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Tag: EMTs

  • Denver first responders to learn how to identify, approach psychedelic emergencies

    Denver first responders to learn how to identify, approach psychedelic emergencies

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    DENVER — The City and County of Denver is believed to be the first municipality in the country to train first responders on how to identify, understand and approach psychedelic emergencies.

    Denver Fire Department Assistant Chief of EMS Jeff Linville has spent the past 25 years as a firefighter.

    “I’m very mission-focused. So the mission is always to serve the people of Denver and ways to improve that,” said Linville.

    In recent years, Linville said the department has trained extensively on how to respond to fentanyl crises, which have increased dramatically. His department will soon start training for something very different.

    “The goal is to be able to train our first responders to recognize the difference between some of the stuff that we see on a day-to-day basis versus a psychedelic emergency,” said Linville. “Hopefully it’ll help our first responders recognize a psychedelic emergency when it happens.”

    Denver was the first city to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms for personal use in 2019. Since then, Linville said first responders have not seen many emergencies related to psilocybin.

    “We’re not seeing a whole lot. But also, I might attribute some of that to the fact that the first responders haven’t essentially been trained on what a psychedelic emergency looks like,” Linville said.

    Local News

    Denver voters narrowly pass ‘magic mushroom’ measure

    4:41 PM, May 08, 2019

    The year after Denver voters decriminalized psilocybin for personal use, a partnership between the city and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) began. MAPS is a nonprofit that “develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana.”

    “In 2019, Denver made enforcement of psilocybin-related crimes the lowest law enforcement priority. It is a subset of decriminalization. Most people think of it as decriminalization. That’s not entirely accurate but it’s not so far off,” said Betty Aldworth, director of communications and post-prohibition strategy for MAPS. “Last year, Coloradans voted on the Natural Medicines Act, which decriminalized the use and possession of a variety of natural medicines.”

    MAPS spearheaded the creation of a training video for first responders in Denver, and those with the Denver Police Department (DPD) said they worked on reviewing and vetting it.

    “Shortly after Denver voters de facto decriminalized psilocybin, Denver took a very proactive approach and formed a working group to determine what policy changes needed to be made to increase public safety around psilocybin and ensure that the community was incorporating these new policies in a way that was most responsible and safest,” said Aldworth.

    Politics

    Colorado voters decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms

    2:18 PM, Nov 11, 2022

    The training video aims to educate first responders on how ti identify a psychedelic emergency and handle it appropriately.

    “One of the primary characteristics of a psychedelic experience is a heightened experience of your senses… In a psychedelic emergency, someone is unable to ground themselves in what’s happening around them and might become very fearful of their environment or even their own thoughts,” said Aldworth. “Things like an authoritarian approach, restraining or constraining a person, giving direct orders that they might not understand, these things all might increase the sense of fear, might increase the sense of danger, and thereby increase the danger for everyone involved.”

    Aldworth said psychedelic emergencies are rare but it’s best to prepare first responders for the possibility.

    “Law enforcement and EMTs and other first responders receive all sorts of different trainings. But there’s nowhere in the country where first responders are receiving psychedelic crisis intervention training,” said Aldworth. “In Denver, I believe law enforcement and other first responders are going to be well-equipped and ready to take in this new information about psychedelic-related crises and change their approach in a way that is helpful for everyone.”

    Aldworth said MAPS is currently speaking with other municipalities about bringing the training there but could not specify where.

    A spokesperson with DPD said in part, “The Denver Police Department hopes, like with much of our training, it will help increase awareness. This falls in line with much of our health-based and mental health-centered approach. The goal is to help officers have better tools to approach and recognize people in psychedelic crisis. Please note that this training is online and none of it revolves around decriminalization. It is more for awareness to recognize those in crisis.”

    DPD and the Denver Fire Department is still working to determine a timeline for the training.

