Steve Farzam’s Blog
COVID-19 Testing Explained
The ability to accurately test for the presence of COVID-19 is fundamental to our current battle against the coronavirus pandemic and a necessary tool for individual safety and health. Its swift, insidious spread and relative unfamiliarity to the medical community has...
The Differences Between EMTs and Paramedics
Embarking on the career path of becoming a first responder presents many rewards and challenges. Becoming a member of an EMT or paramedic team are both popular options. Individuals must learn the differences between the two paths to decide which direction to take....
Focus, Knowledge, and Teamwork: The Skills Crucial for an EMT
An EMT is a frontline worker that often arrives on a scene as the first medical worker. There are no limits to the variety of cases an EMT encounters each day, so every workday has a unique flow. People that aspire to work in this field need to understand what skills...
How to Prepare for Severe Weather
When it comes to maintenance or even security, most homeowners understand just how to deal with those issues. However, one thing that has not changed over the lifetime of humans is the ever struggle with mother nature. Weather can be unpredictable, even with our...
Safety Tips for Outdoor Summer Workouts
As the warm weather approaches you’re probably ready to take your at-home workouts outdoors. Many gyms have begun to open their doors but with limited capacity and regulations. No better way to continue your own workout plan than going outside and soaking up the sun....
Eating Healthy During the Summer
Summer is a time for change. As the season shifts to warmer temperatures, so does the need for light, yet filling dishes that require minimal preparation. When the temperature soars over 100 degrees, the last thing anyone wants to do is cook. Luckily, summer is also a...
How to Prevent Heat Exhaustion
Heat exhaustion isn't just uncomfortable. It can damage your kidneys or liver, impact your heart rate, and cause a coma. Heat exhaustion has even been known to damage the brain, so it's important to avoid it. Fortunately, heat exhaustion can usually be prevented with...
How to Build a Hiking First-Aid Kit
While the majority of hiking excursions occur without incident, at some point, an accident may take place. Hikers are prepared for the unexpected by taking along a first aid kit. There are ready-made kits available. However, some may prefer creating their own. It is...
Four Tips on How to Protect Yourself and Others From COVID-19
It's just on everyone's mind right now. Everywhere you go, it's a conversational topic. When you browse the web, grim statistics about COVID-19 are on every online news portal. And with cases just spiraling up unabated, it's becoming more critical to prepare and...
Evacuation Protocols for Wildfires
It's just a matter of time before you and your family may receive notice that a wildfire is near and that you have to evacuate within minutes. Preparing now is key to your family's safe evacuation in the case of a wildfire. Be Ready to Evacuate - Set a meet-up...
Wildfire Preparedness Tips
With the population increasing and the demand for homes rising, the potential danger of wildfire and its destructive effects also rises. Nearly 50 million American households are in danger due to their proximity to wildfires. The threat of wildfire is realistic and...
First Aid Treatment for Burns
In the United States, over one million burn injuries need medical attention every year. A burn consists of tissue damage that results from contact with flames, electricity, sun exposure, and other radiation, corrosive chemicals, or very hot water, the occurrence known...
How to Prepare Your Home for Winter
Winter is a season characterized by less outdoor activity and more indoor living. After the hype of summer and autumn, it is always good to prepare yourself, your family, and your home for the winter season. Much of your preparation for winter should focus on ensuring...
First Aid for Broken Bones
Broken bones usually aren’t life-threatening, but they require immediate medical attention. Prior to bringing someone to the hospital for a suspected broken bone, there are some basic first-aid treatments that can help minimize pain and prevent further injury. The...
Be Wary of These 5 Weather Events This Fall
When thinking of extreme weather, it’s often incorrectly assumed that fall is a safe season sandwiched between summer and winter. However, people can be left unprepared if they’re not aware of the weather events that commonly occur during the season of pumpkins and...
Beach Safety 101
A day at the beach can quickly turn disastrous if you don't take proper safety precautions. Beachgoers can keep themselves out of harm's way by following a few simple rules. Here are some general safety tips for almost every beach. Check the Weather Beforehand...
