When this rancher was gored by a bison, ambulance telehealth helped save his life

Video systems on ambulances let medics get help from more
advanced providers. (Photo by Arielle Zionts, KFF HN)

When severe ranch injuries happen, having experienced medical care on hand can mean the difference between life and death. But in many cases, rural medics don't often treat life-threatening wounds. Some ingenious South Dakotans figured out how to overcome that dangerous knowledge gap.

"Rural medics who rescued rancher Jim Lutter after he was gored by a bison didn't have much experience handling such severe wounds," reports Arielle Zionts of KFF Health News. "But the medics did have a doctor looking over their shoulders inside the ambulance as they rushed Lutter to a hospital. The emergency medicine physician sat 140 miles away in a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, office building. She participated in the treatment via a video system recently installed in the ambulance."

Ed Konechne, a volunteer emergency medical technician with the Kimball Ambulance District, told Zionts, "I firmly believe that Jim had the best care anyone has ever received in the back of a basic life support ambulance." Zionts adds, "The ambulance service received its video system through an initiative from the South Dakota Department of Health. The project, Telemedicine in Motion, helps medics across the state, especially in rural areas."

The pandemic years helped Telehealth become more accepted, and the "technology is starting to spread to ambulances. Similar programs recently launched in regions of Texas and Minnesota, but South Dakota officials say their partnership with Avel eCare — a Sioux Falls-based telehealth company — appears to be the nation's only statewide effort," Zionts reports. "Rural medics often have less training and experience than their urban counterparts, Konechne said. Speaking with a more experienced provider via video gives him peace of mind, especially in uncommon situations. Konechne said the Kimball ambulance service sees only about three patients a year with injuries as bad as Jim Lutter's."

Katie DeJong was the emergency medicine physician at Avel eCare's telehealth center "who took the ambulance crew's video call," Zionts writes. "After speaking with the medics and viewing Lutter's injuries, she realized the rancher had life-threatening injuries, especially to his airway. . . . . DeJong called the emergency department at the hospital in Wessington Springs — 25 miles from Gann Valley — to let its staff know how to prepare. DeJong also arranged for a helicopter to fly Lutter from the rural hospital to a Sioux Falls medical center, where trauma specialists could treat his wounds."

To read more about Lutter's rescue or how South Dakota is funding its program, click here.