Keith Sivertson, MD, Emergency Department physician at St. Luke's Wood River, with firefighter/EMT Kelly Winnovich and EMT Bob Mercurio from Wood River Fire and Rescue.

The Emergency and Education Departments at
St. Luke’s Wood River and the Wood River Sawtooth Region Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Association have built a unique partnership that serves as a model for critical access hospitals and EMS providers in rural communities statewide.

The Wood River Sawtooth Region EMS Association is a non-profit organization made up of 35 emergency responder groups and other medical professionals in Blaine, Camas, and Custer counties. Members range from the Ketchum Fire Department to the Salmon River Clinic in Stanley, from the Sun Valley Police to the Galena Nordic Ski Patrol, from Air St. Luke’s to Camas County EMS in Fairfield.

The EMS Association collaboration with St. Luke’s goes back to the hospital’s opening in 2000. Employees from St. Luke’s and regional EMS groups share required continuing education, recertification, and training, such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) classes. They also share American Heart Association instructors, who come from the ranks of the paramedics and other emergency personnel, and are all members of the EMS Association.

St. Luke’s provides most of the classroom setting and training environments, while the EMS Association serves as a clearinghouse that coordinates all classes and training. The result is that all emergency medical personnel receive consistent training, enabling them to provide the same level of care whether they work in the Wood River Emergency Department (ED) or the Carey Quick Response Unit and Fire Department.

“The relationship with the ED and the Education department has been instrumental in bringing quality education to EMS providers across the region,” says Mike Elle, Ketchum Fire Department chief and treasurer of the EMS Association. “We all know each other from training together, we can help each other, we know what the ED needs from us, and the ED staff knows what we can do.”

Thanks to grants from St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation, the Sun Valley-Ketchum Volunteer Firefighters Association, the State of Idaho, and others, the EMS Association has been able to purchase SimMan and SimBaby – portable, advanced patient simulators with interactive technology that allows learners to practice emergency medical care procedures.

SimMan and SimBaby are programmable mannequins that display vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing, and that can “die” and be brought back to life. Medical personnel from throughout the EMS Association can gain real world experience and hands-on clinical training in high-risk, low volume scenarios—such as cardiac arrest, trauma, and stroke—to stay prepared for when the actual emergencies arise.

Working together, St. Luke’s and the Wood River Sawtooth Region EMS Association have improved the quality of and access to emergency services for people in Blaine, Camas, and Custer counties. This is just one of the ways in which St. Luke’s is committed to building partnerships to strengthen our communities and fulfill our mission of improving the health of people in our region.

“St. Luke’s Wood River is the only hospital we have access to,” Mike says. “The hospital is the key component of this model, the center of it all. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the hospital bringing us together and moving us forward.”