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Wednesday, March 28, 2007

ALS Intercept

A cool call yesterday. As I've mentioned in here before, we run in a pretty rural district. Most of the more outlying squads run with volunteers and it is sometimes a challenge to get a crew together for a call. People are at work or whatever. And then there may not be an ALS provider available. Simple fact is that there are a lot more EMT'B's and First Responders than there are I-Techs.

We (AmCare) were called to intercept a Franklin Rescue ambulance for a call for a patient with a severe asthma attack. Difficulty breathing is one chief complaint that calls for ALS care if available. Franklin's call was in the farthest reaches of that town, nearly to Enosburgh, about 20 miles from AmCare. Enosburgh's crew was out on a call and their unit 2 is out of service, so while their service is much closer, they couldn't take the call. We were the closest, so with Alex driving (The A-Team!), we went code-3 about 20 miles to meet their truck. It was my call, so when we did meet up with the other ambulance, I jumped in (with our monitor/AED and our jump bag). A quick review from the two B's in the back got us up to speed as the Franklin ambulance high-tailed it code-3 to NMC. The patient had a very tachy rhythm and though apparently well oxygenated, would have these periods of stridor like breathing and slip into seizure. I felt the heart rate contraindicated additional bronchodialators (the pt. had 3 neb treatments at home), so we mostly monitored her airway, got IV access and kept the BVM ready in case she arrested. We made it in and last I knew she was doing well.

The cool thing about the call to me was that even though I usually work with the same people all the time, jumping into a strange ambulance with 2 EMTs I'd never met, and picking up the case in the middle, we all worked together as a team, and it worked out well. I think that says a lot for the way that EMS is standardized, everyone learns it the same way, and thus, like interchangeable parts in a machine, we are able to work together in a pinch. That analogy is of course an oversimplification, but I think it works here. Come to think of it, when we find ourselves in an MCI, alot of squads are going to have to work together, so all the better that it went smoothly on this single-patient call.

After the call it was kinda neat to feel a new camaraderie with some other EMS people from our district.

Got some more stuff to talk about, I'll be back later.

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