Syracuse, NY | November 2012
UPSTATE PHYSICIAN RESPONDERS AVAILABLE FOR EMERGENCIES embers of Upstate’s EMS (Emergency Medical Services) and Disaster Medicine Physician Response Team carry pagers 24 hours a day. They take turns being on call, driving the team’s white Ford Expedition whenever summoned by the Onondaga County 911 Center. It’s a community service that Upstate provides without charge to individual patients.
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While overseeing patient care, the physicians — all of whom are professors at Upstate — provide real-time feedback to paramedics and emergency responders, explains Derek Cooney MD, the team’s medical director. The team may be activated for crises large or small. Four physicians responded to the scene of the 2010 Megabus crash on the Onondaga Lake Parkway, which killed four and injured 23 people. Physicians have been called to car wrecks to assess whether limb amputations were necessary. (They haven’t been.) Physicians have also been called to the scene of psychiatric emergencies, in which someone is refusing medical care. “It can help law enforcement and EMS get on the same page if the physician comes out,” Cooney explains. The team was among the Central New York rescuers who participated in a “Symphony of Disaster” drill this summer, sponsored by the
Syracuse Central New York Urban Area and paid for with a $425,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The drill took place simultaneously at the airport, at a Syracuse building slated for demolition and at Upstate University and Crouse hospitals. At the airport, 100 volunteers portrayed victims and family members. Rescuers doused flames from a burning aircraft before turning attention to victims spread out on the tarmac. Ambulances transported victims. At the hospital, staff worked through the challenges of the drill, deciding where and how to care for make-believe patients. “We challenged people to do things beyond their comfort level. We call it a high stress/low frequency event,” said Syracuse Fire Department Capt. Terry Krom during the debriefing. Upstate’s Physician Response Team staffs the infirmary at the NYS Fair and provides medical oversight at the Ironman 70.3 Syracuse, the Empire State Marathon and other large events. The team responds primarily within Onondaga County, but can be sent to adjacent counties when needed. Their truck contains equipment and medications not available on ambulances. Cooney says, “We’re providing services that nobody else can.” ■ Photo: Physician responder Christian Knutsen MD points to a patient-actor at a disaster drill, held last August.
Upstate Connect: 800-544-1605 for Physician-To-Physician Service
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