first responders

On this episode, our host Dr. Joe Sirven highlights a new community health program in Duval County that connects uninsured patients to medical services.

The anonymous hotline was designed to give police, firefighters or EMTs a way to seek help for trauma they receive on the job.

Outages have hit at least eight states this year. They’re emblematic of problems plaguing emergency response communications due in part to wide disparities in capabilities and funding.

The city hasn’t given all those benefits to Joey Davis, president of the Tallahassee firefighter’s union and a cancer survivor. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill earlier this month.

The state's Coordinated Opioid Response network, established in 2022, will cover 17 more counties, including Lake, Orange, Polk and Seminole, for a total of 29.

Last year, 64 police officers were fatally shot in the line of duty. There were 160 who took their own lives. Miami-Dade police Director Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez stands as a tragic example of where mental health and policing intersect.

The law allows qualified CNAs to administer “routine” medications to residents, freeing up registered nurses to provide other needed care.

Law enforcement, firefighters and paramedics can apply to get free naloxone at select Walmart pharmacies in Florida.

Three groups filed a lawsuit after lawmakers approved directing money to AHCA to adjust reimbursement rates so Medicaid providers would pay at least $15 an hour to direct-care employees.

Florida is among 32 states that don’t treat 911 dispatchers as first responders. Recent efforts in the state Legislature to change that have not advanced.