Seeley Lake Rural Fire District to Get New Ambulance

SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Rural Fire District (SLRFD) just received a grant from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) for a new Type I AD 4X4 ambulance. The grant covers 90 percent of the cost for a $210,000 ambulance. Two months ago they also received a grant from Lifeline/American Heart Association for a $25,000 LifePak® 15 cardiac monitor and defibrillator. While SLRFD is already using the monitor in the current ambulance, it will help equip the new ambulance once it arrives.

The MDT grant covers $189,000 or 90 percent of the estimated $210,000 for the new Type I ambulance. The SLRFD will be responsible for the remaining 10 percent that is not covered. It is a four-wheel drive 4500 diesel equipped with a Stryker Power pro/power load system. Seeley Lake Fire Chief Bob Vanden Heuvel explained that the power load system is the most advanced stretcher system available. Once the stretcher is hooked to the back of the ambulance, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) push a button that lifts the hydraulics under the stretcher and pulls the patient into the ambulance.

Supervisor of the State Highway Traffic Safety Section with MDT Janet Kenny said that this year there were 32 applicants for the million dollars available. SLRFD's application was in the top three of the 12 awarded.

"They did a good job with their application," said Kenny. "Scoring was based on grant criteria that included how well they addressed their need and how that will take care of the gaps in patient care."

The SLRFD Board of Trustees approved Vanden Heuvel's request for help in grant writing at their July meeting. Vanden Heuvel worked with Seeley Lake resident Rachel Jennings on both grants. Jennings is an attorney and owner of The Hub in Seeley Lake. When approached by Vanden Heuvel, she told him she thought it was within her abilities.

"I took a chance on her since this is her first time as a grant writer," said Vanden Heuvel. "She has an innate ability to take my information, do the research and eloquently put it into words."

The first grant they received was for the LifePak® 15. Vanden Heuvel refers to this as the "center of the ambulance."

The district already has a LifePak® 12. Both monitors allow EMTs to hook up the patient getting constant blood pressure and oxygen saturation readings and see a picture of the patient's cardiac rhythms allowing the opportunity to look for dysrhythmias. This allows EMTs to be more focused on the patient's airway, breathing and circulation while the machine does the constant monitoring of vitals. If a patient goes into an abnormal heart rhythm that requires a shock to start the heart, the machine is capable of providing the shock and audibly tells the EMT the steps to take based on the readings.

The major difference between the two is the LifePak® 12 only has three leads for the electrocardiogram (EKG) to monitor the heart rhythms while the LifePak® 15 is a 12 lead EKG. The LifePak® 15 can also transmit an image of the cardiac rhythm to St. Patrick Hospital or Community Medical Center Emergency Rooms and the SLRFD's medical director. This gives the Emergency Room (ER) information for their triage that could allow the patient to bypass the ER entirely going directly to the cardiac catheterization lab to remove a blockage.

"We have two sayings: The 'golden hour of trauma' and 'time is muscle.' [In cardiac cases] every minute lost is another brain cell lost," said Vanden Heuvel. "The monitor makes everything more efficient."

This machine is one of the most expensive pieces of equipment needed to outfit an ambulance along with the stretcher, which the new ambulance comes equipped with.

"Initially we will take stuff from the current ambulance to outfit the new one to make it our primary ambulance," said Vanden Heuvel. "We will get them both equipped over time."

Vanden Heuvel believes that initially staffing two ambulances will be a challenge. Making a conservative estimate, he believes right now the SLRFD could staff the second ambulance 60 percent of the time if a second call were to come in when the first ambulance was out. However, he is hopeful with new people joining the department and more medical trainings that this will not continue to be an issue.

"Our goal is to never waste time on a scene," said Vanden Heuvel. "We want to as comfortably and safely as possible, transport the patient into our tool box, our little emergency room on wheels. [With the new ambulance, LifePak® 15 and other computer upgrades recently implemented] We are finally getting the department into the 2015s."

After two successful grant applications, Vanden Heuvel hopes to continue pursuing other much needed equipment in the future including updating the fire apparatus and engines as well. The initial focus was on the medical equipment since the majority of the SLRFD calls are medical.