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Transition to ALS ambulance service brings advanced skillsAlthough the transition of New Ulm’s ambulance service from basic life support (BLS) to advanced life support (ALS) has brought new vehicles, new ways of doing things and several new faces, it also brought one person back who should be familiar to at least some in the area. Allina Medical Transportation Supervisor Patrick Stone is a New Ulm native whose grandparents still reside in Hanska. Stone graduated from St. Peter High School, where his parents now live. “I am very familiar with the area and it is near and dear to my heart, as it is with most who work with the ambulance service,” said Stone, who began as supervisor of the ambulance service in New Ulm on August 21, 2006, shortly after the transition from BLS to ALS. Stone has been a paramedic since 2000, having worked for a time in Kansas City, MO and then for five years in Northfield. In addition to Stone, five other paramedics were brought on board as part of the transition to ALS ambulance service. The ambulance service also relies on 21 emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Overall, the transition has gone well, Stone said. “We’re still new and we are still working out some operational issues, but overall the reception has been very positive in the community.” Deb Lentz, who has been a New Ulm EMT for 10 years, sees only positives for the community with the new advanced level of service. “As with any transition, things can be difficult, but it is so wonderful for the community to have advanced life support services available to them,” Lentz said. “As an EMT, I see our skills improving and we are all learning things we didn’t know before.” The EMTs are completing additional training to increase their skill base, Stone said. The training is being done in increments and is expected to be complete in the spring. “For example, the EMTs are now able to start IVs in the field, which was one thing we couldn’t do before,” Lentz said. “So, in a serious situation, if the paramedic is busy with another aspect of the incident, the EMT can be starting an IV if necessary.” The EMTs have also increased their skills to include assisting the paramedics with procedures in the field. “We are now able to do some basic reading of cardiac monitor strips,” Lentz said. “Of course we are not doing any diagnosing, but we can talk to the doctor back in the Emergency Department and we are better equipped to tell them what we see so they can be more prepared when the patient arrives.” The most obvious of the positive changes, Stone said, is that the local ambulance service is now performing almost 100 percent of the patient transfers to larger specialty care hospitals, such as Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and Mayo hospitals in Rochester. Because a paramedic must always assist in the transfer of a critically ill patient, in the past a patient would often have to wait for the Gold Cross Ambulance Service to come from Mankato to carry out the transfer. “If Gold Cross was not available in a timely manner, then New Ulm would have to send for a helicopter,” Stone said. “Now we are completing the transfers on our own in about an hour to an hour and a half more quickly than they used to be done.” Outside resources are still called upon if the one paramedic on duty is already called away from the facility, Stone said. Another advantage to the new system has been the utilization of the “chase vehicle” that many have noticed around town. The fully equipped Suburban vehicle has everything an ambulance has except for a cot – patients cannot be transported in it. When an ambulance call comes in, Stone said, the paramedic jumps right in that vehicle and can make it to the scene, on average, within two minutes and begin what can often-times be life-saving measures. “Before becoming an advanced life support service, when a call came in, an EMT would come to the medical center and pick up the ambulance and two other EMTs would respond to the scene – with some equipment in hand, but not nearly the variety of equipment that the chase vehicle has on board,” said EMT Sue Jacobs. “This way, the patient can be assessed a lot more quickly and the specialized equipment and medications are more readily available.” In fact, with the addition of the paramedics, the ambulance crew is able to carry their work further in the field. “The public response has been very positive too, because they can see that we are on the scene longer, we are able to do more for the patient in the field before transporting them to the hospital,” Jacobs said. Overall, Stone said he is happy with the progress made since the transition. “We are still having some growing pains in terms of blending the paramedics and the EMTs together – it is just a matter of gaining experience and time together for the EMTs to become more comfortable with how the paramedics work.” |
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New Ulm Medical Center
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