Spring 2018 Compassion, Excellence, and Community Service

F-M AMBULANCE SERVICE

VITAL SIGNS Save a Life Saturday

Did you know that every 90 seconds, someone dies of cardiac arrest? Nationally, approximately forty percent of pre-

hospital cardiac arrest victims receive bystander CPR. In our community only about 33 percent of pre-hospital cardiac

arrest victims receive CPR. The longer a cardiac arrest victim goes without CPR, the lower their chance of survival.

Most people who experience cardiac arrest at home, work, or in a public location die because they don’t receive

immediate bystander CPR. By knowing CPR, you could save the life of someone in cardiac arrest.

On Saturday, February 10, 2018, F-M Ambulance teamed up with other organizations from around our community to

host the fifth annual Save a Life Saturday at West Acres. Participants were able to learn hands-only CPR in less than

4 minutes as well as how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED). Over 400 community members participated

and learned hands-only CPR.

To learn more about hands-only CPR, please visit handsonlycpr.org. For more information on CPR courses please

visit www.sanfordhealthemseducation.org.

Local Heroes

A group of local heroes was recognized by F-M Ambulance Service in

February.

Adam Walker, Darlene Griffin, Danica Greer, Ryan Thompson, Laura

Schwab, Kimberly Schaper, Jenna Johnson and a group of employees from

Sanford Healthcare Accessories were all awarded the F-M Ambulance

Citizens Lifesaving Award. This award is presented to community members

who are instrumental in helping during an emergency. Jim Lehse was

awarded the F-M Ambulance Medal of Merit, which is presented to members

of public safety who perform above and beyond the call of duty.

Walker was presented the award after finding his neighbor, Randy Kirkevold,

unresponsive. Walker called 911 and began CPR, which helped save

Kirkevold’s life.

Griffin was with her cousin, Lori Washington, when Washington began

having difficulty breathing. Griffin called 911 and performed CPR on her

cousin before ambulance crews arrived, saving Washington’s life.

Greer and Thompson were working out at Family Wellness in Fargo when

they recognized that fellow gym member, John Bonicelli, needed help. They

alerted Family Wellness staff members Schwab, Schaper and Johnson, who

called 911 and got the AED while Greer and Thompson performed CPR,

saving Bonicelli’s life.

A group of employees from Sanford Healthcare Accessories received their

award for performing CPR and using the AED on their co-worker, Marcus

Stalboerger, when he went into sudden cardiac arrest in January 2018. Their

quick actions helped save Stalboerger’s life.

Lehse received his award for his help in resuscitating Ben Sherman, who

collapsed at the Hector International Airport. Lehse started CPR, which

helped save Sherman’s life.

“In situations like these, minutes count,” said Kathy Lonski, Quality

Improvement Advisor at F-M Ambulance. “These bystanders did exactly

what was needed in order to save a life.”

Kirkevold and his rescue team

Bonicelli and his rescue team

Sherman and his rescue team

Washington and her rescue team Stalboerger and the Healthcare Accessories rescue team

Magellan Tank Fire

Welcome to the Team!

Are you an EMT or paramedic who is

interested in working for F-M

Ambulance, Hillsboro Ambulance or

Thief River Falls Area Ambulance?

We would love to talk to you!

Check out sanfordhealth.jobs to see

what positions we have available!

Jamie Brotkowski EMT FMA Matt Henning Paramedic FMA Chris Liston Paramedic FMA Ryan Morrison Paramedic FMA Jesse Mott EMT HAS Kenneth Reed Paramedic TRF Matt Schauff Paramedic FMA Mason Schweinsberg Dispatcher FMA Doug Stagnaro Paramedic TRF

Matthew Steien EMT TRF

At approximately 5:45 a.m. on February 18, F-M Ambulance employees

received an all-page, which requested that all available personnel report to

Post 1 due to a fire at the Magellan tank farm in West Fargo. As black smoke

filled the sky, multiple ambulances arrived at the West Fargo location.

Mutual aid from as far away as Grand Forks responded to aid in the efforts

against the hazardous fire. While firefighters fought the fire, F-M Ambulance

EMTs and Paramedics stayed on scene in case there were any injuries

during the blaze and to help keep firefighters safe.

