While St. John hasn’t had any mass casualties on the scale of the Boston Marathon bombing in April, emergency responders should prepare as if one could happen at any moment, Boston Emergency Medical Services paramedic John Gill said Friday.
“Plan on things that are going to overwhelm you,” he said.
Gill addressed emergency responders attending a Trauma Life Support Training that runs through Sunday at the Westin Resort and Villas on St. John. The event is sponsored by the St. John Emergency Medical Service Association.
“The more knowledge and skills emergency responders get, the better for the community,” association President Carol Beckowitz said.
She said that particularly to St. John, where emergency responders are on their own. Help is a boat ride away from St. Thomas, so trauma training is important.
“You never know when something’s going to happen,” she said.
Gill was at the scene of the Boston Marathon bombing about five minutes after the bombs exploded. He said three people were dead at the scene as a direct result of the bombs.
Determining who is most seriously wounded and treating them first, called triage, was the key to keeping the others alive, he said. He added that he’s really proud that the emergency responders in Boston were able to keep those injured alive.
“There were 10 or 12 I didn’t think were going to make it,” he said.
In the Boston bombing, Gill said bystanders were instrumental in helping keep people alive. He said they used their belts as tourniquets and moved those injured to tents set up to provide treatment.
A chain of command is key, he said, to control the chaos that happens at emergency scenes.
St. John has had a couple of mass casualties involving ferry boats and barges but Gill warned that a taxi accident could involve 15 people.
No matter where he is in Boston, Gill is only six miles away from the nearest hospital, a trip that he said takes eight to 12 minutes depending on traffic. The nearest trauma center is eight miles away.
It’s a different story on St. John. Although staff at Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center would stabilize seriously wounded patients, those seriously injured face transport on the Liston “Huntie” Sprauve ambulance boat and an ambulance ride before they get to Roy L. Schneider Hospital on St. Thomas.
“There are unique challenges,” he said of the job emergency medical technicians do on St. John.
Emergency responders also must deal with injured and sick people on hiking trails and in the water. Gill said in Boston, drunk college students fall off balconies.
St. John also faces turnover when it comes to emergency responders. Gill said the key to addressing that problem comes with frequent training.
He also suggested that holding CPR and First Aid training for residents will help them feel comfortable assisting in emergencies.
Gill, 48, has been on the job for 28 years. He went to EMT school when he was 18, and said when he was 22, he decided he wanted to learn and do more so went for advanced training.
According to this Boston native, living in Boston where there are schools to train emergency responders is an advantage. St. John EMTs usually depend on classes such as the one this weekend to keep their skills up.
Gill was scheduled to be on St. John until Sunday, when he would head back home. He was off to spend some time at the beach before his presentation Friday.
“On Saturday, I’m going to find some place to watch the Red Sox,” he said, referring to Boston’s baseball team, who on Saturday beat the Detroit Tigers 5-2 to win the American League championship and a place in the World Series.
