CCPT EMS and Bike Teams Join Breast Cancer Awareness Event

We were proud to support Carilion Clinic's Positively Pink Parade last weekend at Valley View Mall. This is an annual event that raises awareness for breast cancer and is a wonderful venue for both survivors and their loved ones to come together for a great cause. The rainy day didn't stop the enthusiastic crowd from proceeding as planned. CCPT sent several of our finest to provide medical standby coverage as well as cheer everyone on!
Thanks to all who came out and participated. We especially like the show of pink ribbon support-looks like a great addition to our uniform!

CCPT Participates in Local Disaster Drill

***The Following information is related to a DRILL ONLY***

CCPT has currently dispatched 2 ambulances to assist with a Haz-Mat Drill in Roanoke City. Media updates for the drill situations are as follows:

There has been a train derailment along Patterson Avenue in the City of Roanoke. There has been an ammonia release in the 2400 block of Patterson Avenue with the plume moving Southeast across the Norwich area.
Crew are now in the process of evacuating the area in the area of the Norwich community. Evacuees will be taken to Patrick Henry High School. For more details see www.roanokealert.com for updated announcements.

Currently, the CCPT Senior Director is staffing the Carilion Clinic Command Center and the CCPT PIO is staffing the City JIC at the City Manager's office. Check back here for updates also.

Carilion Clinic Life-Guard Connects with Alleghany 911 Centers

Jeff Echternach, PR Coordinator for our Communications Center, was on the road yesterday to visit with our neighboring emergency dispatchers in Alleghany County. We have worked very closely with the Alleghany EMS community over the years, and were excited to deliver our rapid access hotlines (aka "Life-Guard bat phones") to two of their 911 Centers. These direct ringdown phones allow for the 911 dispatchers to contact our Carilion Clinic Life-Guard dispatchers even more seamlessly. By simply picking up the handset, the phone is pre-programmed to automatically put the caller in touch with one of our Carilion Clinic Communication Specialists.
In conjunction with the Carilion Clinic Heart Alert program, Jeff has been out working hard providing excellent educational seminars for the E911 dispatchers on the basics of activating a Carilion Clinic Life-Guard helicopter for their area emergencies. "Making the call for a helicopter is not something a 911 dispatcher does every day", says Robin Hall, Alleghany County E911 Supervisor. "If you're not prepared for the phone call, it can make things very difficult".
Our Dispatcher training prepares dispatchers for all types of medevac response needs: from acute heart attacks, to motor vehicle accidents, to acute strokes....any call where time can make a critical difference in a patient's outcome.
Jeff was able to visit with the Alleghany dispatchers and learn more about their operations as well. While showing some of the staff the new phone, Police Chief Barry G. Balser commented, "I'm glad that Clifton Forge is able to partake in this technology...but when can we upgrade to the "Bat-Light" that shines your logo in the sky??" (Don't laugh, Chief Balser..we kind of like that idea!)
We value the excellent working relationships we have with all of our partnering dispatchers. If your local Communications Center is interested in scheduling training with our crew or would like to inquire about installing a hotline phone, please contact our Business Development Office at (540) 981-8303.

Rolling Safety Stand Down for Carilion Clinic Life-Guard

As many of you are aware, our air medical community experienced a significantly tragic incident last week in Arizona. This event and other recent air medical incidents are still under investigation by the NTSB and FAA. Carilion Clinic Life-Guard, along with many other members of the Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS), voluntarily took time out from our busy schedules last Wednesday to hold a "Rolling Safety Stand Down". During this time, our air medical staff, aviation staff, administration, and communication specialists gathered to conduct a focused quality and safety review. We examined our culture of decision making and how these processes could affect the potential for human errors in our daily operations. Our discussions especially focused on the principles of Air Medical Resource Management (AMRM) and how we can all communicate better as a team. At the end of the meeting, staff members signed a form indicating everyone's personal commitment to the AMRM principles.
The entire staff of Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation is committed to providing safe, quality patient care to the communities in which we serve. Our thoughts and condolences go out to all of those who were affected by our air medical community's recent tragedies.

Blackhawk Mission a Success

Lots of excitement at our helipad today as we watched the National Guard do their stuff...and boy, did they do it well! The mission was executed beautifully as they sling lifted the disabled MedFlight helicopter from the hospital's rooftop safely to our ground helipad.
After transferring the helicopter, the Blackhawk then made a final trip to the rooftop pad to retrieve the aircraft's rotor blades (see below).
See video below from the mission:

And finally, the helicopter is taken into the hangar for repairs:

And see a word from the Blackhawk pilot regarding the mission:

National Guard Blackhawk Helicopter Arrives at Carilion Clinic

A National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was deployed this morning to the Carilion Clinic helipad. It's mission is to lift a disabled MedFlight helicopter from our hospital's rooftop helipad-the aircraft was stranded there several days ago due to a mechanical malfunction after bringing a patient to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Members of the Carilion Clinic, VA State Police, Roanoke Fire & EMS, and the National Guard met at the Carilion Clinic Life-Guard 10 hangar for a mission debriefing.
Stay tuned here for further updates on the helicopter move.

All Work and No Play?

The CCPT family works hard, and deservingly so, they play hard. Over the weekend, a group headed to the James River for a fun day of paddling and social time. A huge thanks to Lieutenant Boudreaux for spearheading the day! Both employees, family members, and friends enjoyed a beautiful sunny day on the river.
Uh, Josh.....the boat is supposed to go IN the water!
We are fortunate to have such a great bunch of folks that work here at Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation. Outings like this only reinforce the great teamwork that we have in place every day at the workplace. If you are interested in joiningg the CCPT team, please contact our business office at (540) 981-8731 or visit www.carilion.com to inquire about employment opportunties.

