As you approached the patient, you could see instantly that he had multi-system trauma. While darting across a busy interstate, the young man had been struck by a pickup truck, which was now parked farther up the roadway, its windshield and front bumper exhibiting the damage of a high-speed impact. The patient was unconscious, his limbs splayed. He had massive head and facial trauma and deformity to both legs. Each gasping exhalation produced a bloody froth. Your mind immediately inventoried the injuries and you set to work.

Emergencies can happen anywhere. Wherever humans go, medical emergencies will follow, regardless of time of day, year, or location. It would be nice if every EMS call occurred indoors, under well lit and environmentally stable conditions. But that's usually not the case. In fact, some medical emergencies are the result of the patient being exposed to extreme weather, which affects not only the patient, but also the rescuers and their equipment. And in the case of vital tools like your portable suction unit, they, like you, had better be up to the task.

Welcome to our SSCOR monthly newsletter. Each month, we will focus on the latest EMS preparedness news, keeping you up on the latest trends in emergency response, education, and training.

Anyone in the medical field can attest to the importance of suction. How else could we clear a patient’s airway were it not for the use of suction? When you think of all the arenas in which suction is used—throughout hospitals, in the prehospital setting, and just about any place treatment is provided—it’s impossible to imagine patient care without it.

Respiratory emergencies are among the most critical patients you will encounter as an EMS professional. If the patient is unable to maintain airway patency, or you are unable to correct the underlying issue, there is no hope for his or her recovery. And when these critical situations are compounded by complications in the field, your patient's chances are reduced even further.

When we think of critical suction scenarios, we tend to envision our most serious patients: the elderly cardiac who arrested at a local restaurant, having just finished a hearty meal; the multisystem trauma patient involved in a high-speed, head-on collision; or the unresponsive overdose who collapsed outside the nightclub. These are the patients who stand out in our minds when we reflect on critical suction scenarios.

Welcome to our first edition of the SSCOR monthly newsletter. Each month, we will focus on the latest EMS preparedness news, keeping you up on the latest trends in emergency response, education, and training.

As an emergency responder, you have a lot of responsibility. You must be ready for anything: critical patients, natural disasters, and the ever-present threat of terrorist attacks. And a key to readiness is maintaining your equipment, for without your tools, you are little help to anyone.

EMS is a germy business. As an emergency responder, you are in constant contact with people suffering from communicable diseases. As your first line of defense, you must protect yourself. You must also protect your coworkers and, especially, your patients.

As an emergency responder, you know how critical maintaining your equipment is. If someone were to ask you to honestly evaluate your maintenance habits, how do you think you would rate? We all like to think that we are responsible, ready professionals, but we can always improve our habits. And when it comes to portable suction machine maintenance, there is no room for error.