Brandon Rescue Squad

EMT Training

Abhishek Sripad, 2011

A toddler is hurt and down. He is lying on the sidewalk, with his femur clearly protruding from the skin and into the crisp autumn air. Also he has suffered was has appeared to be a devastating injury to his face. He is screaming in pain as his blood begins to aggressively march its way off the sidewalk and onto the street. Over a month ago, I would not have been able to be of any assistance to the child other than calling for help. Thanks to the EMT-B course offered by the Brandon Area Rescue Squad, I now have the knowledge, skills and mindset to be able to deal with such distressing situations. Along the way, my classmates and I learned of the practical knowledge and skills, but also something that cannot necessarily be taught in the classroom. In the final week of the course, we grew together as a group in a way that was exemplary of the camaraderie in the EMS field.

Our primary instructor for the class, Scott Supernaw (Emergency Medical Services Coordinator at Rutland Regional Medical Center), was aided by practical instructors Ed Sullivan, Howie McCaslin and Jeff Stern. Mr. Supernaw is extremely knowledgeable and is backed with a wealth of experience dating back to his days as a paramedic in New York City. His personal anecdotes complimented the material very well, as it provided a realistic-touch to already pertinent information. The structure of the course was such that we mostly alternated between lecture-based and practical days. This layout of the class was extremely effective in that we were able to apply what we learned almost immediately. At a liberal arts institution like Middlebury, we spend much of our time contemplating abstract concepts with intellectual curiosity. While students here can certainly attest to the importance of such academic dialogue, I felt that the skill-based knowledge stressed in the course was a welcome change of pace. It was particularly humbling to engage in learning that will save lives in the future. In a GPA-driven community in which we study to perform well on examinations, it was refreshing to see the empowerment of responsibility to the community overcome all of us. This atmosphere motivated students to study not for the grade that they might receive, but rather out of respect the injured toddler we would be called upon to treat. The material that Mr. Supernaw taught us was received an eager curiosity and an eye on the future.

The class began with housekeeping topics such as documentation and communication-essential, yet at times seemingly mundane topics. However it was not long until we dove into the Medical portion of EMT care. For nearly two weeks we were engrossed in cardiac, respiratory, abdominal and neurological emergencies, among other topics. Perhaps the most exciting, and paradoxically frustrating at times, aspect of medical scenarios was the feature of uncertainty in nearly every case. Since there is no obvious mechanism of injury, it is up to the EMT to narrow down the possibilities of the medical issue(s) that are at hand. This sensation of the unknown can be extremely exciting when you are able to aggressively treat the patient’s symptoms but can be equally as frustrating when the signs point in opposite directions. Immediately after our medical unit, we studied the Trauma half of EMT care. Both assessment and care in trauma greatly differed from that of medical cases. Trauma cases were fulfilling in their own way in that there was a certain finality to our treatment and care. For instance, splinting and swathing a fractured arm in scenarios felt much more comforting than simply ventilating an elderly patient on the brink of cardiac arrest.

Throughout the entire course, and it become more apparent as we progressed further into the month, I felt on sort of short-coming in the EMS field. While the role of emergency medical services cannot be understated in the well-being of an individual patient and society at large, I felt a sense of impending incompleteness in a field so complete with social service and good will. As EMTs, we treat. We do not diagnose or cure. As a (hopefully) future-EMT, I can see that I will have a difficult time parting with a patient by handing them off to doctors in the hospital’s emergency department. I can tell that handing a human life off to another person, no matter how qualified, will be a learning process for me. Regardless of medical or trauma scenarios, I would ideally like to see a patient through until he or she is fully cured. But this is the nature of EMS-the thankless and in many times faceless job in servitude to society.

As we moved into our fourth week, I had learned so much about Emergency Medical treatment and care as well as the field’s strengths and limitations. However I felt among our group that many of us were simply going through the actions with the image of ourselves serving as the first response team. It was during the last week in which our group finally developed a sense of community and that we were truly a team. Throughout the course, Ed Sullivan spoke about the camaraderie that exists among EMTs. It must be something that accompanies the nature of a job that directly influences the lives of others. While our group has not yet been in such trying circumstances, as the month came to end, we began seeing ourselves as part of a greater EMT squad. As we got more comfortable with each other on professional and personal levels, we began engaging in practicals with more confidence. It was in this time that I felt as a group we were truly ready for the positions we are about to fill. I’ve realized that this course not only gave me the knowledge and skills I wanted and expected to learn, but it taught me much more. The course, and the EMS field as whole, has already taught me a great deal about overwhelming feeling of responsibility that comes with that knowledge. But perhaps above all, the course and the students showed me that the power of heart-felt teamwork improves the performance of individuals and as a result the entire team.

