Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 29, 1994 TAG: 9404290100
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
People trying to get to hospitals and doctors, and ambulance drivers in emergency situations, have to find ways to get to Radford Community, Pulaski Community or Montgomery Regional Hospital.
A six-minute ride for rescue squads in the Virginia 114 area has quadrupled. In most cases, ambulance drivers are taking the Interstate 81 detours, but there have been instances where a patient has been wheeled across the bridge by gurney from the Pulaski County side to a waiting ambulance that takes them to the Radford hospital.
"It hasn't been a major problem as much as an inconvenience," said Charlie Shoemaker, captain of the Pulaski County Lifesaving Crew.
The biggest problem, he said, is in the Fairlawn area because most people who live there usually go to Radford Community Hospital.
Pulaski Community Hospital has seen a few patients who normally would go to Radford, Shoemaker said.
His crew is running calls by taking the Dublin Interstate 81 access and driving to the Tyler Road exit.
But for emergencies, patients have been shuttled across the bridge, with Pulaski crews meeting Radford Community Hospital Emergency Medical Services technicians on the bridge.
For real emergencies, the bridge shuttle is a time advantage rescue workers can't ignore.
Dave Smith, operations manager for Radford Community's emergency medical services, said three people have been shuttled across the bridge since Saturday.
The shuttling is in the patient's best interest because a 20-minute detour could be risky, he said.
Smith said the shuttle cooperation is especially important during the day when rescue squads are shorthanded because volunteers are working at their full-time jobs.
"By shuttling across the bridge ... it gets the patients over here more quickly," Smith said.
Rescue members also are freed more quickly to answer calls in their area than they would be if they had to take a detour, Smith said.
"It's a big inconvenience," Smith said.
The shuttles are arranged when volunteers call the hospital by radio. Hospital EMS technicians meet them about one-half to one-third of the way across the bridge. The rescue squads and EMS swap gurneys and equipment, and the patient is on the way.
Chris Dux, administrator at Pulaski Community Hospital, said the number of patients has increased recently but he wasn't sure whether to attribute it to the bridge or to seasonal injuries such as sprained ankles.
"Our volume is up in our emergency room slightly," Dux said.
"There may be an increase in the ER but certainly it hasn't been considerable to that point that it's had any impact," on staffing or service, he said.
Dux said shuttling patients across the bridge troubles him, and not just because the patients are going to Radford.
While patients generally should be allowed to choose which hospital they want to go to, Dux said critical patients need intensive medical attention that should not be interrupted by taking them out of an ambulance's stable environment.
"In my opinion, that's wrong," he said. "Would you want to be that patient?"
Judy Tynan, Montgomery Regional Hospital spokeswoman, said the hospital's emergency room has not seen a jump in patients since last week. Instead, the hospital continues to notice a steady increase at the ER since its recent expansion.
by CNB