In an event of a medical emergency calling 911 should always be the first step, however, before EMS professionals arrive on scene it is often the life-saving techniques implemented by bystanders that increase a patient’s odds of survival and subsequent quality of life.

As a proud partner of the City of Medford, Armstrong Ambulance recently rolled out a variety of life saving skills classes to the community. To kick start the summer, we collaborated with the Medford Public Schools, Medford city government and Medford Fire and Police Departments on outreach initiatives focused on current public health issues.

Over the last few weeks, Armstrong Paramedics Sean Mangan and Danielle Rabickow taught all 400 graduating Medford seniors how to provide basic life saving techniques. This training included hands only CPR, how to use an AED, Naloxone administration, opiate awareness/education and the principles of hemorrhage control and tourniquet use. The Medford Vocational Technical High School seniors received additional training where workforce injury data from 2016 was used to teach injury prevention and aid within top categories of injury.

Additionally, life saving techniques were taught to Medford parents on June 1st, during The Medford Office of Prevention and Outreach’s “Hidden in Plain Sight” exhibit; a display focused on educating parents on spotting potential signs of opioid abuse. As part of this exhibit, Armstrong provided additional training for parents that included recognizing and responding to a stroke, using an AED, hands only CPR, spotting the signs and symptoms of an overdose and administering Naloxone.

We look forward to working in conjunction with all of our communities to deliver similar educational opportunities. We are always seeking opportunities to partner with interested schools, communities, and organizations. By providing the tools and resources necessary for life saving interventions, we hope to see a decrease in accidents and acuity of incidents that require emergency medical transportation.

Congratulations to our Administrative Services Manager Stacey Cloutier, who recently received Zoll’s EMS Pulse award. The award recognizes professionals who are the pulse of their EMS organization, working behind the scenes of prehospital care and empowering their organization to provide better care and ultimately enable their teams to save more lives within their communities.

Stacey received this award because of her 11 years of dedicated service to Armstrong. In 2012 she became the Project Leader for our efforts to get CAAS Certification. Utilizing RescueNet, she created a multitude of reports that gave great insight into those areas we needed to improve as we moved towards certification. She was then able to develop processes to recognize deficiencies and identify methods to improve them. These systems were created in such a way that they are reusable, not only towards certification but also as methods to identify problem areas on an ongoing basis. Stacey has created extensive reports on fleet utilization, movements, and costs. Through this data, we have decreased fuel costs, lessened insurance claims and provided a safer working environment overall. Again in 2016, Stacey spearheaded Armstrong’s successful CAAS re-accreditation effort, and she continues to contribute daily to improving the organization.

Thank you, Stacey, for helping to keep Armstrong running!

Each year, we celebrate EMS Week to recognize the dedicated and committed men and women of Emergency Medical Services. This year’s national theme was “Always in Service”,  identifying the fact that emergency medical personnel are continuously working to provide for their patients and communities.

We kicked off the week with our annual scavenger hunt. Employees were given a list of tasks to complete in 12 hours throughout their workday. Throughout the week we celebrated with catered breakfasts, base visits from a food truck and an ice cream truck, and numerous giveaways, including an Armstrong Ambulance logoed mag light, popular artist’s concerts inHeinekenekein Boardroom, and gift certificates to local restaurants. We had a lot of fun during the week with our activities, treats and giveaways and are already looking forward to EMS Week 2018!

It is always great to celebrate our employees and all of their accomplishments, but just to make things sweeter; we were recognized by the American Ambulance Association for our week long celebrations! Check out the article HERE.

Armstrong Ambulance is proud to announce our partnership with Project Linus.

After reading an article in 1995 about a young girl who depended on her “blankie” to tolerate her chemo treatments, Karen Loucks founded Project Linus. The mission of Project Linus is to “provide love, a sense of security, warmth, and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers””. Since the 1995 inception, over six million handmade blankets have been donated to children all over the world.

