# Ottawa Paramedic Chief VSA Save



## Hunter (3 Oct 2011)

Ottawa paramedic chief Anthony DiMonte got a VSA save today. See the story and video here:

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111003/OTT_rescue_111003/20111003/?hub=OttawaHome

How this is related to the Canadian Forces Medical Group?  Mr DiMonte is also HCol DiMonte, recently appointed to this position with 28 Field Ambulance in Ottawa.

BZ to him.  Besides being a helluva nice guy it's great to see that he can still get the job done.


----------



## cn (3 Oct 2011)

BZ to the HCol, and also to Dr. Levy!


----------



## medicineman (3 Oct 2011)

Coolness  .

MM


----------



## cn (4 Oct 2011)

I couldn't help but notice that there was no mention, and upon closer inspection of the picture in the article that an SAED or AED was not applied to the patient.  I was under the impression most government buildings had them?


----------



## mariomike (4 Oct 2011)

ColdNorth said:
			
		

> I couldn't help but notice that there was no mention, and upon closer inspection of the picture in the article that an SAED or AED was not applied to the patient.  I was under the impression most government buildings had them?



http://ottawa.ca/health_safety/emergency/firstaid/signs/sites_en.html
Ottawa City Hall
 110 Laurier Ave W
 3 Public Access Defibrillator 
 (1 of 3) 1st floor at elevators
(2 of 3) 4th floor at elevators
(3 of 3) entrance to Heritage Bldg


----------



## brihard (4 Oct 2011)

Damn, CPR hasn't got a great success rate, either. Well done!

I've got a cousin with Ottawa paramedics and another with Lanark. I've got tons of respect for the profession.


----------



## mariomike (4 Oct 2011)

Brihard said:
			
		

> Damn, CPR hasn't got a great success rate, either. Well done!
> 
> I've got a cousin with Ottawa paramedics and another with Lanark. I've got tons of respect for the profession.



We take pre-hospital CPR for granted now. But, when I hired on, CPR was still just a railroad. Then, in 1974, a number of coroner's inquests in Metro involving the deaths of children, and long response times ( which were typical back then due to lack of manpower ), lead to: 1 ) crews being trained in CPR, 2 ) a massive and  unprecedented surge in hiring. New ambulance stations suddenly sprouted up in the boroughs like pimples, with plenty of  recruits graduating out of the new college program to fill them. Of course, this had a tremendous impact on decreasing response times. The public demanded it. I think the popular TV show "Emergency!" also had a lot to do with it.

Ottawa EMS has one massive Central Book on Station CBOS for crews, and various standby "posts" ( to relax between calls ) around the city. In Toronto, crews still book on and off at their fully equipped little neighbourhood stations. Logistically, the way Ottawa does it - CBOS - makes more sense. They tried to sell CBOS in Toronto, but the crews hated the idea and rejected it.


----------



## cn (4 Oct 2011)

mariomike said:
			
		

> http://ottawa.ca/health_safety/emergency/firstaid/signs/sites_en.html
> Ottawa City Hall
> 110 Laurier Ave W
> 3 Public Access Defibrillator
> ...



This makes me curious as to why one wasn't utilized by the chief. 



			
				Brihard said:
			
		

> Damn, CPR hasn't got a great success rate, either. Well done!
> 
> I've got a cousin with Ottawa paramedics and another with Lanark. I've got tons of respect for the profession.



 Chances of survival go down approximately 10% for each minute CPR is not performed when needed, so she had a better chance of being saved considering there was a paramedic in the same room.  Still not an easy task, kudos well deserved.


----------



## mariomike (4 Oct 2011)

ColdNorth said:
			
		

> Chances of survival go down approximately 10% for each minute CPR is not performed when needed, so she had a better chance of being saved considering there was a paramedic in the same room.  Still not an easy task, kudos well deserved.



The story goes on to say, "Paramedics were at City Hall to participate in the summit, but were also there in case of medical emergencies."
The lady was very fortunate. 

2011
"Ottawa paramedics too slow: Report  The city's paramedics are not making the cut when it comes to response times for life-threatening calls and need to get a lot better.":
http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2011/02/14/17273066.html
"It took Ottawa paramedics much longer in 2010 - 12:30 in urban areas and 20:16 in rural areas."

When seconds count...we're 15 minutes away.


----------



## Hunter (4 Oct 2011)

ColdNorth said:
			
		

> I couldn't help but notice that there was no mention, and upon closer inspection of the picture in the article that an SAED or AED was not applied to the patient.  I was under the impression most government buildings had them?



I saw the story a few times on different news channels, and while I can't say with certainty that the woman was defibrillated, there was in fact an AED brought to the scene.  I saw one news clip in which an EST was taking it out of a carrying case while the HCol performed chest compressions.  Becauase it was a seniors event, there was an ambulance prepositioned outside, so the full speectrum of ALS prehospital care was available in very short order, and when she was transported the crew had the patient connected to the service's Zoll E series monitor.

An interesting side note, I did an ACLS course last week, and the medical dirctor asked if anyne had seen NSR restored with compressions alone.  His point was that proper compressions deliver approximately 20 Joules of energy per compression, and occasionally that is sufficient to convert fromm coarse v-fib to a sinus rhythm.


----------



## cn (4 Oct 2011)

Hunter said:
			
		

> I saw the story a few times on different news channels, and while I can't say with certainty that the woman was defibrillated, there was in fact an AED brought to the scene.  I saw one news clip in which an EST was taking it out of a carrying case while the HCol performed chest compressions.  Becauase it was a seniors event, there was an ambulance prepositioned outside, so the full speectrum of ALS prehospital care was available in very short order, and when she was transported the crew had the patient connected to the service's Zoll E series monitor.
> 
> An interesting side note, I did an ACLS course last week, and the medical dirctor asked if anyne had seen NSR restored with compressions alone.  His point was that proper compressions deliver approximately 20 Joules of energy per compression, and occasionally that is sufficient to convert fromm coarse v-fib to a sinus rhythm.



Ahh, thanks.  That makes more sense, even if no shocks were delivered.


----------

