EMS technicians and other first responders can and do work miracles each & every day. But not if they do not have the right rolling stock or medical systems or other equipment, or enough of it, or if the equipment they do have is not properly maintained.
"First come, first served" is an appealingly democratic rule to follow when selling movie tickets or scarce consumer products. The same rule could literally kill people, though, if used by the first responders at mass-casualty incidents.
Healthcare reform could be a major sleeper issue in next year's elections, and deservedly so. But reforms that make matters worse would be counterproductive. Here are some suggestions that the winning candidates might consider.
The willingness of so many citizen volunteers to serve on Community Emergency Response Teams adds an extra dimension of capability to already overworked (and sometimes overwhelmed) EMS staffs. There are a few precautions also worth noting, though.
The professional guidelines developed to help the nation's hospitals cope with a broad spectrum of emergencies have been so successful and so well-received that they have been expanded, revised, and refined to encompass non-emergency situations as well.
Forward-looking planners in Huntsville, Alabama, are seeking to determine the feasibility of using medical facilities as fallout shelters to cope with mass-casualty incidents involving a nuclear or "dirty" bomb.
The good news is that the fallout shelters built during the Cold War never had to be used. The bad news is that they might have to be resurrected, refurbished and reconditioned, and made available as "just in case" protection facilities.
"Full-scale" exercises sound like, and are, the ideal - but only in certain almost-perfect circumstances, and not without a firm foundation of individual and team training exercises to build on.
Standard operating procedures are by definition not enough when EMS responders are called to the scene of a mass-casualty incident. Extraordinary and/or non-standard procedures are not only permitted, therefore, but frequently mandatory.
With fire-prevention programs serving as an example, there is much that "everyday citizens" can learn about protecting themselves and their families in a variety of emergency situations. The most important lesson is learning one's own limitations.
