EMS seeks to provide more hands-only training and public education
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Davidson County Emergency Medical Services provided nearly 800 hands-only CPR training sessions during the Lexington Barbecue Festival, and they are seeking to provide more public education for non-certification. According to The American Heart Association, “Hands-Only CPR is CPR without rescue breaths. If you see a teen or adult collapse, you can perform Hands-Only CPR with just two easy steps. Call 911 and push hard and fast in the center of the chest to the beat of the Bee Gees’ classic disco song Stayin’ Alive.”
Established in 1967, the Davidson County EMS provides 24-hour-a-day advanced life support, pre-hospital emergency medical care for a population of over 162,000 in a 582 square mile area. With an annual emergency call volume in excess of 23,000 responses, DCEMS operates a minimum of ten Advanced Life Support Ambulances, one Advanced Life Support Quick Response Vehicle (12 hours) each day in southern Davidson County, and one 24-hour ALS Quick Response Vehicle staffed by the operations supervisor, according to its website.
Funded primarily by general tax revenues and donations, the Davidson County unit has approximately 86 full-time career employees and 50 part-time career employees working hard to respond to emergency calls. For example, the Operations Division employees work 12-hour shift schedules. These shifts are either straight days or straight nights. DCEMS was the first county government funded service in the state and has grown from a small, basic life support provider into a high-volume, EMT-Paramedic Service. DCEMS was awarded Model System Status by the North Carolina Office of EMS in 2002 and was the first EMS Service in the Piedmont Triad to achieve this title. Davidson County EMS operates from eight different locations within the county.
During DCEMS’ “hands-only” CPR and AED - Automated External Defibrillator - application training almost 800 “potential bystanders” were trained during the 39th Barbecue Festival. “We successfully taught close to 800 individuals hands-only CPR. We want to increase our public education and early recognition of the need for CPR so we can then improve our bystander CPR rates and AED application,” a written statement on social media explained. “Our goal is to increase our survivability rates of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. We believe if you have two hands, you can save a life. What an honor it is to serve our community! Strong work for all involved!”
For information on hosting a FREE “hands-only” (not for certification purposes) CPR event, contact (336) 236-3103 or Race.Cars.Trial@davidsoncountync.gov.
