Monroe Township event focuses on highlighting EMTs
On May 22, the Monroe Township Emergency Medical Service hosted its annual EMS Night to provide awareness about EMTs and what they do.
“Every year, we get more departments, more people and more activities,” Chief Brandon Dimter said. “It’s a pretty popular event. The main goal is to raise awareness about EMS, to let people know what we do, and if they ever call 911, to not be afraid. Everybody always sees police and firefighters, they don’t really think about the ambulance. We want to promote what we do on our end.”
Dimter and the rest of Monroe Township EMS put on an incredible event for the town. There was free food, water ice, drinks, a bounce house, face painting, a DJ, the helicopter from Jefferson Hospital, police and firefighters.
Anthony Damico, a K-9 officer, was in attendance and spoke about how the EMTs and police work hand-in-hand.
“We all work together. With K-9, we support the EMS at times,” Damico explained. “Sometimes we’ll do a track for someone with medical problems, like dementia. If a dog locates that person, then we have the EMS come help us out. To coincide, right now we have a drug epidemic, so if we get called out for a drug overdose, we can administer Narcan and when EMS gets there, we can transfer care over.”
Later that night, Damico and his dog Rocky demonstrated how police dogs assist in apprehending a suspect. After that demonstration, the fire department showed how it would break into a car with the doors jammed shut to extract a patient.
The EMTs had interesting demonstrations in their own right. Gloucester County EMT Matt Heston was showing off his bariatric unit.
“It’s for larger patients,” Heston said. “It helps bring them in and out of the ambulance safely and prevents back injuries. It’s more comfortable for the patient because it’s a wider base stretcher.”
Jefferson Hospital had its helicopter on display. Mike Leff, the flight nurse, provided insight into his career.
“I’ve been a flight nurse for 14 years,” he said. “I started here in 2004. We take responsibility for patients in between hospitals. We’re looking to provide a safe and effective way to get somebody where they need to be with the right hospital with the right doctor with the right equipment,” he said.
Leff is accompanied by Colleen Fitzpatrick, a paramedic, and Carlos Caicedo, the pilot. Leff and Fitzpatrick have been together since the inaugural flight in 2004.
Joseph Simpson, an EMT since 2016, said, “We want kids to be comfortable with you. It’s not the most pleasant thing when you see a kid in the ambulance. They’re usually worked up and scared, so we have this night to remind them it’s not as scary as it seems.”
