By Gina Morton
LEWISBURG — As the page comes over the radio of a 15-month old girl having seizures, paramedics Mike Magyar and Kenneth Roberts hop in their vehicle with Emergency Medical Technician Sharon Wertz and hurry to the location of the child.
Cars willingly pull to the right side of the road as the Evangelical Community Hospital chase truck — referred to because it chases the ambulance to the scene — has it’s emergency lights flashing and sirens blaring.
“You never know what you’re getting into,” Magyar said. “You have to be prepared for the unknown.”
Reaching the destination, Robert hops in the awaiting ambulance and attends to the young girl while two EMTs already on scene assist with tests. He sits with her and her mother, consoling the crying child and quietly talking to her, until ultimately arriving at the hospital where she is transported to waiting doctors.
This incident is only one out of numerous calls that emergency responders react to in a day, and are being recognized for their hard work and dedication during the annual National EMS Week, May 17 to 23.
Additional staffing, additional coverage
Magyar, coordinator for Pre-Hospital Services at Evangelical Community Hospital, said the program began 25 years ago with a single truck. Now, the hospital provides staffing for several area agencies, including Warrior Run Area Fire Department, Milton Ambulance, White Deer Ambulance and Mifflinburg Ambulance.
The department covers Union, upper Northumberland and west Snyder counties, but will go as far as Centre, Clinton, Lycoming and Montour counties.
The EMS personnel work every day, no matter what.
“We’re going to work no matter what, whether there is a tornado or flooding,” Magyar said. “No matter the given situation, we’re getting there by land, air or sea. ... We’re an ER and ICU on wheels.”
There are about 35 paramedics and 60 EMTs on staff, and all emergency responders must take 130 hours of continuing education each year and attend monthly classes of the same.
The department also teaches Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Cardiac Life Support to physicians and nurses monthly.
On scene: two-vehicle crash
It’s obvious the paramedics and EMTs are more then just co-workers. They’re friends who laugh and joke among one another.
They work together, eat together and respond to sometimes life-threatening and life-altering calls together — not just as a team, but a family.
Not long after finishing up lunch in their office with the others on duty, Magyar and Roberts’ pagers go off, alerting them of a two vehicle collision not far from the hospital.
Just like the prior call, both men and the EMT hop in their chase truck and begin driving with red lights flashing and sirens wailing.
Once at the scene, they each put on a fluorescent vest and grab their red bags filled with medical supplies, heading to the broken cars, where several people are talking to police officers and another is standing nearby.
Magyar walks around the broken glass and debris laying in the middle of the road and approaches each of the individuals, discussing their ailments and whether or not it would be a good idea for an ambulance ride to the hospital.
“I really think you should get checked out,” he says to one victim, “you’re rubbing your neck. There could be damage.”
‘You have to be prepared’
The ambulances and chase truck carry a large amount of varied equipment — including oxygen, fluids, needles, a suction unit and ventilators — which must be restocked after each call. Two sets of all the equipment are stored on the truck.
“We never know what we’re getting into. We deal with medicals and traumas,” Magyar said. “We also deal with a lot of social issues, of people being depressed. We deal with stabbings, things at the prison. Someone’s worst day is also our day.”
Roberts said on average, an EMS vehicle will get about four to five responses in 12 hours in an area like the Susquehanna Valley. The hospital chase truck has about 15 or so on a regular shift.
He and Magyar attribute that to the rural area, and the fact it isn’t financially feasible or very proficient to have a paramedic in every town.
Additionally, the department has a trailer that is prepared to handle mass disaster.
“Mass anything,” Magyar said, “disaster, accident, fire. Anything with more patients then we deal with on a day to day basis.”
Roberts said the portable hospital is inflatable and takes 20 minutes to set up. It’s equipped with six cots, a heater, IVs, oxygen, splints and rescue blankets, among much more. Radios to reach both county and state-wide agencies are also installed.
It can treat up to about 50 people, he added.
“But the calls don’t stop because of a mass incident,” Roberts said. “You have to be prepared.”
Magyar said the portable hospital is a community asset.
“It benefits the community, not us,” he said. “It’s coming together and working together toward a common goal: patient care.”
On scene: a broken leg
While finishing up some paperwork from responses the medical officials made throughout the morning, a teenage boy arrives at the hospital with his parents, complaining of a broken leg. The boy is unable to move out of the backseat of the car, so Magyar, Roberts and other hospital officials take their time trying to make the boy comfortable and ease the pain he is blatantly feeling.
Magyar calmly speaks to the aching boy about what he is going to do and how he is going to attempt to get him from the car into the building, acknowledging it will not be easy.
The boy yells in pain, but once out of the car and on a stretcher, it seems he realizes the importance these people can play in one’s life at any given moment.
“Thank you so much, sir, thank you,” he continues as he is wheeled on a stretcher through the double doors to emergency room officials — both parents following closely behind. “Thank you.”
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EMS Week activities
National EMS Week will feature hundreds of grassroots activities coast-to-coast that will be planned around this year’s theme, “EMS: a proud partner in your community,” which exemplifies the excellent services provided every day, under any circumstances by the countless number of EMS providers who serve their communities.
As part of this celebration, The Americus Community Ambulance Service is holding a picnic and open house at 100 Linden St., Sunbury, for EMS providers from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday. There will be light refreshments available throughout the day. A picnic-style lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
In addition there will be a dedication ceremony at 1 p.m. in memory of Cliff Shafer. Shafer, who was a paramedic with the service, died unexpectedly last year.
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