By Ashley Hall
 
October 8, 2010
 
MEDFORD, Ore. - There are new concerns about the ability of hospitals and ambulances to help children during major emergencies, according to a report released this week by the National Commission on Children of Disasters.
 
The report also found that during normal circumstances, most emergency rooms and ambulances are not properly equipped to deal with severely injured children.
 
However, emergency responders in Southern Oregon say the region doesn't follow the national trend. Nonprofit Mercy Flights of Oregon says all its ambulances and helicopters are equipped with pediatric kits, which include smaller sized oxygen masks, smaller IVs, and other tools that can be imperative to helping the smaller-sized patients.
 
"We have pediatric IO needles, so if they don't have vein access, they can go through your bone. There's pediatric needles for that," Mercy Flights Field Supervisor Steve Lonas said.
 
Lonas says it is more common for emergency crews to respond to adults.
 
"(We have a) similar amount of supplies for adults and children. We use more of the adults supplies, so we keep more of that on the ambulances," Lonas said.
 
Lonas says that in the rare event of a major disaster that would require treating dozens, if not hundreds, of kids, there is a back-up plan.
 
"We also have a disaster trailer we can bring around if there's a school collapse or something like that," Lonas said.
 
Preparedness for helping children in an disaster does not just lie with EMTs, schools also must have a crisis plan in place.
 
"We look at bomb threats, people coming on campus with possible weapons, a plane crash nearby, because we do live near the airports. It's imperative that we, as a school district, be very proactive on how we're going to address this by doing these drills," Howard Elementary Principal Sallie Johnson said.
 
Each school is required to have a certain number of employees that are CPR and first-aid trained.
 
"Even with the best laid plans, you still need to use common sense," Johnson said.
 
Jackson County says that in a major disaster, such as a giant earthquake that shuts down roads and leaves people isolated, they have trained volunteers with the Community Emergency Response Team, CERT, to be able to perform CPR on children as well as adults.