Jen,

I live in northcentral MO and did the whole local EMS thing about 18 months ago for my 2 SWCAH daughters. Basically what had to happen in our county was a new protocol written by the medical director of EMS. He got the info from our endo about when to inject, special instructions as far as fluids,etc and wrote up a protocol for CAH children (mine are the only ones in 100 miles I think). Now, our EMS carries Solu-Cortef prescribed for my kids with the dosing and all and our # is flagged for the 911 system. Also, since I met with the EMS folks and we live in a small town (6000), most of the EMS workers know me and my kids if they were to find us in an accident or something. Also, they stressed the importance of putting something on the carseat that would be openly visible as they often don’t look for Medic Alert jewelry on children.

Our EMS was very open to the whole thing and were very interested in learning more about CAH. I met no resistance in the whole thing. It took like a week from start to finish. Also, I know it will be great to get it for where you live, but as my EMS friends said--if we leave the county, its a whole different ballgame. That is why it is important to have something visible in your car so that EMS will see it right away. All ambulances carry some kind of steroid (most Solu-MEdrol or Dex)  and any paramedic staffed unit can inject. There is no way for just an EMT manned unit to inject--it is against the law. I used to be an EMT and it would be a licensure loss to inject, even if it saved a life.

Hope this helps--if you have any more questions, please post or email.

Cassy