Should EMTs and Firefighters Carry Guns?

We already know Public Safety personnel have the most stressful jobs, including police officers, firefighters and military soldiers.  Here's one reason why... dealing with violent patients.

EMTs and Paramedics are no different.  EMS events happen continually, in fact an EMS event occurs every second of the year!  But we did not find statistical data to define the frequency of violent encounters.  If you know where we can find this data, please contact us.

What we do have, though, is a long list of anecdotal stories which tell of EMTs, Paramedics and Firefighters being assaulted:

• New York EMT shot and killed by patient
• Fort Wayne ambulance shot at 17 times
• Houston EMTs shot at
• Long Island Paramedic shot at
• Small town EMTs (in MT and NY) shot and killed
• Pennsylvania Paramedics attacked by man with a shovel
• Huntsville Firefighters attacked on Alabama A&M campus
• and the list could go on and on

Forget about the data, the rise of these stories is shocking.  And then the question comes up... should EMTs, Paramedics and Firefighters carry guns?

Some say yes.  Some say no.  Tell us what you think!

Go to our Facebook Page ... www.facebook.com/PublicSafetyStores

'Like' the page and share your thoughts!

Stryker's new Power-LOAD

Stryker has now released its new Power-LOAD system, which is focused on reducing the number of back injuries sustained by EMTs.  Some reports say 47% of medics have suffered a back injury while performing EMS duties.  So the need for relief is real.

The National EMS Assessment was recently released by EMS.gov, which estimates that in 2011 in the US:

• 36 million EMS events occurred
• 28 million EMS transports occurred

Wow, that's a lot of EMS calls and transporting of patients!!

The Power-LOAD system allows EMTs to load and unload patients with the simple touch of a button.  Too good to be true?  Here's where you can read more info about the Power-LOAD system.

Let us know if you have questions or need help installing it!