By Lucas Daprile
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — All 25 of Cleveland’s frontline ambulances will now carry an advanced device officials say will save lives.
On Tuesday, city leaders announced they have finished equipping and training EMS workers with a portable, battery-powered ventilator. They have even used the technology in the field several times already, said Cleveland EMS Commissioner Orlando Wheeler.
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Adding ventilators to ambulances – plus the division’s recently added ability to portably give whole-blood transfusions – allows patients to receive life-saving care much faster than before, said EMS education specialist Sgt. Rob Moyer .
“We can basically deploy ICU-level care in the pre-hospital field and try to get better outcomes for our patients,” Moyer said.
David Jockers, the Cleveland Association of Rescue Employees’ first vice president, called the devices a “game changer” that has been used to help patients.
The ventilators will replace an existing manual device where an EMS worker squeezes a thick plastic bag that forces air into the lungs of a patient. Though that technology is effective, it also involves more guesswork. Patients of different sizes need different amounts of air in their lungs, and it’s important not to force too little or too much air when ventilating someone, Moyer said.
“(With) under-ventilating, obviously you’re not getting enough oxygen, but over-ventilating can cause trauma to the lungs, and it can actually stop blood flow returning to the heart,” Moyer said.
The portable ventilators are the same ones the U.S. Air Force uses, and they can be helpful in treating any patient who is struggling to breathe, whether the reason is because of a lung issue such as asthma or trauma like a gunshot wound, Wheeler said.
The technology also makes it safer when paramedics need to transport a person who is on a non-portable ventilator, such as at a nursing home, said EMS education specialist Sgt. Sharon Kozel.
Last fall, Cthe leveland City Council unanimously approved spending $540,000 to purchase ventilators using money from a general obligation bond.
Though the money was set aside a year ago, the city had to go through its procurement processes to choose the correct technology. In March, the division received the ventilators and spent the rest of spring and summer training employees on how to use them, Wheeler said.
EMS began using the technology in the field Nov. 17.
“With all the technology and new innovations that we’ve been utilizing here in the division, this is more like a mobile intensive care unit than it is anything else,” Wheeler said. “When people think of critical care, what we do is take the hospital environment and bring it right to you.”
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