By Jeff Horvath
Standard-Speaker
LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Saving time often means saving lives when it comes to emergency medicine, and a pair of local ambulance companies aim to be the first in the region to do both with a new program.
Pennsylvania Ambulance will soon begin using a new emergency medical services unit that will allow an emergency room doctor to respond directly to the scene of medical emergencies in Lackawanna County. Its sister company, Trans-Med Ambulance, will later introduce the same service in Luzerne County.
The new compact emergency vehicle, dubbed PA 30 and emblazoned with the word “Physician,” will begin responding to calls in the coming weeks.
“We’re doing something that hasn’t been done before in this area,” said Dr. Sean Morgan, M.D., the board certified emergency and pre-hospital physician who will man the new unit. “It’s bringing something new and taking our care here in Lackawanna County to the next level.”
Morgan, a deputy medical director at Pennsylvania Ambulance with 15 years of EMS experience, will serve in the new role when off-shift from his job as an emergency room physician at Geisinger Community Medical Center. He plans to work one standard, 8-hour shift per week on the specialized unit and will be on call when not working at the hospital.
“It’s really about getting the (emergency department) care, pre-hospital. That’s what we want to do,” said Morgan, who is able to perform on-scene treatment outside the scope of a standard EMS provider. “We don’t want to limit the care because they’re not at the hospital, because sometimes these patients have really traumatic injuries (and) are on-scene for two or three hours, so we want to bring our care to the field.”
He can provide specialized care for victims of heart attacks or industrial accidents, for example.
Morgan emphasized that the service will augment care already provided by first responders. When EMTs and paramedics are on the road, they work under the guidance of medical directors, so when Morgan is on scene, that guidance will be more direct.
“The typical reporting mechanism is a paramedic calling in to talk to a medical command physician,” said Mike McCormick, director of marketing for Pennsylvania Ambulance. “Now that physician is right there on scene.”
For the time being, Morgan will be the only physician on the road with first responders from both the Pennsylvania and Trans-Med Ambulance companies, but the goal is for more local physicians to become certified as time progresses. Doctors must take a “medical control physicians course” and become certified by the state Department of Health to serve in this capacity, Morgan said.
“I think this is going to be a stepping stone of things to come,” he added. “We’ve already had a lot of interest from people in this area and nationwide about our unit.”
Ultimately, ambulance company officials believe the new program can mean the difference between life and death.
“This will save lives, I can tell you, just because of the advanced assessments that (Morgan) can do and some of the on-site command duties that he’ll be able to do during a call,” operations manager Bruce Beauvais said. “He can recommend alternate courses of treatment pre-hospital, where we may not be able to do that with a straight protocol.”
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