Wednesday, August 24, 2011

JUMPSUITS & PINSTRIPES


Providing care for the incarcerated patient can be challenging from both a logistical and medical perspective


"Bob" is just one example of the many types of patients in custody of law enforcement for whom you may be called Law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. This confinement, whether before or after a criminal conviction, is called incarceration.Directions:
 -- Take Kingsway Avenue NW - 1.4 km
-- Turn right on 121 Street - follow for 600 m
-- Take second right on 121 Avenue NW
-- Hangar 39 is on the left (large blue building)


Speakers (also available for interview)

 -- Charles Allard - Envision Edmonton Chairman -- Don Grimble - urban planner and long time activist supporting the City Centre Airport -- Louis Grimble - Retired professional engineer with 50 years experience in transportation planning -- Dr. Kerry Pawluski -Envision Edmonton board member and Doctor with private orthopedics practice at the Royal Alexandra. Dr. Pawluski is founder of Angel Flight Alberta, a volunteer pilot organization that provides free air transportation to patients in Northern BC & Alberta. -- Dr. John O'Connor - a general practitioner in Fort MacMurray who looks after the health of remote Aboriginal communities and northern AB communities that critically rely on Medevac and the timely access it provides to Edmonton hospitals, notably the Royal Alexandra Hospital. -- David Bromley M.Eng., P.Eng. - Project Director of the Rampart Avenir Sustainable Community development which has been internationally recognized as North America's first clean technology living development. 


Speeches will begin at 5:30 p.m. sharp followed by open discussion and question and answer period to media and public.


Envision Edmonton is a not-for-profit business society formed specifically to develop a suitable and economically viable plan to revitalize the City Centre Airport. It is primarily funded by individuals and businesses, many of which have no direct investment in or association with the City Centre Airport, but who are instead dedicated exclusively to helping to make Edmonton a great city.- Talk to your neighbors and make an agreement to look after each other.Have your identification and credentials ready, and be able to furnish them upon request during entrance into the facility and at guard posts and checkpoints while inside. Get to know what items are considered contraband within the prison prior to being sent there. While policies and procedures vary from facility to facility, prohibited items may include a large range of objects from knives, shears and other multifunction work tools, such as Swiss Army knives and Leathermans, to cell phones, keys, open packs of cigarettes and even sunglasses. Armed with this knowledge, leave these items inside your ambulance when possible. At the very least, anticipate and prepare to surrender them upon entrance into the facility.- Report all suspicious activity.You and your partner are directed to prisoner "Bob," age 62, who is wheelchair-bound and lives permanently in the medical unit He has a significant medical history induding hypertension, several MIs, several pulmonary emboli and two past CVAs. Upon assessment, you find Bob exhibiting a neurological status different from his baseline. Four officers surround you and your partner as you attempt to transfer the feeble man onto your stretcher. Bob is extremely nice, respectful and cooperative during treatment and transport, which lasts a little less than an hour. After transferring care at the hospital, you make sure Bob is comfortable before leaving his room and wishing him a quick recovery.- Cut tree limbs 7 feet above ground level and trim bushes so they are no higher than 36 inches near buildings and sidewalks.You can also gather information via the Internet that would otherwise be unavailable to you. Visitor guidelines are available online for many county and state correctional facilities, and the list of prohibited items provided for potential visitors can be used as a guide for responding EMS personnel as well. In some states, copies of all public and government records, induding standard operating procedures, policies and any proposed amendments to such, are mandated by law to be available to the public. This is accomplished by either providing access to view documents of public record directly online or by filing a written request for the records. Additionally, even if such a law or practice is not in place inyour state, agencies can still provide copies of their SOPs for your familiarization at their discretion. These and any other steps you can take toward becoming more educated and familiarwith all aspects involving facilities where you might be providing care for the incarcerated patient ensure that you fulfill your task of providing excellent patient care at all times.- Dogs are a great deterrent and may alert you when there is a problem.GOING INSIDEYou pull the ambulance into a large garage bay and, as the door doses, corrections officers approach and ask you and your partner for your names, unit number and employee IDs. You are led through a door into an entryway, where you are asked the same questions again by an officer seated behind a desk and double-paned bulletproof glass. For the next few minutes, you are led through countless doors and hallways, and then to a door that opens up to the outside. More officers join the group as you walk across a large field and toward a building labeled "Medical Unit," where you are asked foryour name and unit number a third time. Finally, you hear the loud, unmistakable sound of the lock on the heavy metal door in front of you being disengaged and as it slowly slides open, you are confronted with the familiar smell of disinfectantState- and county-level juvenile correctional facilities pose their own set of legal issues, as they relate to custodial and parental rights, guardianship and whether the officers have a right to consent to treatment and procedures for the patient. Incarceration can take place in an institution designated to deal with psychological problems or in one for sexual offenders.Larger cities have the potential to house branch offices of FBI, DEA and other federal law enforcement agencies, which each have cells to house their own prisoners. Though your contact with these agencies may be limited, if there is any chance that you may be required to respond there, become familiar with that facility or facilities and the unique challenges they pose.There are also minimum-security county correctional facilities to absorb overflow of nonviolent criminals and incarcerated individuals.The police department offered the following tips to keep your home safe:

If an international airport or U.S. border crossing is within yourprimary response area, you may come in contact with detainees in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Border Patrol, as well as deportees who remain in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement awaiting return transport to other countries. Be aware that these prisoners may subject you and others to infectious epidemic and pandemic diseases like malaria, SARS, parasites, or even mutated forms of the flu. You may also be called to provide medical care to visitors and law enforcement officers, not just prisoners.




Author: Nelson, Yael


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