St. Peter's Health EMS adds sensory kits to calm patients

St. Peter’s Health EMS has put sensory kits on every ambulance and in its emergency department, a move aimed at making high-stress calls less overwhelming for patients with autism and other sensory sensitivities. The kits are meant to help when lights, noises, touch and the close quarters of an ambulance can turn a medical emergency into a sensory crisis.

EMS manager Chris Mulberry said the kits are a tool, not just a toy, and stressed that crews have to recognize when a patient needs one. That matters in Helena and across Lewis and Clark County, where a routine transport can become more complicated if a patient is distressed before treatment even begins.

Each Carter Kit includes items such as fidget toys, sunglasses, headphones and a weighted blanket, along with other comfort items designed to help a patient regulate while being treated or transported. St. Peter’s EMS said the kits can travel with a patient from the ambulance to the hospital and even home if needed, and the ambulance barn has enough supplies to restock them as they are used. For families facing a 911 call, that can mean a response that is less likely to escalate or delay care.

The expansion at St. Peter’s comes alongside a statewide rollout. On May 12, 2026, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services said it had distributed 472 Carter Kits to every licensed EMS agency and Quick Response Unit in Montana. The department said the $41,000 initiative was funded through Children’s Special Health Services and led by the Emergency Medical Services for Children program. State officials also said four Carter Kit instructors from the Billings area will provide local education on autism spectrum disorder awareness and kit usage, and Simulation in Motion - Montana has integrated the kits into pediatric simulation training.

The idea behind the kits traces back to Carter Severs, a boy with autism from Frankenmuth, Michigan. Carter Kits says more than 24,000 kits are now in use in 44 states, three Canadian provinces, Bermuda and the Bahamas. In Helena, the NAMI Helena board of directors helped bring the program to St. Peter’s by awarding the St. Peter’s Health Foundation $24,500 for the purchase.

For local EMS, the change is more than a new supply on the rig. It gives crews a concrete way to lower stress, keep patients safer and make emergency care more responsive to people whose needs do not fit a one-size-fits-all model.