—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,
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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
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