I don't believe I saw any information on this service in our local news coverage but it is an area that I believe needs a bit more exposure.
The Guardian Care Critical Care Transport as provided by the Kurtz Ambulance Service is an alternative to the helicopter transport which is now our only alternative route. But when weather conditions are not good for helicopter transfer and we do not have local critical care availabilites, what do we do?
If I am wrong on this please let me know that PVAS provides all of these at this time. The Illinois Valley does not have a lot of medical specialists and surgeons available locally and we frequently find ourselves in the need of transport to a larger medical facility namely and usually OSF in Peoria.
Many transfers are done locally and done successfully but there are times when the ambulance will not have the necessary life saving equipment and the helicopter cannot fly because of inclement weather.
I did ask Kurtz about this service and I believe that they said that currently they operate 4 critical care ambulances with equipment as written up in the article. On board is a critical care RN and a paramedic and an emt driver. If the ambulance is called and there is a change of plans, no charge is rendered.
21 comments:
I recently had a conversation with a medical professional in the city and I was told that even pediatric appendectomies are sent to Peoria for surgery if our one surgeon is unavailable to perform the procedure.
Never thought much about the changes occurring in the medical profession and how fast they are happening. This is all the more important for this city to be prepared for the need for quick critical care transport if needed
I believe PSI runs a Critical Care unit out of Good Sam Hospital in the suburbs. Maybe they will put a unit in the area?
Guardian actually only has two ambulances. Guardian was a collaboration of Kurtz and the now defunct Air Angels after Air Angels went bankrupt following a third helicopter which killed 4.
Don't let their smoke and mirrors fool you...most of their nurses and paramedics have very little actually 911/emergency field experience.
AMT out of Peoria provides critical care ambulance transport. They have had their CCT ambulances stationed in and around the Illinois Valley. Their Streator crew can, and does, do CCT transports, but no "level 3" CCT calls which do require a RN to be on board.
Currently no EMS agency in the IL Valley offers CCT other than AMT in Streator.
3:54PM
My information came from the Kurtz management that came to Peru, I will forward your information to them for a reply. Wouldn't you believe they know more about their own business other than an anon blogger? Did you go to their web site?
3:54PM
Are you referring to the Lifenet System set up by OSF specifically for heart attack patients? AMT is stationed all over the Illinois Valley? I am mystified how you would know how much experience any companies employees have?
Did you work elsewhere for either Kurtz or AMT or Streator?
This is the web site for AMT out of Peoria.
http://advancedmedicaltransport.org/index.php
I believe this company also does a lot of transfers from OSF to this area if need be. I think they brought my sister law back twice from Peoria and she was not an emergency or a critical care pt.
The fact is that this type of service is provided to local patients all the time using a variety of transporting agencies.
Local agencies can provide Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS) service right now. Several are in the process of adding Critical Care Transport (CCT) capability (and may already be offering it). AMT and Kurtz have ambulances with RNs on board, but this is already done locally by utilizing hospital RNs working with BLS or ALS ambulance crews.
These specialty transports have been available in our area for years. All AMT and Kurtz offer is some convenience for the person arranging the transport.
Cranky Medic
AMT just did a transfer last week. They came to the airport to relay a patient onto Life-Flite. Not sure where they got the patient from but they were here.
If they serve Streator, I would think that is where the patient came from as there is no airport with a copter anywhere close other than Peru.
10:05 PM
I know and many others do know about BLS and ALS and I do know that some RN's serve as volunteers for some. I doubt any are on PVAS as I was ridiculed by one of their members for only being an RN and working at a hospital when I was actively working.
I was more concerned with the ability to have life support and other medical equipment on board and people who were familiar with using them frequently on board.
Can you be specific about what local services have ambulances with specialty equip. Cranky did you check the link to see what I am referring to.
Found my information from the meeting and this is what it says about Guardian.paraphrased:
Dedicated Tier-III critical care transport services, staffed 24/7 with a Critical Care Rn, Critical Care EMT-P and EMT-B driver.
Cutting edge equipment, including LTV - 1000 vent and CS-300 Balloon Pump. Allows bypass of closest hospital to transfer patients from urgent aids to designated hospitals.
I am not defending Kurtz but want honest information and not denigrating PVAS for not having the equipment. Just facts so that we are all aware and INFORMED.
Please ask questions and I will get you the answers. I'm aware just watching the city that they are not always doing things in our best intterest and most cost saving manner.
