Join the Executive Director of WEMSA, Alan DeYoung, and your fellow attendees to kick off WEMSA 2024 with a few quick announcements about the week of learning, networking, and fun ahead.

Reality television has popularized hoarding disorder, but what happens before the “Got Junk” people show up? This session will discuss the hoarding disorder, its associated features, and possible co-morbid diseases. Situational awareness and provider safety is of particular concern during these responses; hidden dangers in hoarded environments and appropriate PPE and resources will be examined. Planning and interaction with other agencies, particularly Hoarding Task Forces will be addressed as well.

Are you ready to deliver a baby? Most of us can handle birth, but what about dealing with a newborn until we get to the hospital? What if the newborn isn't doing well? This session will cover basic and advanced care for the treatment of a newly-born child. We will discuss assessment and management of healthy and sick children immediately after birth.

This class looks at the use of CPAP in EMS from a basic level to an advance level. Understanding the physiology of CPAP and how it benefits the patient are key learning objectives in this class. This class is for FR, EMT and paramedics.

Since being introduced to the Fire and EMS community in 2009, the Rescue Task Force concept has been successfully applied in multiple Active Threat Events nationwide. From the outset, RTF advocates realized that a “one size fits all” solution to address all potential threats is simply not possible, and adaptations to the model have continued to evolve to meet the changing hazards, stakeholder needs, and available resources involved. However, experience with recent events have prompted some policymakers to question if formal RTF teams are the only answer, and even if they are worth taking the time to stand up at all. Our instructor team is comprised of leaders who were instrumental in implementing the RTF concept at their agencies, and have since taught incident management of Active Threat Events to Fire, EMS, and LE professionals throughout the country. This interactive session will challenge participants to weigh pros and cons of various emerging forms of RTF composition, deployment, and flexible tasking practices. Join us for an in-depth examination of fundamental aspects of team movement, CCP selection and operations, and integration into the overall ICS structure to successfully manage these high-threat events. Build more plays in your organization’s “playbook” of tactics, techniques, and procedures and explore methods to achieve the most rapid and efficient delivery of care. Unlike calls that involve a known behavioral emergency or agitated patient, where establishing scene safety is understood to be a fundamental priority, sudden and unexpected assaults present a different challenge. This session will examine, from the perspective of a busy professional with limited available training time, how to develop and maintain a skill set that provides solutions to common unarmed “ambush-style” threats. Join our experienced instructors, who bring decades of combined knowledge in both Law Enforcement and EMS operations, in exploring a framework that can be accessed under the high stress of a sudden assault. Through a candid discussion of the mechanics of common threats, participants will learn how to apply “high yield” defensive techniques through a safe, progressive training method. While acknowledging that avoidance and de-escalation techniques are preferable to physical conflict, the reality is that these options sometimes fail. Don’t miss this opportunity to build tools that will help you to “weather the storm” and successfully disengage from a sudden assault to achieve the most essential goal – survival.

This class introduces the role and builds basic skills. We will explore the essence of a supervisor's role and its significance. Discover the key attributes that define exceptional EMS organizations, and examine the relationship between supervisors, organizational structure, and culture. Learn how to align responsibilities with empowerment for effective leadership. Explore the vital link between employee engagement and its impact on outcomes. Gain insights into comprehending the diverse spectrum of today's EMS workforce, spanning both the younger and older generations. Embark on an introductory journey into leadership and essential people skills, focusing on the art of inspiring others to follow. Delve into the concept of followership and uncover strategies for success in intermediate positions. Finally, we will introduce personal leadership essentials, covering topics such as prioritization, time management, and self-care.

Is the 1-10 pain scale helpful in assessing pain? What about using the patient’s vital signs to determine their pain level? During this class, we will tackle some not-so-well accepted topics such as why paramedics do not treat pain, what hurdles permit us from treating pain, how we assess pain and why it needs to change.

The metabolic production of carbon dioxide and consumption of oxygen reflect fundamental functions of the tissues. In the intensive care setting, carbon dioxide production (VCO2) and oxygen consumption (VO2) can be monitored from the respiratory gases. Human energy provided by anaerobic & aerobic respiration in lungs and at cellular level. Aerobic respiration renders most efficient ATP production, but the availability of oxygen at the cellular level may be impaired by the patient's illness or injury. Oxygen and energy consumption produce CO2 and a substantial part of EMS care is targeted at treating and/or preventing hypoxia and eliminating CO2.

Fatigue and poor sleep hygiene are so commonplace in EMS that we accept it as the norm. Increased public awareness of fatigue related accidents, medical errors, and first responder mental health, challenge providers and leaders to examine the priority of sleep in their lives and agencies. Amy will discuss the importance of quality and quantity of sleep, related physical and mental comorbidities of poor sleep hygiene, and tools for providers to improve their sleep methods and environment.

