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EMS at the Hunt County Fair
June 15, 2007
At right, two youngsters try on bicycle helments at the
Child Safety table of the Hunt Memorial Hospital District booth in the
Hunt County Fair's Hall of Heroes.
Michael Sanchez, assistant Emergency Medical Service director at HMHD,
checks out a film at the EMS booth at the 2007 Hunt County Fair. The
EMS booth is located in the Hall of Heroes.
Hunt County’s response teams make a difference
By Susan Spoonemore
Development and Communications
February 21, 2007 - With about 10,000 emergency calls made each year,
the Hunt Memorial Hospital District relies heavily on the First Response
Teams that provide life-saving services to Hunt County residents.
Thirteen first responder teams throughout Hunt County (known to most
in their communities as their fire departments) are standing ready 24
hours a day awaiting calls from those needing emergency care.
Most of the responders are volunteers. Cash, Caddo Mills, Celeste the
Commerce Emergency Corps departments have rescue status. The Emergency
Corps is classified as a volunteer Emergency Medical Service.
Other departments in the county include Wolfe City, Lone Oak, Merit,
Commerce FD, Greenville, Quinlan, Tawakoni South, Union Valley and West
Tawakoni
Patrick Schooler, director of Hunt County EMS, says all first responders
undergo extensive training. “We provide Emergency Medical Technician
(EMT) and continuing education classes every quarter,” he said.
Most First Response teams have the ability to provide services that
are critical in the first moments of a medical emergency, whether it’s
a vehicle accident, injuries from violence, fire or water-related accident.
The teams can provide Rapid Sequence Induction, which is the process
of giving patients drugs to anesthetize them to insert a breathing tube.
Also, the teams have transportable ventilators, called Critical Care
Transfer Medics.
The process of an emergency rescue is fairly complicated. Once a call
is made for help, it goes to a local 911 center, such as the Hunt County
Sheriff’s office or the Greenville or Commerce Police Departments.
That center will then transfer the emergency situation to American Medical
Response in Dallas. Then, certified EMD dispatchers will contact the
needed department by a generating specific tone. After the tone is received,
the team will respond to the emergency. Paramedics then make the decision
of whether to transport the patient to a Hunt County hospital or to
a larger facility in Dallas.
Dr. Joe Bleier, the medical director for Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville’s
Emergency Department, emphasizes that first responders of Hunt County
provide a major service to the county. “Two treatment modalities
are proven by researchers to save lives in hospital care: Defibrillation
and early arrival. You cannot underestimate the value of our volunteer
first responders delivering those therapies at a significant savings
to the county taxpayers.”
The services of first responders have not gone unnoticed. In recent
years, the Caddo Mills Volunteer Fire Department and the Commerce Emergency
Corps have been named the First Responder of the Year by the Texas Department
of State Health Services.
“The dedication of volunteers in the past has resulted in those
awards, but lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other multi-causality
incidents has given us a direction in which to grow,” said Bleier.
Despite their training and expertise, most of the team members are
not paid for their services. The communities and rural areas in the
county receive hospital funding to support the EMS and teams through
purchase of equipment and facility use. The money comes from taxes collected
by HMHD which is deliberately put back into the protection of the entire
county.
Assistant EMS Coordinator Michael Sanchez, also a certified EMT, considers
the teams valuable assets to the communities of Hunt County.
“Given that they volunteer their services and time, they save
the county taxpayers millions of dollars,” he said.
The volunteer units don’t stop at just protecting the communities’
residents. Most of them also contribute to the quality of life by spearheading
community events, celebrations, fund-raising efforts and charitable
causes.
The training and education of the teams of Hunt County continues later
this month when EMTs will attend a Continuing Education Conference,
in which they will break up in teams and be assessed on their skills
and knowledge of emergency medical care.
“Education and the acceptance of the responsibility of a First
Responder is literally a matter of life and death,” says HMHD
Chief Executive Officer Richard Carter. “We are extremely proud
of the group of men and women who help the hospital district in serving
the Hunt County area with their life-saving efforts.”
Child Passenger Safety Week closes with Car Seat Checkup
Event
February 21, 2007 - Child Passenger Safety Week concluded Saturday,
February 17 as representatives from Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville,
Hunt County Emergency Medical Service, and the Greenville Police Department
participated in a Child Restraint Checkup Event at the Crossroads Mall.
Volunteer help was provided by the Greenville Police Department Explorer
Program and Paris Junior College nursing students.
The team had a great turnout as four certified techs checked 42 children
and their child restraint system. Eight belt positioning booster seats
were distributed and, 12 child restraint systems were replaced.
 Only
28 percent of the Child restraint systems arrived and were installed
completely correctly. “It is normal, unfortunately, for us to
see at least one area of misuse during car seat checks,” said
Bret Freeman, Trauma director at PHG. The whole purpose of the event
is to identify misuse, educate the parents while encouraging their participation
with the installation, and, of course, correcting the misuse, he said.
Educational material was distributed to the parents along with giveaways
provided by Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville and the North Central
Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council. The material reminded parents
when their child should graduate to a different child restraint system,
which direction they should face, and how long they need to be in booster
seats.
“Parents do not realize that their child should remain in a belt
positioning booster seat up until they are 4 foot 9 inches or 57 inches
tall,” said Freeman. After children graduate from forward facing
harness restraint systems they are not tall enough to sit directly in
a vehicle seat with just a lap/shoulder belt. Belt Positioning Booster
Seats allow the lap/shoulder belt to cross the child in the correct
anatomical positions. Abdominal and neck injuries are common in Motor
Vehicle Crashes in which children were not restrained appropriately
in booster seats.
The Hunt County Coalition’s goal is to keep children safe in
the county by educating the parents and encouraging their help during
installation. Please take a few minutes to make sure your child is restrained
appropriately in your vehicle.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Presbyterian
Hospital of Greenville Trauma Department at 903-408-1412.
Continuing
Education Program
Click here for the CE schedule. If you
have any questions about CE, contact Patrick
Privacy
Officer
HIPAA took effect on April 15, 2003. This legislation makes any entity
that routinely obtains protected health information subject to the rules
set forth by HIPAA.
One of the requirements of this law is that each entity have a privacy
officer. The privacy officer is responsible for the way records are
utilized and how the records are disclosed to outside and inside parties.
Please select a privacy officer for your organization as soon as possible.
Leave the officer's name and a daytime phone number in my voice mail.
A Privacy Officer's Meeting will take place sometime early in May.
Website and Email
In addition to the EMS website, we also have a listserve address at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/huntcoems.
The listserve is a centralized email address that receives email and
broadcasts messages to everyone that signs up for the list. (A handy
way to send a message to a lot of people at one time.)
The listserve will be used for meeting notices, clarifications, and
any discussions you want to conduct.
Skill and
Compassion
When You Need It Most
Hunt County
Emergency Medical Service
P.O. Drawer 1059
Greenville, Texas 75403-1059
(903) 408-1428
info@hcems.org
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