EMTs deal with emergencies every day, so it’s easy to feel like emergency preparedness is baked into the job – and that can lead to complacency.

Whether you have a disability, or someone you know has one, disability impacts everyone, at all ages and stages of life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up to one in four (27%) adults in the U.S. have some type of disability, and 12.1% of U.S. adults have a mobility disability with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

As if the challenges first responders and health care providers face on a daily basis weren’t already enough, a new crisis has emerged in the form of an old foe – opioids. Overdose deaths in 2021 hit 106,699 in 2021, topping 2020’s number of 91,799, increasing by 15%. Of these overdose deaths, 67.8% were from opioid use.

Among the many emergencies that can occur while treating patients, bleeding in the airway — which can be caused by various disorders, injuries and even accidents during treatment — presents significant and unique challenges for providers navigating airway management.

When an emergency responder arrives at an emergency scene where one or more patients have suffered physical trauma, unspoken in the goals during the moment is to not only provide effective treatment, but to avoid causing any additional trauma.

It’s a weekend night, and you're on your way to the home of a married couple. The husband reported that his wife fainted while they were making dinner, adding that he has a dull headache and feels weak. Based on these symptoms, you suspect the husband and wife may have carbon monoxide poisoning, so you’ll have to act quickly, and the patients’ airways may require treatment.

As we head into the coldest months of winter, many states in the U.S. will experience below-freezing temperatures, in addition to sleet, snow and a host of other inclement weather conditions.