HomeMy WebLinkAbout1975 09-23 Paramedic program puts police in new role REVIEW In Maplewood c.;�r- , 3t ITTS—
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by Scott Carlson
When 6'4", 268-pound Michael DeCorsey was cleaning Horton and Kevin Halweg, received five months of
out his attic last month, slipped off a joist and crashed paramedic training this past winter from a team of doctors
partially through the ceiling breaking his hip, his rescue at St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital.
became the concern of Maplewood police paramedics. Maplewood police became interested in the paramedic
Although DeCorsey was an unusual rescue case the fact program because they were interested in retaining the city's
that Maplewood police paramedics were there to assist in ambulance service, which must now have certified
the emergency was not. paramedics.
With increasing frequency people of suddenly disabled Funding from the city council plus donation of some
friends or relatives find their emergency calls answered by rescue equipment from the North Maplewood Lions and
Maplewood police paramedics. Lionells made it possible for the five men to go to school and
While it is common for firemen to be trained as now carry out the program.
paramedics it is believed that Maplewood has the first police Course work dealt with medical terminology,anatomy,
force in the United States with trained paramedics, ac- physiology plus a period of in-service training where the
cording to Maplewood Lieutenant Dennis Cusick. men assisted in the emergency and operating rooms. Time
And Maplewood police are finding that the paramedic was also spent with"internal medicine"in the stabilizing of
program is a built-in public relations vehicle for them. persons with neurological disorders.
"It allows the people to see us in a different light," Intensive training was fulfilled in coronary care and in
Cusick said. "They see the officer not as enforcing the law the recognition and interpretation of electro-cardiograms
but helping people. (EKGs),according to Cusick.Part of the intensive training
"It erases a stigma that'the police don't serve'because dealt with the administration and control of cardiac drugs
they do serve," Cusick continued. too, he added.
The whole concept is to "stabilize the patient at his
Cusick, along with Robert Vorwerk, David Graf, Jim
home and get him to the hospital," Cusick said. Most
. ., -> paramedic runs are completed in 30 minutes,although some
" of the more complex emergencies can take as long as 90
minutes.
" While the men find their new role challenging"it brings
much more responsibility," Cusick said. "They're making
s . decisions which can directly affect that party's life."
Cusick said the success of the program does not hinge
,, , ` a alone on the ability of individual paramedics. "The success
y 4 ,r of the program has been because we back the paramedic
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is a community services officer.
PATROLMAN KEVItoN liHsAteLnWtoRAGI,len
in thisKr amer'sheartbeat.simulatedr'in
uses the stethoscope
this simulated run,