—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Oct. 23, 1976 42 Dave Griffith demonstrates the communication with the hospital and phone which connects the van with can be vital in getting follow-up the hospital. This allows direct directions tothe scene of an accident. Real life 'Emergency' Uni# operating In Lantaster area By SALLY BAIR -Feature Writer The moment of crisis is here. Suddenly the farm accident which could only happen to someone else has happened to your family. What should you do? If you have die number 393-1119 in your head and are automatically reaching for the phone and dialing, the chances are good that you will save a life. The above phone number will connect you with the mobile intensive care unit of Saint Joseph’s Hospital in i Lancaster, and within 45 seconds ofyour call it will be on its way to offer life-saving assistance. And, while the mobile unit is speeding on its way to the scene, a call from the hospital will dispatch local police and a local ambulance as well, to provide a dual response to your call for help. According to malic Dave Griffith, who is assigned to the mobile unit, die unit is designed to' “provide basic 1 life support in life-threatening situations. It is really an emergency room on wheels.” The unit moves out with two medics, a registered nurse, and a licensed practical nurse, all of whom are specially trained to take over the mobile life support system and provide any emergency treatment required. If this all sounds a litde like the “Emergency!” television program, it is, but with a very notable ex ception. In St. Joseph’s mobile unit, medical personnel are trained and under standing orders to carry out specific medication without communicating directly with the hospital. They are trained to recognize and treat symptoms and provide medical attention im mediately. Since the unit carries all the necessary life support equipment, their sole purpose is to save lives, and they can stay with a patient until his condition is stabilized, and at that point the move to a hospital can be made. The unititself is just four years old, but has already Medic Dave Griffith looks into the severe trauma in an medical “trauma kit” which contains all the emergency, necessary equipment to deal with become a well-known and respected institution around (he county. The unit averages about five calls a day, but it has had as many as nine calls in one labour shift. In one 12 month period, the unit responded to 1746 calls. It carries supplies to handle up to 50 people in a disaster. According to Griffith, the unit responds to any life threatening, critical situation, including such filings as electrical shock, emergency childbirth, stroke, drowning, automobile and industrial accidents, knife and gunshot Mounds and others. They can provide ahy emergency room procedure except to perform surgery or give blood. ' i - ’•} 4-t Homestead Notes With the yearly cost of operating the unit at $155,000, it is not hard to imagine that it'is the most pampered vehicle in Lancaster County. Regular maintenance is carried out" every 2000 miles, and the unit is equipped with a special “umbilical package” which keeps the interior of the van and the engine warm so there are quick starts in even the coldest weather. The medics are responsible for routine maintenance of the unit, and supplies and equipment is checked with each 12-hour shift. Supplies are replaced after each call. Medics also keep records of any equipment which may need to be replaced. Basically, the unit is always in tip-top shape. Whole the unit is designed to carry up to four victims, i I ' \ ■Hrl'i r - 'd&S? *# v V ', *;•* y&p, v >•^s. Dave Griffith takes the wheel of the required. Maintenance is regular .and mobile unit.' The van is specially- complete. • designed to take the hard driving This is St. Joseph's Hospital's Intensive Care Unit which could save your life. they prefer to transport no more than two. Since they regularly dispatch local ambulances to fee scene outside fee city* these vehicles !are often -used to transport patients once their is stabilized. Griffith explained farther that except ‘ severe trauma fee patient is given a choice cf bospitals and will be transported to his chosen hospithb v lri severe trauma cases the patient will be taken to mq nearest hospital. Despite the obviously high cost of maintaining this; equipment, there:* ® ntf charge for calls. Griffith exl ■ > plained that the hospital charges for, any medication? ' given, as required by federal law. It & estimated an average call costs feeTHst#l2s;r, £..i J f l V’*-* The unit is maintained primarily by donations, : .and this year die Farm Women .Societies of Lancaster County have selected it as their county tP® county convention on Navemberjfi, they present a check for slightly, over to with the continuing cost oC the" eqiilpniept shp dif ference between contributions and operaff-gctists is made up by the hpspital. Currently there are eight medics and 1 : r.urses who - are qualified and whoshare equally fee r? uionsibilities of the 12 hour shifts working on the mobile unit. Griffith explained that the nurses are k--igaed to the Intensive Care Unit regularly and the medie&ta the .emergency room, so they are on the job for their full shiftswhether or not a cad cm-cs for fee mobile unit. . Interestingly, chere is a list of 100-150 people who have expressed interest in training to become eligible to work with fee mobile unit. The reason, Griffith said, lies in fee fact feat people working in the volunteer ambulance field would like to become fee best, and would like to get into fee professional atmosphere of fee unit. He said, “It’s a unique area. We care for critically ill patients, and there is a great versatility of {Continued on Page 43]