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Nicole Gonzales and Becky Bruce reporting A new and improved trauma program for children could soon pass in the U.S. Senate. The Wakefield Act has already been passed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
If the act gains enough support to pass in the Senate, it would allow for grants to expand projects that improve emergency medical services for children -- a group that's often overlooked.
Dr. Michael Dean, a pediatric specialist at the University of Utah, said, "I think children have less of a voice because children can't advocate for themselves, and it's a natural tendency for us to advocate for ourselves, and I think adults do a better job advocating."
The Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC) program was initiated in the early '80s. Since its inception, state officials estimate that death rates for children in accidents have dropped 40 percent.
Congressman Jim Matheson says, "As a member of Congress I've introduced legislation which is going to expand that program, create more opportunities for research grants to be handed out all over the country to try to find better ways to provide emergency medical services for children."
Utah has two "strike teams" for children -- special trucks loaded up with equipment to treat 100 children in the event of a wide-scale disaster or emergency situation.
Pediatric RN Susan Garcia helped design the strike teams and has been training EMTs, paramedics and other rescue workers statewide to use what's inside them.
She says only one other strike team for children exists right now, located outside Boston. But she'd like to see more, because treating children is inherently different than treating adults, and not just from a pure size standpoint.
"They would breathe in, they breathe faster, so they might breathe a chemical in [more quickly], and then definitely it's based on their weight. We couldn't give them the dosage of an antidote that we would give an adult," Garcia explained.
The strike teams in Utah are going to be placed strategically, according Dean. He says, "Even a children's hospital can become overwhelmed, if you have a huge number of casualties, with its equipment. So this is able to go to wherever it needs to go in the state. We have a couple of these. One will be located in the south and one will be located in the north."
This renewal bill authorizes $25 million in funding for the first year and a 5-percent increase for the remaining years.
Part of the funding would go to the two strike team trailers. The money also would help train professionals and volunteers to assist injured children. Last year, 1,600 people were trained in child-trauma care.
Congressman Jim Matheson and Sen. Orrin Hatch are pushing to get this program, now slated as Senate Bill 60, on the schedule for a hearing. They say once that happens it should easily pass.
E-mail: ngonzales @ksl.com
E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com
