Updated: 4:54 PM CST February 18, 2021
NEW ORLEANS New Orleans EMS has created a custom pin to show support for the city’s Black community “in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and Black History Month.”
The pins, which can be purchased by community members, show a Black fist rising, an iconic symbol of the Black Lives Matter movement, on top of a gold fleur-de-lis.
“Our Black Lives Matter pins are worn as a reminder to us and our patients that we are committed to providing compassionate, culturally sensitive, and socially equitable care, Director of New Orleans EMS Dr. Emily Nichols said.
Diversity in EMS is a new bimonthly column in which rotating authors will confront difficult questions of bias and discrimination in the emergency medical services and consider how agencies can lead change in their communities.
Why is diversity in EMS important? The quality of healthcare available to marginalized members of our communities has led to large disparities in health outcomes. These have been compounded by the effects of COVID, which has disproportionately affected people of color.
When considering diversity we ve often focused more on the demographic composition of our EMS workforce than that of the population we serve; in the United States EMS providers are predominantly white (75%) and men (65%).
Paramedics who treated first COVID case in New Orleans get vaccine
Nelson said about half of the fire department s 575 members have signed up to take the vaccine. The NOPD is working to schedule vaccinations for its officers. Author: Danny Monteverde / Eyewitness News Published: 9:39 PM CST December 24, 2020 Updated: 9:39 PM CST December 24, 2020
NEW ORLEANS Paramedic Zander Schwartz and his partner, Alexia Archaga were the first paramedics who took care of the first known COVID-positive patient in the city.
On Thursday, they were first paramedics to get the Moderna vaccine.
“I was wondering, ‘Am I going to be hospitalized for this? Will it kind of blow over me?’’ Schwartz recalled Thursday, eight months after that happened. “Everything was unknown, so it was very unnerving.”
About Dashing Home for Christmas
Emily Nichols, a successful business consultant, has missed every family gathering this year, so getting home for Christmas is very important to her. But when a series of mishaps – from delayed public transport to diverted flights and broken-down trains and finally, a lost wallet – put her holiday plans in jeopardy, she’s forced to find a way home with a fellow road warrior, Simon Allein. While Emily is more a Type A planner who hates disruptions and inconveniences, Simon is a go-with-the-flow type who sees the brightside to any misfortune. So, having to rely upon one another to get to their final destination tests their will, but also provides ample opportunity to get to know each other and, perhaps even, fall in love.