Therapeutic                       Hypothermia

Cool   Patient   Care   

A new type of patient treatment is being initiated at Hawkins County EMS. Some so called far fetched ideas have recently been seen on medical programs on TV, but in all actuality the treatment is not far fetched. ICE WATER IN THE VEIN?....... YES, It is known as Therapeutic Hypothermia, and is on the cutting edge of emergency medicine. We are proud to announce that recently we initiated a protocol to start this ICE treatment Intensive Cold Emergency care. Dr.Keith Pratt has approved the new protocol to be started in certain situations. Studies have been performed showing that cooling a cardiac arrest patient for 24 hours, to 90f - 93f degrees target temp., had a rate of 52% survivability. Those without Therapeutic Hypothermia had a rate of 26% who recieved the standard care. These studies were done in hospital, not in pre-hospital which shows much lower success due to response times. We will be able to compare statistics and will be able to know just how important this new treatment stacks up.

2009 RESCUE/EMS CHRISTMAS PARTY

Our Christmas party this year was a great success. We had approx. 250 people present with Rescue and EMS. Director Ric Chapman presented the Larry Lawson Award to EMT-IV Paul Lutz.  Randy Maddox was reconized for over coming many years of be out of EMS and coming back as if he had never left.  There was 2 Pheonix Awards and was presented by the patients that was resuscitated.  Those recieving this award were Brenda Joyner, Jason Murrell, Ric Chapman, and Jamie Miller.  There was also certificates given to Ken Joyner, Scott Greer, Paul Lutz, Johnny Gulley, Robin Greer, and Josh Reese for assisting with the resuscitations.