Toronto EMS team wins international competition

Toronto EMS team wins international competition. Toronto EMS's Shamez Kassam, Martin Johnston and Lorne Burns beat out six other paramedic teams from around the world to win first place at the 2011 International Trauma Life Support Patient Care Competition in Nashville, Tennessee late last month. They'll defend their title next year in Orlando, Florida. Courtesy photo

Under the guidance of ITLS co-ordinator Ron Kowalik, Toronto EMS's Martin Johnston, Shamez Kassam and Lorne Burns beat out six other teams from around the world to bring home the coveted 2011 International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) Patient Care Competition title on Oct. 28.

The competition - which saw seven teams from Canada, the United States, Japan and Slovenia battling it out for the title - tested the teams' patient-care skills in three different simulated scenarios.

"This victory demonstrates the quality of care that our paramedics provide every day," Toronto EMS Chief Paul Raftis said in a statement. "While every injury is tragic for the people involved, the citizens of Toronto can feel secure knowing that when these events happen, residents will receive world-class care that is second to none."

The only first-timer to the competition, Martin Johnston, a Roncesvalles-area resident who works as a level-three paramedic out of south Etobicoke, wasn't quite prepared for the spectacle ahead of him.

What he encountered upon entering the competition rooms was yelling and screaming actors portraying frantic parents, fake-bloodied patients with realistic injuries, a roomful of spectators with flashing cameras, and a slate of judges with clipboards in hand - a sometimes "overwhelming" experience, he said.

The first scenario was one where teams found a seven-year-old boy in a dryer - a case of brotherly hijinks gone wrong. While Burns quickly started dealing with the frantic parents, Johnston and Kassam worked to free the unconscious and unresponsive boy (a dummy) from the dryer and stabilize his injuries - an open compound fracture of the left tibia/fibula, a closed femur fracture of the left leg, and a closed head injury with signs of herniation.

The team had the boy stabilized and in the mock ambulance in under five minutes.

"It worked out great because Lorne was there to obtain information and deal with the family, and Shamez and I just managed the patient, which is what we would do in real life," Johnston said. "That's what we do everyday, so that one worked out very well."

The second scenario had the Toronto EMS team working on a military fighter pilot who had his arm amputated while ejecting from his plane. The pilot was also in neurogenic shock, thanks to a spinal injury suffered in the accident.

"He needed rapid transport to the hospital - he was obviously bleeding a lot from his amputation, so we had to manage his shoulder and get him out of there," Johnston said.

The third and final scenario had Johnston and his teammates prioritizing at the scene of a multiple-casualty accident - a farmers' market where a motorcycle struck several pedestrians.

Upon arriving on the scene, the Toronto EMS team came upon one obviously dead patient, another - a pregnant woman - lying on the ground with tire treads across her abdomen, and an unconscious man lying face down with a motorcycle on top of him. The remaining four patients were 'walking wounded' - one of whom the team solicited for help.

"It was pretty intense. It was even more intense than when I did my certification process," Johnston said, noting that his team earned themselves a reputation for taking an almost SWAT-team-like approach to the competition.

"We were a group of guys on a mission and there was nothing deterring us from that mission. At the same time, there was no ego involved, which is why we were able to work really well together."

The Toronto EMS team will defend its ITLS Patient Care Competition title next year in Orlando, Florida.