Sumter Times

Orlando Health South Lake Hospital recognized the potentially life-saving work conducted by the Sumter County Fire & EMS during a recent medical emergency.

Recently, there was a 911 call regarding a 77-year-old woman complaining of generalized weakness while ambulating or standing. Sumter County Fire & EMS arrived and proceeded to take the woman to the hospital. While en route, the crew’s “proper re-assessment during transport, they caught a sudden onset of stroke symptoms and relayed their findings to the hospital.” This enabled the patient to receive the proper treatment without the condition worsening, according to a report from the Orlando Health Fire/EMS Board.

In a letter to Sumter County Fire & EMS, Andrew Johnson, EMT-P, emergency medical services liaison, wrote, “Your agency’s narratives on your PCRs (patient care report) are by far the most detailed and thorough out of all the agencies we serve. Please let your staff know that the hospital staff does read the reports and often their pre-hospital care is taken into consideration when formulating a treatment plan.”

The patient was discharged from the hospital a few days later with no focal deficits present upon discharge.

“In emergency services, anytime we take care of a patient we hope for the best outcome for them. The three skills first responders need to have to affect a positive outcome for a patient, is to be educated, skilled and capable to provide a very high level of care. The firefighters recognized for this great outcome have those outstanding skills,” said Damon Allen, Deputy Chief of Operations, Sumter County Fire & EMS.

The Sumter County Fire & EMS team on this call included William Vinyard, Jovany Ponce de Leon, Brian Hoogewind and Tyler Andriuk.

Original source can be found here.