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Barcelona (EFE).- The nurse from the Emergency Medical System (SEM) of Catalonia, Ramón Pedrosa Cebador, an expert in assistance to trapped victims and survival, explains, in an interview with EFE, that “it can take up to seven days before lose hope of finding people alive” after an earthquake like the one that occurred a week ago in Turkey and Syria.
Pedrosa Cebador, who is a specialist in the so-called ‘crush syndrome’ and internship coordinator for the Master’s Degree in Health Emergencies and Emergencies at the International University of Catalonia (UIC), warns that many of the victims rescued from the rubble in Turkey and Syrians suffer from this syndrome, which leads to metabolic injuries and post-traumatic stress.
“The ‘crash syndrome’, or crush syndrome, occurs when a person is confined or buried and, four or six hours after being so, the body begins to release toxins, such as hemoglobin or potassium, which can be harmful and lead to in metabolic lesions, such as kidney failure or respiratory failure, and post-traumatic stress”, details the specialist in initial assistance to victims of the syndrome.
The affectation of this pathology is greater in “extreme ages”, that is, in advanced or pediatric ages, and in people with previous pathologies, such as heart disease or respiratory problems, since “the compensation mechanisms in both cases are not the same as those of a healthy adult, so they may have more important sequelae.
Assistance to trapped people
In the face of catastrophes of the magnitude of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, “medical first aid is essential”, and to carry it out “it is not necessary to be a doctor or a nurse because they consist of having an initial contact with the victim, reassuring them and asking about their fears and concerns”, according to the nurse.
In addition to trauma, crush syndrome leaves psychological sequelae, which is why, according to the expert, it is necessary for teams of emergency psychologists to treat the post-traumatic stress of those affected, who “follow a process of recovery similar to that of soldiers or victims of war”.
“The first step in assisting a trapped person must be to identify them as salvageable. Then, triage takes place to assess the priority of treatment, which consists of assigning a label to the victim with the color that corresponds to the priority with which it is considered that she should be treated, ”says Pedrosa.
People who present injuries incompatible with life are assigned a black label; to the victims with injuries of imminent risk of death, “priority to be treated”, a red one; and the yellow and green ones are, respectively, for “those whose treatment may be delayed and those with minor injuries.”
The “rescuing measures” come after this classification and consist of “administering oxygen, controlling hypothermia and, at most, administering intravenous fluids to rehydrate the patient”, who, once rescued, is transferred to a field hospital where “the triage is no longer basic, but advanced, and determines what type of treatment you should follow”.
“It is said that people can go a day without drinking and a week without eating, but the probability of finding the victims buried alive decreases significantly after 72 hours, although the United Nations argues that factors such as access to hydration the buried person or the construction material of the houses can extend the period up to five or seven days”, underlines the specialist.
The internship coordinator for the UIC master’s degree in health emergencies warns that “the conflict in Syria is complicating the arrival of material and humanitarian resources in the areas affected by the earthquake, due to political reluctance”, but he has no doubt that they will arrive, and he does not doubt the rescue efforts of the “field operative”.
Teams specialized in crush syndrome in Spain
Pedrosa highlights that the Spanish Technical Aid Response Team (START) group, which mobilizes in humanitarian emergency situations abroad, has teams trained in case there is a major earthquake in Spain one day.
This Spanish Technical Emergency Aid and Response Team, whose implementation was led in 2016 by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, is a mostly medical team, designed to deploy in less than 72 hours, whose mission is to act in any humanitarian emergency.
“In these teams there are not only health professionals, there are also technicians, because when a field hospital is deployed it is necessary to have the same personnel as in a civilian hospital.
People are needed to administer, manage waste or make the water drinkable, among other tasks”, emphasizes Pedrosa, who also highlights the importance of civil protection groups, such as those who come to the area with rescue dogs.
The expert defends “the centralization of training and training” of these specialized START teams so that the level of preparation in the different autonomous communities is “balanced”.