15 January 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – With the freezing temperatures and dangerous wind chill, Sedgwick County EMS still needs to get out and help those in life-threatening situations.
The county has three district officers who are in charge of making sure crews have fully charged equipment.
Each of the ambulances is stocked with extra blankets for patients crews may come across.
One Sedgwick County paramedic says the most challenging part about dealing with the cold is the constantly changing scenarios.
“Just being out in the cold and in the elements, you really don’t have much protection from any of the elements. At any given point, your scenes can change from a house to a highway to a parking lot to underneath a bridge where someone lives, so protecting yourself from any and all environments when you’re getting ready for work is probably one of the hardest parts,” Amanda Morlan, Sedgwick County paramedic, said.
During KSN’s ride-along, paramedics assisted a woman who had called in for being too cold. She was treated in the back of the ambulance and given blankets.
The ambulance also carries oxygen masks and breathing treatments for those in the cold who may be experiencing shortness of breath. The back of the ambulance also has a warmer for IV fluids, which they can use to get a patient’s body temperature up.
“Start off the day by making sure all the crews have what they need in terms of equipment, and especially right now, with it being so cold, we have extra blankets that we can pass out to make sure that they have everything for a patient when they run across them,” Kathy Baumert, Sedgwick County EMS district chief, said.