This extraordinary mission has made such an impact on lives and continues to expand into communities in all 50 states. Armstrong is proud to have partnered with Project Linus and District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office in an effort to provide a special blanket to any child affected by a crisis in Middlesex County.

In this partnership, Armstrong will not only be a drop off location for any handmade blankets in the area but will also work with the Project Linus/Middlesex DA team to best identify and distribute these special security blankets to children in need.

All homemade blankets can be dropped off at Armstrong’s
Arlington Headquarters located at 87 Mystic Street.

To become a “blanketeer”, or for more information on
Project Linus, please visit http://www.projectlinus.org.

On Friday, April 21st, we had the honor of hosting a reunion for SheNequa, Laurie, and Shane Haynes.

Two Months ago, Nick Henderson and Kyle Vieira responded to a 911 call for a woman in labor. Once Nick and Kyle arrived on scene, things moved very quickly so the crew assisted SheNequa with the birth of baby Shane. By their talent and grace under pressure, you would never know that this was both Nick and Kyle’s first delivery! Mom and baby arrived at Armstrong today healthy, happy and excited to reunite with the crew that helped bring Shane into the world. SheNequa and Armstrong exchanged gifts, (one being an “Armstrong Ambulance Special Delivery” onesie), and recounted the very memorable events from the morning of her delivery.

Armstrong Ambulance Service is proud to announce that our CAAS accreditation has been extended for another three-year period!

The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) is a third party independent organization whose review is designed to help EMS agencies increase organizational performance and efficiency, increase clinical quality and decrease risk and liability. CAAS accreditation validates that accredited agencies are adhering to the highest standards in the industry.

Armstrong Ambulance has been committed to high-quality, compassionate patient care since 1946 when Bill Armstrong purchased his first ambulance and started us on this journey. By maintaining our CAAS accreditation status, we are keeping Bill’s legacy alive through continued excellence as we strive to exceed the gold standard.

CAAS accreditation is a tremendous honor and places Armstrong in the top 1% of ambulance services in the country.

This distinguished recognition is yet another way in which we at Armstrong reaffirm our dedication to our patients, community partners and employees.

In the aftermath of the senseless tragedy in Orlando on Sunday,

Armstrong stands together with those injured, those who lost loved ones

and those targeted in the attack. We mourn for the lives which were

taken in such a horrific and violent act of terror.

Although we may not know those affected by this brutal assault,

we know they are more than names on paper. They are someone’s son, daughter,

brother, sister, aunt, uncle, neighbor, colleague, friend.

The deep pain that is now being felt by the LGBTQ+ and the Orlando communities is indescribable.

We wish comfort and healing to the LGBTQ+ and Orlando communities

and send support from afar. We honor and appreciate all first responders;

EMS crews, doctors, nurses, police, fire and those who selflessly put their

safety at risk to help victims during this crisis.

In the face of tragedy, the resilience of humanity always prevails.

As outliers of society carryout insensible acts of terror, may our

faith in human decency bring us together and make us stronger.

More kindness, Less hate.

Every year since 1974 the nation has observed the third week in May as EMS Week. EMS Week was established to celebrate the committed and hard working men and women of our nation’s Emergency Medical Services. An EMS career requires individuals with a passion for service, grit and a call to care. Our employees work 365 days of the year, 24 hours a day and couldn’t make us any more proud.

During EMS Week, Armstrong crews and office staff participated in our annual scavenger hunt, were treated to catered lunches and breakfasts, received Armstrong logoed chairs and indulged in affiliate sponsored EMS Week activities. It was a fun and busy week which was made special by many. We would particularly like to thank our partner facilities for their generosity to our employees who greatly enjoyed the kind gestures!

Our crews and staff at Armstrong show each and every day just how much they care about their patients, their partners and their communities. We are so honored to be represented by such a talented and dedicated team. Although EMS Week 2016 has come to a close, our gratitude and appreciation will continue through the year!

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.

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.

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