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EMS 911 dispatcher with Leukemia calls on the public for help
 Jessica Pessoa, a 22-year-old Emergency Medical Dispatcher for the City of Toronto, has helped hundreds of Torontonians who have called 9-1-1 in a medical emergency. Now she is battling Leukemia and needs a stem cell transplant.
Jessica was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was 15 years old. She thought she had beat the disease, but this July, she found out it had returned. Click for more:
Physicians have told Jessica her best chance to defeat the cancer is a stem cell transplant, but like 70% of patients, she hasn’t found a match in her own family. She is now undergoing chemotherapy and radiation to combat the leukemia while the search for a stem cell donor continues.
“As a 911 dispatcher, Jessica helps save lives everyday, responding to calls for help from sick and injured people,” says Toronto EMS Chief Bruce Farr. “Now we are asking citizens to respond to our own call for help by giving blood and registering as a stem cell donor on the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network so Jessica and the hundreds of other patients needing a donor may successfully find a match.”
Currently, there are approximately 600 diverse patients in Canada who need stem cell transplants to treat potentially life-threatening illnesses like leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. The best matches are usually found from the same ethnic background as the patient.
“We need more people to join the OneMatch Network. There are so many people out there who need transplants and cannot have one because there is no match,” says Jessica.
Many of Jessica’s colleagues—including paramedics and Emergency Medical Dispatchers—have been inspired by Jessica’s story to join OneMatch, but more donors are needed. The process is simple. Go to www.onematch.ca and complete a short survey. If you are eligible, OneMatch will send a kit in the mail containing 4 cotton swabs that you rub against the inside of your cheek. After mailing the kit back, you will be part of the registry. “Please register as a stem cell donor. It is pain and cost free and so easy to join, and it can be your chance to save a life if you are a match with someone,” says Jessica.
To learn more or to register on the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network, please visit www.onematch.ca.
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TTC and EMS team up for subway paramedic pilot project
 In 2007, the TTC experienced more than 4,000 incidents of customers or employees becoming ill or injured on subway trains or in subway stations. Of those, more than 1,200 occurred on subway trains, resulting in delays of almost 3,000 minutes. Click for more:
In an effort to provide quicker response times and fewer subway service delays, the TTC and Toronto Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are teaming up for a pilot project, placing an EMS paramedic in the subway system during the morning and afternoon rush hour periods, Monday to Friday until January 3, 2009. This pilot project is funded by the TTC.
The paramedic responds to Passenger Assistance Alarms in the subway from Bloor-Yonge Station eastbound to Coxwell Station, westbound to Dundas West Station, northbound to Lawrence Station and southbound to St. Patrick Station.
The paramedic and TTC supervisor remain in direct contact with Transit Control. The 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Dispatcher is also called, with ambulances dispatched as usual while the subway paramedic is enroute to the call.
“The wellness of our customers is one of our top priorities,” says TTC Chair Adam Giambrone. “The TTC is very pleased to be working with our colleagues at EMS to ensure that anyone who becomes ill or injured in the subway system will have emergency responders on the scene very quickly. In addition, the quick response will allow the TTC to reduce delays due to emergencies, improving service for everyone.”
Toronto EMS Chief Bruce Farr says, “Toronto EMS receives many calls in the subway system and paramedics experience challenges and delays getting from the ambulance to the patient. Combining the TTC's transit system expertise with Toronto EMS’ expertise in prehospital care will lead to faster care for ill and injured passengers.” Hide section
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Toronto Emergency Medical Services announces launch of STEMI program
 Toronto’s cardiac care system is evolving to become one of the most comprehensive in the world. A significant part of that evolution is a new city-wide program involving Toronto EMS where STEMI (ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction) patients will receive reperfusion therapies in the shortest possible time. Click for more:
The ability for Toronto’s Level III- Paramedics to perform in-field 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) acquisition is the first step in a series of required changes to improve the outcome for STEMI patients.
In addition to the patients EMS encounters on 911 emergency calls, Toronto EMS will play a central role in managing patients who arrive at community hospital emergency departments where definitive care may not available. Hide section
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Community Referrals by EMS: CREMS
 Community Referrals by EMS or CREMS is a simple procedure that enables paramedics to link at-risk and in-need people to health care and support services in the community. Click for more:
Paramedics responding to 911 calls often discover that their patients need additional care that is outside the current scope of paramedic practice. Most of that care and support is available in the community but the problem is inadequate linkage of patients to the organizations that provide the services.
Paramedics can successfully link people to the care and support that they require by making a Community Referral by EMS or CREMS. That linkage can have a profound impact on people’s health and their quality of life.
The original pilot of the Community Referrals by EMS or CREMS program in a small area of Toronto proved to be very successful. In addition to establishing and improving care for people in the community, there was a noticeable impact on EMS resource utilization.
