With the generous approval of members of the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Committee, Allied EMS Systems, Inc. was recently able to purchase five pediatric-specific jump bags and five pediatric vacuum immobilization boards for use on their Emmet County advanced life support ambulances.

These bags provide an organizing principle for special infant and child-sized equipment according to a color-coded scheme that enhances an emergency crew’s ability to provide rapid, appropriately sized interventions in pediatric emergencies.  As Executive Director Dave Slifka noted, “We need to remember that children are not simply adults in smaller packages; there are crucial anatomical and physiological differences in infants and children that make it essential we have equipment that is appropriately sized for the precise type of intervention needed. This new equipment will eliminate much guesswork and enable our paramedics, who are already extensively trained in responding to pediatric emergencies, to function even more effectively in these low frequency, but very high stress calls.” 

The new equipment complements Allied’s participation in the MI First Stepps Grant program with Michigan State University’s Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies.  During the term of this grant, Allied paramedics will be evaluated in their response to pediatric emergencies using state of the art Sim-Baby simulators and will receive six separate modules of pediatric training designed by KCMS physicians. 

Once the study has been completed, Allied paramedics will have received additional intense training in responding to pediatric emergencies and KCMS staff will have a much better answer to the question of what kinds of training produce better results in pediatric EMS calls.

Staff paramedics from Allied EMS Systems, Inc. stand behind new pediatric-specific jump bags and a special pediatric vacuum immobilization board purchased with grant funds from the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation.  From left:  Paramedic Dave Trautman, Allied’s Executive Director Dave Slifka, PSHACF Executive Director David Jones, Youth Advisory Committee member Aimon Dwan, and Allied’s Education Coordinator Pete Olson.

Thanks to the generosity of the Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation and members of L’Arbre Croche Club, Allied EMS Systems, Inc. was recently able to purchase some very specialized training equipment in support of the Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) classes that they recently began offering to members of their staff, as well as to other interested healthcare providers in the area. 

Equipment purchased includes a manikin that simulates placement of a breathing tube in a patient who has experienced trauma to the head and neck; a simulator that allows paramedics to practice the skill of relieving the pressure from a collapsed lung in the field; a simulator that facilitates practice of the placement of an emergency airway in a patient whose airway has been compromised, as well as three new Little Annie manikins for use in CPR classes for both the lay public and area healthcare providers. 

The PHTLS class challenges traditional assumptions in emergency medicine, and presents lessons learned literally in the streets of Iraq regarding the most effective management of patients involved in traumatic incidents.  Six members of Allied’s staff were recently certified as PHTLS instructors, capable of offering this class to healthcare providers in Northern Michigan.

New CPR, difficult airway, pneumothorax, and crico-thryotomy simulators.

Placing a “Quik-Trach” device in the crico-thyrotomy simulator.

Placing an endotracheal airway in the new difficult airway manikin.