WMed EM Residency & EMS Fellowship

10/14/2026

Yesterday, Dr. Ford and Becky Harrison, Nurse Manager at the Kalamazoo County Jail, led a Health Management Associates webinar for correctional officers and jail healthcare professionals across Michigan on the Management of Kratom Intoxication and Withdrawal.

Here's why this matters:
⚠️ 7-OH is not your typical kratom. 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH) is a concentrated, semi-synthetic kratom derivative — and a powerful opioid agonist estimated to be 4 to 10 times more potent than morphine.
🏪 It's still widely available right now. Despite a recent notice of intent from the DEA to schedule 7-OH, these products are still sold openly in Michigan gas stations and smoke shops, without clear labeling of their potency or risks of use including tolerance, withdrawal and addiction. 👀Recognizing 7-OH intoxication and withdrawal, strengthening clinical knowledge, and promoting safe, evidence-based care are essential to improving outcomes for incarcerated patients.

Key takeaways included:
🚑Naloxone to reverse overdose
💊 Buprenorphine to manage withdrawal treat & 7-OH use disorder.
🙌A huge thank you to Dr. Ford, Becky Harrison, and everyone who joined in advancing safer, evidence-based care for people who are incarcerated.

10/10/2026

It’s Homecoming & Game Day 🏈 at WMU! We are here and ready to serve the community with Life EMS Ambulance. Hope you don’t need our services 🚑. Have a great and fun day! ~pictured are our WMed EMS Fellows, Emergency Medicine Residents, and Medical Students~

10/07/2026

Annual EMS Day in the books ✅! In addition to our longitudinal EMS curriculum & physician response vehicle program, our residents and fellows spend a day at our county fire training complex using extrication tools, repelling from a 5 story building, intubating in mid air, managing an in-car airway, and practicing their splinting and medical/trauma management skills. Thank you to Kalamazoo Public Safety, Comstock Fire & Rescue, Mcdonalds Towing & Rescue, Kalamazoo County Medical Control Authority, & Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine for making the day a great educational event for our students, residents, and fellows!

10/07/2026

09/28/2026

Thank you to our WMed Team that provided medical standby services for the Out of Darkness walk today!

09/25/2026

Did you know that our program responds as a medical asset with the MI Region 5 Tech Rescue Team?! Today we joined the team during a trench rescue training session.

09/20/2026

Yesterday our EMS Fellowship program took an annual field trip to South Bend/Notre Dame to learn about mass gathering medicine and the associated logistics and operations. Our host, Dr. Joyce, is one of our emsf alumni, one of our current core faculty, and the EMS medical director in South Bend.

09/12/2026

Our EMS residents, fellows, and faculty provide medical support with Life EMS for the WMU home football games. Go Broncos 🏈! Have a great and safe game today!

09/09/2026

Our EMS Fellows & PGY2 EM (plus a few PGY3s who missed the course last year) are participating in the Advanced Disaster Life Support Course today in Kalamazoo and took a few moments to pose for photos. This interdisciplinary course also featured PEM fellows, RNs, and prehospital clinicians.