Date: Fri 12-Sep-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

EMT-accident-response

Full Text:

Training For A Quicker Response To Medical Distress

(with cuts)

BY DOROTHY EVANS

When an accident or heart attack patient isn't breathing, every second counts.

Yet, in a town the size of Newtown, the first responder to an accident scene,

a fire or a cardiac distress call, is just as likely to be a volunteer fireman

as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) serving with the Newtown Ambulance

Corps.

For that reason, fire, hospital and ambulance officials agree that the best

and quickest way to deliver life-saving cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR)

and defibrillation to restart a pulse, would be to train and certify the

firefighters as Medical Response Technicians (MRTs).

They have also decided to equip each one of the town's five fire companies

with a defibrillation device.

These decisions, constituting a fundamental change in Newtown's emergency

preparedness, were made in December 1996 as the result of combined efforts by

both ambulance and fire officials working together with Danbury Hospital

Ambulance Corps Chief Steve Rambone.

October 1 is the date they hope to go "on line" with the defibrillator and

certified personnel, said ambulance corps member Debbie Aubin, who organized

several training sessions for the firefighters including a refresher workshop

held last Saturday morning at the Sandy Hook firehouse.

"The whole town will benefit. Even if you're just traveling through, you'll

benefit," said William Halstead, chief of the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and

Rescue Company.

"These people are dedicated to saving lives, not just putting out fires," said

John Basso, assistant chief of the ambulance corps.

"We want the people of Newtown to know what approximately 200 volunteers from

all the companies have gone through to get to this point. The town is

blessed," Mr Basso said.