CCFD BLS Technician Jacob O’Brien buckling in a doll to demonstrate new pediatric restraints at Fire Station 51 on April 14.
Photo by Scott Neuffer.
Treating a child in emergency situations can be stressful. Because of a federal grant and a state program, first responders in Carson City now have more tools to help them with pediatric care.
“In a pediatric event, everyone’s heart rate is high,” said Carson City Fire Department Firefighter and EMT Carlos Madrid. “Everyone is all hands on deck, so if we don’t have things specified that work as well as this does, it gets tough, and everything gets scrambled.”
CCFD has been using new child restraint systems for first-line ambulances the last few years, but it was a state program that recently provided three more systems for backup ambulances.
In March and April, the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services’ Emergency Medical Services program delivered more than 70 pediatric restraint systems, free of charge, to fire and rescue departments across northern Nevada.
“The EMS program is excited to be able to provide pediatric restraint devices to ambulance services around the state that otherwise may not be able to purchase such beneficial equipment,” Bobbie Sullivan, Nevada EMS program manager, said in a press release. “Although the probability of pediatric transports on a daily basis tends to be low, the positive impact of having this equipment cannot be understated.”
The restraints were purchased through the Nevada EMS for Children State Partnership Grant, a federal grant funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. Nevada received more than $300,000 to purchase the equipment and to support training for hospitals and rescue services, according to the release.
“The goal of the program is to put child restraint systems in all 215 ambulances regulated by Nevada EMS,” reads the release.
The restraint systems can be used on children 4 to 110 pounds. CCFD BLS Technician Jacob O’Brien described how child emergencies can go “from good to bad really fast.” He said the new restraint systems are noninvasive.
“It allows the little ones that we have riding on board with us to stay up close against the back of our gurney,” he said.
CCFD Battalion Chief Kevin Nyberg said the old technology for restraining child patients was cumbersome.
“It was actually just an inflatable seat that was three times the size of that (new system) even stowed away, so it took a lot of room in the rescue. And when you had to set it up, it was quite a bit more process. So just eliminating that time frame provides a little better care to the child.”
CCFD EMS Division Chief Sandy Wartgow said every patient-transporting vehicle in the department now has the pediatric restraints.
“I think what we do know across the country is that it’s not uncommon for ambulances to be in accidents, and that’s where this protection really comes into play,” she said.
Wartgow pointed out the department now has enough restraint systems to handle a mass casualty incident, should all ambulances be out at once. The new systems also help in transporting stable child patients from Carson to Reno.
“During respiratory season, like this last season with RSV, there were a lot of transports of kids from Carson Tahoe up to Renown Children’s Hospital,” she said.
For information about Nevada EMS, visit https://dpbh.nv.gov/Reg/EMS/EMS-home/.