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by Cheryl
Waugh
MANITOULIN ---
The Manitoulin Sudbury District Social Services Administration
Board will be conducting an evaluation of the district's
Emergency First Response Teams in order to ascertain the
effectiveness of the program.
Tehkummah
Township
and Cockburn Island both have Emergency First Response Teams (EFRTs).
In the 1970s, EFRTs were approved by the Ministry of Health and
Long Term Care's Emergency Health Services Branch in communities
where ambulance resources were requested but where the ministry
felt that an ambulance resource was not a viable option. The
EFRTs are not an ambulance service, but they are dispatched to
emergency calls by an ambulance dispatch centre. They are not to
transport patients and any vehicles used in a response are not
considered to be emergency vehicles.
On January 1,
2004, the area's EFRTs came under the direct support of the
Manitoulin Sudbury District Social Services Administration Board
(DSSAB) after being 'bonded' to the DSSAB's contracted ambulance
service providers from January 1, 2001 to
December 31, 2003.
Dan Hammond,
director of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for the DSSAB, gave
a presentation to the board of directors on the EFRTs last
Thursday.
He explained
that EFRTs are not mandated to respond to any calls, and are not
regulated under legislation by the Ministry of Health and Long
Term Care. "They have been administered over the years under
very loose 'protocols,'" he said.
He added that
any attempt to regulate the volunteer program would kill it.
"Some people may think I'm out to kill it - I'm not - we need to
clarify what it is, what it should be and where we're going with
it," said Mr. Hammond. "I'm suggesting a complete evaluation of
the program be done, but not with any pre-determined idea of
what our findings would be."
There are 72
EFRT members in seven areas within the DSSAB district. Cockburn
Island has 12 members, while Tehkummah Township has nine.
Cartier, French River Delta, Markstay,
St. Charles
and Warren have the 51 other members.
While the
EFRTs are not an ambulance service, they do respond to
ambulatory incidents. Code four calls are considered ambulance
emergencies, which includes incidents such as heart attacks,
bleeding victims, or other medical emergencies.
In 2003, the
EFRTs responded to 155 calls, of which 116 were code fours. In
2002, the EFRTs responded to 140 calls, of which 128 calls were
code fours, according to the DSSAB's call volume information
sheet.
The Tehkummah
EFRT members responded to 15 calls in 2003, of which 12 were
code fours. In 2002, they responded to 14 calls, of which 13
were code fours.
Gary Brown,
who is a captain with the Tehkummah Township Fire Department and
a member of the Tehkummah EFRT, said he thinks it's a good idea
that the DSSAB has undertaken an evaluation of the emergency
response program.
"Nothing bad
can come of an evaluation," said Mr. Brown. "Maybe this can lead
to more training or more money. It doesn't cost them a lot now.
We're all volunteers. They supply us with our van, as well as
our equipment, which they own; although some of it has been
donated over the years," he said.
He explained
that Tehkummah's Emergency First Response Team is fully trained
in Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), First Aid, the use of a
defibrillator, and have gone through a Ministry of Health
approved, 60 hour course called Emergency First Response (EFR).
That training
includes learning how to use backboards, neckbraces, and
administering oxygen therapy. EFRTs are trained to the level of
an ambulance service, however, they are not allowed to
administer drugs.
In the
Tehkummah area, the closest ambulance service is the Mindemoya
hospital, a half-hour away. If that ambulance service is on a
call, it falls to Wikwemikong or Little Current. While it
doesn't happen very often, Mr. Brown said occasionally an
ambulance has to come to the area from Gore Bay.
"There's no
quick response call to this area," said Mr. Brown. "If someone
is having trouble breathing, a problem with bleeding, has a
broken hip or having a heart attack, we can be there quickly. We
can use a defibrillator to keep people alive until an ambulance
arrives.
He said one
reason why the area has an emergency response unit is because of
the traffic the Chi-Cheemaun brings through the area, but
another reason is simply the community aspect of the program.
"Our main goal
is to please the community," said Mr. Brown. "The first response
teams offer a family touch because we know people in our
community. Their confidence in us means more to the members of
the EFRTs than anything that any government could ever give us."
As for
Cockburn Island, there is no data available of their calls
because the EFRT members have not had a call in over two years.
Cockburn
Island Councilor Brenda Jones has been acting as a liaison
between Cockburn Island, the DSSAB and the EFRT members. A
member of Cockburn's EFRT unit, Ms. Jones said she was unaware
of the DSSAB's plans for EFRTs at this time. The Cockburn Island
team works in such a remote area that there is no vehicle
access, emergencies have to be responded to either by plane or
by boat.
The year-round
population on Cockburn Island is two people, although that
increases to about 100 in the summer months. "It's more of a
vacation spot," said Ms. Jones. "The type of incidents that we
would respond to would be more accident prone, like a flipped
four-wheeler or someone falling off a roof. Because we're so
remote, if anything did happen, it would likely take us two
hours to respond."
She said there
are two fully trained EFRT members on the Island during the
summer from Monday to Friday. On the weekend, it depends on who
is at their cottage.
According to
Mr. Hammond, EFRT members are given approximately 60 to 80 hours
of training, which includes Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation
(CPR), First Aid, and Emergency First Response (EFR).
Ms. Jones said
last fall the DSSAB helped get some members of her crew trained
as fully certified EFRTs, although some members of her crew
still only have first aid. She is still waiting on new
equipment, including potential satellite phones that would allow
Cockburn Island residents to phone a 9-1-1 type number for
service.
Now that it is
acting as a 'host' for EFRTs, the EFRTs come under the liability
of the DSSAB. The DSSAB also administers the program, and
provides training and equipment that the team's need to respond
to emergencies. In fact, in April of 2003, all of the EFRTs were
temporarily suspended from being dispatched to calls until the
DSSAB was assured that the EFRTs had the same personal
protection and related training to deal with the SARS outbreak
that was provided to all ambulance personnel.
Mr. Hammond
told the DSSAB board of directors that some of the teams are
pushing for red lights on their vehicles, or have requested that
the DSSAB provide for safety footwear as part of the uniforms,
which some teams may or may not have. As well, there are
requests for more or better communications equipment and extra
patient care equipment, he said.
"What are our
obligations for volunteers of a host organization, when they are
responding to calls as part of our
EMS system?" asked Mr. Hammond. "We need a complete evaluation
of the program."
The
evaluation, he said would ascertain the effectiveness of the
program, the costs, liability implications of having volunteers
of another organization responding to EMS calls, whether the
DSSAB should take more or less ownership of the program, and
whether the present EFRT members are adequately and properly
covered either through the DSSAB or their host organization.
Mr. Hammond
said an evaluation of the EFRT program, with resulting
recommendations could be completed for the December 2004 board
meeting. |