TEMPLE TERRACE -- To Fire Chief Keith Chapman, their value was obvious.

Having experienced first-hand the life-saving potential of ultrasound machines when he worked several years ago in Tampa General Hospital's emergency room, he dreamed of possessing similar transportable tools for the city's 45-member team of firefighter-paramedics.

His vision recently turned into reality when his department received three such interior body scan machines, each valued at $18,000. They were funded through a state Emergency Medical Services grant and the county's Community Investment Tax.

The cutting-edge technology allows paramedics to do on-the-spot patient diagnoses to check for internal bleeding or lacerations to the kidneys, liver or spleen. If life-threatening injuries are found, patients are transported to Tampa General, a Level 1 trauma center.

The Temple Terrace department is the first in the state to equip its rescue units with the portable machines commonly used in combat situations by American troops.

"We may even be the first department in the Southeast to have these tools," Chapman said. "I have no doubt, however, they will catch on because they can make a difference in the outcome of trauma patients."

Dean Christensen, the department's medical director, helped write the protocol for the paramedics' pre-hospital use of the technology. Charlotte Derr, ultrasound director at TGH and an assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of South Florida, provided the training. Prior to taking the machines out on the road, every paramedic was required to complete 25 scans.

"They basically went through the same process TGH's medical staff does," Chapman said.

He would like his rescue crews to get into a routine of doing ultrasound scans on all blunt trauma patients who experience abdominal pain, whose pulse rates are high or are otherwise unstable.

All scans are saved and made available to emergency room personnel. They are also kept by the department for quality assurance purposes.

"I think some of our people had some apprehensions at the beginning, but since then it's been all positive," said Mark Baldwin, the department's training officer. "I'm very proud to have this technology. We're at the forefront here and I envision it to be the standard of care."

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 731-8026.

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