Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Community Healthcare - (Page 50)

SPOTLIGHT ON: St. Mary Medical center Best of The community Partnerships O n his way to a Valentine’s Day dinner, 17-year-old Jake Stephenson and his girlfriend were taking I-65 to a restaurant in Merrillville. When the traffic came to a sudden halt, he was able to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting the car ahead of him. In his rearview mirror, he could see a truck swerve quickly to avoid hitting him, but the car behind the truck would not be as lucky. “The impact was like BOOM!” recalls Stephenson. His head hit the steering wheel before he whiplashed back and was hit in the face again with the airbag and other debris from the dashboard. “I was dazed,” he says. “Our seats got pushed backwards and when I opened my eyes, I could see blood dripping down my right arm.” How an emergency medical course is saving lives By Mary Fetsch Stephenson soon realized it was blood coming out of a laceration from his girlfriend’s head resting on his shoulder. In recalling the moments after impact, the Portage High School senior sounded like a medical professional. He automatically went through a series of mental evaluations of the scene: His girlfriend was unresponsive but breathing and bleeding from the head. Smoke coming from the car that hit them made it imperative that he remove both himself and his girlfriend from the vehicle as quickly as possible. With assistance from another driver, Stephenson was able to force the passenger door open, place a sweatshirt over the laceration on his girlfriend’s head and pull her from the vehicle. “When I knew we had to move her, I just automatically did what we learned in class to protect her neck and spine,” Stephenson says. “We moved her to another car and immediately started putting pressure on her head to slow the bleeding. It was crazy, but my training just kicked in.” Real-WoRld TRaining Through a clinical partnership with St. Mary Medical Center, students like Jake Stephenson get hands-on experience that can translate into saving lives. 50 Fa l l 2 013 Stephenson’s training came from a high school course in emergency medical training (EMT) offered through Hobart High School. It was made possible through the creative thinking of the superintendent of the School City of Hobart, Peggy Buffington, PhD, and support from St. Mary Medical Center. “Our goal for offering classes like this is to provide as many real-world experiences as possible,” says Buffington. “Without the clinical partnership with St. Mary Medical Center, this class would lack real hands-on experience. Those experiences help students find their passion in life. They go through the clinicals and see how what they’ve learned is translated into saving lives.”

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Community Healthcare

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Community Healthcare
Contents
Community Message
Community Briefs
Dream Team
Spreading the Health
Memory Keepers
Step It Up
Your Mightiest Muscle
Well, Well, Well
Are You Doing More Harm Than Good?
Is Your Shut-Eye Serving You Well?
On the Cover
Anatomy of an ER Visit
Next-Gen Surgery
Attack from Within
Virtual Health
SPOTLIGHT ON: St. Mary Medical Center
SPOTLIGHT ON: Community Hospital
SPOTLIGHT ON: St. Catherine Hospital
In Good Hands

Vim & Vigor - Fall 2013 - Community Healthcare