High speed medicine where it matters most

Medical care is speeding up for Marshall County residents intheSouthwestpartof the county. Responders from several agencies participated in a Landing Zone class with CareFlite on October 25.

CareFlite is a non-profit medical transport company serving many counties throughoutTexasandSouthern Oklahoma. Chief Cade Webb of the Willis Powell Volunteer Fire Department started the class by discussing the current issues.

'Our neighbors have the longest transport times to definitive care in the county,' he said. 'We can make that window shorter using medical helicopters to provide a faster option.'

CareFlite helicopters can travel at a speed of up to 140 knots, well over twice the speedofagroundambulance. Shortening the time it takes to get patients seen by a physician.

Medical helicopters often come to scenes for trauma. Those might be motor vehicle collisions, burn injuries from house fires, or violence. Recently, Marshall County dispatched CareFlite for a woman with stroke symptoms; moreandmoremedical helicopters are being used for complex scene medical cases.

CareFlite spent time teaching safety aspects of medical flight and medical capabilities. Among those capabilities blood products for patients, a critical need where minutes matter. They also have compression devices to deliver CPR in the air and carry modern ventilators comparable to those found in hospital ICUs, capable of pediatrics and adults.

CareFlite is also fully equipped to transport traumas from scenes such as falls, motor vehicle accidents, burns, drownings, etc., to Level 1 or 2 trauma centers.

Strokes patients are taken to comprehensive stroke centers, a lot of the time bypassing ER and going straight to intervention.

For cardiac calls such as heart attacks, CareFlite transports to Cath lab capable centers,suchasDenton or Plano. Most area hospitals will activate their teams based on EMS and Care-Flite reports before arrival, bypassing ER and saving precious minutes getting patients to surgical interventions sooner.

CareFlite's arsenal of medical options expands Marshall County's medical options.

Lebanon Volunteer Firefighter Jared Mathis said, “This was a good program for us to learn how to support our air medical partners on scenes.”

The class included Care-Flite, several southwest fire departments, and Marshall County EMS. Beyond Willis Powell Fire and Marshall EMS, representatives from MarshallCountyEmergency Management, Buncombe Creek Fire Department, and Lebanon Fire Department attended.

“Itwasgoodtoseemultiple agencies getting together to enhance our services to our neighbors when they need us most,” said Willis Powell Volunteer Firefighter John Osteen.

Chief Webb said, 'After this training, I'm more confident we can safely land CareFlite.'

'This gets our patients where they need to be and gives us another option when it matters.'