Agnesian HealthCare Foundation Supports EMS Services

During a mass casualty incident, many people could be injured – but not all will have life or limb threatening injuries. The more quickly these injuries can be identified the faster they can receive care. EMS providers are on the front line when disasters happen and place a crucial role in triaging patients to the appropriate facilities for treatment of their injuries.  

            That’s the thought behind mass casualty waterproof medical tags. A grant from the Agnesian HealthCare Foundation will be used through 19 different first responder and EMS services in Fond du Lac County.

“The tags create a unified triage process when first responders and EMS providers are treating many individuals from a mass casualty incident,” says Nathan Larsen, MD, St. Agnes Hospital Emergency Department and Fond du Lac EMS medical director. “Patients can be sorted and prioritized allowing for patients with life threatening injuries to be treated first.”

These tags will offer an efficient way to ensure appropriate care to patients on the scene, as well as provide critical information to receiving healthcare facilities on the patients’ conditions allowing quick and concise care for lifesaving interventions.

“With budgets being tightened every year, several departments would not have been able to afford these tags,” according to Dean Birschbach, Fond du Lac Area EMS Association (FAEA) president. “This grant will help several departments to receive these triage tags. A total of six ambulance services and 13 EMR services will benefit from the grant.”

“We are grateful for the grant support by the Agnesian HealthCare Foundation for the purpose of providing triage medical tags to its membership,” says Todd Janquart, FAEA vice president. “FAEA has been working together with St. Agnes Hospital to improve the mass casualty incident management planning for association members. These tags meet state and federal recommendations and are critical to ensuring that multiple patients of any incident get the most appropriate medical care from the incident scene to the hospital. This grant ensures that all of the association members have the same tags and can support each other’s agencies in a mutual aid mass casualty incident.”

Pictured Above: Michelle Ries (center), Agnesian HealthCare Foundation events coordinator, is shown with Nathan Larsen (left), MD, St. Agnes Hospital Emergency Department and Fond du Lac EMS medical director, and Todd Janquart, Fond du Lac Area EMS Association (FAEA) vice president.