Columbus Dispatch: Cold Water Rescue Training

In an emergency, seconds count.

That is the case in the field with emergency crews from Norwich Township. And once the person is taken to a hosptial, those same seconds are critical at that location.

It isn't very often those two groups, EMT's, and doctors get a chance to live in the others shoes for a day.

Recently, residents from OhioHealth Doctors Hospital spent the day with firefighters and other first responders for a special training.

“What we’re doing today is giving the residents from Doctors Hospital the experience of some of the challenges and hurdles that we face in the field, such as an ice or a cold-water rescue,” township fire Lt. George Sorge told Columbus Dispatch reporter JoAnne Viviano.

For this drill doctors spent time in wet suits and in a small rentention pond near the fire station. To make the scenarios feel even more realistic, teams from the OhioHealth Medical Education and Human Simulation Department were there with electronic mannequins.

"The better relationship we have with our fire and EMS crews, the better our interactions go with patient care when they bring them to the hospital," Dr. Drew Kalnow told the dispatch.

The program is organized by Dr. Robert Lowe, core faculty for the emergency medical residency program at Doctors. Dr. Lowe says that this is great team building for the residents. But beyond that, it makes it a better experience when they get the patient, and understanding of what has happened before they arrive.

“It kind of builds that seamless transition of care and builds a health-care team from pre-hospital through to the (emergency department),” Dr. Lowe told the Dispatch.

To read the story by JoAnne Viviano of the Columbus Dispatch, simply click the link.