Perhaps nothing evokes a stronger connection with “rural” than a farm setting with freshly turned earth, abundant crops and grazing livestock.
Agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries in America. Each year, farmers, farm families, farm employees and emergency responders die unnecessarily because of unknown dangers that increase the risk to the victim and the rescuer. Robertson, Murphy, and Davis (2006) report more than 7,000 farm work fatalities from 1992-2000.
EMS and other rescue personnel are called to farms and ranches relatively infrequently. However, when they are called, it often includes complex situations involving heavy equipment or other challenges unique to the agricultural environment.
The Rural and Frontier Emergency Medical Services Agenda for the Future (2004) recommends training in specialty situations, such as agricultural production sites, because emergency responders lack knowledge and understanding of the nature of the agricultural production work sites. Farm machinery, chemicals, animal behavior, and farm structures hamper safe and effective farm rescue. Farm rescue training allows rescuers and EMTs to respond effectively to tractor rollovers, power take-off (PTO) entanglements, pesticide exposures, and silo fires. First responders, EMTs and other rescue workers have been injured or killed because they lack knowledge of farm equipment, its dangers, and how to respond.
The first adage of EMS has been, and must continue to be, ensuring that the scene is safe. Specialized farm rescue and response training is the only way to become familiar with the general principles of securing and caring for patients in this dangerous environment. We hope that this directory of contacts will encourage and assist those EMS agencies whose response areas include agricultural settings to attain and maintain the skills necessary to operate safely and efficiently in this environment.
Web site:
http://ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/pub/REMSTTAC/FarmRescueDirectory.asp
Downloadable Report:
ftp://ftp.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/FarmRescueEMSDirectory.pdf