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Show Ambulance Crews Get IV Certifications Four of five ambulance units in Garfield County will now have IV certified Emergency Medical Technicians'. Twelve county EMTs' recently took an additional 12 hours of special training with 10 reaching certification. As a result of certification, they are now qualified to start intravenous fluids on patients. Under the direction of the Garfield Memorial Hospital staff, the EMTs may now start IV fluids to patients enroute to the hospital. If medical control is not immediately Tracy Dalllson. standing, and Rose Woolsey, both EMTs, pause in process of setttog up IV apparatus s li patient compartment of Escalante ambulance to explain to four-year-r'd Laura Dalllson, I available, they will be able to function under protocals approved by the medical staff. The challenging course was open l.hlynb'currenOycerUnerEMTs" who had been active with Garfield County Ambulance service for at least one year. They were also required to meet with the approval of the hospital medical staff. The training part of the course was held in November of 1984 at the hospital, but in order to qualify for certification, participants had to pass a written test and practical tests administered at the time by the Emergency Medical Services of the Utah State Health Department. The EMTs were also required to start successfuly eight IV s before they could be fully certified. Monitoring their progress were Sheri Woolsey, Maureen Mangum and Honor Amstein. Successfully certifying were Boyd Woolsey, Tracy Dallison, Wayne Reynolds, Rose Woolsey, Brad Shallitt, Carolyn Barker, Mike Muir, Jeff Rader, Boyd McFarland and Sheldon Jackson. IV-certified EMTs must have 12 successful IV starts within the next two years in order to remain certified or recertify with the same course. During the course they studied acid-base balance, fluids in shock, different types of intravenous fluids, and the characteristics of osmolarity (how fluids relate to one another through a membrane). |