ESO Solutions

Chief Paul Mattson, South Park Ambulance District, Talks about ESO QuickSpeak

South Park Ambulance District in Fairplay, Colorado, was ESO’s first QuickSpeak customer. Within a few weeks of his QuickSpeak purchase, Chief Paul Mattson contacted ESO to share his experiences using the latest addition to the ESO ePCR Suite.

A South Park unit was paged to attend to a girl in her late teens who had been released from a specialty hospital earlier in the day for a very debilitating illness. She lived with her large, extended family in very small quarters, and because there were many young children in the house, the windows were closed. Chief Mattson recalled noticing the heat right away when they walked in.

The girl was very ill and lethargic, and for the first time, she was experiencing new symptoms related to her illness – seizures. As would be expected, tensions in the room were running high. The girl’s mother and her aunt didn’t speak any English, and her eight and 10-year-old cousins were attempting to translate for them.

Chief Mattson and his crew knew that this would be a good opportunity to use the QuickSpeak application. He said that QuickSpeak helped the providers quickly gather all the information they needed in order to assess the situation. He went on to explain that he especially liked the audio component and the fact that he didn’t have to rely on the patient or her family having to read something in order to understand what he was trying to say.

And perhaps even more importantly, Chief Mattson said that QuickSpeak lightened the mood in the room considerably. “The girl’s eyes lit up, and she smiled upon hearing the voice speaking her native language. Even without QuickSpeak, we somehow would have figured out what was wrong, but for the family, it provided a huge relief.”

What’s more, Chief Mattson indicated that Quick Speak was easy to learn and easy to use, which was a huge plus for his organization. The verdict? QuickSpeak was a resounding success.

“You notice that people get a little defensive because not knowing English can be intimidating for them. QuickSpeak will help make our crews less nervous in these situations,” he added.