The Emergency Medical Service (EMS) of Columbia, Illinois recently signed on with the Special Needs Tracking & Awareness Response System (STARS) program.
The STARS program was established by the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. It helps train and equip emergency response teams with the tools they need to develop a pre-plan for properly responding to calls involving special needs patients.
Columbia officials said joining the program will provide them with important patient medical history before crews arrive to the incident scene, allowing them to offer more informed treatment in a calmer, more efficient way.
STARS officials describe their program as particularly helpful for patients with seizure disorders, heart problems, tracheostomies, cerebral shunts, autism, developmental delays, and other conditions.
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