LifeNet participates in EMS Week

This is Emergency Medical Services Week, and the local EMS provider is taking the time to remind the public that it does more than answer medical or trauma calls.

Tina Bell, LifeNet's director of public relations and marketing, said the Hot Springs division responds to around 31,000 calls for ambulance transport each year. The division covers Hot Springs, Hot Springs Village, Garland County, Malvern and parts of Hot Spring County.

In 2018, LifeNet ran 7,930 emergency requests for ambulance service and 4,023 nonemergency requests for ambulance service in Hot Springs. Bell said most of these emergency calls were for medical or trauma calls, with most of the medical calls being for either sick people or falls.

Those services are what most people think of when they think of EMS, but LifeNet employees also do many other things in the community -- mainly by providing education to the public through a number of classes, according to Bell.

One such class is bystander CPR. Bell said if someone goes into cardiac arrest, the most important thing is to start CPR. Depending on where this is happening, Bell said it can take up to eight minutes for an ambulance to arrive on the scene, so the public needs to know how to help until the ambulance gets there.

Another class is stroke awareness training, which teaches people how to spot the signs and symptoms of someone who has suffered a stroke. Bell said the class, usually taught in the fall, has a game in it that teaches what disabilities can occur if someone has a stroke.

One program that Bell said has had a strong national push in recent years is Stop the Bleed. Bell said it is important for people to know how to handle a bad cut until help arrives. Most people assume this knowledge is for car crashes, but she said a lot of cuts occur at home, such as with a knife.

While EMS agencies like LifeNet exist to help people, Bell said public safety is also a large part of its mission. Two classes they offer help keep people safe after they are in need of LifeNet services.

One is what Bell described as a "behind the scenes" class, which is designed to show the public exactly what is inside either an ambulance or a helicopter. When a child gets injured and has to ride in one of these, it can be scary, she said, noting the class shows children what to expect if they find themselves in that situation. The class is also for adults, as it shows them what to expect if they have to call an ambulance for a parent or grandparent.

The other safety class focuses on landing a helicopter, and is designed more for first responders. Bell said it is a class to refresh the knowledge of what to do when a helicopter is landing and how to get a scene -- whether a wreck or an educational event -- ready for a landing. It also teaches how to safely approach a helicopter.

LifeNet has around 150 people working at the Hot Springs division. EMT Morgan Hurst and Paramedic Audrey McNeal represented the division in Little Rock Wednesday at the Parade of Lights EMS Rally.

The annual event is put on by the Arkansas EMT Association and Arkansas Ambulance Association. Bell described the parade as being full of any vehicle with lights on it, including ambulances, fire trucks, police cars and "anything else that has emergency lights." LifeNet sent one Hot Springs division ambulance to participate.

The event also featured Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson reading a proclamation declaring it EMS Week.

Local on 05/24/2019

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