Pediatric Critical-Care Transport Course Brought to Maine

Intense training is under way for local nurses and paramedics who want to ensure they have the necessary skills when a child's life is on the line.

About 20 health care workers are taking part this week in the nine-day pediatric critical-care transport course offered at Northern Maine Community College. The course, which began last Tuesday and wraps up Thursday, provides special training and certification in stabilizing and moving critically ill or injured children from one hospital to another.

"Only 10 percent of emergencies involve children and only 10 percent of those are critical cases," Liz Berg, coordinator of pediatric transport services at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., said recently. "That's what makes this all so challenging, but for that 1 percent, getting this experience matters."

Berg traveled from Maryland to serve as one of about 10 instructors for the local course. They all have experience in pediatric and neonatal care and related transport issues and have been approved by the University of Maryland Baltimore County [UMBC] Department of Emergency Health Services to teach sections of the course.

The course was developed by Johns Hopkins Hospital and UMBC and is designed to prepare paramedics and nurses to become members of a pediatric and neonatal critical care transport team.

Local health care workers, as well as some from southern Maine and one from St. Louis, are participating in the course.

"It builds the pool of people who are able to stabilize the most critical pediatric patients," Leah Buck, NMCC assistant dean of continuing education, said last week.

The first-of-its-kind opportunity in northern Maine was made possible because of the hard work of local paramedics and a local family who wanted to "do more" following the death of a local girl.

Five-year-old Megan Bradstreet had to be rushed to a Bangor hospital after she was hit by a van in Bridgewater last summer, but local emergency workers couldn't take her because the area does not have a trained pediatric critical care transport team. Instead, a special transport team from Bangor picked up the little girl and brought her to the city, causing a several-hour delay in advanced care. She died from her injuries.

The Megan Bradstreet Pediatric Transport Fund was established by Bradstreet's parents Wendy and Ryan Bradstreet, who are working with Northern Maine Community College and local EMT Walter Mosher to raise money for the advanced training of in pediatric trauma care, stabilization and transport.

The fund helped to pay for the nine-day course.

"We are able to offer this high-quality education to local people who will keep that in Aroostook County, whereby children here will be better served," Perry Jackson, program coordinator and clinical coordinator for Crown Ambulance, said last week.

"It means a better outcome for our kids - whether they're ill or injured - who are so far away from tertiary care."

At the end of the course, participants will take a test to earn certification. Berg said course designers strongly recommend that newly certified people "practice their skills" at a major medical facility. Officials are hoping that fundraising through the Megan Bradstreet Fund will help to pay for that hands-on experiences.

Local officials said that while a local pediatric critical care transport team is the ultimate goal, right now they are hoping the course will help to "enhance the continuity of care regardless of who does the transport," Jackson said.

While local efforts continue, one course participant said he was impressed with how the community is working to make a difference.

Craig Britton traveled all the way from St. Louis, Mo., to take part in the course. He works on a pediatric critical care transport team for St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Britton said last week that it's been eye-opening to come from St. Louis - where there are many resources and a lot of expertise in this particular medical area - and see what people are doing in northern Maine to address the situation.

"To do this here with such limited resources and extended ETA's [estimated time of arrival] is not easy at all," Britton said. "It takes a lot of work and dedication to initiate the work they're undertaking."

For more information about the Megan Bradstreet Pediatric Transport Fund, contact Mosher at 768-1225 or 429-9703. To make a donation, send a check payable to NMCC-Megan Bradstreet Fund, 33 Edgemont Drive, Presque Isle, ME 04769.

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