News & Events

FRIENDS OF BOYD HELPS INTUBATE CRITICAL PATIENTS

August 6, 2015 | Posted by Community Relations

Thomas H Boyd Memorial Hospital in Carrollton is fortunate to have so many members of the community and surrounding area contribute for annual fundraisers, events, and donations; but a donation from the group formed in 2010, called “Friends of Boyd” will help save lives of the most critical patients our area hospitals see.

 

The group is responsible for operating “Boyd’s Closet”, a resale shop near the hospital, with the sole purpose of all funds raised to go for buying new equipment the hospital and rural health clinics need.  One of the recent requests to be fulfilled is that of a Laryngoscope.  A Laryngoscope is a tool that helps a Physician or Emergency Medical Technician safely intubate critically ill patients that have a compromised airway, without damaging vocal chords or other significant anatomy within the path to an airway.  In the past, medical providers have used a standard laryngoscope and were responsible for feeling his/her way through a person’s airway to safely open an airway; with the new laryngoscope, provided by Friends of Boyd, that will no longer be a “blind” procedure.  The new device is equipped with a camera on the end going into the patient, and a screen at the other end so a provider may see the airway and all passages to safely place the intubation materials more clearly.  It is essentially a “real time” view of a patient’s airway and surrounding anatomy. 
 

Friends of Boyd officially presented the device at a luncheon that was held August 4, 2015 at Thomas H Boyd Memorial Hospital’s Reisch Dining Room.  Kris Templin, Director Emergency Medical Services, was on hand to demonstrate how this tool will be used with patients in the near future.  The hospital will train qualified employees to use the new device and it will be available to both Emergency Medical Services personnel (for ambulance usage) and in Physician in the Emergency Room. 

Boyd Hospital will be receiving another Laryngoscope in the near future, thanks to a grant from the Hembrough Trust given to Thomas H Boyd Memorial Foundation, making this life-saving equipment even more accessible to help save lives of critical patients in Greene County and surrounding areas.