The City of Minonk Ambulance Squad is pleased to announce, and wishes to thank everyone who donated toward the purchase of a Capnography upgrade to their cardiac monitors. With out the community and council support this would not have been made possible.

We have raised funds through the Josh Johnson Concert Last August. We also received many donations for this. The support from our community has been wonderful. We can not say thank you enough.

I believe that Minonk Ambulance Squad is only one of two squads in the surrounding areas that now have capnography. El Paso Rescue Squad I believe has had it now for about 3 yrs. It has proved very beneficial to them as I am confident it will to us.

What is Capnography? Capnography is a noninvasive method for monitoring the levels of carbon dioxide in exhaled breath, to assess a patient’s ventilatory status. A capnogram produces an ETCO2 (carbon dioxide) value shown to us via a waveform. This is shown to us on our cardiac monitors. Much like an EKG shows us a wave form to enable us to see how a person’s heart is working; we now are able to view a wave form to shows us if our patients are breathing adequately. The capnogram will alert us to specific medical conditions a patient might be experiencing. Now when a patient is in some type of respiratory distress the capnogram will enable EMS to diagnose and treat the specific problem, which in turn helps predict a better out come for our patients. Capnography is also useful for ensuring an advanced airway is 100% in place.

Capnography offers numerous clinical uses, but technical limitations have prevented EMS personnel from embracing its use outside the operating room. Today, technological advances have made it possible for these devices to be used in the demanding setting of prehospital care.

Deborah J Stewart

EMS Coordinator

Minonk EMS