'The Chronicles of EMS' reality series brings EMS together with social media

Justin, SFFD Chief Joanne Hayes-White and Mark.

If you are part of the fire and EMS community on Twitter or Facebook then you certainly have heard about "The Chronicles of EMS" reality series (Twitter hashtag #CoEMS).  If you are not, and do not know about it then you have been missing out on a truly unique project that is only possible because of the connections people can make through social media.  "Social media" is a catchall term for things like blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, podcasts and YouTube--basically anything that allows people to connect and share information.

Mark Glencorse is a paramedic from the UK with North East Ambulance Service in Newcastle upon Tyne, and author of the blog UK Medic 999.  Mark has been credited with the first documented social media patient save.  He read a post about right ventricular myocardial infarctions on the blog Prehospital 12 Lead ECG.  Despite the fact that many inferior MIs also involve the right ventricle, paramedics are often not taught to do a right-sided 12 lead or even a V4R tracing when a patient presents with an inferior MI.  Literally two days after reading the post, Mark had a patient with an inferior MI, but the ST-segment elevation was less than 1 millimeter.  However, because he read the blog post, Mark knew to get a V4R tracing, which showed a 1 millimeter elevation.  Thanks to the information Mark learned, his patient was in a cath lab in under 35 minutes instead of being seen at a local emergency room.

Ted Setla, Chris Eldridge and Justin at SFFD HQ.

The idea for "The Chronicles of EMS" was born after Mark approached Justin Schorr, a paramedic/firefighter with the San Francisco Fire Department and author of the blog The Happy Medic, about a possible ride along.  Mark had been reading a number of blogs and wanted to ask one of the authors if he could work with him for a week.  Since Mark enjoyed reading The Happy Medic, he chose Justin, who at the time was writing anonymously so Mark did not even know where Justin lived!  But the project almost did not happen.  A lost email from Justin to Thaddeus Setla of SETLA FILM Productions, and the BBC backing out on Justin and Mark nearly ended it before it started.  Four days before Mark was scheduled to arrive in the US, he and Justin were guests on the EMS Garage podcast, and it just so happened that Ted Setla was too.   Ted expressed an interest in the project but needed funding.  They raised $9000 in five days through Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets.  Mark spent a week with Justin and the San Francisco Fire Department and their experience was filmed by Ted and his crew.  Justin spent time with Mark in Newcastle but money, time and logistics prevented filming of the second half of the exchange.

SFFD Engine 13, All images courtesy of the CoEMS team.

Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and the EMS/fire blogging community--the very types of media that brought Mark and Justin together--"The Chronicles of EMS" has created a buzz.  The anxiously awaited trailer was released on December 17, 2009 and it did not disappoint!  View it here.  The pilot episode is due out in early 2010 and there are high hopes that the series will continue.

"The Chronicles of EMS" is a nominee for Social Media Responder 2009.  If you enjoyed the trailer, please take a minute to vote for it here.  You can vote once every 24 hours and polls close on December 29, 2009 at 11:59:59pm EST.

Zoll is a proud sponsor of "The Chronicles of EMS" and will donate $5 on behalf of anyone who fills out this simple form.  It costs you nothing, takes less time than it took to read this article, and it will support an innovative project made by and for EMS and fire community.

Find "The Chronicles of EMS" on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, Mark Glencorse on Twitter and on Facebook, Justin Schorr on Twitter and on Facebook, and Ted Setla on Twitter and on Facebook.

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