May 2020 Call of the Month

May 2020
Call of the Month

Metro Paramedic Services is proud to announce the May 2020 Call of the month for its employees assigned to the Lyons Fire Department.

Lyons Fire Department was dispatched for a person who was drowning. Upon arrival, the patient had already been pulled from the water by a neighboring department and CPR was in progress. Metro employees Alex Hernandez and Mike Coughlin quickly took over patient care as the patient was cold, wet, apneic, pulseless, cyanotic, and unresponsive. The patient had also suffered a laceration to his forehead and EMS was unaware of total submerge time. With CPR in progress, Alex and Mike quickly transferred the patient from the stokes basket onto their stretcher and moved the patient into the ambulance. Alex and Mike secured the patient’s airway with an I gel per the protocol and began assisted ventilations via BVM.

Almost immediately, due to the contractions of the BVM water was forced up through the patient’s airway. Alex and Mike rapidly addressed this by suctioning the patient’s airway via French suction catheter in which they successfully removed the secretions allowing them to properly oxygenate the patient. The patient was also properly dried off and D-fib pads were applied showing asystole.

Alex and Mike following protocol inserted an IO into the patient’s left Tibia Tuberosity. Two rounds of Epi 1:1000 were given via IO in three-minute increments. CPR is still in progress at this time. The patient was transported to the local hospital while Alex and Mike continued to provide top-level ALS care during transport. The patient was successfully resuscitated in the emergency department by staff and is recovering. If it hadn’t been for Alex and Mike’s top-notch care and quick thinking under pressure, the patient’s outcome could have been very different. Thank you to Alex and Mike for their vigilance in providing high-quality care!

An honorable mention and runner-up to the Lyons Call of the Month and a big shout-out goes to Metro employees assigned to the Village of Glen Ellyn: Jack Barrett, Fil Patrak, Al Bromeland, and Adrian Hrobowski who responded to a call where a patient was passed out. Upon their initial exam patient was in a life-threatening cardiac rhythm, V-tach. The crew called for assistance from Glen Ellyn Medic 62 and together they treated this patient quickly and appropriately.  Upon arrival at the local hospital, the patient was stable. Although you rarely see this rhythm, the crew acted quickly and stabilized this patient.

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