Saturday, November 06, 1999
Kenton Co. EMTs use breathing tool
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
TAYLOR MILL — Kenton County emergency medical technicians have a new tool to help their sickest patients start breathing again.
They're the only EMTs in Kentucky authorized to use Combitube, an airway system for people showing no signs of life. It's easier than the more traditional bag-over-the-mouth approach, and it's more effective, officials say.
Erlanger EMTs are the only others trained to use the tube so far. And they've already used it successfully — on Monday, the first day they could. An unresponsive elderly patient survived after being revived with the tube.
“Kenton County's really got something here,” said Randy Pratt, a paramedic and EMT captain for the Taylor Mill Fire Department.
He and Dr. Christopher Caggiano, medical director for the county's 15 fire/emergency medical services departments, won approval for the tubes' use locally. They spent about a year putting together a proposal and persuaded the state regulatory committees to approve them. What resulted is a two-year pilot program in Kenton County.
The EMTs slide the tube into the patient's throat, then use syringes to blow up small balloons inside — one to block blown-in air from coming back out, the other to stop stomach contents from coming up. They then attach a squeezing bag to the tube and pump air inside.
The method puts air more directly into the respiratory system than the bagging system, Dr. Caggiano said, because it's difficult to make the bag fit properly over patients' mouths.
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