On January 7th, 2008, Toronto EMS in cooperation with the Toronto Central – Community Care Access Centre, launched the Community Referrals by EMS or CREMS program across the entire City of Toronto.
Please watch the video Community Referrals by EMS or CREMS which outlines the purpose and function of the program in more detail. Hide section
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Paramedics deliver early Christmas gift
 On Friday December 14, a convoy of eight EMS vehicles rolled into Daily Bread Food Bank loaded with food. Paramedics Geoff MacBride and Anthony Butera, who organized the three-week food drive in their spare time, presented 17,414 pounds worth of donations to Gail Nyberg, executive director of Daily Bread. Click for more:
“There’s so many calls we do that are specifically caused by hunger, and by doing this, we take an active role,” said Geoff.
EMS and other City staff generously donated much of the food, leaving it in boxes at headquarters, hubs, stations, base hospital, Cardiac Safe City, City Hall and other locations. The TPA also solicited corporate donations.
“We are grateful for Toronto EMS,” said Nyberg. “The support we receive from these food drives is what makes the Holiday Drive successful.”
Daily Bread is hoping to collect 1 million pounds of donated food this holiday season. Hide section
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Wigs for Kids
 Siobhan Carlin, a 16-year veteran of Toronto EMS, has said goodbye to her trademark long golden hair. On Oct. 24, she donated her 10-inch ponytail to a good cause. Click for more:
Siobhan gave her hair to Wigs for Kids, a charity that donates custom hair pieces to children (18 years and under) who have lost their hair due to alopecia, burns, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, or other medical problems. Siobhan’s ponytail will be shipped to China, where each individual hair strand will be attached by hand to a realistic wig scalp, a process that takes over 80 hours. It takes 20-30 ponytails to make one hairpeice, so Siobhan’s locks will be blended with hair from other donors.
These human hair wigs are worth up to $2,000 each, but Wigs for Kids donates them for free. This means a lot to children who are in need financially, physically and emotionally. Siobhan, who has had long hair for her entire life, says, “I thought this might be a great way to give something of myself to someone else. Good luck with the curls.” Hide section
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SUV baby reunion
 Here’s a story Summer Cohen's parents will probably tell her every year on her birthday.
When her mother Shari went into labour in July 2007, things didn't exactly go as planned. Click for more:
Instead of delivering their fifth child at Mount Sinai, Shari and her husband only made it from their home in Thornhill to Bathurst and Finch. About half an hour after going into labour, Shari was sure that birth was imminent.
They pulled their SUV on to a side street and called 911. Less than two minutes later, 16 station paramedics Jason Benaim and Carole Smith were on scene - and just a few minutes after that, the baby was born in the back of the car. Hide section
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Toronto Paramedic and Police Officer pull man from burning car
 Toronto EMS made headline news on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after an off-duty paramedic, together with an off-duty Toronto police officer, pulled a man from a crashed, burning SUV and administered emergency medical care seconds before the victim's vehicle burst into flames on the 401 in Ajax early Tuesday morning... Click for more:
Glen Gillies, a Level 2 Paramedic with 17 years of service, was driving home after a 2-to-2 shift at 44 station when he came across a crashed Hyundai Tucson. Constable Scott Hampson, who was also driving home after a shift at 43 division was already at the scene and had opened the driver's side door. As flames licked the car, the two men pulled out the driver. A badly injured 40 year old man, and moved him to a safe distance. The car exploded within seconds of the extrication.
After several news media outlets contacted EMS, Glen granted interviews before his shift on Tuesday. EMS Chief Bruce Farr says he was happy to give Glen a chance to tell his story. “I know that everyone at Toronto EMS is extremely proud of Glen,” says Farr. "There's nothing more rewarding than saving someone's life."
As a result of Glen's interviews, the story ran on CITYTV, Global, CBC, and CTV news on Tuesday evening. In addition, Glen did a five minute live interview on CBC Radio. Here and Now, and print stories appeared Wednesday in the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and the Toronto Sun. Chief Farr says this kind of media coverage benefits everyone at EMS. “When a story like this hits the media, it highlights the commitment and compassion paramedics have towards the public. It also demonstrates that paramedics are highly skilled healthcare professionals who save lives under the most challenging conditions.”
In addition to speaking to the news media, Scott and Glen did an interview with Media Relations Coordinator Lyla Miller for TEMS TV. Hide section
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Toronto District School Board receives donation of defibrillators from the Mikey Network
 The Mikey Network is donating 120 Automatic External Defibrillators, plus the cost of training, to the Toronto District School Board (TDSB)... Click for more:
Toronto Emergency Services Cardiac Safe City Program will train TDSB staff on the use of defibrillators over the next year. Once the training is complete, each site is expected to have at least one trained operator available from the time the school or site opens in the morning to when the last person leaves at night. Hide section
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