Where there's smoke, there's stress.

Without a doubt, I am interested in human health and emergency medicine. Whether this is the same as being "pre-med" or not, I can't really say. I have certainly valued my experience as an EMT with IEMS and have been the Assistant Director of Operations there. I have enjoyed working in the emergency room at Evanston Hospital, a Level I trauma center in the north suburbs of Chicago. For the last year, I have been training with the Edge Scott Volunteer Fire Department, becoming qualified to fight fires as well as provide emergency medical assistance at the scene.

But this year, I have also had the opportunity to incorporate all this with my independent study in the IB Honors Biology program. As you know if you've read any of the other Where Are We Now pages, IBH research is not limited to any department or School... it can be done anywhere.

In my case, that means working on a research project at the UI Fire Services Institute's Fire Safety Research Program. I've been working with two professors, Professor Denise Smith from Skidmore College (and the UIUC FSI), and Professor Steve Petruzello of the UIUC departments of Kinesiology and Psychology.

Here's the problem... firefighting is strenuous as well as dangerous. The impacts on the human body are vast. The recent trend is that 45% of all deaths among firefighters are due to heart disease. High temperatures are simply hard on hearts, and exacerbate any pre-existing strain. Therefore, on-scene rehabilitation is a critical step in mitigating cardiovascular strain.

But there is little guidance about how and when firefighters should receive treatment and be released back to fireground operations.

My project this Fall has been to analyzed changes in physiological factors, such as core temperature and heart rate, following strenuous firefighting activities. One of our most interesting findings was that test subjects requiring medical attention had on average higher core temperatures upon arrival at the rehab station. This factor has, so far, been poorly addressed in setting rehab policies.

What did I do? So far, my duties have been at the rehab station, taking the primary data and serving as an emergency medical technician... activating EMS procedures and deciding, for example, if subjects needed to be moved to the hospital. I have also collected the primary medical data on each subject, including taking vital signs and core and skin temperature readings. And perhaps most importantly, from the research standpoint, I have had the chance to analyze the data and write the report on the results.

What's the future? I will be spending the next two semesters working with the same professors on separate projects, one of which will study the effects of different on-scene rehabilitation strategies; the other will study the physiological response of firefighters who fight multiple fires over multiple days. I am truly fortunate to have the opportunity to participate in research that I am passionate about, and owe it to the Integrative Biology Honors Program for helping me transform the idea into reality.