Surgeon Teaches Feet on the Street

More than 100 Northern California first responders—the feet on the street—as well as emergency room personnel and other healthcare providers received some valuable trauma training by neuro-surgical expert Jeffrey Dembner, M.D., Medical Director for the Center for Neuroscience and neurological services for NorthBay Healthcare.

Dr. Dembner taught the group how to assess and respond to head and spine trauma in a first-of-its-kind presentation as part of the “REACH on Tour” Continuing Education Program. The seminar was hosted by NorthBay Healthcare at its Green Valley Administration Center on June 6.

Jeffrey Dembner, M.D.

REACH has conducted conferences such as these in the counties it serves in Texas, Southern California and Oregon for the past eight years, but this is the first time one has been held in Solano County, according to Darin Huard, general manager of REACH. “We like to collaborate with our partner hospitals to create a conference that focuses on topics of interest to them, and so when we reached out to NorthBay, that’s where a focus on trauma and pediatric care came in.”

Dr. Dembner’s talk addressed assessing head and spine trauma from a neurological viewpoint, but before he outlined some of those assessments, he acknowledged the critical role first responders play in trauma care. “There is a huge difference between what first responders see in the field and where I become involved in caring for a patient. While I have tons of resources at hand—MRIs, CT scans, x-rays, nurses and doctors who see the patient before me—as a first responder your resources are limited to what you have: perhaps some medical history, and your observations and assessments. My job is comparatively easy; first responders and ER personnel have the difficult job.”

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