Katie Ridge— Public Health Trends in Redlands, California

I had a good chat with my cousin, Bennett Milloy.  He is a Firefighter Paramedic in Redlands, California.  Both of us grew up in a neighboring city to Redlands.  Bennett was intrigued by my request for health trends because his line of work uses a modern system of technology to keep up data with the local Public Health Agency.  He said that the local Public Health Agency connects with surrounding areas to identify trends and effective procedures and situations daily, here are the top five most prevalent health issues he handles in Redlands, California:

1. 1.      Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)— with this disease, the paramedics help people whose heart is not functioning properly.  CHF causes patients to have fluid buildup, causing swollen arms, legs, ankles or feet.  This condition is easy for the paramedics to recognize because it is the most prominent medical condition in the area.  Heart disease, smoking, high blood pressure or obesity commonly accompany CHF, which help the paramedics to scope out the situation.  Bennett reported that CHF has always been one of the most popular calls in his career as a paramedic.  He gets daily reports and calls concerning CHF.
2. 2.      Diabetes— the diabetes calls usually consist of people who do not manage or know about their diabetes.  Patients call because they feel sick, weak or woozy.  The Public Health Agency has found that diabetes calls for paramedics has dramatically increased, but the number is nowhere near the sheer number of diabetics.  Bennett reported that he usually gets a diabetes call on a daily basis.  One study found that diabetes has had a thirty-eight percent increase over the last ten years in Southern California.  There are hundreds of new diagnoses daily (PhD Guozhong He).  Paramedics are usually a little disheartened be these calls because more often than not, the emergency situations could be avoided.
3. 3.      Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)— There are many conditions that fall under COPD.  Some of the most popular conditions include asthma, bronchitis, smoking problems, and emphysema.  Usually the people have difficulty breathing, and when the paramedics reach them, their lungs have accumulated a considerable amount of fluid in them.  Bennett said that sometimes these conditions may even be attributed to the smoggy California air.  Sometimes for this the paramedics must use the highly effective three-tier system discussed later.  They find higher survival rates because of the tactics they use.
4. 4.      Trauma— many things fall under the trauma category.  The injuries in the trauma category can be attributed to a wide variety of things such as sports or playing.  However, most of the calls concerning trauma are received on the weekends and are alcohol related.  These trauma calls include drunk-driving accidents, fights, and senseless actions such as punching through glass windows.  Bennett said that although some trauma calls can be amusing (like punching a window) most of the accidents can be completely avoided.  He said that the Public Health Agency he collaborates with is usually heavily involved in trauma cases.
5. 5.      Chest Pain— although CHF may fall under this category, chest pain entails many other conditions.  Calls usually consist of cardiac arrest, heart attack, heart failure, or chronic heart diseases.  For cardiac arrest situations, the health field has developed a multi-tier system in order to best revive patients.  With so many CPR classes in the community, when a person goes into cardiac arrest, more often than not, somebody nearby who is CPR certified works on reviving the person.  Once the paramedics arrive, they perform whatever tasks they need to.  The paramedics then take the patient to the hospital where the hospital finishes whatever treatment necessary.  The Public Health agencies have found this new system to be extremely effective over the last few years.  There have been fewer deaths under cardiac arrest calls.