Chief to push EMS agenda

BANGOR – Maine will have a voice in national discussions about easing restrictions on the duties some ambulance personnel can perform, according to a local official.

Bangor Fire Chief Jeffrey Cammack said this week that he is bringing Maine’s concerns to those discussions after recently having been named a director at large for the Emergency Medical Services section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

On the national agenda are discussions to allow lower levels of Emergency Medical Service personnel to do more medical services now reserved for those with more advanced training.

An intermediate emergency medical technician may start an intravenous line on a patient, run heart rhythm monitor strips, even test a patient’s blood sugar level, all things that a basic EMT, one step below, can’t do. At the top rung, paramedics can administer more medications and have more control over the use of a defibrillator than the intermediate below.

Cammack, a Bangor firefighter for 25 years including nine of those as chief, said he recognizes that while not being able to find a paramedic in a timely fashion is not such an issue for his department, it certainly is an issue for many rural Maine communities.

“It’s a bigger issue for them because they don’t have paramedic-level services real handy to them,” Cammack said.

Cammack said the discussions continue and involve many organizations from many fields and that it could take two years to develop final recommendations.

Maine already has made some changes. New protocols went into effect Friday that, for example, allow basic EMTs to administer up to four baby aspirins to someone in cardiac pain as long as proper procedures are followed.

Public safety officials said the proposed changes are not a matter of downgrading the work that the higher-level EMS personnel do, rather it’s a way to provide medical services as quickly, and appropriately, as possible.

“People in distress need medical attention, and the quicker they get it, the better they are and the better shape they are in when the get to the hospital,” Hampden Public Safety Director Joe Rogers said last week.

Lt. Frank Coombs of the Hampden Fire Department is an EMT and knows firsthand the frustration of wanting to do more but not being able to because of the restrictions. As an EMT, he’s not allowed to do something as simple as test a patient’s blood sugar level, even though the patient or a family member could do it.

A blood glucose test could help determine early whether the patient is having diabetes-related complications or could rule it out. That information could then be provided to more advanced EMS personnel to determine how to proceed.

In Hampden, which still relies on Bangor and Capital Ambulance service for paramedic coverage for about half of any given week, Coombs said the idea is not to try to replace a paramedic, but to enhance the service provided.

Coombs said that Cammack has always been willing to assist Hampden and other communities when needed. The Hampden firefighter is convinced that Cammack will go to bat for Maine and its rural interests during the national discussions.

“I feel his interest is the best for all of us working EMS in the state,” Coombs said.