Responder? Engaging Your Workforce
This post evolved from a November 11th presentation at the IAFC ConneXions conference in Columbia, Maryland titled “I did not join the fire department to ride an ambulance: How to embrace Mission, Methods and Motivation.” For this presentation, I was wearing my University of Maryland Baltimore County Emergency Health Services adjunct faculty hat. 872 Facebook shares.
There are 16 additional Monday posts with more than 1000 views, 12 of them covering fire officer topics.
How the Facebook Company Commander News Feed works
The goal with the Company Commander Facebook news feed is to post 4 or more articles in the morning. I try to find items that have not already been covered by the larger fire and ems news sites. I prefer to post news items that are no more than 48 hours old and will be of interest to fire and EMS supervisors, managers or administrators.
I strive to put context into the posts. My early morning 1-fingered typing on an iPad is shakey, the Facebook auto-correct can be evil and I am occasionally geographically incorrect. I appreciate the early morning cadre of readers that provide editorial feedback to make these postings better.
In addition to using three different Google phrase searches, I digitally subscribe to 14 major newspapers. It is becoming more difficult to post news media articles as more newspapers have reduced the number of “free” articles or put up paywalls. If it looks like a worthwhile story, I try to find an alternative information site.
During the day, when I should be doing other work, I will share interesting posts from fellow fire and ems posters as well as an occasional breaking story. For the 4th quarter in 2019, the Company Commander Facebook news feed averaged 2,750 visitors each day.
Company Commander Facebook Noticeable News Trends in 2019
Stolen Emergency Vehicles
Every week, I post at least one article about a stolen rig. The most common scenario is an ambulance stolen from an emergency department entrance, the second most common is a rig stolen from an incident scene.
I am not sure if this is a rising trend or just getting more media coverage. Detroit Fire Department wins the stolen ambulance scenario, with a person entering Engine 6’s quarters and driving a paramedic ambulance through a bay door and onto Interstate 75.
Crumbling Community Ambulance Services in the Northeast
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Maine have all declared an ambulance crisis as the community-built volunteer rescue squad services established after World War II dissolve from inadequate revenues and an aging-out workforce. The patchwork of poorly paid per-diem paramedics and EMTs to maintain staffing is not sustainable.
The revenue model is so bad that successful regional or national ambulance services will not bid on some community’s request for a proposal (RFP). When they do, their proposed fees are usually 200 to 400% higher than the jurisdiction is willing to spend. It is unrealistic to expect insurance reimbursements to cover the expenses of 24/7 9-1-1 ambulance coverage.
Inadequate Equipment Maintenance and Replacement
This year has included articles about fire companies responding in SUVs or utility vehicles because there is no fire apparatus available in the jurisdiction. Often this is a combination of thin or deferred maintenance as well as a lack of a funded apparatus replacement program. My impression is that many jurisdictions are completely dependent on the federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program to make major fire apparatus purchases.
Small Fire Departments are Continuing to Lay Off Firefighters and Strain Mutual Aid
Almost every other month I posted an article about a fire department eliminating firefighter positions because their budget cannot afford them. Related to this is the strain on mutual aid agreements. For example, Town A went from 2 responses a month into Town B last year to 10 responses a month this year because Town B closed a fire company.
Continuing Challenge to get Occupational Cancer Coverage
This issue has been frustrating as many states take an adversarial approach to requests for worker compensation coverage of occupational cancer. This battle will continue to be waged in 2020.
We will continue to track these trends and identify new issues in 2020. Thanks so much for coming along for the digital ride. Keep logging in!
Suggestions for 2020? Email mike@companycommander.com
Mike
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