Ind. Paramedic, EMTs Practice Hands-On Response to Real-Life Emergencies

July 24--"My baby isn't breathing," yells the mother of a newborn infant delivered at home.

That began the simulation of an obstetrical emergency training session for Terre Haute Fire Department paramedics and EMTs on Thursday.

Paramedics quickly began resuscitation on the infant-sized high-fidelity simulator, checking its airway, pulse and respiration during the training. Union Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit teams and the Rural Health Innovation Collaborative oversaw the response.

Several THFD first responders received the training as part of the RHIC Neonatal Outreach Program designed for critical access hospitals across the Wabash Valley. The program is designed to improve the confidence and competence of first responders when dealing with maternal and neonatal emergencies.

While at-home deliveries are not common, they do happen, and can be high-stress situations for everyone involved. It was training paramedics and EMTs agreed can come in handy.

"We don't have the opportunity to get much hands-on with newborns, so any time that we have the opportunity to get this kind of training, it's something we jump on," firefighter paramedic Lucas Puckett said after he successfully completed a simulation with fellow responders Elijah Turner and Billy Holloway.

Their infant simulator survived his ordeal, and the team received compliments and advice by observing neonatal nurses who deal with newborn situations on a regular basis.

"It's one of those low-frequency calls. We don't get a whole lot of them, but any time we do, it's a high-stress situation," Puckett said. "It makes us that much better care providers for our patients. The RHIC simulators are very lifelike, so it just adds that much more realism to the situation, and it makes us that much more aware of what it will be like in real life."

As teams responded to different situations -- in one case, a woman was in active labor at her home, while in others, the infant needed emergency care -- the simulation program was operated through computers in another room. Laura Livingston was close enough to hear the dialogue of the responders, and could change the simulation as it was running.

"Every scenario is different," Livingston said, "and we can change it according to what they do."

Jack Jaeger, director of the RHIC Simulation Center, said situations are prevalent enough that if responders don't know what to do, there would be several bad outcomes happening in the Wabash Valley.

"Learning in a classroom is much different than what we try to do," Jaeger said of the simulations. "All of our stuff is simulation-based, and learning hands-on. You're learning in a much better way so you remember it down the road."

Thursday's training took place at the THFD Training Center off of Brown Avenue.

Lisa Trigg can be reached at 812-231-4254 or at lisa.trigg@tribstar.com. Follow her on Twitter at TribStarLisa.

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