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    Colette Bordelon

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  • Jury Rules in Favor of 2500 NYC EMT and Paramedics in FLSA Case

    Jury Rules in Favor of 2500 NYC EMT and Paramedics in FLSA Case

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    A federal jury finds City of New York recklessly failed to pay FDNY EMTs and paramedics pre-shift and post-shift overtime pay

    Press Release
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    updated: Oct 28, 2019


    NEW YORK, October 28, 2019 (Newswire.com)
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    A federal jury returned a unanimous verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, 2,519 EMTs and Paramedics employed by the City of New York, in an action brought pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Following the close of evidence, the jury unanimously found that the City suffered or permitted EMTs and Paramedics to work before and after their shifts without paying them and that the City’s failure to do so was done in reckless disregard of the law. Oren Barzilay, the President of AFSCME Local 2507, Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics & Fire Inspectors, remarked: “After deliberating for less than two hours, the jury returned a verdict telling the City it must pay its first responders for the work they perform before and after their scheduled shifts – all of which is captured in CityTime. The jury did justice.”

    The law firm of McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP represented the plaintiffs in a three-week trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York before the Honorable Judge Vernon S. Broderick. The plaintiffs demonstrated through the testimony of numerous EMTs and Paramedics, and FDNY Supervisors, that they began working at the EMS stations up to 15 minutes prior to the start of their shifts when they, among other things, prepared their medical and protective equipment to ensure that they were ready and able to put their ambulances in service as quickly as possible. The jury further found that the plaintiffs worked after the end of their shift, for up to 15 minutes, exchanging vital medical equipment and information with the next tour of EMTs and Paramedics and safely storing any other personal medical or protective equipment they had used during their shift.

    In addition, the jury found that because the EMTs and Paramedics performed these activities while scanned into the City’s electronic timekeeping system, CityTime, the backpay damages could be computed directly from the number of minutes that the City had recorded, but not paid.

    Finally, the jury further found that in failing to pay the EMTs and Paramedics for this work, the City of New York willfully violated the law, entitling the EMTs and Paramedics to full recovery under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Following the verdict, Molly Elkin, the plaintiffs’ lead trial counsel, said: “Unlike the City, the jury had the backs of the FDNY EMTs and Paramedics. The EMTs and Paramedics answer thousands of calls every day, risking their lives. They should not be working for free.” Although the precise amount owed will be determined at a later date, the backpay alone for the work performed by the plaintiff EMTs and Paramedics will be in the millions.

    Chaz Perry, et al. v. City of New York and New York Fire Department, Case No. 1:13-cv-01015 (SDNY)

    Source: McGillivary Steele Elkin LLP

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  • Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health & Science Charter School Graduates First Class

    Dr. Richard Izquierdo Health & Science Charter School Graduates First Class

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    South Bronx Shines, Creating a Pipeline to the Health, Science, and Medical Field


    Bronx, NY, June 21, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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    The Dr. Richard Izquierdo Heatlh & Science Charter School (DRIHSCS) is pleased to announce that on Thursday, June 22, 2017, at 4:00 p.m. it will be graduating its first 12th-grade class. The graduation will take place in the auditorium of DOE Building x158, located at 800 Home Street, Bronx, New York. Many dignitaries, including Dr. Betty Rosa, Chancellor of the Board of Regents, will attend this event.

    DRIHSCS has seen positive changes in school culture, parent engagement, staffing, and testing pass rates and scores over the past five years, achieving Regents pass rates that beat the district and the city. Additionally, 50 percent of the school’s seniors took AP or college courses this year. This has, in part, led to DRIHSCS to becoming one of the most desirable schools in the Bronx. 

    “100 percent of our 67 students are eligible to graduate, 100 percent were accepted to college, and 100 percent will be enrolling in post-secondary institutions with one of our students entering the United States Coast Guard and another attending City Year and then college.”

    Christopher Sharpe, Director of External Affairs

    This is the fulfillment of Dr. Richard “Doc” Izquierdo’s dream of providing a high quality of health and science education to children in the South Bronx, so they have access to careers in the medical field. Dr. Izquierdo has been a pillar of South Bronx community since the late 60s when he began his career in medicine. Shortly thereafter, he created the Urban Health Plan, Inc., which is now the 22nd largest community-based health center in the United States and serves the South Bronx, Queens, and Harlem.

    100 percent of the school’s 67 students are eligible to graduate, 100 percent were accepted to college, and 100 percent will be enrolling in post-secondary institutions with one of the school’s students entering the United States Coast Guard and another attending City Year and then college. 

    Additionally, DRIHSCS has a unique educational model, incorporating Career & Technical Education into our curriculum. As a result, five DRIHSCS graduates have already become certified EMTs.

    – end of release –

    Media Contact: Christopher Sharpe. csharpe@drihscs.org

    Source: DRIHSCS

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