DEATH OF AN EMS PIONEER

This year has been especially hard for Floyd County with the death of leaders from police, fire and EMA. Now comes the hardest blow to the EMS community - the death of Stanley Payne, Director of Floyd Medical Center EMS. Stanley began his EMS career at age 16 working for Jennings Funeral Home and became one of the first employees of Floyd Hospital Ambulance Service now Floyd Medical Center EMS in 1966. Under his leadership the service became Georgia Service of the Year on three occasions. Stanley was a member of the Region 1 Council and EMSAC both of which he served as chairman. His funeral was held on Friday, October 1 and was attended by hundreds. We will miss you Stanley.

DRAFT OF NEW EMS RULES RELEASED

Years in the making, the draft of the new DHR ambulance rules and regulations have been released and will be mailed out to each county commissioner, ambulance service and council member. However, the Office of EMS will only be taking comments on the omission of one sentence at this step of approval. The sentence affirms that no Basic Life Support Services exist in Georgia. This omission was necessary for the support of the Office of Medical Assistance. Please send your comments on this change to David Bean. Please review the draft for later comments on the entire draft.

EMS EXPO IS HERE

The National Emergency Medical Services conference EMS EXPO will be held in Atlanta on October 19-23 at the World Congress Center. We have circulated passes for the vendor area and have a few more at the EMS Office. Two lectures will be delivered by Region 1 directors - Bud Owens and Greg Lord. More information is available on the conference at http://www.advancedrt.com/emsexpo/emsexpoindex.html

REGION ONE EMS COUNCIL MEETING

The Region 1 EMS Council meeting will be held on October 28 at 2:00 p.m. at the Region 1 EMS office in Rome. A proposal may be considered from Gordon Hospital to be designated as a trauma center. Also the council will be charged to find alternative sponsors for national registry exams and awards ceremony that are not core functions of the regional office according to the State EMS Office.

FLOYD MEDICAL CENTER REDESIGNATED AS TRAUMA CENTER

Floyd Medical Center has been redesignated as a level Level 2 trauma center by the Office of EMS and Trauma. The letter was accompanied by glowing remarks about the dedication of the personnel to the trauma center concept.

IT'S TIME TO ORDER PCRS

October 15 is the deadline to order your next six months supply of PCRs through the Region 1 EMS office. This order will be delivered in early December.

HAZMAT COURSE NEEDS APPLICANTS

The hazardous material recognition course sponsored by Redmond Regional Medical Center EMS to be held at Floyd College on October 16 needs about 10 more applicants. If these applications are not received by October 11 then the course will be cancelled. If you are interested, contact Phillip Tucker at Redmond Regional EMS.

EMS INSTRUCTOR COURSE IS UNDERWAY

Jim Cutcher will not be in his office this week. Instead he will be one of the instructors at the annual EMS instructor training program in Clarksville. More than 20 instructor candidates are in attendance. The next screening will be held early next year for candidates.

AMLS COMING TO REGION 1

The pilot course for Advanced Medical Life Support will be held in Region 1 on November 18-19. This course will provide future instructors for the program in the region. AMLS was developed to better prepare EMS providers to diagnose and treat various medical problems. The course includes altered mental status, seizures, abdominal pain and other medical problems.

WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME

A former paramedic from Macon did not realize that the theft of a drug box from a Whitfield County ambulance would result in a wrestling match with a former Army Ranger and time in jail. It looked easy. The ambulance had stopped to pick up a patient at a doctors office and both crewmembers had left the ambulance unattended. However, the crew saw the thief walking away with the drug box. Matthew chased and wrestled him to the ground. The thief was held while Crumptons partner Tracy Caylor called the police. The police arrived and placed the suspect under arrest. More jump kits were found in his vehicle. Congratulations to Matthew and Tracy.

PUBLIC DEFIBRILLATORS DOUBLE SURVIVAL

A study conducted in the United States and Canada has again proven that the availability of automatic external defibrillators can double the survival of cardiac arrest patients. Of 526 events, 239 met the study definition of sudden cardiac arrest. The study showed that fewer arrests occurred in public areas and more occurred at home. However, it also showed that the survival rate of the cardiac arrests occurring in public areas had a higher survival rate due to faster access to AEDs. The study questioned the value of further resuscitation measures by prehospital and hospital personnel.

DATE CHANGED FOR GOVERNOR'S PUBLIC SAFETY AWARDS

The date for the 2004 Georgia Governor's Public Safety Award Banquet has been changed to November 12 at 1:00 P.M. The nomination deadline has passed. See you there in uniform.

PROBLEMS WITH FORD F350 ENGINES?

A recent e-mail quoting from a technical bulletin from the Ford Motor Company could explain the problems recently experienced by Ford ambulances. The bulletin explained that the camshaft for some Ford engines in F-350 trucks was 1/16,000 off, causing the camshaft sensor to lose the position of the camshaft and shutting the engine down as a safety precaution. The Ford company has made a shim available to fix the problem.

THANKS FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION

I would like to express my graditude for the services who participated in Stanley Paynes funeral. I would especially like to recognize Redmond Regional EMS, Chattooga, Gordon, Bartow and Polk EMS who covered the Floyd County area during the funeral so that Floyd EMS employees could attend the funeral. I appreciate Emory Flight, Lifeforce and Rescue Air One for the fly over at the gravesite. I am certain that the family was impressed by the 15 services who had ambulances in the procession or blocked intersections. Thanks again for your participation.

Do you have a news story you would like published in Ambuglances? If so, let David Loftin know about it. He can be reached via telephone at (706) 295-6154 or via email at cdloftin@gdph.state.ga.us. Let's inform the region about your news!