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EMS: Courage and Compassion in ActionBy Shawn Godfrey - August 20, 2007
 | | Shawn Godfrey is a certified paramedic and the operations manager for the Village Ambulance Service Inc. in Williamstown. |
Bart’s Story
It started as an average day, but unfortunately ended in tragedy. The New Brighton (Minn.) Fire Department was dispatched to a “house fire with flames showing.” The normal anxiety associated with the familiar tone of their fire pager was quickly heightened by the news that followed: the house on fire was owned by a fellow firefighter on the department.
The fire trucks roared out of the station with sirens blaring and lights flashing. They quickly arrived on the scene to find the structure engulfed in flames, black smoke bellowing from the windows and doors. The heat emanating made it almost impossible to get close to the burning edifice.
As the heroic firefighters were battling the flames, they came across Bart, a 13-year-old German shorthaired pointer. He had suffered extensive smoke inhalation and was unresponsive. He was quickly but gently removed from the smoke-filled residence and placed out of harm's way. At the time, the firefighters did not have the knowledge or equipment available to help animals in distress. Despite strong determination and admirable resuscitative attempts, they were unable to revive Bart.
Like many emergency providers, firefighters live beyond their job descriptions. Firefighters have a fierce drive and long history of helping people and saving lives, all lives. Because of this will, the entire fire department was devastated by this tragedy, feeling helpless to assist one of their own.
BART’s Story
Bart the dog died that day, but the Minnesota-based Basic Animal Rescue Training program, aptly named BART, was born to honor his memory and to ensure fewer families will suffer a similar loss.
Through the pioneering efforts of Minnesota native Dr. Janet Olson, a veterinarian, the BART course was designed to provide firefighters, law enforcement, and emergency medical services personnel not only the first responder-type skills necessary to provide basic medical care, basic life support resuscitation and animal rescue techniques, but also the animal-specific equipment necessary to accomplish it.
What Does BART Offer?
The BART program is a two-hour course beginning with a 30-minute orientation and awareness lecture that builds a bridge between the emergency responder and veterinary communities. The majority of the course time is devoted to hands-on training, with the fire/EMS providers rotating through three stations: pet restraint and handling, patient assessment/first aid and pet cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Station 1 teaches how to appropriately approach, handle and transport dogs and cats, as well as other household pets, safely out of dangerous emergency situations (i.e., house fires) in which other secondary animal-response teams would not be permitted.
In addition, students learn how to safely move or restrain pets so that they do not interfere with efforts to assist or rescue humans.
Station 2 teaches the normal vital-sign parameters for dogs and cats, how to triage (determine how injured or ill) and assess these pets and how to supply on-the-scene medical care, including oxygen administration and bandaging. The local veterinary resources for the community are also reviewed and discussed.
At station 3, CPR on dogs and cats is taught.
Classes are taught by four to six volunteer veterinarians, certified veterinary technicians and veterinary students. The volunteer trainers bring their own dogs and cats to assist in teaching the restraint and vital signs/first aid stations. CPR is demonstrated with a state-of-the-art dog mannequin.
In addition to the training, the departments receive a BART emergency medical kit that contains all the materials and supplies demonstrated in the course, including oxygen face masks, bandages and rescuer protective gear. The kit is designed to support the medical needs of animals until they can be transferred to a veterinary facility for more advanced and intensive care.
The number of kits a department needs is decided by how many emergency vehicles are deployed. The goal is to ensure that a BART kit goes on each call the department responds to, so that after training, the BART equipment is always available to the emergency responders. All kits have been offered to departments free of charge. Small animal kits cost BART approximately $600 each.
Loyalty
Bart’s story shows how firefighters and EMS providers may encounter animals during emergencies. The BART program, along with similar programs across the country, like the United Animal Nations’ Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) program, teaches rescuers how to help these four-legged loved ones, while maintaining their own safety.
Just like family, the public wants their animals to be respected and cared for in emergencies, as was seen following the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005. During recounts of the rescue efforts, many emergency personnel spoke of not knowing what to do when faced with injured or endangered animals. Many people chose to stay behind when their pets were not allowed to be evacuated. Sadly, some of those individuals lost their lives as a result of their loyalty.
Federal Involvement
As a result of the many stray animals left behind during the Gulf Coast hurricanes, a U.S. Senate bill titled Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act was introduced on April 5, 2006. This legislation passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law in October 2006. The PETS Act requires local and state disaster plans to include provisions for household pets and service animals. Because of this, many animal rescue programs have added an equine and livestock program to enable the rescue and care of larger animals.
Community Involvement
Many programs, like BART and EARS, also offer training designed for Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and other community level responders who do not have the medical training and resources (for example, the ability to provide oxygen support) that the Fire/EMS responders have.
In some areas, fire and EMS departments are now mandating animal rescue training for all of their members, while encouraging them to volunteer for local animal rescue programs as well.
Local Involvement
Presently, there is no fire- or EMS-managed animal rescue program in Berkshire County. However, there are reported cases where animals have been either medically supported or successfully resuscitated by local emergency responders using equipment designed for human beings (i.e., oxygen administration devices, CPR).
As the pet population increases, the need for animal rescue education inherently rises as well. Although the BART program primarily provides animal rescue education and training to Minnesota and its surrounding communities, we can only hope all communities will eventually catch on and institute a program like BART.
No pet owner wants to feel the pain of losing a vital part of the family, especially when there are things that can be done to prevent it. I am sure Bart would be proud.
For more information on how you can help with a local animal rescue program, please contact Shawn Godfrey at shawng0@yahoo.com.
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| how sad.....it always makes me sad to hear about the loss of pets due to fires....they have no clue how to get out or how to crawl under smoke, etc. They depend on us to keep them safe..... | | from: Tonya | on: 08-25-2007 |
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| Those of us who are pet owners often consider our animals as family members. What a great idea to have specific emergency training to assist animals. Kudos to all our rescue workers who take the steps to learn how to treat our four legged companions in emergency situations. Good job, Shawn. Can we get that kitten?? ;) | | from: wendy | on: 08-20-2007 |
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