Mahaska Health Paramedics Work To Provide The Best Care In Emergency Situations

Emergency room staff from Mahaska Health pose with one of their ambulance’s. (Mike Lang far right)

April 24th, 2022

Oskaloosa, Iowa – You often hear them rushing through busy streets, emergency lights flashing, and a siren wailing, as Mahaska Health’s paramedics work to get to the latest emergency or medical call.

During the pandemic of 2020, paramedics and the rest of the medical community were applauded for their dedication to duty and the well-being of others.

Mike Lang, Emergency Services Director at Mahaska Health, recently sat down with Oskaloosa News to help us better understand what exactly they do and what services they provide.

The advanced life support service from Mahaska Health is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with two crews on at all times.

The Mahaska County 911 will dispatch a crew to an emergency situation or medical call.

To help bolster the volunteer crews from outlying communities, they are dispatched, or “dual paged,” to back up paramedics from departments like New Sharon or Fremont.

This helps ensure that individuals with a medical emergency have aid as soon as possible.

When the paramedics arrive on the scene, they will assess the situation. They will then gauge scene safety and may request assistance from law enforcement.

Situations like a car accident exemplify how paramedics work with law enforcement and fire departments to provide the quickest and safest response possible.

Paramedics will then assess the patient and figure out what they need to do to help the patient. The determination is then made if they need to return quickly to the hospital or if other measures need to be performed to help stabilize the patient before transporting the patient.

For people alive during the 70s, there are probably many fond memories of the television show ‘Emergency’, which highlighted the paramedic profession and is often credited with helping the field advance.

Fans may remember the use of the wireless phone or type of radio at the time when paramedics would speak with the staff at the hospital. Today, cell phones help fill that need, where paramedics can reach out to a provider in the emergency room for additional information or orders.

As the patient is transported, paramedics speak with medical staff giving the patient’s updates, such as vitals and estimated arrival time.

They also prepare the emergency room staff if there is the potential for a stroke or heart attack or if surgeons are needed.

Lang says those steps are essential to help have the needed resources, even orthopedic surgeons or doctors specializing in high-risk pregnancies, available as quickly as possible.

“We’re a level four trauma center, so we’ve got a lot of available tools. We also have a helipad right outside the ER if we determine that this patient will need to be flown to a high level of care,” explained Lang.

Those resources are in place to help people in need, but those resources are being stretched incredibly thin.

In many places around the United States, there is an extended wait time for medical attention or notification that no ambulance is available.

For Mahaska Health they’ve been able to keep staffing levels high enough not to face those types of shortages in staffing.

One area of concern is, if the lifesaving equipment is wrapped up in a non-emergency situation, then they may be delayed in responding to situations such as a heart attack or stroke, car crash, or fire.

Lang wanted to emphasize that when you really need emergency services 24 hours a day, call. Don’t be afraid to call, because the staff at Mahsaksa Health is there to help you on what may be one of the worse days of your life.

Lang says they are there to help people and follow the same HIPAA standards every other healthcare provider honors.

So the next time you see a paramedic, and you ask them about how the crash victim may be doing, don’t be offended if they don’t offer any updates. They are just honoring their oath as a professional.