# 573
Many years ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . . I was the first paramedic in Scottsdale, Arizona. My twin brother was an EMT with Kords Ambulance in Phoenix, and he lured me to drive cross country to accept a job there with the promise of higher pay, paramedic telemetry (not available in Florida yet), and glory.
Well . . . they did have the telemetry. One out of three ain't bad.
Nonetheless, I was able to use my new found paramedic skills, learned in a Florida Classroom, first in Arizona. I lived in Scottsdale, in a little apartment on Thomas Road, and worked primarily out of Scottsdale Memorial Hospital.
Compared to today, it was a pretty primitive ALS (advanced life support) unit. But at the time, Scottsdale Memorial was well ahead of the rest of the nation in providing advanced medical care to their patients.
Instead of a modular ambulance, we had a converted motor home. Our telemetry used an acoustic coupler which sent audio `whistles' across the airwaves to the ER at Scottsdale Memorial, where those sounds were converted into an EKG strip for the doctor. I worked the ALS along with an EMT-driver and a nurse from SMH's coronary care unit.
Hard to believe that was 32 years ago. And nice to see that 32 years later Scottsdale continues to push the envelope to find ways to expand their services to the residents of the Valley of the Sun.
Today, I received an email from one of my readers about the pandemic drill held in Scottsdale. Thank you! It is indeed, a small world.
My memories of Scottsdale Memorial, and of life in Arizona, are good ones. I was able to hone my classroom skills with practical application in the field, and when I left there and returned to Florida in the summer of 1975, I had two great advantages.
I not only had my paramedic training, I had field experience as well.
I wasn't on the market for a paramedic position in Florida very long upon my return, and had my choice of venues. I decided on Manatee County, and never regretted that decision.
Thirty-two years is a long time. Memories fade. I'm sure no one there remembers me, and I no longer remember many of names the people I worked with back then. But I'll always have a mental tie to Scottsdale, and genuinely appreciate the opportunity Scottsdale Memorial gave me . . . way back when.
Scottsdale hospitals planning flu pandemic disaster drill
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (March 12, 2007) – Pandemic flu isn’t front page news yet, but Scottsdale Health-care is already planning its second disaster drill to help prepare for a crisis outbreak of bird flu.
On April 25, hundreds of simulated patients with bird flu symptoms are expected at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Shea as part of the second annual Coyote Crisis Campaign.
Both hospitals will simulate triaging flu patients, screening employees and physicians entering the hospitals, and enacting access control points. Hospital visitors that day may also be asked to pass through simulated flu screenings and receive educational material on flu.
Humans will have little or no natural immunity to Avian flu, commonly referred to as H5N1 or bird flu, when it eventually spreads to North America, according to public health experts.
A flu disaster drill held last fall activated emergency operations centers to manage and conduct mass immunizations of hospital employees at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Shea.
April’s drill is part of the Coyote Crisis Campaign, a regional disaster response exercise testing readiness and collaboration among hospitals, business, academic institutions, military and government, including health agencies at the county, state and federal levels.
“This exercise will help determine how participants would deal with a pandemic flu, and how they would interact with others in the community to help get through such an unprecedented public health emergency,” says Nancy Hicks-Arsenault, director of emergency services at Scottsdale Healthcare.
Participants in this year’s Coyote event include Scottsdale Healthcare, the Air National Guard, General Dynamics, Luke Air Force Base, the City of Scottsdale, Arizona State University, Maricopa Integrated Health System, Scottsdale Insurance Company, the Arizona Republic, Mayo Clinic, the Arizona Department of Health Services, Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management and Maricopa County Department of Public Health.
The concept of local disaster response planning was successfully tested during the inaugural Coyote Crisis Campaign in April 2006, which simulated a terrorist attack in Scottsdale. The 2007 Coyote Crisis Campaign is planned for the week of April 23-27.
Observers from the military, state and county government, as well as officials from Washington, DC attended the 2006 exercise and noted it set the national benchmark for local disaster response.
Established in 1962 and governed by a local volunteer board of directors, Scottsdale Healthcare is the not-for-profit parent organization of the Scottsdale Healthcare Shea, Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn and Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak hospitals, the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center, Scottsdale Clinical Research Institute, Scottsdale Healthcare Home Health Services and Scottsdale Healthcare Community Health Services.
