Copyright 2006 The Columbus Dispatch
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Liberty Township residents can register special medical needs
By JANE HAWES
POWELL, Ohio — A chance encounter at a grocery store was the impetus for a new database that could provide life-saving information to Liberty Township emergency squads.
Lt. Bill Piwtorak, a firefighter and paramedic with the southern Delaware County department, was on duty at a local Kroger last winter when he ran into Beth Haner, whose then-4-year-old son, Alex, waved down the uniformed firefighter to say hello.
Haner told Piwtorak that her oldest son, John, has epilepsy and needs a drug that most EMS squads don’t carry. The drugs used to combat seizures that the squads usually administer can result in more-severe convulsions, she said.
Haner also said she knew of other students at John’s school who had special medical needs and that those might affect their treatment by EMS crews.
Piwtorak, emergency medical-services coordinator for the department, shared the conversation back at the station house, where employees eventually decided to form a townshipwide registry of residents’ special medical needs.
On Valentine’s Day, Piwtorak presented John with the first form to register for the database.
“I made Feb. 14 the day because I’ll remember to update it each year on that day,” Piwtorak said. “It’s our valentine to the community.”
Registration is voluntary, and can be completed online or by filling out a form at the fire department.
The resident’s address and phone number are then flagged in the county’s 911 call-center database so dispatchers can tell emergency-squad members about the resident’s medical needs.
Because of privacy concerns, “all (dispatchers) have is that it’s a special-needs house,” Piwtorak said, adding that physical files tell personnel other facts they need to know.
So far, 10 people have registered. Piwtorak said squads already have used the data during three emergency calls.
The Liberty Township squad also sought additional training after Piwtorak’s conversation with Haner. The Epilepsy Foundation of Central Ohio conducted a training seminar in March to help squad members understand the range of treatments available.
“We feel it’s just groundbreaking,” said Nancy Brantner, executive director of the foundation. She said she sent information about the Liberty Township program to the national office.
Haner said the registry system provides her and her husband, Tom, a type of security that a medical-alert bracelet didn’t. The EMS squad arrives knowing more than the bracelet could tell them, she said, and unlike a bracelet, the registry can’t be removed by a fidgety child.
Mrs. Haner said she no longer feels as though she has to stay close to home to oversee potential emergency calls.
“So many people with special-needs kids just don’t leave the house, and we’ve been guilty of that,” Haner said. “Not anymore.”