Life, death and no more broom closets

Life, death andno more broom closets

Every space is maximized and multi-purposed in the outgrown Gunnison EMS station.

Gunnison’s paramedics give life-saving care across a vast alpine landscape – working out of an old, cramped steel building. A new campaign could change that.

When C.J. Malcolm left his Grand Canyon emergency medicine job to head the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) for Gunnison Valley Health, he saw similarities between the two situations. In both, the vast and dramatic landscape, plus the criticality of some calls, demanded that paramedics have wide-ranging and high-level skills. But one difference became strikingly clear. At the Grand Canyon, Malcolm worked in a spacious, state-of-the art facility. In Gunnison, Malcolm and his team run Colorado’s 2020 EMS Ambulance Service of the Year out of an outdated, undersized steel building that’s bursting at its uninsulated seams.

A campaign launched this summer could change that. The Gunnison Valley Health Foundation is raising funds to build a new EMS station on the Gunnison Valley Hospital campus, at the corner of North Colorado and East Denver Avenue.

Currently, the six or more on-duty medics might gather elbow to elbow in the station’s small office, while colleagues do administrative tasks at desks crammed against a nearby wall. (“Want privacy? Go sit in an ambulance,” Malcolm said.) A medical researcher works in a former broom closet. Because the building has no sleeping quarters, on-duty medics sleep in two nearby condos. A wee-hour winter call might send the crew “sliding flat-footed across

Dusty Demerson

the icy pavement at -20 degrees, trying to stay calm, knowing that every minute is critical,” Malcolm said.

The planned EMS station will include nine bedrooms, kitchen and dining area, eight to ten ambulance bays, plus space for administrative work, training, equipment storage and maintenance.

LIFE-SAVING CARE IN RUGGED TERRAIN

Beyond its outgrown station, Gunnison’s EMS faces daunting challenges. It serves the largest zone in Colorado – 4,400 square miles, about twice the size of Delaware, much of that area remote and mountainous. Crested Butte’s EMS works closely with GVH Paramedics for mutual aid. Many of the rivers, canyons and mountains that draw local recreationists lie within the Gunnison EMS zone.

Gunnison’s crew members – 21 full-time and 15 per-diem – responded to about 1,500 calls last year, including 260 timeconsuming transfers to medical facilities throughout the state, including Grand Junction and Denver.

Compared to urban ambulance services, GVH Paramedics have a lower call volume per crew, but in the city a medic might only care for a patient for half an hour before arrival at a hospital. In Gunnison’s huge, rugged service area, medics often spend hours with patients and employ higher-level treatments, such as Rapid Sequence Intubation (RSI) and using ventilators. Gunnison is the only ground paramedic service in the state to carry blood supply on board. With swaths of its service area out of communication range, medics frequently make critical decisions on site without the support of a busy urban system.

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The alpine terrain (encompassing Blue Mesa Reservoir, Taylor Canyon and a section of the Continental Divide) can turn a medical call into an intense adventure. One medic vividly recalls helping with a swift-water rescue; another snowmobiled into Tin Cup to treat a potential heart attack victim overnight until the person could be transported the next day.

Perhaps because of the contrast with urban EMS, about ten percent of Gunnison’s medics “commute” from cities. They then share their urban medical skill sets with their mountain colleagues, and vice versa. Training is crucial for rural medics to ensure they bring the highest standards to the more advanced critical care scope.

TAKING THE NEXT STEP

The new EMS station will cost about $5 million. Some funds will come from Gunnison Valley Health, leaving approximately $4 million to be raised by the GVH Foundation.

Gunnison Valley Health Paramedics are not tax-funded like fire and police departments, noted Jenny Birnie, GVH Foundation director. Funding comes from Gunnison Valley Health and insurance reimbursements. As health care costs rise, while reimbursement dollars shrink, providers must raise the money needed to serve their communities over the long term. This summer’s campaign will partner with Gunnison Valley full-time and part-time residents, while pursuing funding from local government, private foundations and businesses. “Donations will help provide each individual who calls 911 with the best possible experience and outcome,” Birnie said.

What will EMS crews most appreciate about a new station? Room, they say. Room to store and maintain the ambulances and gear. Room to cook and eat meals together. Room to train, work, interact and plan. Room to sleep on site. And room to recuperate.

“I’ve been in this business for 25 years, and I’ve seen how important mental health is,” Malcolm said. “We make do here; it’s super positive. But we need space to decompress. You come back from an intense call and the ambulance is trashed, the gear is trashed, and you’re trashed. You’ve got to rehab it all and get ready to go out again.” b

Donations to the nonprofit GVH Foundation to support a new EMS station are tax deductible. Visit gunnisonvalleyhealth.org/ donations or contact Jenny Birnie at JBirnie@ gvh-colorado.org.

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