I've been an EMT, IEMT, Paramedic, Firefighter/Medic and Fire Officer for over 35 years and while this show has potential, without actor's (which I don't want), they're quite hamstrung in what they can legally show. Unlike a Police interaction where there's zero expectation of privacy, this show walks a fine line on real live (or recorded) drama and the HIPAA law's of 1996. HIPAA is what keeps patients medical history private and any violation is swiftly dealt with by fines and lawsuits.
What you don't see first is the "first in" crew asking the patient if they are willing to be on camera and allow them into their home. Accident's are different because the crew wasn't called for an established, outstanding medical condition so trauma would be better to focus on. But that's not what real First Responder's do only. It is a lot of non-life threatening, boring call's just like Law Enforcement has to deal with but are seldom shown on the sister show "LivePD". And I agree that they are jumping from call to call, Department to Department way to fast.
What A&E is trying to make is a cross between the 70's TV show EMERGENCY!, the older series "Paramedics" and A&E's other show "Nightwatch". They really need to focus on the "good" call's like fires, car crashes, shootings, overdoses and ignore the lift assists, difficulty breathing and routine medical call's. What's next, filming inter-facility calls from a hospital back to the nursing home?
And, hate to be blunt but Ashley Banfield is not the best host for this series. Her getting "teary eyed" or breathless over a puppy rescue definitely sends the wrong message. A&E needs to get a better host who should actually go run some call's with various departments to take in the sights, "smells" and emotions of running call's. If need be, get the real footage and blur the victims identity, however, the risk there is family seeing a loved one on TV pronounced dead before the Police can make death notification in person not to mention the family or lawyers using the footage for law suits.
This series has great potential but they need to fine tune a lot to keep people interested.
