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Coalition Developed to Explore TBI Treatment on the Scene of Accidents

Approximately 1.4 million Americans will suffer a brain injurythis year. An unprecedented collaboration of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) first responders, state health officials and university researchers will hopefully help save Arizona residents who are among that number who could suffer brain injury in the coming year.

Groundbreaking studies and life-saving developments are melding into a series of pre-hospital treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI). These treatments, as studies suggest, are to be administered immediately at the scene of the accident.

Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona fire departments, ambulance companies, Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center and the University of Medicine, announced their collaboration during an extraction demonstration by Glendale Fire Department.

Glendale’s Fire Department demonstrated a “mock” car crash extrication to illustrate the time-sensitive process involved with a traumatic brain injury. During the demonstration, firefighters engaged in an extrication of a patient from a vehicle, treated the patient and then transported them using helicopter HALO-151.

Firefighters used “jaws of life” to quickly and safely remove the mock victim from the vehicle and demonstrate how the patient is transported from the crash site to the hospital in the quickest and safest way possible.

Under a grant recently received from the National Institutes of Health, Arizona will activate guidelines that have been heavily researched across the country, and the coalition will record the impact of this approach to patient care. New York City and Staten Island will do the same. The Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center will be conducting the tracking. The research center, part of the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine, will be able to determine the program’s effectiveness and identify the number of lives saved.

“We are going to save lives and improve the quality of life for those who suffer traumatic brain injury with the standards developed through this project,” said the medical director of the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and Trauma System for the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Half of all TBI fatalities occur within two hours of initially suffering the brain injury. A doctor says, “In fact, there’s very strong evidence that the care provided in the first few minutes has a profound impact on survival.”

It is hoped that the data collected will amount to a real improvement in the treatment of brain injury at the scene of an accident. While New York Brain Injury Law Offices watch the progress of this coalition, attorneys are available to answer any concerns you may have about a brain injury suit you may want to file. Don’t hesitate to contact some of the most professional law offices in the country.

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