A culture of caring

National EMS Week is celebrated the week of May 15-21, 2022, with the theme this year, "Rising to the Challenge."

The CHI St. Alexius Health Carrington Medical Center EMS service has a long-standing commitment to providing emergency care to the greater Carrington area, which includes portions of Stutsman and Wells counties in its sphere of coverage.

CHI Carrington EMS lives by the core mission of their parent corporation, CommonSpirit Health, "We make the healing presence of God known in our world by improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable while we advance social justice for all."

Manager/Paramedic Amy Andel, a Cooperstown native, has served in that title at the service for six months, and says that the squad's biggest source of pride is serving our community.

"The strongest aspect of rural EMS is community support, and culture is also a strong foundation as well," Andel said. "Without the community, we would not be able to stay open. There's just nothing like a small town."

Some of the challenges that CHI Carrington EMS faces, which are common to rural services, are recruitment and retention, along with time commitment should the service be called to transport a patient to higher levels of care.

"I would say that the distance we have to travel to get people to the specialty hospitals where they need to be is a bit of a weak aspect," said Andel. "We travel approximately 260-280 miles when we take a transfer to Fargo or Bismarck, and it takes a crew away from town for five to six hours."

The Carrington service enjoys the full backing and support of CHI St. Alexius Health CMC, and Andel says that further funding is provided through additional channels as well.

"We get funding from grants, as well as mil level money from county taxpayers," she said. "Without the county support, our service would be in jeopardy."

Andel says that Carrington averages about 250 to 300 calls per year, or just under one per day on average.

"It's about 50-50 between transfers and 911 calls," noted Andel. "We're also able to provide surrounding services with ALS (Advanced Life Support) intercepts."

The Bowdon and McHenry services are classified as BLS (Basic Life Support) capable. If they are bringing a patient to Carrington, the CHI Carrington EMS can meet the other service on scene, or on the side of the road to provide a paramedic and advanced skills to the patient or patients.

Recently, the Carrington service added eDispatch, which is an app for squad members' cell phones that provides text and voice messages with patient information, as well as GPS services to direct the drivers to a precise address or location.

"It also is valuable for the people not on call to be notified if more help is needed," Andel said.

Another notable upgrade for the service is new cardiac monitors, which allows CHI Carrington EMS to send 12-lead cardiograms via wi-fi connection to providers at accepting hospitals.

"This is helpful if the patient has chest pain, or having a heart attack, to get the best treatment quicker," she said.

Currently, the Carrington EMS service has 19 active members, with the longest-tenured member at 22 years of service. On the roster are six paramedics, one RN (registered nurse), one EMT-Advanced, five EMTs and six CPR drivers.

There is always a paramedic and/or EMT on call 24 hours a day, often on the same shift. Should there be just one provider, drivers are able to take shifts in eight-hour blocks, from midnight to 8 a.m., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 4 p.m. to midnight.

The service communicates with each other by phone or group text should a driver or provider be needed for partial shift work to cover for each other or for a pending transfer, and to ensure coverage for future shifts.

"Right now, I am proud of the Carrington Ambulance staff," said Andel. "We have welcomed some new staff, and I am so excited for that."

One goal Andel has for the service, and one that could be realized soon, is the ability to provide 24/7 ALS coverage.

"We're very close," she said.

Andel hopes to bring more emergency education to the area, such as "stop the bleed," hands-only CPR and community CPR classes, and will be having a babysitting clinic for kids who plan to babysit.

For more information on the local EMS services (Carrington, Bowdon, McHenry), along with group photos and years of service, see the Independent's National EMS Week section on pages 8-9.