Beaufort County’s award winning Emergency Medical Services, recognized in 2005 as South Carolina’s EMS System of the Year, has strengthened its service-providing capability even further with two new potentially life-saving devices, the EZ-10® and the “Gator”.

EMS Director Ed Allen said the EZ-IO® will allow administration of life-saving drugs or fluids through the bone marrow when traditional intravenous access is difficult or impossible due to collapsed veins, shock, trauma or cardiac arrest.

Allen said the instrument can safely and quickly penetrate the bone with relatively little discomfort. “Desperately needed IVs cannot be started in more than 5 million patients a year nationwide and thousands die as a result. Our paramedics are thrilled with this breakthrough in emergency treatment.”

The treatment has been used in children for more than 15 years, but heavier bone density in adults created problems until now. Medical researchers have been seeking an alternative to traditional IVs since the early 1800s.

The “Gator”, a 6-wheel-drive utility vehicle, enables emergency rescuers to traverse difficult terrain, such as rocky, sandy, wet or mountainous areas. It has already proven invaluable on a steep and slippery river bank in Beaufort County.

A man who had been walking his dog on a wooden train trestle near Allison Road in Beaufort fell through the trestle into Battery Creek. People fishing nearby managed to get the man out of the water and call 911. When EMS workers arrived they found the man on the river bank in an area inaccessible to an ambulance. He had been injured and could not make the climb. The Gator was dispatched and used to bring the man to safety.

Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton said citizens are fortunate to have a decorated EMS team and these new, specialized pieces of equipment could save more lives.

“The Gator was funded through a federal Homeland Security grant and provides EMS and other county emergency personnel with an invaluable public safety tool. In addition, the ability to offer an alternative to traditional IVs has been needed for a long time and we are grateful that medical science has developed this new technology.”