Summer Camp Visits Life-Guard 10

The Carilion Clinic Life-Guard staff frequently hosts hangar tours for area school groups and summer camps. It's a wonderful opportunity for the children to learn more about our jobs as well as tips on how to be good helpers during emergency situations. The kids are always full of great questions and certainly help to remind all of us here at CCPT why we have chosen our professions as emergency medical providers. We welcome groups of all ages to visit our workplace and see the helicopters and ambulances up close. Feel free to contact our Business Development Office at (540) 981-8303 to schedule a visit.
A special thanks also goes to Dr. Carol Gilbert and Krista Henderson, MSN, RN, from Carilion Clinic Trauma Services, for coordinating the activities with us. See the kids in action below, as they learn how to backboard a mock patient and load him into the aircraft-looks like future CCPT employees to us!

Click on the thumbnails below to see more of the kids' day with us:

Carilion Clinic C.I.O. Spends Day With Life-Guard 10

The Carilion Clinic Life-Guard 10 crew welcomed a special V.I.P. guest on Friday. Daniel Barchi, Chief Information Officer for Carilion Clinic visited CCPT to see our operations up close, including some flight time with our crew. We suited him up and put him to work! Hopefully he enjoyed seeing our technology at an altitude of 3000 feet...a great alternative to any day in the office!

WSLS Does Story on New Night Vision Goggles

A big thanks to News Channel 10 for the excellent story they did on the latest addition to our safety initiatives here at Carilion Clinic Life-Guard-the use of night vision goggles by our medevac teams. Reporter Candice Nelson got to see our operations up close and took time to try out the goggles herself while she was visiting. What do you think-new flight crew member?? :)
Check out the WSLS web site to see more of their coverage.

National EMS Memorial Service

The 16th Annual National EMS Service recently was held in Roanoke, VA. Carilion Clinic Life-Guard was once again proud to participate in this event to honor our EMS brothers and sisters who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
Carilion Clinic Life-Guard 10 provided a flyover for the finish of the EMS Memorial Bike Ride on Friday evening. Nearly 100 cyclists made the grueling, but inspired ride from one of three different starting points: NYC, Kentucky, and Louisiana. Our own CCPT Giles member, James Lee, made the complete ride for the second consecutive year from NYC! Read more about the EMS Memorial Bike Ride here.
The actual Memorial Service took place on Saturday evening. Both Carilion Clinic Life-Guard 10 and 11 provided a flyover for the end of the service. See pictures from the event below. The National Service will return to the Roanoke area for one final time on May 23, 2009, before it moves to its new location in Colorado Springs.

Medical Transport Leadership Institute

Carilion Clinic Patient Transportation's leadership team celebrates Charlie Coffelt's (Director-Communications Center & New River Valley Transport/EMS Divisions) graduation from the Medical Transport Leadership Institute (MTLI) as a Certified Medical Transport Executive (CMTE).
MTLI is an extensive two year program that focuses on leadership and overall operational development of leaders in the Medical Transport Community. A very small number of leaders in the country have this certification.
In addition to Charlie completing the CMTE, the following leadership staff completed other parts of the MTLI school:

Allan Belcher-Graduate School
Susan Smith-Graduate School
Jeff McKinney-Graduate School
Craig McCown-Graduate School
Dennis Croft-Completed first year
Kim Rorrer-Completed first year
Dr. Carol Gilbert-Completed first year

Paul Davenport-Promoted from Instructor to Regent status

Congratulations to all the members of the leadership team on their continued education!

Carilion Clinic Heart Alert Team Celebrates EMS Week

The Carilion Clinic Heart Alert Team continues to hold monthly multi-disciplinary meetings to allow EMS providers to present their field cases and receive follow-up from the Cardiology team. Participation in our group grows every month, and we continue to see great patient outcomes resulting from the Carilion Clinic Field Heart Alert Program.
This month, we were able to celebrate National EMS Week during our meeting. Thanks to all who participated-we look forward to seeing our program grow even more successful! If your crew is interested in sending a representative to our monthly conference, please feel free to e-mail Melanie Morris at mmorris@carilion.com for more details.

CCPT Participates in Radford Student Government Day

At the end of each school year, Radford High holds a Student Government Day event for the graduating seniors. The day is devoted to allowing the students to see how the city is actually run by providing multiple job shadowing opportunities. The staff of CCPT, along with the Radford Fire Department, provided some of the seniors a close-up look at the work they do every day. The weather was beautiful and everyone enjoyed the mock crash demo which included loading the "patient" onto Carilion Clinic Life-Guard 11! Video and photo shots are included below from the day:

Extrication Demo

Loading Mock Patient for Life-Guard Transport

Photo Gallery (click on thumbnails for larger view)

4th Annual StarPoints Conference a Huge Success

Each year, Carilion Clinic Life-Guard hosts their educational StarPoints Conference for EMS providers and hospital personnel. This year, the event was held at the Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center in Blacksburg, VA. We are extremely proud to report a record attendance of over 250 attendees-truly an example of the growing popularity of this annual event.
Highlights of the day included a keynote presentation on ambulance safety by nationally-acclaimed speaker Dr. Nadine Levick, a M*A*S*H*-style medical tent set up for advanced airway skills training, and a special presentation by the VA Tech Rescue Squad detailing lessons learned from the April 16, 2007 event. We would like to extend a huge thanks to all of the wonderful speakers who presented at this year's Conference-without them the event could not have been so successful!
Be sure to go ahead and mark your calendars for the 5th Annual StarPoints Conference which has already been scheduled for Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at The Inn at Virginia Tech. Stay tuned for details on the hottest EMS Conference in SW Virginia!
Click on the thumbnails below to see highlights from the day: