MASSENA – Like most medical emergencies, the need to transport a patient does not always come at the most optimal time. Bad weather in the form of heavy rain, a blanket of fog, or winter’s snow and sleet can prevent a planned flight transfer from happening; or personnel are simply not available.

That’s when members of St. Lawrence Health’s (SLH) Seaway Valley Ambulance jumped into action and put their Critical Care Transport Program training to work. The program is designed to allow paramedics to perform above their normal scope of practice by transferring critical patients from one hospital to another. These patients often have a breathing tube (intubated) and are on multiple medications.

“Although we currently transfer these types of patients to hospitals throughout New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, the available equipment and trained personnel capable of making these types of transports are limited at this time,” noted Emergency Medical Services Operations Manager Christopher Miller.“We are building this program to make critical care ground transportation more accessible in St.  Lawrence County when flying patients to where they need to go is not an option due to weather or other constraints. Our goal in building out this program is to continue to provide the same level of care these patients receive in Emergency Departments and Critical Care Units within the county while they are being transferred to the specialty care centers they need,” he added.

St. Lawrence Health recently coordinated with Clarkson University to use their facility for the classroom setting, and worked with FlightBridgeED, a national leader in Critical Care Transport education, to provide the training.

This first locally held program provided paramedics with 24-30 hours of training, in addition to the nearly 2,000 hours of clinical and lecture training they previously received to become paramedics.

“This was an introductory style program, and we plan on increasing our education over the next several months,” noted SLH Director of Emergency Medical Services Mark Deavers. “The recent training focused on ventilator and medication management, and is a start to a much more global educational program.

“While we have been increasing the number of critical care patients we transport, we have a lot of growth opportunity ahead of us,” he continued. “Enhancing our transport capabilities is a goal of St. Lawrence Health, and we want to move towards being the premier transport agency in the County.”

The recent training program was open to anyone who wanted to attend, and the class was comprised of nurses and paramedics from SLH, and other area agencies. Gouverneur Rescue is currently the only other agency in the County with a form of ground Critical Care Transport.

 “Even though St. Lawrence Health as a whole is continuously growing in its capabilities to meet the needs of the region, we will always have to transfer the sickest of patients to specialty care centers in the larger cities in New York, such as Rochester, and surrounding states,” Mr. Miller said. “The training our personnel are undergoing and the equipment we will be getting in the future is to ensure our high acuity patients receive the highest level of care to meet their needs during the transfers.”

To learn more about SLH’s emergency services, visit https://www.stlawrencehealthsystem.org/Services/Emergency.