ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Wearable carbon monoxide detectors have been added to the equipment carried by all full-time Allentown paramedics, weeks after dozens of children were sickened at a day care center.
- City of Allentown full-time paramedics are now wearing carbon monoxide detectors
- The devices are manufactured by Honeywell and will last two years before they have to be replaced
- EMS Chief of Operations Mehmet Barzev said there's been an increase in carbon monoxide exposure calls
Allentown EMS Chief of Operations Mehmet Barzev said all 37 full-time paramedics will be equipped with the device, which measures 3-1/2 inches x 1-1/2 inches and is manufactured by Honeywell.
Barzev said the incident at the Happy Smiles Learning Center on Oct. 11, which saw dozens of children and adults rushed to area hospitals, was "an accelerant" to acquire the devices.
"We've had carbon monoxide detectors in our ambulances for a long time," Barzev said in a phone call Wednesday. "They were issued by the state, and recently we made a purchase and put one meter in every ambulance. They last three years and they're disposable, which is kind of common."
Those were acquired because carbon monoxide poisoning and exposure calls have been increasing, he said.
"We’ve had several carbon monoxide incidents and one thing we’re noticing is how haphazard it is as far as how we get the meters inside a house or inside a building," he said. "We don’t direct our crews to carry X,Y or Z inside for a call, and we couldn’t find a single piece of equipment where we were going to attach this to what they already have so they'll carry it inside."
Most medics will clip the new device to their radio strap or belt, Barzev said, noting the ease of use.
"You turn it on when you take it out of the box and you leave it on for two years. The battery will die and then you just replace it. But there's no training involved," he said.
The detectors have a countdown display that shows how much time is left before they're no longer usable. They're preprogrammed to alert at 25 parts per million of carbon monoxide, which is displayed in a digital read out.
'Worthy of the investment'
Barzev said carbon monoxide exposure incidents have become "common enough and dangerous enough it's worthy of the investment" of the new equipment.
"The biggest problem with it is that you just don't know. It's easy enough to walk into a house and say 'Oh, they all just have the flu or other issues. But now if we go in there and the meter beeps and everyone has the same symptoms, now we immediately look deeper."
Barzev said he gives "all the credit in the world" to the Allentown Fire Department for the initial response to the day care facility, where 27 children and five adults were sickened. A spokesman with UGI Utilities said a malfunctioning heating unit and blocked vents were to blame.
"The fire department walked inside and they had a detector on their med bag. They took the med bag in with them and it beeped that quickly. So, it's two-fold. The meters are going to make it safer for our staff, because if the levels are that high then we shouldn't even be in there. Or it connects the dots for you in terms of the symptoms people are showing."
Paramedics were initially summoned to the day care for a report of an unconscious child, but symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure can include everything from headaches, dizziness or drowsiness to nausea, vomiting and more.
"The bigger concern here is that everyone in Pennsylvania heats their home, so if it burns oil, gas, wood…anything besides electricity can lead to a CO poisoning," Barzev said.
"The meters are going to make it safer for our staff, because if the levels are that high then we shouldn't even be in there."Allentown EMS Chief Mehmet Barzev
Mass casualty planning also saved lives
Allentown ambulances are equipped to monitor pulse oximetry, or the oxygen saturation of the blood. The probe alerts for carbon monoxide once the readings reach a certain threshold. But now with portable monitors, paramedics will already know the poisonous gas is present.
The more ways technicians can quickly confirm that their patient has taken in too much carbon monoxide, the better, Barzev said. But quick-thinking in the day care incident and recent changes to mass casualty planning also saved lives, he said.
"When we come across a situation like that we use a universal triage system, so if you show certain symptoms you're a high priority and what we would label as 'red' patients," he said. "Those are people with abnormal vital signs, people who are unconscious or have an altered level of consciousness. They’re the first to be transported.
"[In the day care incident] we had people in the building who also showed no symptoms at all, so they were 'green.'"
Barzev said a mass casualty incident (MCI) "can go bad so quickly," so it really comes down to what happens with the first people on scene.
"Right away we queried all the regional hospitals and said, 'Hey, we have a major incident here and there's x amount of patients. How many can you take?' They'll come back and say, 'We can take so many red, so many yellow, so many green."
Barzev praised the Allentown EMS transport coordinator who took that information and cross-referenced it so no single hospital would be overwhelmed.
"The first fire engine determined there was a problem quickly. The first paramedic on scene said, 'We’re going to make this an MCI.' As soon as they said, 'We have a level 1 MCI we have to send this many resources," he said.
Barzev said Allentown EMS had recently redeveloped its MCI plan internally on the heels of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
"All of our paramedics are highly trained professionals and they are well-equipped in dealing with emergency medicine, advanced life support and incident command," he said. "But we were lucky to have the people on duty that day who were part of that planning."