The local agencies will get the necessary CCT equipment as they are approved in the system. This will ensure that their CCT medics are very familiar with the equipment. They should have IV pumps and possibly a portable ventilator. However, not all EMS systems allow CCT medics to operate a vent. Peoria Area EMS requires a nurse. McLean County (which Putnam County EMS operates from) allows paramedics to operate a vent (McLean County also requires more training and testing of all of its medics than Peoria). I'm not sure what the IVCH system permits.
The CCT units only carry the medications approved by their system. CCT medics are trained on all of these meds. Having an RN on board allows a much wider range of medications to be used.
Some equipment will come from the hospital, even for AMT and Kurtz. Things like neonatal isolettes and LVADs are not standard on any ambulance. Neonatal transports still require a NICU RN for all agencies.
I don't work for PVAS but know that they have done lots of RN transfers with RNs from local hospitals. These RNs are not volunteering for PVAS but are paid by the hospital for the transport. In these cases, the hospital will also provide any specialty equipment necessary if it is not already on the ambulance.
The main equipment advantage that the AMT RN trucks have is the ability to carry much more oxygen and medical air than a standard ambulance. This helps for long-distance ventilator transports.
In any case, the end result is that a patient should always be transported with the appropriate equipment and the personnel trained to use it.
PVAS and other local agencies are going to offer CCT services. I don't know of any that plan on an RN truck like AMT or Kurtz. So, any patient requiring a nurse and equipment beyond the CCT level will need to go with AMT, Kurtz, or a hospital-provided RN and equipment on a local ambulance.
I don't know who talked to you that way from PVAS. So, I can't comment directly on that. However, I can tell you that many in EMS feel that they do not get much respect from nurses that they encounter. It is certainly not universal, but some RNs look down their noses at us. So, maybe the comment came from an EMT who had been talked down to by one too many RNs.
My own philosophy is to respect the individual skills of all healthcare providers since nobody knows it all. I may know something about emergency medicine that a floor nurse at the hospital doesn't, but I'm sure that he or she knows lots of things that I don't!
Cranky Medic
CCT may be coming to the Illinois valley, however, just like the ALS service, it will be severly curtailed by the IVCH EMS system, because this system is a joke. As Cranky Medic said, with a higher level of care, you get more medications, more procedures, and more training. However, since some doctors and nurses within the IVCH EMS system look at the EMTs as glorified drivers, many of the medications and procedures that we learn how to use in our training that are used everywhere else in the state such as the suburbs, Peoria, Bloomington, and Putnam County, the IVCH EMS system will only let us use about 1/3 to 1/2 of them.
11:12PM
You sure did jog my memory, but I do remember when they needed an RN, the call would go out asking for any RN wanting to do a transfer, let them know.
You are also a "wise medic"
9:18 AM
Perhaps IVCH is not particularly happy with the management chosen by the Board of Directors. I also have many questions but this is not the place for that discussion.
I believe Kurtz did not given any figures of cost because they did not have figures from the city to work with. The figures used were imaginary or from other cities. You can compare Morris with Peru in population figures but it ends there. Cities are not alike. I would almost call Morris a growing suburb of Chicago because of people leaving the metropolitan area.
Business Sense, sometimes you sound like you have inside info of PVAS. How much does management actually work with the employees so it is actually known what they know and not on paper. Does management make routine calls with them?
Form the tax district and pay the taxes
Lois, you continue to make the random statement that this is all about the management. What factual evidence that the current management(PVAS DIRECTOR)is not doing the job? And what would make you feel comfortable from a management standpoint that Peru Fire would manage the ambulance service better and less expensive? Please tell. Not hearsay, not personal vendettas, just facts!
Lois...IVCH EMS System Coordinator is on the roster with PVAS....she is friends with Roberson, et al....
3:13 PM
I have been reading and learning about the ambulance service for the last 3 years on this blog and the one that preceded it and that is a very large accumulation of opinions that never seem to change.
I have talked to previous employees and I have no vendetta, just continue to watch and read.
Lois, your sources are blog comments and previous employees! Go to the source.....discuss your thoughts with Roberson. Discuss with current employees and find out the current situation.
9:17 AM
Roberson had his opportunity to give us a presentation and didn't and I don't know who set up the program the way it was done but it was very ineffective. There was no control of the audience and it simply spiralled downward and a plea so no one would lose their jobs.
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