A PAIR OF MEDICAL STARS
Flight paramedic Matt Hogan and flight nurse Jenny Thorpe save lives, win challenges
Flight nurse Jenny Thorpe and flight paramedic Matt Hogan work as a team to heave an adult-sized mannequin onto a stretcher at the end of a simulation exercise at the Saskatoon base of the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS).
As Thorpe’s daughter Capri looked on, they practised intubating “him” and a pediatric mannequin. In October, the duo won the Air Medical Services’ 2018 Sim Cup in Phoenix, Ariz., besting 11 other North American teams by performing mock scenarios in real time in front of a panel of judges.
STARS medics and nurses run through mock disasters, multiple-casualty scenarios, accidents or medical emergencies often, honing their skills, developing bonds and building confidence. In a mock trauma scenario, just about anything can come their way.
That was very much the case in the final round in Phoenix. The pair had to deal with five “patients” seriously injured in a rock climbing accident, including one child, all while an unhelpful ranger got in the way. Then there was the patient they believed was cleared, or “green,” but turned out to have a stick in her neck.
The scenarios are meant to test their limits and challenge their communication, Thorpe says. Competitors have to be clinically sound on their own as well.
“Once you buy into the idea everyone’s going to walk away, and everyone’s going to walk away happy, it’s easy to get into the scenario, (so) that you can have fun with it and just really showcase your skills. It is fun. It’s way over the top, it’s very grandiose.”
Thorpe and Hogan had been practising in simulated trauma events once a week since June, when they won STARS’S annual internal competition. It’s their fourth year as a competitive team, beating all others to move on to the international event. Each of STARS’S six bases takes part in the internal tournament.
They’ve won their base’s competition four years in a row — including the year Thorpe was pregnant and couldn’t go to the finals. The next year, she was on maternity leave, but came back.
This is the first year she hasn’t been pregnant or postpartum. Hogan is also a parent, and his children are often at the hangar.
A simulation can be anything from a response to a mock multi-casualty accident to a neo-natal emergency. The patients are usually mannequins that replicate the size and mass of an adult or child.
At Phoenix, their first simulation was set in a helicopter much smaller than the ones STARS uses. The day before the event, organizers showed competitors the location of the scenario. That night, Hogan said he and Thorpe repositioned furniture at the hotel to help them figure out where they’d put their gear; then they ran through a few potential scenarios, not knowing what sort of case they’d be working on the next day.
They were expecting to simulate a multiple-patient, mass casualty incident response for the final scenario; they would have 20 minutes to run through it, with only two minutes to prepare after receiving their instructions.
Running through the mock scenarios is more than showcasing skills, or the “gamesmanship” or familiarity with the rules of competition — Hogan said it has a carry-over to their work. It ensures they know protocols and standard of care, and they had to be comfortable dealing with different types of trauma and stress.
The term for it is “stress inoculator,” he said.
“They use it in medical training, in aviation and military. So, you stress people out and it’s going to make it better for them to deal with other stressful situations.”
Thorpe and Hogan are two of the original members of the STARS unit based in Saskatoon. They are also among the 10 nurses and 10 paramedics on staff at the base, all of whom all work together on crews and take part in mock scenarios. Members mix and match on their crews, so they aren’t always working on the same shift as part of the same team.
Thorpe hails from Spy Hill near Langenburg; her mother was a nurse in Esterhazy. When she started out in her nursing career, STARS wasn’t an option. Her career path has always veered toward emergency-related care — she was an ER nurse at Royal University Hospital, then worked in pediatric intensive care, then flew with a fixed-wing air ambulance service in Saskatoon.
At STARS, she feels she’s in the best place, she says.
“It’s exciting, flying around in a helicopter providing emergency care to our Saskatchewan residents. It’s been a really wonderful, fun journey.”
Hogan grew up in an emergency services family in Prince Edward Island. His father had a 33-year firefighting career and worked as a paramedic for eight years; a couple of his uncles also worked in the fire service. Growing up in this environment, he always knew he wanted to get into emergency services, and he worked as a paramedic before moving to Saskatchewan.
He didn’t hesitate when an