During its regular meeting Tuesday the Pettis County Ambulance District Board of Directors heard an updated on the district’s new ventilators.
PCAD Administrator Mike Gardner told the board all PCAD staff were now trained on the vents and would participate in ongoing training as well. PCAD Medical Director Dr. David Gustafson said the ventilators were “well worth the investment.”
“Before (PCAD personnel) had to manually bag a patient while they were being transferred, and if you’re going a long distance, say to Columbia or Kansas City, that can be exhausting for the medic and a risk for the patient,” Gustafson said. “Now the ventilators can be connected right to the intubation tube, allowing the medic to focus on other patient care aspects.
Gustafson said Bothwell Regional Health Center employees were “very impressed” with the PCAD ventilators and that the district is now “leading the way in critical patient care. This will definitely make a big difference on our ability to safely transfer critical patients.”
Gardner told the board he plans to budget the district’s finances so eventually a ventilator would be in all six of the district’s ambulance fleet.