Date: Fri 26-Mar-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Deborah-Aubin-emergency

Full Text:

Aubin Honored For Emergency Service Efforts

(with photo)

Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps member Deborah L. Aubin has received two

awards within the past three months for her many years of efforts to expand

and improve the delivery of emergency medical services in Newtown.

A Newtown resident, Ms Aubin is a registered nurse who works in the medical

unit at Garner Correctional Institution. She also a certified emergency

medical technician (EMT) and paramedic, an EMS instructor, and she volunteers

many hours every week as an EMT-IV for the Newtown corps.

At ceremonies in Hartford on March 20, Ms Aubin was presented with the 1999

Circle of Merit award "for distinguished service in EMS services in

Connecticut."

"As an educator, Deborah's accomplishments include the delivery of thousands

of hours of CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation), first aid, MRT (medical

response technician), and EMT training," the award said. "A goal of hers is to

educate as many citizens in the community as possible to ensure that everyone

has the chance to receive care quickly. She provides these services throughout

Newtown, Southbury, Danbury and Redding."

"Whether or not Deb is working, she is available and always there to respond

to calls. Her clinical and educational backgrounds are not the only tools she

brings to the scene of a call, she also brings with her, her caring and

nurturing ways, which sometimes does more for the patient than any type of

medicine," the citation said.

Earlier this year she was honored by the Region 5 EMS system for being

instrumental in establishing the First Responder program in Newtown.

An article in the winter edition of Vital Signs, the EMS newsletter for

Greater Danbury, spotlighted Ms Aubin for her "tireless efforts" to bring the

First Responder program to her community. She organized the program to train

members of the town's five volunteer fire companies as medical response

technicians (MRTs), skilled in the use of semi-automatic defibrillators. The

defibrillators have been placed on fire apparatus to respond whenever a 911

call involves an unconscious, unresponsive person.

Because of the size of Newtown -- 60 square miles -- volunteers from the local

fire companies generally can reach a victim more quickly and can start to

provide the emergency services before the ambulance arrives.

"You have 10 minutes to get a defibrillator there," explained Scott Arnold,

emergency medical services coordinator at Danbury Hospital. "After 10 minutes,

there is less than one percent odds the victim will survive. But if CPR is

started, and the defibrillator gets there within 10 minutes, the survival odds

increase to 40 percent."

Mr Arnold, who also is a Newtown resident, said the First Responder program

has had a very positive impact on the delivery of emergency services. It also

has fostered a greater working relationship between the fire departments and

the EMS and serves as a source of additional personnel for serious medical and

trauma calls.

In receiving the Circle of Merit award, Ms Aubin was recognized for organizing

classes in basic life support for her Garner co-workers at the ambulance

garage and for frequently holding classes on assessment skills on her own time

at the prison's medical unit.

She has "consistently demonstrated her proactive attitude by making

recommendations to streamline quick responses, to codes, teaching solid

assessment techniques for responders, and is dedicated to making training

available to all staff at Garner," the award nomination said. "(She) always

demonstrates a professional demeanor, is dedicated to doing things for others,

is committed to sharing her emergency response skills, improving the health

and safety of the people she works with, as well as the people in the

community."

Debbie Aubin regularly organizes classes in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation,

EMT training, and other programs at the ambulance garage for the general

public. The next EMT training course is scheduled to begin on April 6.