By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
RAVENA — The Ravena Rescue Squad has been expanding its outreach in the community to put life-saving skills into residents’ hands.
The squad has been attending local events such as the I Love aRtCS Music and Art Festival back in May and more recently held an open house to share what they do with the community and teach first-aid skills such as Hands-Only CPR and Stop-the-Bleed training.
The goal is to let the community know what the squad does and offer training so residents can take potentially lifesaving steps in an emergency situation.
The Ravena Rescue Squad has been saving lives for more than a half century.
“We have been in service for over 60 years,” Assistant Chief Travis Witbeck said. “We were fully volunteer staffed until the early 2000s, when we started putting the first paid employees in place. In 2008 or 2009, we went fully paid staff and didn’t have any volunteers anymore.”
But for anyone who wants to explore the field as a career or to learn more about it, the squad does offer ride-alongs to give them exposure to what EMTs, or emergency medical technicians, do.
The Ravena Rescue Squad has approximately 30 employees, all of them part-time, Witbeck said. Staff members include emergency vehicle operators, EMTs and AEMTs, which are advanced EMTs who can perform more advanced care.
There is a severe shortage of EMTs nationwide, but Witbeck said it is a career that provides immense satisfaction.
“Probably the most rewarding thing is that sometimes on people’s worst days, you can make a positive difference in their lives,” he said. “That’s a really rewarding thing to happen.”
The team that works for the squad also provides a significant benefit, he added.
“It’s also about the people who work here — we have a really dedicated, amazing staff here and it’s become a second family for many of us,” Witbeck said. “This is a tough field — sometimes the pay is a little difficult, reimbursing people at the appropriate rate — but despite all of the challenges, our crew remains really dedicated to serving this community. We are really blessed to have them.”
Pat Boccio is an EMT with the department and provides much of the training to the general public in two lifesaving areas — Stop-the-Bleed and Hands-Only CPR training.
STOP-THE-BLEED
When a person sustains an injury and has significant bleeding, applying pressure is the most important step you can take.
“Primarily what we look for in any type of bleeding is pressure — pressure will control most of the bleeding that you can experience,” Boccio said.
For a more minor bleed — one that is not an arterial bleed, which would be bright red, squirting blood — you should apply pressure with a gauze bandage or other cloth, such as a towel. Applying pressure in this manner will stop the majority of bleeds, Boccio said.
“Place the pad on the cut and apply pressure,” Boccio said. “Hold it there for a few minutes so the clotting process has a chance to start. You don’t want to remove the pad too soon because any clotting that you have achieved, it will tear it off.”
Hold the pad in place for four to five minutes; if the person is able to, you can ask them to hold the pad in place until the bleeding stops.
For a more significant cut, or if applying a pad and pressure doesn’t stop the bleeding, call 911 and then apply a tourniquet about two inches above the injury; the tourniquet can be a belt, tie, towel, or any long cloth item. Insert a straight item, such as a pen, in the tourniquet to tighten it.
Applying the tourniquet is designed to cut off the blood supply to the injured limb.
“Years ago, people would say tourniquets are a last-ditch effort to get the bleeding to stop because you could lose your limb,” Boccio said. “Medicine has now caught up to the point where even if we were to cut off (circulation) for hours at a time, hospitals can fix it, so now tourniquets are actually the go-to move in some bleeding situations.”
HANDS-ONLY CPR
The new technique in CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is Hands-Only CPR; it is no longer advised to breathe into the person’s mouth.
“We are trying to teach everybody Hands-Only CPR,” Boccio said. “Years ago, if you took a CPR course we would tell you to use a barrier like a napkin to cover the mouth for mouth-to-mouth. We began to realize that when you exhale, you are exhaling less oxygen than you are taking in, so by giving them rescue breaths, the risk is not worth the reward. We found through research and study that compressions and supplying blood to the brain are the most important thing.”
If you see someone lying on the ground who appears to be having a cardiac event, the first thing to do is to have someone call 911, and then get on the ground next to the person, lean down and see if they are breathing; look for their chest to rise and fall, and listen for breaths. Shake the person and ask if they are OK.
“If they don’t answer, you place two fingers on their neck to see if you can feel a pulse,” he said. “If you don’t feel a pulse, take your dominant hand — left or right — put it down first in the midline between the nipples, put your other hand on top, lock your elbows and apply pressure with the heel of your hands, 120 times a minute or as best you can until help arrives.”
Your hands should press in about two inches and keep the elbows locked to give you the best leverage, Boccio said. To keep to the appropriate rate of compressions, sing the song “Staying Alive” in your head to time the compressions.
“You are going at a pretty quick pace because ideally you want to get blood everywhere, but primarily you want an adequate blood supply to the brain until help can arrive,” Boccio said. “Just by doing compressions until EMS gets there is incredibly beneficial.”
CPR should be started if you don’t feel a pulse or don’t see the person breathing. If you are unsure, you should begin compressions, Boccio said.
“Don’t second guess yourself — go right into compressions,” he said. “If they have a very faint pulse and you are thumping on their chest, they can get a couple of broken ribs, but the worst-case scenario is they don’t have a pulse and you don’t do anything and they die.”
“It’s a scary situation, but you are acting in the best interests of the person so feel free to step in and give a hand,” Boccio advised.
