24-05-2025
OH EMS program coordinator brings services together
Multiple entities are categorized as Emergency Medical Services (EMS), and it's Leigh Riddle's job as Owensboro Health's EMS program coordinator to make sure all work seamlessly during emergency situations.
Riddle, who has been in the position for three months, acts as a liaison between the hospital's emergency rooms and trauma services department, along with regional ambulance and air ambulance services. She also oversees providing continuing education for multiple EMS agencies.
'I'm really just a resource to all, and I do a lot of education, a lot of planning and behind the scenes things now,' said Riddle, who has been in the EMS field for 32 years. 'The end goal is good patient care and good patient outcomes and good relationships between us all.'
May 18-24 is National EMS Week to honor the work of EMS professionals. The theme for the week is 'We care. For everyone.'
Riddle said she's currently working on regional continuing education plans, in which multiple services and agencies, including ambulance, fire department, search and rescue and ER teams, come together to improve knowledge and keep up with the latest science advancements. It's also an opportunity for those in the EMS field to build working relationships, which Riddle said can't be underestimated in how effectively personnel are able to do the work.
'We work as many different parts of a well-oiled machine,' Riddle said. 'Just take your average car wreck; you're going to have police, fire and rescue, ambulance, and then you have to think about traffic and crowd control, so you have to depend on each other.
'It's not uncommon for a medic to be in a car doing patient care while the fire department is around them cutting that patient out of the car. So you have to have a lot of trust and solid relationships there.'
Riddle said there are consistent advancements in equipment that have improved EMS response, with one of the biggest being the improvements to the LUCAS mechanical CPR system.
'It has been remarkably helpful, because it frees not only one extra set of hands, but oftentimes multiple extra sets of hands,' she said. 'CPR is a very exhausting skill. When we're utilizing the human component of it, we try to switch out rescuers every two minutes so they don't get exhausted.'
Riddle said the addition of ventilators and CPAP machines on ambulances have also been a game-changer.
'Those are very helpful to our respiratory patients,' she said.
While numerous advancements have been made through the years to improve EMS, one thing that hasn't changed is the stress EMS workers must deal with. However, Riddle said they have come far in offering resources to help responders deal with the mental challenges of the job.
'It is a very high stress job, and back long ago it was you shove it down and you get over it and you keep on moving,' she said. 'When I was coming up you didn't show emotion, you pretended like nothing bothered you and you found your own coping mechanisms. Some people use exercise, some music, some hobbies.
'But now, mental health in emergency services has been considerably more highlighted and recognized as a need.'
Even with the advancements, the stress always remains. Riddle said the average burnout time for anyone in emergency services is known to be five years.
But she encourages anyone with an interest in the field to see if it's for them.
'My advice to them is if you think you want to try it, try it,' she said. 'You'll either love it or you won't do it.
'But it's a very rewarding field. It's a very honorable field, and it is quite truly a calling.'
