ENCINITAS: Firefighters recall early days of emergency medicine

By RUTH MARVIN WEBSTER - Staff Writer | Monday, October 13, 2008 8:18 PM PDT ∞

ENCINITAS ---- Younger firefighters and paramedics learned just how far emergency medical services have come when they attended a daylong conference called "Nostalgic EMS" at the Encinitas Community and Senior Center on Monday.

Presented by Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla and the Encinitas Fire Department, the nine-hour conference fulfilled the requirement for local paramedics to undergo 48 hours of continuing education every two years.

"I'm kind of a history buff, so I think this is really valuable," said Encinitas firefighter paramedic David Dumain, 43, who attended the event.

"I'm learning a lot about how the system got started in San Diego," he said. "I love talking about how things have changed ... it's like that saying, 'Those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat it.' "

Presenter LuAnn Howard, nurse coordinator for Scripps Memorial La Jolla, discussed the evolution of pre-hospital care in San Diego, from an era when hearses were used to transport patients to what emergency medical treatment is today.

Pagers went off throughout the morning Monday, with groups of firefighters occasionally stepping out to answer a call and returning to listen to the presentations.

Roughly 50 firefighters and paramedics from all over the county participated in the conference, including personnel from the Oceanside and Encinitas fire departments.

According to Howard's research, the first paramedic unit in San Diego County was not established until 1977 in Lakeside; the first paramedic run in the city of San Diego was on Feb. 2, 1979.

That first call was for a patient suffering from an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The ambulance was dispatched from Mercy Hospital, Howard noted, and documentation shows the patient was saved.

Emergency doctor Stephen Gormican also spoke at the conference.

Gormican invented the CRAMS scale, used to evaluate the seriousness of patient trauma. He said he, too, remembered those early days in the emerging field of emergency medicine.

"(The field of) emergency medicine was really a '70s thing," he told Monday's crowd. "It wasn't even until 1975 that the AMA (American Medical Association) recognized emergency medicine. ... In those early days, we were still fighting for respect from patients and everyone else."

Gormican told the paramedics that they are now doing such a thorough job, there is almost nothing left for the emergency room physicians to do.

"You've taken all the fun out of it," he joked. "The paramedics do all the good stuff now, and we're just left giving the patient a pill for nausea or something."

Also on hand at the conference Monday was Rick Kendrick, who flew out from his home in Mooresville, N.C. Kendrick invented the KED Sled, a stretcher made of fabric that is still used today to extricate a patient out of an automobile while keeping his or her neck and back immobile.

Kendrick said he came up with the idea for the splintlike stretcher while he was working Saturday nights at the El Cajon Speedway as an emergency medicine technician for the fire department.

Back in those days, he said, car fires were common on the track and it was always difficult to get the drivers out through the car window while keeping their neck and back supported.

"Even under the best conditions, it was not an easy job," he recalled.

The first prototype of what was later called the KED Sled was made in his garage, using his wife's sewing machine. Later, he went into business with his brother manufacturing the device.

Kendrick said that now his message to first responders is to remember the importance of a good bedside manner, and not to rely too much on new technology.

"You've got to remember you're not treating a number," he said. "Sometimes the best medicine is to hold their hand, to touch them and talk to them."

Contact staff writer Ruth Marvin Webster at (760) 901-4074 or rwebster@nctimes.com.

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