Essential Oils: What You Need to Know
For some time now, the topic of essential oils has been blowing up all over the internet. There are many people suggesting oil uses and possible treatments for illnesses with the help of essential oils. There are also a lot of sites that sell essential oils. So, what...
What to Do During a Power Outage
Power outages are a surprisingly common occurrence due to grid failures, old infrastructure, and extreme weather. My experience in emergency medicine has brought me face-to-face with many power outages and assisting individuals that are in the midst of one. Although...
At Home Care for an Asthma Attack
In my experience working as a paramedic, I have occasionally come across asthma attacks. Asthma is a chronic lung disease that makes it difficult to move air in and out of one's lungs. This is because the airways in the lungs are inflamed or swollen, which can result...
The Do’s and Don’ts of Helping Someone Who is Experiencing a Stroke
A stroke can happen at any time without warning. You might notice that someone is suddenly unable to walk or speak clearly, or that they seem to be confused about where they are. A stroke can be terrifying to an onlooker, and people don't always know how to respond to...
First Aid for Poison Exposure
Poisonous substances are frequently used for cleaning, manufacturing, decoration, medication and more, but they can be quite dangerous when a person uses them in the wrong manner. If someone has come into contact with poison, follow this treatment guide to ensure they...
What to Do if Someone is Having a Heart Attack
Nearly 90-percent of Americans who suffer a heart attack outside of the hospital this year will die, but what’s worse is that less than half of them will receive appropriate first aid. Experts know that getting help while waiting for professional responders to arrive...
Treating an Open Wound
Accidental cuts when chopping food, the skinned knees of youth and other everyday mishaps are common. As such, most people find themselves treating an open wound at some point in time. Knowing how to do so correctly ensures the ability to take the right action quickly...
What it Means to be a First Responder
The phrase “first responder” may mean different things to different people. However, the term was created to describe EMS or emergency medical services. EMS workers in the field cope with high-stress situations that are often emotionally and physically demanding. They...
Diabetic Emergencies 101
Diabetes mellitus, commonly referred to as diabetes, affects more than 29.1 million people in the United States alone. As of 2015, Diabetes is also the seventh leading cause of death in the US, both as an underlying cause or a contributing cause of death. Therefore,...
Landslides & Debris Flow
Landslides can happen anywhere, often due to tectonic instability, storms, fires and also human excavation efforts. Because they can happen swiftly, it is best to look for environmental changes that might herald a potential landslide. Landslides occur when terrain...
Behavioral Emergencies
Many people suffer from strong emotions, especially with specific triggers. Unfortunately for some people, their strong emotions become out of control and can turn into a behavioral emergency. In the event of a behavioral emergency, time is of the essence. The...
Flooding 101
In every U.S. state and territory, the threat of a flood is a very real possibility, as is in any area of the world that receives rain. In the U.S. alone, more people die as a result of flooding than from tornadoes, hurricanes, or lightning. A flood constitutes as an...
Hurricanes: Be Prepared
Like many storm systems, hurricanes are massive systems that form over warm ocean waters and move toward land, and they can occur along and coast in the U.S. or territory in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The potential effects resulting from hurricanes include heavy...
Wildfire Safety: What to Do in the Event of a Wildfire
Wildfires also called forest fires and wildland fires, are unplanned fires that burn in a natural area, such as a prairie, grassland, or forest. They burn through acres of land quickly (think, minutes), and destroy everything in their path. In the U.S. alone, more...
What Do You Do After a Tornado?
On average,1,253 tornadoes occur in the United States every year. They happen all over the globe and are not limited to a particular geographic area. Catching a glimpse of a tornado is pretty rare, and the odds of dying in a tornado are 1 in 4,513,000. If you do find...
The Difference Between a Panic Attack and an Anxiety Attack
An anxiety attack and panic attack tend to be used interchangeably, however, they are not entirely the same. While they are similar in that they both increase your heart rate and cause a shortness of breath and dizziness, that is all they have in common. While the...
