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In our first episode of 2026, it seems fitting to hear from James Houser, President and CEO of the UPMC Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. / STAT MedEvac. It has long been the legacy of STAT MedEvac to create and innovate change within the air medical and ground critical care transport industry. Jim discusses this legacy, including STAT MedEvac's role in the innovation of the Airbus H135 aircraft, which features advanced Airbus Helionix avionics.

Dr. Paul Paris, Medical Director Emeritus, the Pittsburgh Emergency Medicine Foundation, has been known to many in Western Pennsylvana in various roles.  An EM physician at UPMC - Presbyterian, an on-line medical director to many of the EMS providers, a mentor to EM residents and researchers and, the hand-picked leader to take over the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania from it's original creator, Dr. Ron Stewart. Dr. Paris was recently recognized by PEMF as the 2025 Ronald D. Stewart Excellence Award.  We took a few minutes to talk about his career and how he feels about the impact he has had on many EMS careers.

Concerts, marathons, golf outings...what is involved from a medical coverage readiness? Dr. Vince Mosesso, Emergency Medicine, discussed the behind the scenes planning assessments and logistics with interesting examples.  

Fall is officially here, which means that the peak of cold and flu season is right around the corner. As adults, it could be a challenging time, it's even more of a challenging time for children when it comes to airborne viruses. Joining us for a conversation about RSV today is Zach Reiser.

Vint Blackburn, MD is a board-certified psychiatrist with advanced training in child and adolescent psychiatry. He practices in the Pittsburgh area through Blackburn Psychiatry and is also affiliated with UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Beyond his clinical work, he is an active member of the Allegheny County Medical Society and leads the Physician Wellness Advisory Board for the Physician Wellness Program. Dr. Blackburn brings not only medical expertise but also creativity, curiosity, and a deep commitment to supporting physician wellness and community health. From teacher to EMT to psychiatrist, Dr. Blackburn has had a wide range life experiences.  He currently lends his life experiencess and formal training to help identify depression and suicide tendencies in healthcare professionals.

Zachary Reiser is a Nurse on the UPMC Children's Hospital Critical Care Transport Team. In this episode, drowning is the topic of this episode. Nearly 70% of toddler drownings occur in non-swim time. More than 80% of drownings occur with at least 1 adult in the patient's presence.  More than 90% of drownings are preventable.

As in multiple blood pressure and pulse assessments, "analylizing" and trending data is not new to patient care to assess a situation.  Our guest on this podcast, Aaron Weidman, PhD, MA a Data Scientist at UPMC, has been involved in a research project of trending data at an entirely different level... patient triage using machine learning! 

Dr. Daniel Patterson is a clinician-scientist who studies safety in emergency care settings with special emphasis on safety culture, fatigue, shift work, sleep health, teamwork, medical errors and adverse events, and clinician injury in the prehospital EMS setting.  He reviews the details of his work on this episode of the AirPod.

As an experienced field provider and now a regional adminstrator, Brian Shaw, Deputy Director of the EMS West regional office, has seen the EMS systems and profession from all sides. As Brian prepares to accept the role of Executive Director, what does he see in the future for the profession?  Brian is fresh off the 2025 annual EMS educational symposium at 7 Springs with insights.

Greg Winkle, STAT MedEvac's Regional Field Support Maintenance Manager talks about special precautions with operations and maintenance in the winter months.  From salt that can corrode helicopter's parts, inside and out to precautions when there is snow at the LZ.

Bradley A. Kuch, STAT MedEvac's Director of Medical Operations, discusses the usage of CPAP in the field and transport settings.  It's a great tool to help the patient and the provider! Brad brings his practical experience as a respiratory therapist and transport clinician to the podcast to help us understand why it's not something by which to be intimidated.

This episode of the STAT MedEvac AirPod: Phil Little, whose father created the Chicago Fire Museum, talks about the great Chicago fire of 1871 , how it happened, the dispelled rumors of how it started, the creation of fireground procedures since then and, of course, the creation of Fire Prevention Week by President Woodrow Wilson in 1920.

One of STAT MedEvac's new EMS pilots, Amanda Montour, explains her love for aviation and her path to accumulating the flight hours to become a STAT MedEvac EMS Pilot.  One key component is dedication and persisitence. Second, "Love learning!"

This podcast, we talk about the OG EMS skill, needle chest decompression.  Many EMS providers learn and practice it in their annual skills review. But how many have done it on an actual patient?  Is it still an effective skill? UPMC-Presbyterian trauma surgeon, Joshua Brown, MD MSc overviews the latest research.

As first responders and critical care healthcare providers, we need to stay aware of our own mental health. Chelsey Naum Purpura, MS, LPC received her Bachelor's in Psychology at West Virginia University and her Masters in Counseling Psychology at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA. She is licensed as a Professional Counselor and has worked with children, adolescents, and adults and is part of the team at Favored Wellness Counseling. It was due to working with clients who have experienced domestic violence and abuse that she found a passion for helping individuals heal from trauma. With this passion, she became trained in EMDR therapy.  Learn more about Chelsey and EMDR therapy at FavoredWellness.com.