WATCH: Health First Trauma Team Conducts Emergency Response Drill With Titusville Fire Department Crews

By Space Coast Daily // November 7, 2024

Health First Trauma and Emergency Department medical professionals partnered with the Titusville Fire Department this week to practice for a worst-case accident scenario. (Health First video)

BREVARD COUNTY • TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA—The "Golden Hour " is a long-known phrase that often refers to the optimal 60-minute period of time that first responders have to remove and stabilize a traumatic accident victim at the scene and safely transport them to a receiving hospital for lifesaving surgery.

Health First Trauma and Emergency Department medical professionals partnered with the Titusville Fire Department this week to practice for a worst-case accident scenario.

The training drill was designed around trauma care – identifying seriously injured patients after a serious motor vehicle collision. Participants drilled for and identified how to quickly extricate patients, identify injuries, identify disease processes, take care of patients quickly in the field, provide good medical care ... and transport them to a hospital.

The scenario included overturned vehicles, multiple medical attention situations, accident trauma "victims," and the arrival and utilization of a First Flight medical helicopter.

During the live-action drill, EMS and trauma care clinicians reviewed protocols and provided performance feedback to participants at the conclusion of the re-enactment, which was geared toward continual improvement of emergency response, pre-hospital intervention, and trauma care in Brevard County.

"I just can't stress enough how important this training is and how important it is that we collaborate and work together between these different agencies and make sure that we're always trying to better each step of the way, said Dr. Larissa Dudley, who is medical director for multiple municipal agencies in Brevard County, as well as medical director for First Flight and vice chair and medical director for the Emergency Department at Health First's Holmes Regional Medical Center.

"We rely on our first responders, our EMS, and 911 agencies to provide these critical lifesaving skills. And without training, they would be deficient. So, we really pride ourselves in being able to give them the opportunity for these educational opportunities here with this training."

Health First's Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne is the only Level II trauma center in Brevard County. It offers 24/7 trauma care, including rapid transport by First Flight , Brevard County's air ambulance program.

In 2023, First Flight responded to nearly 800 medical transports across the Space Coast.