Abigail Leathe, 2011

For my winter term internship, I participated in the EMT class offered through Brandon Area Rescue Squad. The class met 4 times per week for 8 hours per day, and as part of the class I also did an 8-hour shift at Rutland Emergency Department. I learned a great deal from the class, which focused on both a medical background of various ailments, illnesses, and injuries, explaining how and why these are caused, and also on the presentation of such problems and how to identify the correct issue and provide emergency medical care.

The most important job of the Emergency Medical Technician is to respond quickly to a scene and provide the necessary emergency care procedures to keep the person in need alive and as stable as possible en route to the hospital. There are many different ways to do this, and many different scenarios that the EMT must be prepared for. The two main branches of situation are medical and trauma, although these can overlap. Medical calls come from patients who are experiencing an illness or any number of medical symptoms. A trauma call deals with a patient who has experienced an impact of some sort, which can cause a variety of problems, both those that will be visible and also those that are more difficult to see. The responses to these calls vary greatly, so there is a lot that an EMT must know.

EMTs are not doctors. They do not diagnose, and can not determine exactly the reason for any problem, but a foundation of knowledge is important, because EMTs have to make very quick decisions and the consequences can literally be life or death. This is why it is crucial to get the whole story from the patient: a SAMPLE history to know their allergies, medications, etc., an accurate size up from their visible symptoms, a precise and thorough description of pain or discomfort, and any valuable information from friends, family, or bystanders. All of this comes together in order to determine what is the correct method of emergency care for this person.

It’s important to remember that being an EMT is about teamwork. No EMT ever responds to a call alone. The tasks are divided with a partner, so being an EMT is not just about responding to calls and providing care, but about learning to work alongside others, when to take the lead and when to take a backseat. EMTs learn from their teammates, share stories of success and stories of runs where there is room for improvement. The learning doesn’t stop when the class ends.

The best way that I learned in this course was through practicing. Lectures were of course necessary, but in the afternoons we had the opportunity to run through medical and trauma scenarios, learn how to apply oxygen, when and how to give various medications such as Epinephrine or Nitroglycerin, how to splint, how to backboard, and how to load and transport patients. For me, the most difficult part of any scenario is not how to perform the emergency care, but what type of care to give, which is why the scenarios were helpful because they provided an opportunity to arrive on scene and quickly determine the problem and how best to provide pre-hospital care.

Another part of the internship that I really enjoyed and found useful was the hospital shadowing. The Rutland Emergency Department is well equipped and sees a wide variety of patients and circumstances. When I was in the hospital, only one patient arrived via ambulance. The man had sustained a knife injury to the wrist, down to the bone. While in the Emergency Department, the EMTs that had arrived on scene at the man’s house were in communication with the hospital, and it was helpful for me to hear a real radio call-in from the ambulance, describing the circumstances. It was also helpful to see how the EMTs responded to the man’s injury. In this case, the EMTs had loaded up the man’s wrist with bandages and a splint. One doctor in the Emergency Department told me that it would have been better to apply direct pressure to stop the bleeding. It was useful to get this advice.

I feel that this was a very useful internship, because I am coming out of it with a skill. After taking and, if all goes well, passing the National Registry Exam, I will be a certified EMT and will be able to work on a rescue squad in Vermont. This is also a skill that can be taken anywhere, as ambulances and EMTs are needed in every area of America. It is also useful to be an EMT to know more about the human body and the way that it works. Being aware of surroundings is a crucial aspect of gaining an understanding of the world, and becoming an EMT is one step of this process.

The following students participated in the 2009 Winter Term EMT Training; Benjamin Brown,2011; Spencer Church, 2010; Ruby Bolster, 2009; Zach DeVore, 2010; Kevin Glatt, 2011; Stephanie Joyce, 2010; Danielle Kruse, 2011; Christina Kunycky, 2011; James McNinen, 2011; Tiernan Meyer, 2011; Nicholas Palmer, 2009; Adam Schaffer, 2012, and Jeffrey M. Stern, 2008.5

Contact the Career Services Office for more information on this internship!