Technology saving lives

HARLINGEN — When a 17-year-old Mexican national fell from a balcony two years ago as Hurricane Dolly ripped through South Padre Island, the paramedics of South Texas Emergency
Care exhausted all their resources.

The heavy winds prevented STEC from bringing its helicopter over the Laguna Madre to the accident scene. Wailing winds were too forceful for a top-heavy ambulance to cross the Queen Isabella Memorial Bridge in order to get the teenager to a local hospital.

STEC had to replace the ambulance used during this incident because the of the wind damage.

But a combination of onsite medical technology and an open line of communication between
Emergency Medical Service staff on scene and doctors at the hospital saved the teenagers life.

The incident was one example of how advancements in EMS technology have saved lives.

“That call came through 9-1-1,” Rene Perez, director of transport at STEC, said. “The police and fire departments and our EMS unit stationed on the Island responded. They found him on the ground.”

The teenager must have floated in the high winds, sustaining head injuries and broken bones, but not immediately life-threatening injuries, Perez, who helped coordinate the rescue from the Harlingen headquarters, said.

With the help of surgeons and doctors located 30 miles away in Harlingen, STEC staff treated the teenager for four hours at the Island fire station before he could be safely transported to the hospital, Perez said.

“It was a pretty intense few hours,” Perez recalled. “Our goal was to get him off the Island
and have the surgeons ready for him once we could get him to the hospital.”

STEC services emergency care for all of Cameron County, except Rio Hondo and San Benito, as well as unincorporated parts of Hidalgo and Willacy counties, according to the non-profit organization’s most 2009 tax records.

The company, formed in 1979 to serve Harlingen, has thrived and grown, despite the economic recession, tax records indicate.

Contributions have remained stable from 2006 - 2009, according to STEC’s tax records.

Revenue generated from services and grants have increased between fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2009 by almost $1 million — 18 percent.

Operational costs have remained stable and the company’s loan debt appears to be for the Harlingen hub office, according to the tax records.Financial stability seemed to be most apparent in the STEC’s communications room, located in the Harlingen office.

Flat panel screens line the room. A large closet space-sized room is located adjacent to the room, filled with computer servers to serve the high-tech tools.

“I started in dispatch 27 years ago and it was all done by paper, pen and memory,” Juan Alvarez, STEC communication supervisor said. “Now it has evolved so much. Even the radio has turned computer. We have mapping and technology on the trucks. Efficiency and time are of the essence.”

STEC uses a computer aid dispatch system, which includes satellite mapping, Alvarez said. It allows dispatch to know where calls originate and where their ambulance are located.

“Within new roads and subdivisions popping up all the time, we really need to stay on top of things,” Alvarez said.

The mapping system is located in the ambulances as well, allowing EMTs and paramedics to respond as quickly as possible, Alvarez said.

Of course, all that in-house communication technology would be useless without someone on the other end to receive information.

The line of communication between STEC and local hospitals starts at the top, with Valley Baptist Medical Center and Harlingen Medical Center physicians serving as consultants, a STEC spokesperson said.

On the scene, STEC works directly with nurses and doctors at the two hospitals.

The Emergency Department at Valley Baptist has a radio in the middle of the nurses’ station tuned into the STEC frequency, ER nurse Sara Sosa said.

Using software called LifeNet, Sosa and other medical staff in the emergency department can receive a patient’s EKG and vital signs before he or she arrives, Sosa said. Staff can outfit rooms for specific injuries before a patient arrives, substantially increasing the survival rate.

Doctors can also prescribe medicine to a patient at the scene and can pull up the STEC incident report electronically hours after the ambulance staff leave, Sosa said.

“We’re pretty organized here,” Sosa said. “Ambulance coming in is pretty routine.”