Category Archives: Uncategorized

Armstrong Employees Receive Stars of Life Award

DSC_0597 (800x533)

Every year, the American Ambulance Association hosts a three day Stars of Life Awards Ceremony celebrating the most dedicated employees in the industry. EMS professionals from all over the nation come together in Washington D.C. to participate in a series of celebratory and educational events. Award recipients can come from any area of the industry, but must be exemplary representations of leadership, teamwork and professionalism.

Armstrong employees submitted written nominations for those peers that
they felt best demonstrated the qualities associated with Stars of Life. The number of responses was overwhelming, however, two individuals stood out as front runners; Chair Car Supervisor Enrico ‘Rick’ Scimemi and EMT Joseph Johnson. Both men are consistently commended by both their peers and our partner facilities for their excellent teamwork, innovative solutions and overall customer service. In turn, Rick and Joe were selected as Armstrong Ambulance’s recipients of the 2016 Stars of Life award.

In early April, Rick, Joe and Armstrong’s CEO, Rich Raymond traveled to Washington, DC. They, along with state legislators, honored the incredible men and women of EMS and shared in the gratitude of those that they help every day.

We are so proud of Rick and Joe for their respective awards and for the work they’ve done that led them to this prestigious honor.


A Heartfelt Reunion

BC Armstrong 1 (800x463)

Armstrong Ambulance has long been a proud partner of Boston College. As part of this partnership, Armstrong provides coverage for BC Eagle football games held at Alumni Stadium.

This past fall, towards the end of the Eagle’s football season, a call came in for an unresponsive fan in the upper deck bleachers of Alumni Stadium. Upon arrival it was assessed that the patient was in cardiac arrest. Crews from Eagle EMS and Armstrong Ambulance worked together to start CPR, defibrillate the patient and apply the Lucas device (a piece of specialized equipment which provides automatic chest compressions). The patient, Gregory F., was extricated from the floor of the stands and taken to the ambulance where he had a return of spontaneous circulation. He was immediately transported to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, where he subsequently made a full recovery.

On Wednesday, March 23rd, Gregory’s family, the Eagle EMS crew, St. Elizabeth’s staff and Armstrong’s Rich Raymond, Mike Kass, Keegan Blute, Sam Dickens, Sean Mangan, Antone Newell and Jeff Scafidi gathered together for a reunion. All of those involved in Gregory’s care were able to meet and speak with him and his grateful family. An overwhelming sense of warmth was felt as Gregory recounted the heartfelt story of his experience that day and how appreciative he is to have a second chance at life.

BC R Raymond with Mr Fulgione (800x576) BC EMTs (800x611)

Gregory looks forward to watching more BC games from the bleachers and Armstrong will definitely be there as well!


Special Delivery

 IMG_0651

On January 26th Mike and Sandra Melvin were driving down I-93 South on their way to Beth Israel Hospital in anticipation of the delivery of their baby girl. Stuck in traffic, Sandra realized they were not going to make it to the hospital in time prompting her husband, Mike to call 911.

Crew members Scott Shedd, John Hardiman, Amanda Roberts, Bridgette Jenness and Peter Melo arrived on the scene to quickly transport the couple to their intended hospital but baby Catherine had different plans… The team re-routed to nearby Winchester Hospital where baby Catherine was delivered inside of the ambulance in the parking lot- Mom and baby were phenomenal!

Now, four weeks later, Sandra, Mike and their son William came in to meet the crews that helped bring baby Catherine into the world. We aren’t sure who was more excited, brother William who got to play in the Ambulances or the crew members who got to reunite with baby Catherine.

We are very thankful for the amazing teamwork of our crews and to the Melvins for sharing their family with us today!

IMG_0672


Arlington EMS Comes Together to Fight Opiate Epidemic

In 2015 Arlington Chief of Police Fred Ryan announced a new program to combat the opioid epidemic that is currently afflicting New England.  From aggressively committing to enforcing drug laws to providing various treatment options for struggling addicts, the town of Arlington is creating a community-based strategy to stop the rising death toll.

Part of this initiative has been increasing the availability of the overdose treatment, Narcan. There were 40 overdoses reported in Arlington last year and five reported overdose deaths. However, Since the Arlington Outreach Initiative launched in July there has been no reported opioid related deaths in Arlington. From July on, Arlington Police, Fire and Armstrong Ambulance medics administered Narcan 29 times to reverse potentially fatal heroin and opioid overdoses.

images



Armstrong and Eagle EMS Team-Up To Save Fan

 

bc

 

At the Boston College Eagles football game this past weekend, stellar care was provided by Eagle EMS and Armstrong’s: Keegan Blute, Jim Brooks, Sam Dickens, Sean Mangan, Antone Newell, and Jeff Scafidi.

A call came in for an unresponsive fan in the upper deck bleachers of Alumni Stadium. Upon arrival, it was assessed that the patient was in cardiac arrest. Eagle EMS and Armstrong EMS worked together to start CPR, defibrillate the patient and apply the Lucas device. The patient was extricated from the floor of the stands and taken to the ambulance. In the ambulance, the patient had a return of his pulse and blood pressure and arrived doing well at the hospital.

The next day, we received compliments and gratitude from the patient’s physician who credited the team efforts and talents of Armstrong and Eagle EMS for saving this fan’s life.

Incredible work!


Armstrong Teams Up With Lexington Fire For Bus Rollover Simulation

IMG_3808

In a follow up to the Lexington School Bus Rollover/MCI drill on October 9th, we received a kind letter from Lexington Fire Department’s Assistant Fire Chief, Kenneth Tremblay.

On behalf of Stacy Gillis, Tremblay stated that “Working with Stacy over the past three years, I have never been disappointed with the service level she provides in the form of EMS education and resources.”

And for the crew of Jacob Nielson-Phillips, Nicholas Herold, Ashley Smith and Samantha Bates, Tremblay believes that they “could not have provided realistic training without them.”

We’d like to extend a big thanks to the crew involved in this simulation. Your professionalism and dedication are highly regarded.

If you’d like to read more about the Bus Rollover Drill check out this awesome article.


We Love Our Employees!

You’ll often find her name mentioned in our “Catch Your Colleague Doing Something Great” section or sharing her brilliant Irish sayings. So it comes as no surprise that our very own Denise Trimble has been honored at the Irish Echo’s Golden Bridges Conference. Check her out pictured above with Mayor Marty Walsh!

11013461_787176111394681_886536329403464185_o

Golden Bridges spotlights community, business, education, arts and culture initiatives in northwest Ireland and promotes partnerships with their peers in Boston and Massachusetts. Denise is among those being honored for forging transatlantic links that build our communities and countries.

Congratulations, Denise!


Toys for Tots

Thank you to all who made our toy collection such a success! During yesterday’s Toys for Tots collection at the Meadow Glen Mall, we filled an entire ambulance with children’s gifts. There will be many smiling faces during the holidays because of your contributions!

Smaller


Medford Holiday Celebration

Armstrong got into some “funny business” at Medford’s Holiday Celebration. Medford City Hall was turned into a Winter Wonderland filled with Santa, face painting, hay rides and the annual holiday tree display. Patches the Armstrong Clown made balloon animals for both young and old as they watched the lighting of the Christmas tree, Hanukkah menorah and Kwanzaa Kinara. What a fun night ‘clowning around” with our friends from Medford as we kicked off the Holiday season!Smaller Clown Pic