With 9 different EMS departments serving the Lake Travis-Westlake region, county officials are sharing advice on how residents should respond in a medical emergency.
The overview
Residents of the Lake Travis region fall between two counties: Travis and Burnet, each with their own array of emergency services districts. In the Spicewood area, residents are serviced by ESD #9 of Burnet County, which includes its own fire department and emergency medical services dispatch.
Vaughn Hamilton, who oversees the district’s community paramedic and outreach program, said that one of the most important things callers in medical emergencies can do is to gather and share as much medical information about the involved patient as possible.
“There’s demographic info that we need ... Maybe a contact person,” Hamilton said. “Medical insurance is very, very helpful, but also medical information about the person.”
Hamilton recommended keeping a short page of medical conditions, allergies and current medications, and said that the benefit to first responders is significant.
“There was a woman in Marble Falls who did that and she just placed it on the wall,” Hamilton said. “As soon as we walk in her front door, we see this envelope for EMS and it’s really handy—especially if it's a time-sensitive medical emergency and we need to get moving to the hospital, we can grab that and go.”
What residents should know
For Spicewood residents, ESD #9 offers free first-aid classes on a monthly basis, training the public on how to administer basic first aid practices like CPR or stroke assessments.
“If you make a 911 call and you've got now 10 minutes before an ambulance arrives, there are a lot of medical conditions that could be made better or worse by applying some first aid principles or not applying them,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton also emphasized the importance of calling 911 as opposed to driving a patient to the hospital independently.
“If you're having a true heart attack, sometimes people end up [trying] to take themselves to the hospital, [and] they go to the wrong hospital,” Hamilton said. “There's certain hospitals that can treat heart attacks and certain ones that can’t.”
In the event of a heart attack, Hamilton added that chewing aspirin can sometimes provide significant health benefits while waiting for EMS to arrive.
What else?
Outside of ESD #9 in Burnet County, Travis County’s portion of the Lake Travis area is served by districts including:
A full map of emergency services districts is available on Travis County’s website.
