FAIRBURY - At the moment, first responders in Fairbury are addled with excess equipment when attempting to administer first aid - but a new proposed piece of equipment could help bring them in line with other local EMS squads, potentially helping them save more lives.

In a discussion with the Jefferson County commissioners this, Jeff Klaumann and Jeff Nelson, the directors of the ambulance crews in Fairbury and Diller, respectively, demonstrated that first responders in Fairbury need to carry three separate pieces of equipment to sites of all 911 calls. One of those is the main monitor, which displays a patient's blood pressure, vitals, and similar readings.

One of the other two pieces of gear can only be used by paramedics, so any emergency calls requiring Basic Life Support would initially only be able to use a third piece of equipment, which uses its own specific pads to connect to essential elements like a defibrillator. 

"Right now, if we [at Diller] have a code, we put our pads on, then if Fairbury jumps on board, they’ve got to take our stuff off, put their stuff on, and then when we get to the hospital the hospital’s got to pull their stuff off and then put on, pretty much, what we had originally put on that’s compatible with the hospital," said Nelson. "And the pads are one use only.” 

"When the paramedic gets there, we take those pads off and put these pads on...once we get to the hospital, they have to put their pads on," Klaumann said. "A BLS crew has to take all three in, and we have to just keep switching pads out. It’d be nice to have something that has an all-in-one machine, because then we’d have what the hospital’s got, and what other places have." 

A proposed new element called the LifePak 35 would do exactly that: condense those three pieces of gear into one, which would help Fairbury first responders mobilize more quickly while also increasing their compatibility with other crews and the local hospital. The one new LifePak machine is slightly larger than the existing monitor, but it would mean that that's the only piece of gear a first responder would need to use through the entire response process.

"It’s kind of saving you guys money on tiering calls because you’re not having to pay the cost of whatever a set of pads are because our pads are compatible," Nelson told the county board. "If we did this [make this move] it would be the same all the way through from the time we get there to the time we get to the hospital, regardless of whoever makes the initial call."

Other small local communities like Diller and Plymouth have already brought the LifePak machines into the mix within the last few months with positive initial results, and they both received state money to help pay for the new devices. Daykin also added in a new machine recently, but is using a different brand.

Three of these new units could cost the county close to 150 thousand dollars, but Klaumann reported he's been in conversation with Dr. Rebecca Stroklund at Fairbury's Jefferson Community Health and Life, working to see if they can offset at least some of the cost. The county commissioners indicated they'd be very interested in the technology if the hospital is able to foot at least some of the bill.