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WISCONSIN DELLS - Emergency Medical Service teams from across south central Wisconsin took part in the 7th Annual EMS Olympics in June, sponsored by UW Health's Emergency Education Center as a part of the 2009 Emergency and Trauma Care Symposium offered by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

A total of 13 teams competed in a series of staged scenarios and a skills obstacle course designed to test their emergency response abilities. An experienced group of judges consisting of UW Hospital emergency physicians, nurses, instructors, paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) scored the teams at each station based on their EMT level, speed and accuracy.

"Most of it is EMTs using the skills that they use everyday and applying them in a competitive and fun event," said UW Hospital EMS liaison and Olympics chairperson Jan Beyer.

Medals were given to the top scoring team at each scenario station and a plaque was awarded to the 2009 overall winner, the DeForest Area Fire and EMS Department. For DeForest team member and four-time EMS Olympics participant Bill Turnquest, the event was not just about winning a friendly competition, but a chance for him to improve his skills through a hands-on learning experience.

The EMS Olympics provides participants with the unique opportunity to receive immediate feedback on their performance from the judges and keep copies of each scenario for future training. Turnquest said the educational value of the event is something he will bring back to DeForest and strive to implement in his everyday service.

"It's not often that you get live patients to work with and really evaluate your skills," Turnquest said. "You get to know what you did right and what you did wrong, so going into the future if you ever encounter something like that in real life you already have something to fall back on."

 

EMS providers from the Barneveld Fire Department assess a severely burned patient who caught on fire after huffing paint in a simulated emergency response case.		Members of the Campbellsport Fire Department’s EMS squad place a patient with a spinal cord injury as a result of a 15-foot fall from a tree house onto a backboard during a staged scenario.

 

 

	The 2009 EMS Olympic winners, the Deforest Area Fire and EMS team, respond to a mock situation in which a Spanish-speaking patient suffered a mysterious bite while camping.