First on the Scene

Region’s only EMS fellow brings expertise, reassurance to emergency calls

Gerald A. Coleman III, D.O.

When an ambulance or Lehigh Valley Hospital’s MedEvac helicopter arrives on the scene of a bad accident, chances are it’s carrying an added asset: emergency medical services fellow Gerald A. Coleman III, D.O. He’s one of just six EMS fellows in Pennsylvania and 51 in all of North America.

“Having a physician assess a critical patient before transport to the hospital is a definite advantage in some circumstances,” Coleman says. Each time he responds to a call, he brings advanced critical care equipment and medications. He also gives families a little more peace of mind in a health crisis.

Besides responding to 9-1-1 calls, Coleman educates paramedics in pre-hospital procedures for heart attack as part of the hospital’s MI Alert for Heart Attacks program. Because the time between a heart attack and treatment is critical for recovery, it’s important to transport a patient to the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab as soon as possible. Teaching regional paramedics how to interpret heart attack patterns on an EKG (electrocardiogram) machine while they’re still in the field speeds up the process drastically.

“Our MI Alert program gives us some of the fastest door-to-treatment times in the state and the nation,” Coleman says. “Lehigh Valley Hospital routinely delivers lifesaving care for heart attack patients in less than 90 minutes. That’s the ‘gold standard’ of heart care.”

Coleman is a physician and teacher in many other ways, too. He works in the hospital’s emergency department, is a member of the Northeastern Pa. Regional Counterterrorism Task Force’s Health and Medical Subcommittee, part of a disaster preparedness team that assists local colleges, universities and municipalities with pandemic flu disaster training drills, and provides EMS physician oversight for events like the Allentown Fair and Bethlehem’s Musikfest. This year, he also served as the attending physician at the hospital’s medical station inside Pocono International Raceway during NASCAR Nextel Cup races.

Coleman’s work gives him a unique perspective on education and its impact in the community. “Whether I’m riding with the Allentown EMS or flying in the helicopter to a multi-car crash, I always learn something new from the EMS providers I work with. We teach each other,” he says. “It makes me realize when we work as a team, we really can make a positive difference in our community.”

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