Additional personnel from F-M Ambulance were called in to staff the AmBus,

which is designed and equipped to treat and transport a large number of

patients. Fortunately, no evacuations were needed and no injuries required

transportation to area hospitals.

Many residents within a 5-mile radius of the fire received a Code Red alert

on their phone, encouraging them to shelter in place during the fire. “One of

our main concerns was that our vulnerable adult population – people who

have breathing problems, like asthmatics – are safe. The smoke in the air

could definitely make breathing a little more difficult to anyone with breathing

difficulties or other medical conditions,” said Operations Director Rick

Cameron.

Photo: Fargo Forum

Photo: City of West Fargo

Photo: West Fargo Fire Department

Photo: KFGO

Photo: WDAY

The Clinical Corner

Disaster Training

Would you know what to do to help someone who was bleeding? In

October of 2015, the White House launched a national awareness

program titled “Stop the Bleed”, which encourages bystanders to

become trained, equipped and empowered to help in a bleeding

emergency, before professional help arrives.

The most important aspect of any emergency is you – keeping

yourself safe is a priority. Once you have established that a scene is

safe, call 911 if the person needs immediate help. Then you can begin

to care for the patient.

Anything can be used to stop bleeding – if necessary, even clothes

can work. What do you need to do?

1. Find where the bleeding is coming from and put pressure on that

area – hard direct pressure is needed

2. Push as hard as you can until the bleeding has stopped or

emergency services have arrived

If you are interested in learning more about bleeding control, you can

visit bleedingcontrol.org. For more information on first aid or CPR

courses in our community, visit sanfordhealthemseducation.org.

Stop the Bleed

Lifesaving Awards

In January, Don Nelson, David Staples and Aaron

Haux were awarded the Citizens Lifesaving Award for

their help at an emergency in West Fargo.

Nelson, Staples and Haux went above and beyond

what a typical person would do and provided care in an

emergency situation. The emergency personnel who

responded to the call were very thankful for their help!

Did you know that F-M Ambulance provides basic

disaster training to our local long-term care facilities at

no charge? Every year we work with the facilities to

develop a tactical plan, which would be used in case of

an emergency such as a tornado, flood or fire. In

February, FMA staff spent the afternoon with staff from

Eventide in Moorhead going over a simulated mass

casualty incident.

Tours

Did you know that F-M Ambulance provides tours

and talks for community members of any age? F-M

Ambulance will send an EMT or paramedic to your

facility to do a 15-minute talk and tour of an

ambulance, or you can join us at our facility for a

talk & tour! Longer talks, including Boy Scout and

Girl Scout readiness badge talks, are available for

a fee.

If your daycare or group is interested in a talk or

tour, please call our education department at 701-

364-1750 to schedule!

Ready Wheels

For over 30 years, F-M Ambulance Service has been the

home to Ready Wheels, a professional, non-emergency

wheelchair transportation service. Ready Wheels is

designed to provide local and long distance wheelchair

transportation to anyone whose needs are not met by

other services.

Ready Wheels drivers are trained and approved using

Minnesota DOT Special Transportation guidelines.

Drivers are also trained in first aid, CPR, passenger

assistance, abuse prevention and customer service.

Advanced scheduling is always preferred to guarantee

times and availability of staff, but is not required. If the

trip is not scheduled in advance, times and availability of

units cannot be guaranteed.

For more information about pricing or to schedule your

trip, please call 701-364-1700.

2018 Open House

In celebration of National EMS Week, May 20 – 26,

2018, F-M Ambulance is teaming up with Sanford

AirMed to host the 2018 Community EMS Open House!

The open house will be held on Tuesday May 22, 2018

from 4:30 – 7:00 PM at the Sanford AirMed Hanger,

1801 23rd Ave. N. in Fargo. Join us to meet EMS

providers from around our community and enjoy the

bouncy houses, hot dogs and chips!

Did You Know…

In 2014 F-M Ambulance started a Community Paramedic

(CP) program, which was created to deliver in-home services

and care to people with chronic conditions that may otherwise

not be met by existing services. The CP program fills the gaps

in service for patients who don’t qualify to receive care from

home healthcare services and/or social services.

