GILROY
– Local paramedics could have several more lifesaving procedures
available to them by December, now that the county has a medical
director overseeing public health department operations.
GILROY – Local paramedics could have several more lifesaving procedures available to them by December, now that the county has a medical director overseeing public health department operations.
Before former Gilroy firefighter Dr. David Ghilarducci was named medical director for Santa Clara County in September, the state made Gilroy and other county paramedics stop using a number of regulated medical procedures for children, pregnant women and victims of bio-terrorist attacks.
“There are alternative medical procedures that are just as effective for each of them, but paramedics like to have the full range of options when out in the field,” said Joy Alexiou, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.
The county had an acting medical director during its four-month search for a permanent office holder, however that person – county health officer Dr. Marty Fenstersheib – did not have the emergency department experience required by the state to sign off on the alternative medical procedures.
Treatment procedures that could once again be used by paramedics include:
• Using magnesium sulfate to treat pregnant women suffering from seizures
• Using a special intravenous technique to give infusions into a pediatric patient’s bone when an appropriate vein cannot be found
• Putting a tube down the throat of a pediatric patient to help in breathing
• Using certain drugs to combat the effects of a bio-terrorist attack.
The Gilroy Fire Department says at least one recent medical victim would have benefited from the use of magnesium sulfate.
Just about a week after the state pulled magnesium sulfate treatment from paramedics, a Gilroy patient suffered a cardiac arrhythmia – an irregular heartbeat. Fire department officials could not verify before deadline what happened to the patient, but said the matter could have been handled more effectively with the banned drug.
“It’s an excellent example of how even when you’re dealing with needle-in-the-haystack possibilities, people are affected,” said Geoff Cady, GFD’s information analyst.
According to the Public Health Department, some of the banned alternative techniques have comparable options. Valium is just as effective as magnesium sulfate for pregnant women, Alexiou said.
And, the health department may soon recommend that tubing pediatric patients be scrapped in favor of the bagging technique (squeezing a bag to force air into the patient’s lungs).
“A study out of Los Angeles is showing that bagging is just as effective with less risk (in pediatric cases),” Alexiou said.
Nonetheless, the full range of alternatives would become available in December when the state is expected to approve the so-called “optional scope of practices” for Santa Clara County paramedics.
Alexiou said there are roughly 20 other medical treatment options the county could adopt now that a medical director is overseeing the health department again.
