The American Fire Service is always evolving and adapting to meet the needs of the citizens we serve. The National League of Cities at their annual Municipal Excellence Awards is recognizing the Fire Department of the City of Erlanger, Kentucky, this week. The Department and the city are being recognized as innovators who have improved the quality of life in their communities. The members and the leadership of this community of 17,000 realized the need to have paramedic response and transport capabilities for the safety and welfare of its citizens. The small community of Erlanger debated the options and found a fire service-basedEMS delivery model that it could afford and put in place immediately.
This model provides two cross-trained EMT firefighters on a transport rescue unit, followed by a cross-trained firefighter paramedic in a staff car who assists and, if needed, rides in on the rescue ambulance with the patient. The use of firefighters medics on all these units provide the citizens with the best pre-hospital medical care. Erlanger’ fire service-based EMS model is delivering the highest quality medical care and putting more firefighters on the street to deliver the highest quality fire protection. Fire Chief Tim Koenig will be visiting with Bobby Halton on Fire Engineering’s “On the Road” radio show to describe how the Erlanger fire service-based EMS model evolved and how it is making a positive difference in both Fire and EMS delivery in his community.
Erlanger, Ky., is one of nine cities selected to receive the prestigious 2006 Awards for Municipal Excellence at the National League of Cities’ Congress of Cities in Reno, Nev., on December 8th. Accepting the award on behalf of Erlanger are Mayor Marc Otto, Fire Chief Tim Koenig, William Scheyer, City Administrator and Donna Sparks, EMS Coordinator.
Erlanger is the Gold winner in the population under 50,000 category for its Tiered Advanced Life Support System for Emergency Medical Services. The City provides affordable Advanced Life Support (ALS) to its citizens and surrounding cities by bringing the services in-house to its local fire department. For all ambulance calls, a paramedic accompanies the ambulance in a staff car, provides Advanced Life Support if necessary, and if ALS services are not needed, is available to move on to the next call. This program exposes ALS service to enough patients and call volume that the operating cost can be spread over a larger group of jurisdictions.
“Erlanger has a tradition of providing high quality service at a reasonable cost,” said Erlanger Mayor Marc T. Otto, Sr. “Our goal in developing the paramedic program was to expand that tradition to support our neighboring cities.”
Other winning cities include Asheville, N.C., Oakland, Calif., Chicago, Ill., Bell Gardens, Calif., Portsmouth, Va., Lawton, Okla., Tempe, Ariz. and Indianapolis, Ind. These cities were selected for the successful implementation of their projects, and the possible replication of their projects in other cities. Innovation, productive partnerships and the effective use of resources were the hallmarks of their programs. Each city received a cash award, which will be donated to the community non-profit organization of their choice.
“These winners prove that our cities are the leading innovators of our time, creating programs and services that can be replicated all across America,” said NLC President James C. Hunt, councilman from Clarksburg, West Va. “NLC takes pride in showcasing the best and the brightest that cities and towns have to offer.”
For more information on Erlanger’s winning program, please contact Captain Eric Seibel of the Erlanger Fire Department at ejseibel@ci.erlanger.ky.us.
The Awards for Municipal Excellence recognize cities that improve the quality of life in their communities. The National League of Cities has partnered with CH2M Hill, an engineering, construction and consulting firm, since the inception of this awards program in 1989. The Awards for Municipal Excellence identify and showcase outstanding city and town programs that improve the quality of life in America’s communities.
The National League of Cities is the largest national organization for American cities and towns. NLC serves as a resource and advocate for 18,000 cities, towns and villages of all sizes, which collectively serve 225 million people. Visit www.nlc.org.
