EMS Today Begins with Game

• Jennifer Berry, editor
• 2008 Mar 27

Whether they were signed up by friends, sought out or encouraged to enlist by co-workers, the participants in the Thursday morning EMS game show at the EMS Today opening keynote ceremony had their work cut our for them. The questions game show host Baxter Larmon, PhD, MICP, asked of them were BLS questions, but these basic-knowledge questions were anything but basic.

"I had a great time. It was a blast," said runner-up Fred Wurster, a paramedic with Malvern (Pa.) Fire Company. Wurster, who has 17 years of experience in the field, said he was ultimately glad his friends signed him up without his knowledge because he had such a good time. He was also glad to have won a signed copy of the out-of-print book "The Magic of 3 A.M." by James O. Page.

Members of the audience at the opening keynote ceremony of the 2008 EMS Today Conference & Exposition were assigned a participant and cheered on their paramedic during the show.

"This is going to be pretty action-packed. It's going to be fast," said Larmon, who kept the audience laughing with running jokes.

In the last round, Wurster competed with Rob Howlett, a North Carolina paramedic with 20 years of service. Wurster was the winner of the first round, during which he beat out two other competitors. He lost to Howlett, who buzzed in with the most correct and fewest incorrect answers to the questions taken from JEMSPrepare.com continuing education courses. In the end, it was Howlett who won bragging rights and prizes, which included free registration to next year’s conference and an iPod donated by Vidacare Corp.

"You don't want to say something dumb in front of your peers," said Howlett, who represents New Hanover Regional EMS and is the operations supervisor of Airlink/Vitalink. However, his colleague Michael Nave, who encouraged Howlett to sign up, wasn’t worried that Howlett would embarrass himself.

"I have a lot of confidence in him," he said.

Four other paramedics competed in the game show, which was judged by Brent Myers, MD, MPH; Ray Fowler, MD, FACEP and Corey Slovis, MD, FACP, FACEP. They were Hugh Garner, a paramedic with 35 years of experience who represents Jackson County EMS in Seymour, Ind.; Adam Heinz, a paramedic with eight years' experience who represents Regional EMS Authority (REMSA) in Reno, Nev.; Michael Korzen, a paramedic with 12 years of service with the West Chicago Fire Protection District in Elgin, Ill.; and Stephane Kallos, a Canadian paramedic with eight years' service from Cote Saint-Luc, Quebec.

In addition to the participants' prizes, which also included JEMS coffee mugs, one lucky attendee from the audience was named a winner. EMT David Kaye, a volunteer with the Somerville (N.J.) Rescue Service and a supervisor at the 9-1-1 communications center in Summit, N.J., won an iPod and an EMS Today sweatshirt.

"I was excited because I never win anything," he said.

Before the game show started, the ceremony opened with pipes and drums and a flag ceremony, as well as speeches from several EMS leaders, including Baltimore City Fire Department EMS Chief Lloyd Carter, BS, NREMT-P. He said he loves the energy he gets from the attendees at the conference, who attend with the goal of providing better care.

"It all comes down to we're the kind of people who like to help people in their time of need," he said. “We've been blessed to be put in these roles as EMS providers. That’s what we do, we help people."

Check out more  EMS Today coverage from the conference.