The Jackson County EMS Department has received three new child restraint systems from Erlanger Children’s Hospital.
Jackson County EMS Public Information Officer Derek Woolbright said the harness-like devices secure a patient to a stretcher while they are being transported in an ambulance. Woolbright said the child restraints are a major upgrade compared to the built-in car seat inside an ambulance or what is known as the captain’s chair.
“That only fits a certain size of child,” Woolbright said. “There’s multiple size ranges for these particular restraint systems, that is going to allow us to transport patients of all shapes and sizes when it comes to juveniles.”
Woolbright said the restraints can secure children ranging from newborns to children up to 110 pounds. Woolbright said restraining a patient is part of the EMS Department’s goal to do no further harm to a patient while transporting them.
“We always want to make sure that we are transporting them in the safest way possible in the event that you have a motor vehicle crash,” Woolbright said. “Those happen sometimes when you are on the roadway as much as ambulances are, or sometimes you’re navigating difficult terrain or rough roadways, so we want to make sure we keep patients safe in the event of things like that. And then additionally, if you have patients that have fractured extremities or some type of trauma like that it’s even more so important to keep them still and from moving around just to help alleviate their pain.”
Many may not think about being restrained when traveling in an ambulance. Woolbright said all patients who ride in an ambulance are restrained.
“It is a requirement that you are restrained, just like wearing your seatbelt going down the road,” Woolbright said. “You have to wear seatbelts on the stretcher when you are in the back of an ambulance, or if you are seated in one of the seats in the back of an ambulance, you have to be wearing a seatbelt.”
Woolbright said Erlanger Children’s Hospital has a program where they provide these restraints to EMS agencies across the state. Woolbright said the three restraint sets will provide one set for each of the department’s frontline units.
