Andover Rescue monthly meeting

Tonight was the May meeting for Andover Rescue, my "home" service. Unfortunately that meant I couldn't finish the airway chapter but the training during the meeting was comparable in helping me study. Captain/Paramedic Steve Fecteau, of Franklin Fire, and Andover Rescue was rolling out new Emergency Medicine protocols for New Hampshire. Steve is one of two medics in Andover and he is the guy you want to see when a patient is in critical condition. On my way over to the meeting at the Franklin station I got a call from the Andover lieutenant asking me to drive the Fire chief's command vehicle to the meeting. I felt pretty cool driving his SUV to the meeting. Three hours later, we finished learning about the modifications and improvements to the protocols. One big thing I learned in the protocol rollout is that critical burns no longer warrant an automatic request for air transport. Now, only if you suspect airway compromise do you request a helicopter. Any threats to a patients airway are immensely serious. Without an airway you simply have no patient. Burns that compromise an airway require endotracheal intubation and narcotics to protect the airway from collapsing, these are both Paramedic skills. My mentor Phil was at the meeting and we caught up on senior project so far too. After the meeting I drove the chief back to his house in East Andover. Driving the chief in his own car reminded me how far I have come since I joined the explorer post as a sophomore at Proctor. Tomorrow is another big study day and I'm thinking of doing obstetrics after wrapping up the airway.