CAASA honors Team during Michigan EMS Recognition Week
Clinton Area Ambulance Service Authority has 31 dedicated EMS Practitioners serving the north half of Clinton County.
CAASA is honoring these dedicated men and women for their lifesaving work as Michigan celebrates EMS Recognition Week. Lynn Weber, Director of CAASA had this to share.
Many are calling them heroes for the service they have provided during this pandemic. Many of them are uncomfortable with that term because they are doing what they signed up to do, which is caring for our communities. No one is exempt from the effects of this pandemic; we all have had our challenges. But they would ask you to take a moment and look at the additional role your EMS agency, through these dedicated Paramedics and EMTs, has played over the last several months.
Related to COVID, they have used hundreds of sets of PPE, spent countless hours sanitizing their ambulances and equipment after calls, and transported dozens of critical patients while wearing respirators, masks, face shields, and gowns. They have mastered new equipment formerly used only in hospitals to continue lifesaving treatment of these critically ill patients during transport. They have assisted at vaccination clinics, and are assisting in vaccinating homebound patients against COVID as well. We are prepared to administer monoclonal antibody therapy in the home to those who have COVID and are at a high risk for serious illness or death. CAASA has been an active partner in our County EOC, and has worked hand in hand with the many agencies that have supported and filled the needs of our most vulnerable County residents during this pandemic.
All of this happened while the rest of the world just kept spinning. Meaning all the many other roles that an EMS Practitioner fills were still in play and being performed every shift. Falls, accidents, heart attacks, strokes, difficulty breathing, and a whole host of other calls continued no matter the pandemic, time of day, weather conditions, or any other variable that can be tossed into the mix.
One of the things you might hear from an EMS Practitioner when you ask them what they like most about being an EMT or Paramedic is “You never know what challenges the day will bring.” It is also uniquely rewarding to be welcomed into someone’s home to help when things aren’t going well.
Some examples that you or a family member may have experienced first-hand are:
– The EMS crew making sure someone will feed an elderly person’s cat when she’s at the hospital.
– The EMT or Paramedic who holds a child’s hand (or Grandma’s) on the way to the hospital to make sure they aren’t frightened.
– The strong hands of an EMS crew picking you or a loved one up off the floor and putting you back in your easy chair at 3 a.m., and then asking if there is anything else they can help with.
– It’s the crew that spends an hour fighting for a cardiac arrest victim’s life at the end of a long, sleepless night.
– It’s an EMS crew staffing your child’s sporting event, a vaccination clinic, or other community event.
– Once in a while we even get to welcome a new life into this world by delivering a baby!
Please remember these emergency medical professionals who care for our communities’ day in and day out. They need to be creative problem solvers and a jack of all trades, a master of our protocols but able to think outside the box. They are willing to put their own physical and mental well-being at risk to help someone in their time of need. They must be able to make decisions based on half of the needed information, delivered by frantic patients or family, in uncontrolled environments, 18 hours into their 24 hour shift. This Team is truly amazing, and taking care of our communities is just what they do.
Flags will fly on Memorial Day
The Avenue of Flags will be going up at Mt. Rest Cemetery on May 30 and May 31, weather permitting. The flags will be available for viewing between 8 a.m and 7 p.m.
Don’t miss this awe-inspiring tribute to the many Veterans from our community.
Clinton County Historical Museum getting a facelift
The Clinton County Historical Museum is well on their way to repairing and refreshing the museum’s for a Grand Post-Covid Reopening.
Please call 989.292.9096 if you have any interest in historical preservation.
The Clinton County Historical Museum is located on the courthouse square at 106 Maple in St. Johns.
IQhub hosts visitors again
The IQhub had visitors on Tuesday for the first time in over a year. They would like to thank the Eaton Rapids FFA for coming in to see them, and they hope the Future Farmers did well on their FFA State Skills Contests.
SJHS Auto Show is July 17
The date set for the St. Johns Auto Program 50th Anniversary Celebration is July 17.
They will be working on getting all the cool stuff they had scheduled before we had to reschedule due to the pandemic. They also expect to have Rhino Dyno coming, so get those engines tuned up for a good time.
St. Johns at sunset
Photo courtesy of Julie Peters from her front yard on Lansing St. one evening last week at sunset with the grain silos and tree tops on Clinton Ave.