Advanced transport training aids patients
Living in paradise comes with its challenges, one of them being the distances we sometimes must travel in emergency situations.
St. John’s Lutheran Hospital continually works on ways to close that gap, not by miles, but by the advanced care you receive while traveling - care that takes highly trained individuals to perform.
St. John’s has two paramedics who are both trained and certified in advanced care. Willy DeMond and Don Burdon, CCEMTP’s, paramedics, and Emergency Room technicians at the local hospital. DeMond recently spent two weeks in Portland, Ore., to earn his CCEMTP certification for inter-facility transports.
DeMond has served as a field and transport paramedic for three years, prior to which he was an advanced EMT/fire in McCall, Idaho.
Burdon has had his critical care transport certification for years. Prior to joining St. John’s, Burdon served as Emergency Medical Services Director and field and transport paramedic for Indian Health Services. Burdon has more than 18 years of critical care and paramedic experience.
CCEMTP is an advanced educational program for paramedics and registered nurses who perform inter-facility transports, moving very sick patients from one hospital to another for further care and treatment.
Participants in this course have an expanded scope of practice, allowing them to administer more medications than the normal transport provider.
The premise behind the CCEMTP program is to provide formal training in the assessment, monitoring, and management of complex medical patients. The program includes instruction in all common aspects of critical care assessment and management and focuses on five different modules: Preparatory – Critical Care Environment, Medical Care, Airway Management, Trauma and Burn Care, and Other Special Considerations such as high risk obstetrics, pediatrics, pain management and organ donation and transplant.
These five modules cover the most common and serious conditions requiring transport from a rural community hospital, like St John’s, to a tertiary care facility like Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
Mike Julius, Emergency Department Manager at St. John’s is thrilled to have both Paramedics certified in Critical Care Transport.
“This is a wonderful addition to the community’s health by allowing us a quicker and more efficient transfer process for patients requiring advanced care at larger hospitals,” said Julius.
“A good example is that a patient having a heart attack needs an interventional cardiac cath lab and interventional cardiologist. Rapid transfer to a cath lab is imperative for optimal patient outcome, and with the unfavorable weather we frequently experience in Libby, helicopter transport is not always an option. Having qualified and certified transport personnel in these cases is paramount in getting critical patients to specialty care.”
“Both medics are certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Basic Life Support, and Critical Care Transport.
“They work full-time in St. John’s Emergency Room as technicians, and are available to the community for both pre-hospital Advanced Life Support and hospital to hospital Advanced Life Support transfers. Often there are not enough available qualified personnel to take our seriously injured and ill patients to higher level hospitals in Kalispell and Spokane. DeMond and Burdon will help fill this gap making a significant difference on positive patient outcomes by getting patients into the hands of specialized care that much sooner,” said Julius.