What type of patients do F-M Ambulance Community

Paramedics see every day? Here are a few examples:

A 72-year-old patient was recently diagnosed with atrial

fibrillation (an irregular, rapid heartbeat that causes poor

blood flow). Patients with atrial fibrillation are often

prescribed warfarin (a blood thinner) because the risk of

stroke is higher in a-fib patients. The goal of warfarin

therapy is to decrease the clotting tendency of blood, not

to prevent clotting completely. Therefore, the effect of

warfarin must be monitored carefully with blood testing.

Sometimes, because of transportation challenges,

patients are not able to get to a clinic or hospital. Instead

of having the patient go to a clinic every day, a CP from

F-M Ambulance would go to this patient to check their INR

(a test that shows how long it takes for blood to clot). The

CP can report these blood test results directly into the

patient’s chart, so they have real-time communication with

the physician, and depending on the results, the patient’s

warfarin dose may be increased or decreased that same

day.

A 63-year-old patient has a history of diabetes and has

been hospitalized three times in the past two months for

diabetes-related complications. She has recently been

having issues with her blood pressure – it is much higher

than her physician would like it to be, and she has been

prescribed hypertension medication. This patient is on a

limited income and has transportation challenges; she has

consistently missed appointments with her physician in

the past. Due to her multiple medical issues, this patient

needs to be monitored closely. Our CP will visit this patient

A 58-year-old patient with a sedentary lifestyle and multiple medical issues has a post-surgical wound that isn’t

healing. A CP from F-M Ambulance will visit this patient daily, every other day, or weekly as needed to check the

wound and do dressing changes until the wound is healed.

The CP program is less visible to the public than a normal paramedic is, but is still a vital part of our community. The

program helps reduce unnecessary emergency room visits and hospital admissions. It helps provide treatment and

promote health and healing in response to identified community needs. The F-M Ambulance Community Paramedics

go beyond the core health care service that F-M Ambulance normally provides to care for a high-risk group of patients

in our community who may otherwise have difficulty receiving the care that they need.

to show her how to use her blood pressure monitor and make sure that she feels comfortable using it every day.

The CP will also make sure the patient is checking her blood sugar levels on a daily basis.

We hope that you have enjoyed this edition of Vital Signs, a quarterly newsletter distributed by F-M Ambulance. An electronic edition of Vital Signs can be found on our website, www.fmambulance.com. If you have any ideas, questions, or comments about Vital Signs, please contact Kristi at 701-364-1759, or kristi.engelstad@fmambulance.com.

The Sanford Health EMS Education (SHEMSE) team

has been busy! Check out all of the exciting things

happening!

Our EMT class has hit a record – this semester we started with

77 EMT students! This is the largest class that we have ever had

at a single time. Some students are participating via video sites

from across North Dakota and Minnesota, with labs being done

in Fargo, Thief River Falls, and Luverne.

Our other courses are busy too – we are teaching 24 paramedic

students, 26 EMR students and hundreds of CPR and first aid

students each month!

SHEMSE has had a busy conference season so far:

o Tom Dobrzynski presented and manned a vendor booth

at the Arrowhead Conference in Duluth; he also manned

a booth at the Long Hot Summer Conference in

Minneapolis.

o Tyler DeKrey and Bob Klein held a pediatric pre-

conference session while Bob Siefert and Tom Taylor

presented at the North Dakota Southeast Regional

Conference in Jamestown.

o Ron Lawler has presented and manned vendor booths

at the North Dakota Northwest and Northeast

conferences in Minot and Grand Forks.

o We will again be holding an EMR preconference,

presenting at the Instructor/Coordinator Refresher, and

having a vendor booth at the North Dakota EMS

Association State Rendezvous in April in Bismarck.

Kyle Janssen attended the International Meeting on Simulation

in Healthcare (IMSH) in California. He will be implementing what

he learned into our labs and his work with SIM-ND.

Lawler was once again a group leader for the 12th Annual Fisdap

Research Summit in Minneapolis. His group is focusing on

research relating to the education of paramedic students on

airways and obstetric clinical encounters.

Recert courses are done! Watch our website, www.shemse.org,

for next year’s classes, which will start in August.

Lawler at the Fisdap Research Summit

Part of our large EMT class

Busy keeping all of our equipment clean