Adult Critical Care Team provides specialized care – on wheels
From left are: Leonard Guercia, assistant manager, YNHH Center for EMS, and Adult Critical Care Team members Fraser Weir, paramedic; Sara Preziosi, paramedic; Luis Velez, RN; Lynn Hayes, program coordinator; Dwight Carlone, paramedic; Nikki Loomis, RN; Steve Buhrer, RN; Michael Sullivan, RN; and Undrea Odette, paramedic; and Don MacMillan, PA-C, SkyHealth manager.
Yale New Haven Health’s Y Access Transfer Center services are expanding with the launch of an adult Critical Care Team (CCT) and dedicated ambulance. The team consists of critical-care nurses and critical-care paramedics trained to provide intensive care unit-level care during transit to Yale New Haven Hospital.
On the specially designed, critical-care ambulance, the team can perform specific treatments not possible in a typical ambulance. These include administering vasoactive medications (for blood vessels) or blood transfusions; caring for patients with a left ventricular assist device or intra-aortic balloon pump; and providing advanced airway and mechanical ventilation.
The CCT coordinates with the SkyHealth emergency helicopter team, and can transport critically injured or ill patients when the helicopter can’t – if the weather is bad or the patient is at a facility where aircraft activation is not practical. Currently, the adult CCT provides service 11 am to 11 pm within Connecticut and is deployed through the Y Access Transfer Center; 24-hour coverage will be provided in the near future.
