From the Publishers Desk
departments
Small Towns Provide Big-Time EMS
Imagine, if you can, an emergency medical service situated on the high plains (7200 feet) of the Rocky Mountains with its long severe winters. Imagine, too, that this EMS covers an area of 4248 square miles and averages 24 miles per call. It is hard to imagine, but this EMS exists in Laramie, Wyo. (population 28,000), and it provides top-flight service to its citizens at a reasonable cost.
The service is provided by the Laramie Fire Department, which is a fully paid department of 41 men. This department and its EMS is fully covered elsewhere in this issue but a few of its features are worth elaboration:
The Laramie department did provide a minimum type of EMS, plus transportation, going back to the mid-1960s. But in 1979, the local hospital turned its ambulances and ambulance service over to the fire department. The hospital provides the equipment and the emergency room doctors provide training and direction. What is most significant is that the hospital also pays the city a sum equal to the salaries of six fire fighters, one half of all operating expenses (for EMS) plus whatever overtime costs the city is obligated to pay.
The chief advantage of this agreement to the city is that six additional fire fighters are available for fire duty.
In another area of the Great Plains, Nampa, Idaho, EMS started to evolve in 1972 when two members of the local Jaycee club observed fire fighters trying to revive a youngster who had a respiratory problem. The Jaycees asked the chief why the fire fighters responded with a pumper and not an ambulance.
At that time all that EMS amounted to in Nampa was a privately owned ambulance service of the scoop-and-run type, plus an engine company carrying a resuscitator and men partly trained in its use.
The Jaycees quickly took action— raised money, bought a pickup and with some fire fighters started a publicity campaign that brought on a wave of donations. It also sparked action that eventually resulted in a county paramedic service.
