December 21, 2011
TST donates life-saving equipment to Arlington County Fire Department
Arlington, Va.—
As part of TST's continued community outreach, it worked with the neighboring fire department to donate lactate meters, and their reciprocal sampling strip bottles, for all Arlington County medical units. The meters will help paramedics readily identify patients with sepsis, a systemic infection that is a leading cause of death.
Sepsis is a top ten cause of death in the United States and kills a higher percentage of children than adults, largely because the symptoms often go undetected until there are significant problems. By having this detection equipment in all Arlington County ambulances, ACFD medics can start early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) and transport afflicted patients to hospitals that specialize in treating sepsis, thus saving lives.
Robert Bowen, Fire and EMS Lieutenant at ACFD, says he hopes that this advancement will encourage neighboring jurisdictions and hospitals not currently practicing EGDT to implement these national guidelines, in order to better the community as a whole.
The Arlington County Fire Department provides fire, EMS, and hazardous materials and technical rescue response to an urban community of 207,000 residents in an area of 26 square miles.
