Individuals with special needs make up an increasing proportion of outpatient populations. Better equipment, more effective medications, and the rising cost of medical facilities mean more special needs individuals are being cared for at home by family, friends, and home health personnel.

This means you, as an EMS professional, will run into such patients with greater regularity.

The elderly patient began vomiting blood early that morning. You arrive on the scene and are rushed inside by the woman’s daughter, who quickly fills you in on the patient’s history–late-stage esophageal cancer. The woman is sitting up in bed, alert and clearly frightened, with bright red blood staining her chin and chest. She is gasping for breath as you quickly set up your equipment, but when you turn on the portable suction unit, nothing happens. You exchange frantic glances with your partner and scramble for a Plan B.

As an EMS professional, you rely on your equipment. Imagine for a moment what it was like just 50 years ago, when emergency transport meant simply placing a patient in the back of a makeshift ambulance (typically a station wagon) and driving as fast as you could to a hospital. Things have certainly improved not only for our patients but for providers as well.

Those of us in the medical profession know how important quality equipment is to overall patient care. We are only as good as our equipment; if it doesn't function well, it's hard for us to do our best. 

At SSCOR, we pride ourselves on providing suction that lasts — both in our devices’ consistent performance during each use and the machines’ long lifecycles. 

Each of those characteristics are enhanced with routine maintenance, of course. Emergency medical personnel are well aware their equipment must remain as close to new condition as possible — and, not to mention, sanitized.

Yet again, hospital emergency departments and intensive care units are becoming overwhelmed. Doctors, nurses and medical personnel are being asked to go above and beyond to protect patients — and to do it quickly.

Portable suction can be a quick emergency intervention, a long-term treatment for patients under anesthesia, or a way to maintain safety and hygiene for people on ventilators. No matter how and when you use suction, no matter how routine it seems, it’s important to remember that no patient is routine. Each has their own story and own unique needs. Equally important, each presents a risk of infection and contagion if you do not correctly manage waste and clean up after suctioning. Here are the things you must check every time you use a portable suction machine. 

When you think about the components of a well-equipped tactical medical kit, what naturally come to mind are the tools needed to deal with trauma-related injuries: hemostatic agents, dressings and bandages, and tourniquets and chest seals. What may not spring to mind is your portable suction unit. But it should. If you’re trying to control oral exsanguination or attempting to visualize the cords during intubation, nothing can take the place of an effective portable suction unit.

Ask any paramedic and they’ll tell you one of the most critical pieces of equipment in their EMS arsenal is their portable suction unit. Nothing takes the place of a suction unit. There is no other means of removing blood, vomit, or secretions from an airway, except through immediate, aggressive suction. This is why the maintenance of your unit is vital to airway management.

Watching television commercials, and the apparent growing obsession with white teeth in the United States, you would think that dental health is of primary importance to most Americans. And yet millions fail to follow basic guidelines on oral health, such as regular cleanings. There are many reasons for this, the most obvious being the high cost of dental care. Another is lack of insurance, which again places patients in the difficult position of caring for their teeth versus more immediate expenses.