Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Hospital emergency rooms and first responders across Aroostook County are the recipients of more than $10,000 worth of needed pediatric emergency care equipment provided through a local fund established by a Bridgewater mother.
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
The Megan Bradstreet Fund presented all four Aroostook County hospitals and four area ambulance services with tools to help care for pediatric patients. Shown at the presentation were from left: Joe Clukey, Presque Isle Rotary Club president; Steve St. Pierre, Presque Isle Rotarian and Rotary Golf Tournament organizer; Tim Crowley, Northern Maine Community College president and Presque Isle Rotarian; Larry LaPlante, Presque Isle Rotarian and Rotary Golf Tournament organizer; Daryl Boucher, coordinator of the EMS program at NMCC; and Wendy Bradstreet, founder of the Megan Bradstreet Fund, present pediatric emergency equipment and supplies, donated through Megan’s Fund, to Caribou area emergency responders Karen Woodall, nurse manager at Cary Medical Center; Tim Guerrette, firefighter and paramedic with Caribou Fire and Ambulance; and Jim Flavin, a registered nurse at Cary Medical Center.
On March 7, the Megan Bradstreet Fund, created by Wendy Bradstreet and her family, friends, area emergency medical technicians, and Bradstreet’s co-workers at Northern Maine Community College, presented all four county hospitals and four area ambulance services with tools to help care for their youngest patients.
The first-of-its-kind equipment purchase by Megan’s Fund was made possible through money raised by the Presque Isle Rotary Club during its annual golf tournament held in September 2007.
“The combination of Megan’s Fund and the Presque Isle Rotary Club’s golf tournament has been a perfect match,” said Joe Clukey, president of the Presque Isle Rotary Club. “We have been able to provide Wendy with a vehicle to spread the word about Megan and raise money for this important cause. What Wendy Bradstreet and her family have done in the face of this tragedy truly defines the Rotary motto of ‘Service above Self.’ We are proud to be associated with the Megan Fund.”
Clukey and a few fellow Rotarians joined Bradstreet in presenting the medical tools to representatives of the various organizations that had gathered at NMCC for a quarterly meeting held to discuss pediatric care issues in Aroostook County.
“This is an important donation because it helps meet a specific need for pediatric patients,” said Bradstreet. “Although there are some services that have some of the equipment, not all emergency vehicles are equipped with pediatric equipment, therefore, if an ambulance is out on call for one patient and a call comes in for a pediatric case, there is no guarantee that the vehicle left to make the pediatric call will be the one equipped with the essentials.”
Specifically, the materials purchased through Megan’s Fund include eight EZ-IO drills, which are used for emergency access to give fluids and medications when intravenous applications cannot be quickly or easily established. The drill is particularly useful for pediatric trauma patients, which, according to Daryl Boucher, program coordinator for NMCC’s emergency medical services program, “are particularly difficult to start an IV with.”
“Because the volume of pediatric patients encountered is low, and because this isn’t a state mandated piece of equipment, many ambulance services simply could not budget or afford to purchase these devices,” said Boucher. “From a provider standpoint, nothing is more frustrating than needing IV access to give medication in an emergency situation, and not being able to start one. This device will assure that most emergency providers in Aroostook County now have this ability.”
The EZ-IO drills were presented to representatives from Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent, Cary Medical Center in Caribou, The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle, and Houlton Regional Hospital. Four emergency response agencies also received the equipment: the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Department, the Ashland Ambulance Department, Fort Kent-based Ambulance Services, Inc., and Presque Isle-based Crown Air.
In addition to the EZ-IO drills and related supplies, other pediatric emergency supplies were presented to several county emergency responders as part of the Megan’s Fund purchase. These include a pediatric life blanket, which is used to keep children warm and to secure them during transport, and Broslow bags, which are kits containing medication and life-saving equipment that allow for rapid initiation of lifesaving measures based on a child’s weight.
Aside from the drills provided to the local and regional services, Megan’s Fund purchased an EZ-IO trainer unit and donated it to NMCC so the college could lead training sessions on how to use the new equipment.
“Now that the funds have allowed the purchase of equipment, the biggest role comes in training providers on the use of the drills,” said Boucher. “This training will occur over the next few weeks throughout the county.”
“At the very beginning of establishing Megan’s Fund, I was just trying to help the EMS community with what they saw as difficulties/challenges in treating pediatric patients. Over the past two and-a-half years, I have become better acquainted with the medical field in pediatrics and the struggles that a rural area has to contend with,” said Bradstreet. “Through this effort, I’ve seen changes being made in how the county medical personnel look at pediatric care, as well as the depth of their commitment to give their absolute best to our children regardless of what medical facility they are affiliated with. To them, we’re all in this together, and that has certainly sent out a message, not only in Aroostook County, but through the whole state of Maine.”
According to Cristi Quirion, RN, emergency department nurse manager at TAMC, the donated items are much appreciated.
“We feel very lucky,” she said. “I’m just very appreciative of everything that Megan’s Fund has done for us, and their focus on the pediatric community. We really appreciate the help. Emergency care is all about time, and the faster you can organize what you need, the faster you can respond. These gifts take the organization and looking for equipment down to a minimum.”
Jim McKenney, senior manager at Crown Ambulance, agreed.
“The Megan Fund has been wonderful to work with,” he said, “especially with a focus on pediatrics, which is a very specialized level of care. We have not had opportunity in the past to do a lot of the extra things for training and purchasing of equipment, and this fund has certainly helped fill that need.
“The donation will help us better stabilize the pediatric patient,” said McKenney. “That’s really what the goal is.”
The Megan Bradstreet Fund is named in honor and memory of Wendy Bradstreet’s 5-year-old daughter, Megan, who died as a result of injuries she sustained after being hit by a car within sight of the family’s home on U.S. Route 1 in Bridgewater in July 2005.
Within weeks of her daughter’s death, Wendy Bradstreet, with the encouragement of the Crown Ambulance paramedic crew that first took care of Megan the night of the accident, made it her mission to make sure other critically injured county children have more immediate access to an expert pediatric transport crew.
“This fund would not have gotten off the ground if it wasn’t for the generosity and hard work of the folks involved in this cause. From Crown paramedic Walter Mosher’s original idea, to Daryl Boucher’s unrelenting energy and connections, and the Presque Isle Rotary Club’s amazing support, as well as the whole community, how could we not succeed at this?” said Bradstreet. “The effort has not only brought together a community, but the whole county, for what matters most – our children.”
