Medical providers were recently abuzz about a new treatment for respiratory distress that includes a high flow of oxygen entering through a patient’s nose, said Braden Frame, a seven-year firefighter and paramedic with Lake Travis Fire Rescue. The action stems from COVID-19 complications encountered in the field by first responders.
However, that procedure requires a lot of oxygen and equipment to heat and humidify the air—items that aren’t feasible, reasonable or available in pre-hospital medicine but rather employed on the wall of an emergency room or in an intensive care unit, Frame said.
So Frame, who serves on the organization’s COVID-19 Task Force science division that develops plans and procedures to keep patients and firefighters safe, sought a better way.