Beware of These Common Household Items That Could Poison Your Child
In the United States, there are two children that die and more than 300 children under the age of 19 that are treated in emergency rooms everyday due to unintentional poisoning. While many of the chemicals used in the home are labeled with clear warning labels, there...
Heart Attacks: Risk Factors, Warning Signs, and How to React
Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States has a heart attack. That’s more than 2,000 heart attacks per day. Also known as a myocardial infarction, occurs when blood is prevented from reaching the heart. This is the result of plaque buildup in the arteries from...
First Aid Tips for Parents
One of the most stressful parts about being a parent is dealing with a child's injuries. While your children may get banged up pretty often, knowing just a few first aid tips can help. Treating an Open Cut or Scrape A bleeding wound can be among the most alarming, but...
Your Guide to Becoming an EMT
While technology is eliminating the need for some jobs, we will always need paramedics: In fact, EMT job growth is expected to explode by up to 33% within the next two years. So, how can you enter this career, which is both financially and emotionally rewarding? Here...
How To Make Emergency Preparedness Kits For Your Home
Disasters are unfortunately more common than many of us may realize. In fact, as of October 2017, America witnessed at least 15 natural disasters that include two floods, seven severe storms, three tropical cyclones, one drought, an unprecedented streak of wildfires,...
The Basics of CPR
One of the most popular—and one of the most essential—techniques in emergency medicine is cardiopulmonary resuscitation, more commonly known as CPR. First developed in 1960, CPR involves a series of chest compressions and recovery breaths to patients suffering from...
Common Driving Injuries and How to Treat Them
Americans spend an average of 290 hours per year driving on the more than four million miles of roads across the country. And although automakers continue to introduce new features that make cars an increasingly safe form of transportation, over two million people are...
Getting to Know Steve Farzam as an Individual
Steve Farzam is probably one of the most popular personalities in Santa Monica. You might say that he is the COO of one of the most popular hotels in the city so you could expect that, but that’s not really true. Although, that may be one of the reasons, but Steve...
Steve Farzam and His Love for the Community
Steve Farzam is currently working as a COO, but he is actually known for a lot of things beyond his profession or his job as the COO. Even as a COO (of Shore Hotel in Santa Monica), however, he has managed to accomplish quite a bit. While the consistent and steady...
Steve Farzam and His Passion for the Community
There are probably not many people in Santa Monica who haven’t heard of Steve Farzam. He is the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Shore Hotel, and boasts of some unique achievements for a COO of a hotel. He has been actively working for the betterment of the community,...
Steps To Become An Emergency Medical Technician In the USA
Getting certified as an Emergency Medical Technician actually involves following a process. You need to follow some steps to ensure that you are capable of working as an Emergency Medical Technician, as well as apply for the certification for a particular state. It’s...
Steve Farzam – Santa Monica’s Shore Hotel Wins Best Green Hotel Award
SANTA MONICA, CALIF.—Shore Hotel was honored at the 1st annual Best of the Best Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) awards ceremony last month, winning the Los Angeles Best Green Hotel award for 2015. This award coincides with the hotel’s...
How to Become a Certified Flight Paramedic
If you have any aspiration of becoming a flight paramedic, it is going to take some work. A common question in the medical field is how does one become a flight paramedic. Well, as with anything that is worth doing, it is long and not very easy process as Steve Farzam...
Differences Between Paramedic & EMT
Let’s be honest, the majority of us do not know the differences between a paramedic and an EMT. It’s not our fault though, there are so many different times when we see a paramedic come to a scene or an EMT, and we always think they are the same. However, there are a...
EMT/Paramedic/Firefighter
Why do we have paramedics and emts, when the fire department is more qualified in the USA? Ask Steve Farzam. The above is a question that we have probably all asked before to ourselves as we drove past the scene of an accident. There are a few reasons for this, and...