Children have arrhythmias, just as adults do. But what is normal and what is abnormal? As healthcare providers, it is important to be able to identify rhythms in children and treat them appropriately. This lecture will focus on the most common arrhythmias seen in children and treatment, including "too fast and too slow" rhythms, SVT, ventricular arrhythmias, and congenital dysrhythmias.

This class will review ballistic injuries. Low, medium and high velocity injuries will be reviewed. Having a better understanding of what a bullet can do can make the EMS professional more aware of what may occur with these trauma patients.

This lecture will explore pediatrics as related to drowning. More information coming soon.

Since 1999, the term STEMI is how we guided our treatment and transport decisions. Twenty-three years is a LONG time without change! Best practice currently is to know when STEMI criteria isn't enough. If you want to take your 12-lead game to a new level, attend this session and learn to be a 12-lead ninja.

Prehospital providers face death on a regular basis. With the implementation of adult termination of resuscitation protocols, providers have the additional stress of providing death notification to the family. Death notification is the process by which we inform family members or friends that someone they are close to has died. EMS professionals do this as part of their clinical roles – both in cases of obvious death and in cases of termination of resuscitation in the field. In the clinical sphere of prehospital care, the deaths that we deal with are often sudden and unexpected, which makes these conversations even more difficult. Death notification takes an emotional toll on EMS clinicians, for which the pre-hospital clinician may not be prepared. Death notification is not the purview of ALS clinicians alone. Continuing education in death notification may be an important factor not only in preparing EMS clinicians to communicate more clearly during these difficult conversations, but potentially mitigating the risk of burnout as a result. EMTs and paramedics report being unfamiliar and uncomfortable with providing death notification, most likely because Additionally, the majority of their training concerning death originated from their own personal studies and experience. One study reported less than 20% of prehospital EMS providers have received death notification training. Nevertheless, most acknowledge their actions have an effect on how the surviving family members deal with grief over the loss of a loved one.

There are approximately 3,000 pediatric deaths annually due to burns and probably three times as many disabling injuries. Burns not only affect the body physically, but also the life-long emotional well-being of individuals who must deal with any disfigurement that occurred from a burn. This presentation will help the EMS provider provide proper, rapid assessment and care to a pediatric patient sustaining a burn from flame, electrical and/or inhalation injury.

According to a recent national EMS industry survey, 67% of respondents report being physically assaulted while at work, and related research suggests that EMS personnel are 22 times more likely to be injured due to workplace violence than other occupations.  No other profession accepts the risk of becoming the victim of assault as an intrinsic “part of the job,” with the associated potential negative effects on both physical and mental health.  Despite this reality, best-practice approaches to mitigate this ongoing threat remain unclear. Unlike calls that involve a known behavioral emergency or agitated patient, where establishing scene safety is understood to be a fundamental priority, sudden and unexpected assaults present a different challenge.  This session will examine, from the perspective of a busy professional with limited available training time, how to develop and maintain a skill set that provides solutions to common unarmed “ambush-style” threats. Join our experienced instructors, who bring decades of combined knowledge in both Law Enforcement and EMS operations, in exploring a framework that can be accessed under the high stress of a sudden assault. Through a candid discussion of the mechanics of common threats, participants will learn how to apply “high yield” defensive techniques through a safe, progressive training method. While acknowledging that avoidance and de-escalation techniques are preferable to physical conflict, the reality is that these options sometimes fail.  Don’t miss this opportunity to build tools that will help you to “weather the storm” and successfully disengage from a sudden assault to achieve the most essential goal – survival.

This workshop will go through the process of interviewing, hiring, and onboarding "legally" in EMS. More information coming soon.

This lecture will look at pediatric patients and seizures. Assessment, causes and treatment will be covered. This lecture is for FR, EMT and paramedic. An in depth look at a common medical emergency in the pediatric patient.

“Well That’s Just Smashing” is a dynamic discussion bringing to light the hidden dangers of crush injuries both minor and severe. Crush injuries are not as prevalent as one may guess. Or are they? Crush injuries and Rhabdomyolosis go hand in hand. Throughout this presentation we will discuss how and why crush injuries are dangerous as well as how to treat them. Additionally, it will become apparent that in many cases, THE CRUSH and its after effects are more dangerous than the injury itself. This course is ideally best for basic to advanced field providers.

We are all familiar with the reels of the denizens of Disney and the trials and victories they encounter; yet their medical ailments are hidden in plain sight without notice. Both mysterious and monotonous diseases affecting the residents of the realms of Disney will be discussed from Ariel to Mary Poppins. Come join the Siren on this voyage of discovery from under the sea and beyond.