PHOENIX — A mom’s “EPIC” training is credited with saving the life of her son after a serious accident by preventing a Traumatic Brain Injury, WFMZ-TV reports.
EPIC stands for Excellence in Prehospital Injury Care and is used to prevent hypoxia, hypotension and hyperventilation in accident victims. That’s the opposite of what has been taught for decades, the station reported.
Alexandria Matthews, the boy’s mother and a paramedic herself, learned the training a week before the crash.
“By not allowing my son to be hypoxic as soon as he was in my arms, I started breathing for him, I think plays a huge factor in how he is today and that he doesn’t have the deficits that he probably would,” Matthews said.
The EPIC Project is a NIH-funded initiative involving The University of Arizona, the Arizona Department of Health Services, and over 130 fire departments, EMS agencies, and emergency medical helicopter agencies, according to the university.
Further reading
Study Examines Transport Time of TBI Patients
How a Cautious Approach to TBI Patients May Help Reduce Incidents of Second Impact Syndrome
Experimental Device May Help EMS Detect Subdural Hematomas and TBI
