FAIRFIELD – The Jefferson County Ambulance Service has received a donation of two pediatric equipment bags from the Jefferson County EMS Association.

The pediatric bags will go on each of the ambulance service’s two rigs, and will allow its staff to more easily treat young children. The bags contain especially small equipment for dealing with little bodies, like small tongue suppressors, endotracheal tubes, and a bag-valve-mask that’s held tightly against the face and allows a patient to breathe.

Ambulance Director Brian Thomas said the value of the bags is about $2,000, and he and his staff are so appreciative of the gift. He said the EMTs and paramedics will use the bags whenever they’re dealing with a young patient, from as young as a newborn up through 12 years old. He said the ambulance staff holds special continuing education sessions once a month where they review procedures, such as how to care for children since they require specialized equipment and medication.

“I’m glad they stepped up, and they’ve helped us out a lot,” Thomas said about the Jefferson County EMS Association.

Damien Wimmer, the ambulance service’s field training officer, said one of the most difficult parts of treating a child is calculating the appropriate dosage of medicine to give them. The staff have something called a Broselow Tape, a quick way to estimate the proper dosage based on a child’s height. A staff member just needs to hold the tape against a child to see how tall they are to determine how much of each drug they should have.

Thomas said that kids tend to experience more rapid changes in their health than adults, so it’s important for first-responders to monitor them closely.

“They’re fine one moment and then they crash the next,” he said.

Thomas and Wimmer said that treating children is more stressful than treating an elderly patient. They said that, when dealing with children, the parents are often worried sick and several family members are gathered around them. Also, the prospect of losing a child is hard for the first-responders to stomach, too.

“A child has their whole life ahead of them,” Wimmer said. “In EMS, children affect us more than older adults.”

Thomas agreed, saying that the times he’s had to deal with the loss of a child were some of the hardest moments on the job.

“We tend to remember the kids more,” he said. “I remember a kid from 25 years ago that still stays with me. A mother laid him in the bed, she rolled over and he was smothered. That sticks with you.”

Thomas said another reason that treating children affects the staff more is that they don’t do it as often.

The two pediatric equipment bags were funded in part by the First-Responders Appreciation Picnic held in July at Fairfield’s Maasdam Barns. Lee Dimmitt, the organizer of the event, said the committee is already beginning plans for next year’s event, which will be July 20, 2024. He said this most recent first-responders picnic raised $1,500.