TORONTO -The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center pre-hospital care unit and the TEMS Joint Ambulance District co-sponsored a Medically Directed Rescue Day April 30 for northern Jefferson County firefighters and emergency medical responders.
The instruction's focus was on proper medical and rescue techniques for victims involved in motor vehicle accidents, according to Clark Crago, TEMS chief of operations.
"The 45 members of the participating departments were instructed by specialists from UPMC on all aspects of accident scene safety and patient care," said Crago.
"In addition to the TEMS staff, departments included Toronto, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, Knoxville, Empire and Irondale, as well as Saline Township E.M.S. and STAT MedEvac."
Crago said department members were broken up into groups to rotate hands-on demonstrations, including how to properly load a patient onto a STAT MedEvac helicopter and stabilize a vehicle turned on its side.
"After the morning rotation of stations, the groups were then divided into multiple ambulance and fire crews and were dispatched to a multi-patient motor vehicle crash," Crago said. "The goal was to orient (personnel) with life-like scenarios they could encounter at a motor vehicle crash.
"Each group was given accidents with simulated patients called 'SimMan,'" Crago continued. "The SimMan is the most life-like patient simulator currently available for training use. Instructors set up the simulators to have an airway problem that is almost impossible to manage. Vital signs were programmed into the wireless computer so that a blood pressure reading from the patient simulator could change with patient care. Other realistic functions of the patient simulator are spontaneous breathing, pulses and even a temperature."
The patient simulators were placed in the disabled vehicles, and the rescue teams cut the roofs and doors off as needed to extricate the SimMan from the wreckage, Crago said.
"The patients then were packaged and care was transferred to an awaiting flight crew from STAT," he added.
Crago said those involved found the exercise instructive.
"The class was very informative to all involved," he said. "We'd like to thank Starr's and Green's Towing for donating the wrecked vehicles and Valley Converting for the use of the Toronto block plant. Without the cooperation of these local businesses, we wouldn't have had the resources needed for the class."
(Miller can be contacted at mmiller@heraldstaronline.com.)
