HEALTH BRIEFS
Lifeguard exceeds compliance standards in October

Lifeguard Ambulance's first month of service under new standards is being considered a success by county officials.

Santa Rosa County's new ambulance service provider, Lifeguard Ambulance, has met the county's new compliance standards for the month of October by exceeding response time requirements as outlined in the county's 2007-2008 contract. While Lifeguard completed the last two months of the 2006- 2007 ambulance service contract for Rural Metro Ambulance Service, October was the first month of the new contract under tighter compliance requirements.

The new standards adopted by the county to ensure residents receive a higher quality of emergency medical services, reduced the required response time and expanded the area considered urban in Santa Rosa County.

Calls under the new standard require the ambulance provider to:

Dispatch to on scene in 10 minutes for urban calls.

Dispatch to on scene in 18 minutes for rural calls.

Meet response time requirements 90 percent of the time, based on actual response time, not average.

In October, Lifeguard reached a 93.08 percent compliance for urban calls and 92.59 percent for rural response, despite an increase of 48 calls over the same time period in 2006.

Lifeguard Ambulance Service was able to exceed compliance standards by adding additional ambulances, three quick response vehicles and one 24- hour supervisor/paramedic. Ambulances are placed strategically, with county staff and Lifeguard continuously monitoring and fine tuning locations to meet changing needs within in the county.

Blood Center hosts Wienermobile

The Northwest Florida Blood Center and Albertson's University Parkway Store will host the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Blood Drive on Saturday, Nov. 17 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Albertson's is located at 9251 University Parkway. Blood donors are invited to come see the hot dogged shaped Wienermobile created in 1936 to advertise Oscar Mayer products at grocery stores.

Albertson's will provide tasty hot dogs to blood donors to top the occasion. For more information call Donor Recruitment at 850-473-3853.

Sacred Heart honored by UHMS

Sacred Heart Hospital's Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine has been awarded accreditation by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS).

The UHMS is an international professional organization that establishes standards of excellence and quality for hyperbaric medicine programs. The Sacred Heart facility is one of only 75 facilities to receive full accreditation by the UHMS and is the only accredited facility in Northwest Florida.

For more information, contact the Sacred Heart Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine at 850-416-2500 or visit www.sacred-heart.org.

Health screenings at St. Ann Dec. 5

Residents living in and around Gulf Breeze can be screened to reduce their risk of having a stroke or a serious bone fracture. Life Line Screening will be at St. Ann Catholic Church on Dec. 5. The site is located at 100 Daniel Drive and appointments will begin at 9 a.m.

Screenings are fast, painless and low cost. They test for blocked carotid arteries, abdominal aortic aneurysms and hardening of arteries in the legs. A bone density screening is also offered to assess the risk of osteoporosis.

These screenings are important because of the silent and often debilitating nature of the conditions.

All four screenings take less than an hour to complete. The cost for a wellness package of all four screenings, including a free osteoporosis screening, is $149.

For more information regarding the screenings or to schedule an appointment, call 1-877-237- 1287 or visit www.lifelinescreening. com. Pre-registration is required.