Gilpin ambulance company tests and proves life-saving device

Lynn Volkens

2/23/2006 - Chances are, observant drivers stopped at the red light at Black Hawk’s Gregory and Main Streets, will see at least one (and on weekends, several) older folks leashed to rolling portable oxygen tanks in the slow crosswalk parade. The predominant local industry welcomes these folks, wants them to have a good time, and wants them to leave healthy and on their own feet. But our thin-air altitude is a potential health risk for the oxygen impaired. The Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) of Gilpin Ambulance Company deal with the results of oxygen-starved lungs on a regular basis. Now they’ve acquired a really “handy” high-tech gadget that’s proving to be a great asset in their kits. It’s a hand-held (about the size of a man’s palm) non-invasive pulse/oxygen monitor – a “pulse-ox” in their vernacular.

  Gilpin Ambulance acquired their pulse-ox in December, field-tested it and has been proving its value ever since. The device measures the levels of oxygen and carbon monoxide (CO) in a person’s blood via their pulse signals transmitted through a plastic clamp attached to their finger. Prior to this, the levels could be determined only by drawing the person’s blood and having the sample analyzed at a laboratory, all within a time window of 45 minutes. With the nearest laboratory located at the destination hospital, that isn’t always possible from Gilpin County. Now Gilpin EMTs need only “pinch” the patient’s finger. The data they gather provides a “heads up” to the Emergency Room (ER) doctors of what will be needed upon arrival of the patient at their facility. That can be invaluable in determining treatment to save smoke inhalation or CO poisoning victims and patients whose oxygen levels have dropped for whatever reason. Victims of these situations are often treated with oxygen masks that cause the true level of CO in the blood to be washed out. A patient whose blood shows high CO levels at the scene, may need specialized (hyperbaric) treatment to prevent damage to the myelin, the protective layer of the nervous system. Without the treatment, the nervous system can begin deteriorating up to three weeks after an exposure to CO, resulting in cognitive impairment. Symptoms of CO exposure look very much like flu or other more common ailments – headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, muscle weakness, vision problems, confusion and accelerated heart rate/breathing rate. When the level reaches 50%, the patient loses consciousness. Over 60% results in seizures, coma and death. Until now a patient was in danger of suffering damage long after their initial attack because medical personnel at the scene and ER were unable to detect the source of the patient’s dysfunction. The pulse-ox changes all of that.

  Gilpin Ambulance was the first in the state to obtain the device. Production had been limited to 200 and initial distribution was on a selective basis. After proving the accuracy and value of the device through actual use in the field, the company ordered two more. (Cost of each pulse-ox is approximately $2,400.) Now every Gilpin ambulance carries a pulse-ox as standard equipment. They are being used routinely to determine oxygen/CO levels for any patient who passes out or has symptoms of oxygen deprivation. Gilpin Ambulance hopes to use the collected data to find common patterns that can be used to make fast field diagnoses and treatment decisions in the future.

  This isn’t the first time the local ambulance service has been first on the list to field test new medical devices. Gilpin Ambulance is used for such testing because their personnel is known throughout the state as top-notch in training and performance. Because of Gilpin’s location, further from an ER than many such services, they are likely to know what works in the field and what doesn’t. Their knowledge and expertise provides the best recommendation available. The frequency with which they are called out and the variety of medical situations they face provide wide opportunity for testing. Last year they field-tested a portable automatic ventilator, the Autovent. Thanks in part to Gilpin’s testing, that device is now saving lives as standard equipment throughout the country. Because of their testing and support, the pulse-ox is following suit.