Waldoboro EMS recently joined over 70 other emergency medical services providers around Maine by earning a HeartSafe Community recognition for the work it is doing to improve “cardiovascular health outcomes,” according to a letter announcing the qualification.
The program, a partnership between the Maine Cardiovascular Health Council and the Maine Emergency Medical Services Office, is aimed at recognizing the work of EMS programs around the state in improving the chances of cardiovascular-related event survival and recovery, according to the council’s website.
The program also will provide opportunities for enhancing community partnerships, resources, and services to improve cardiovascular health
The designation as a HeartSafe Community is a recognition of Waldoboro EMS’ efforts, but really represents more than that through what the service provides to its communities, according to Waldoboro EMS Director Richard Lash.
Cardiac event survival rates are better with a response system in place and much of what Waldoboro EMS uses for medication and technique can help prevent heart damage, Lash said.
Lash emphasized the importance of calling 911 as soon as possible when one starts to experience chest pressure or pain, or pain in the left arm or jaw as part of that system.
“They’re early interventions, so when you get home you have zero heart damage and you can go back to leading a normal life,” Lash said.
Waldoboro EMS, which serves Waldoboro, Friendship, and about half of Jefferson, met criteria under the HeartSafe program to be recognized at the “gold” level.
Criteria for the designation include a emergency medical service having advanced life support equipment on its vehicles and personnel trained to use them, and a certain number of automated external defibrillators around the towns and people trained in their use, Lash said.
Waldoboro has three AEDs Lash is aware of, at the three public schools, and Friendship has nine of the devices around the town.
“It’s amazing for a little town,” he said.
Part of Waldoboro’s application was training the public in hands-only CPR at events like Waldoboro Day and Friendship Day, Lash said. In a roughly five-minute-long session, trainees use mannequins to get an actual feel for the practice, he said.
“They’re finding the cardiac compressions, done correctly, are more important than the breathing part” of traditional CPR, Lash said.
“We’re very active in doing [the trainings] – and that’s one of the criteria, how proactive we are,” he said.
Several members of the service are working with Regional School Unit 40 to teach a modified version of the program to sixth-grade students, he said.
Waldoboro EMS also trains adults in using AEDs and performing CPR. A “full-boat” class for both is about four hours long, Lash said.
Anyone interested can call 832-2160 and leave their information, and someone will call them back when there are enough participants to hold a class, Lash said.
