When You Schedule Your Yearly Check-ups - Don't Forget EMS

I have been working on a lot since EMS World last month. Honestly I have been working to be sure that for my son there is a plan in place so that were we to need it, the response this time would be what he needs. In July it was not what anybody wanted and I am doing all I can to ensure that it would be now.

In calling to get a plan in place, I started where I thought I was supposed to. I went back to our local fire department. The same one who had assured me last July that we had a plan and that my son would be well taken care of in the event of an emergency since he has adrenal insufficiency. When I explained what had happened and how I wanted to make sure it would not happen again. They told me to call our ambulance company. I thought this was ridiculous, but I hung up and called them. I sat on hold for quite a while and then honestly gave up.

I called our county health department. I had been told that there were county protocols in place for adrenal insufficiency since at least six years ago. I wanted the details of these plans and would then go with these plans to the ambulance company to see where the disconnect was. I was put in touch with our direction of emergency preparedness - while this man told me he typically does not talk to families about their specific emergency medical plans, he took my call. He told me that the plan should be made with the ambulance company and that he would put me directly in contact with them.

I waited almost a week and still had no contact from the ambulance company. I followed up and had a call back within the hour. The gentleman on the phone said that when he had heard I had called last week he began doing his own research. He was familiar with how to treat adrenal insufficiency and how to treat it in the field. He also had checked with many of his paramedics and they, too knew what to do. Then came the shocker - he said that county which had a protocol in place no longer did. They had a new medical director who had gotten rid of it!!

More than likely this was done to alleviate any chance of liability. This highlights why having guidelines that are approved by respected EMS/paramedic associations and distributed through them is necessary. I have since been in contact with those responsible for working hard to get the original protocol in place and they had no idea anything had changed. There is no responsibility on EMS to let anyone know when they drop a protocol. This is why annually people need to be sure that you are checking in with EMS that whatever plan you have in place is still there.

I did work with the ambulance company to flag our address for my son. He will have a copy of an emergency treatment plan signed by my son's doctor on file and my son will have one with his emergency kit. My son has emergency information on his phone and is waiting for a specialized headrest cover to carry his plan in personal information with him in his car. This is what my son is doing - not an exhaustive list of what to do. A medical alert bracelet is always recommended.

I am working with Danny's Dose to go to our state's quarterly EMS meeting and find out what other changes may have happened that affect our portion of the 28 million Americans who have one of the 40 medical conditions requiring specialized emergency treatment. And then we will work to establish guidelines that again protect not only patients safety, but liability of EMS personnel. No one should be afraid to provide care to someone in the field and no one should be afraid that if they are in an emergency situation no one will be able to help them.