Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

Bridging the gap between first responders on the scene and medical professionals in the hospital.

That's what St Luke's University Health Network aims to do with its new EMS physician response team.

19 Medic one received will be responding.

When an emergency happens and seconds count.

The partnership between emergency responders and the medical care providers is of the utmost importance.

Collaboration between EMTs, paramedics and physicians is crucial for driving advancement in the field.

The more research we can do, the more we can learn from each other, the better our care for our patients in the field.

Got it.

Dr. Ashley Woodrow is a Saint Luke's emergency medicine physician and the current EMS fellow.

Not only were we able to provide education to the crews on scene, but we were also able to bridge the gap with medications that they don't necessarily have.

As a former paramedic, Woodrow says the EMS physician response team is the reason she wanted to join St Luke's.

After a conversation with the EMS fellowship director, she was immediately drawn to the program.

He shared with me his vision for not only the fellowship program, but also for what we can do to provide this valuable service to the community.

And I was hooked since day one.

EMTs and paramedics have a significant ability to save lives and prevent morbidity and mortality.

But by bringing a physician to the field.

There's just expanded capabilities that come with that.

Dr. Brian Wilson, who also has a past in emergency services, is the hospital systems.

EMS Fellowship director.

For the EMS Fellowship is a year of training that physicians can do after they've completed their foundational training known as a residency, where they can learn to become EMS medical directors.

In addition to the fellowship program.

St Luke's recently unveiled a physician response vehicle to accompany it.

So on the backside here, we have a couple of different things.

Bringing doctors out into the field to support the existing 911 emergency medical services within the community.

So we have as all X series advanced cardiac monitor.

The SUV is fully equipped with most of the necessities a doctor would need for encountering injury or illness outside of the hospital setting.

We're not there to replace the ambulance.

EMTs and paramedics have their ambulances are capable of transporting it.

But this is more mobile and it allows us to broaden the scope of what's available.

Pre-Hospital.

But without taking over, what would normally be their primary service.

By bringing a physician out of the hospital to the site of injury or illness.

We have the ability to offer pretty much every service that would happen in the hospital at the bedside that we would not necessarily be able to offer with a911 ambulance.

First responders on the scene can request an EMS physician response team when there's a critical need, such as in a cardiac arrest patients and severely injured trauma patients.

So we can do things such as rapid sequence intubation.

We can bring blood products to the scene.

We have advanced equipment such as medication pumps and ultrasound that in different parts of the country, paramedics can certainly utilize.

But right now in Pennsylvania, those things are still under pilot for a lot of different areas.

The director also says his team and their vehicle can offer standby care at large gatherings and festivals.

That need for the paramedic that to call the hospital to make those advanced level decisions.

Does it need to happen?

Because we'll be bedside with that.

Although it's been called a mini E.R.

on wheels, the Physicians response vehicle does not transport patients in the case that a doctor needs to ride with a patient to the hospital.

They go in an ambulance and retrieve the response vehicle at a later time.

Woodrow says it's a way to save lives by improving communication and services between those in the field and those at the hospital.

We do.

As a physician, it's helpful to know not only what challenges our EMTs and paramedics are facing, what do they want from us?

What educationally do they want from us?

What services can we provide to them that we don't currently have that would help them in their position?

So I think it's a unique way to not only teach them, but also learn the intricacies of what they face on a day to day basis.

Like with the specialized vehicles, part of a partnership between St Luke's Emergency Medicine Department and Northampton County.

It's based out of St Luke's Anderson campus and was made possible through a $250,000 grant.

That'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, helping you stay happy and healthy.