The Round Table
Does your department provide any type of emergency medical service for the people you serve? If so, just what type of service is it? And how is this service funded (taxes, fund raising, etc.?)
Darrell G. McIlrath, Chief, Bountiful, Ut.: Bountiful City Fire Department provides emergency medical service to its 40,000 residents by operating an ambulance service that is run by emergency medical technicians that are also firemen. We found that most people needing the service have either insurance or medicare coverage that provides payment for the service. We can run the units by charging a small amount to cover the cost of the equipment which is $40 per call. The service is not costing the taxpayers any money to maintain. If we didn’t charge they would be paying the insurance premiums as well as a higher mill levy to maintain the service. We have no fund raising here. All money comes from insurance company collections, and for those that have no means of support, we write off the bill. It is working very well for us, because with the firemen here, it doesn’t take a large amount of money to pay for wages and benefits.
Joseph E. Burgess, Chief, Coventry, R.I.: The Tiogue Fire Department provides 24-hour coverage for emergency medical needs within the jurisdictional boundaries of the district.
Our services include immediate response of one fully equipped van type rescue unit manned by EMT’s, licensed by the state of R.I.
On weekdays, paid fire fighters man the unit with volunteer assistance, and on weekends and weeknights we depend soley on volunteers.
We are a taxing district responsible for fire protection street lights and rescue services. The services for the rescue are funded solely through the fire tax, although some equipment has been purchased through fund raising activities.
W.K. Wallis, Chief, Nampa, Id.: We have provided EMS service for approximately six years. The service is a rescue-type but we do not transport patients. We started the service because of the need for additional personnel at the scene of heart attacks and for automobile extrication. We work with the county paramedics. They are primarily responsible for medical and we for rescue from entrapment. The service is currently funded through taxes, but was originally purchased with money from fund-raising activities. In fact, funds still occasionally come in.
Pete J. Gartner, Chief, Mandan, N.D.: We operate a 35 volunteer department, with a paid chief and fire marshall. There are presently eight qualified EMTs on the volunteer roster. These men respond with a rescue unit at the request of the ambulance company. The rescue equipment was purchased with funds donated by local service groups. Replacement of worn or broken equipment is done with funds budgeted from the general funds.
William G. Oelhafen, Chief, West Bend, Wis.: The West Bend Fire Department is staffed with two EMT people per 24-hour shift. All personnel are alerted by page-boy radio. The services are funded via taxation and charges from rural emergency calls. Vehicles, equipment and personnel meet the established criteria. A new vehicle is budgeted for 1980. Continuous education is also part of their basic EMT training.
Robert D. Carnahan, EMT Coordinator, Oregon City, Or.: Clackamas County Fire District No. 54 provides basic life support, light and heavy rescue, and advanced life support up to and including fluid replacement and basic drugs. We have the capability to do endotracheal intubations and IV therapy. We carry resuscitators and complete trauma kits. We have an orthopedic surgeon as a physician advisor and we meet at least two hours per month for training. We have 25 EMT’s on full time with 1-EMT P, 3-EMT II’s, and the remainder EMT-A’s. We serve 65 square miles out of three stations and are property tax supported. We have long range goals of developing a memorial donation plan for capital expenses.
Robert W. Pratt, Chief, Reading, Mass.: Yes, we run the ambulance for the Town of Reading. The service is strictly emergency, no transport. The service is funded by taxes. We do charge a fee of $50, which goes into the general fund.
William T. Wilcox, Chief, Friendswood, Tex.: Yes, we do provide EMS. We have a fire department ambulance division which provides emergency ambulance service without charge to residents of our city and surrounding areas. We have two type I ambulances. One is kept with the ambulance on duty team leader, two other EMTs are also on duty and respond directly to the scene and meet the ambulance. The other ambulance is kept at station No. 1 and is manned by off-duty medics as required. The on-duty team is equipped with three walkie talkies, with page capability. When an alert is received, the dispatcher alerts the on duty team, the ambulance chief, the assistant chief and all medics. We cover a large area and if an off duty medic is closer to the scene than the ambulance, the medic may respond also. The ambulance chief or assistant may respond as required. Additional medics or equipment is summoned as needed. All major accidents also receive automatic response from the fire division in addition to the ambulance.
All medics are trained and certified by the state as emergency medical technicians. The ambulance division is currently upgrading their training to include IV therapy and eventually to the EMT-Paramedie level. As of today we have six IV therapists, one paramedic, and 30 EMT’s. All of these medical personnel are volunteers. Our ambulances are equipped with telemetry equipment and defibrillators. The ambulance division responded to 340 calls in 1978 and to 270 fire calls. The ambulance responds to all fire calls which are larger than a still alarm.
Routine transfer calls are made by private ambulances, but if there is any doubt as to whether an emergency exists, our crew transports without any hesitation.
The fire department budget is funded mostly by taxes from the City of Friendswood. About 15 percent comes from contract ambulance and fire protection, offered to people living outside our city limits. Fund raising and donations are less that 1 percent of our budget.
Jack R. Gagne, Chief, Deerfield, Ill.: Our department, the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District, went into service with two mobile intensive care units (MICU’s) in February of 1974 as a field unit of the Highland Park, Ill. system. The Highland Park system was the first state approved system in Ill. following the Northwest Community Hospital system (pilot project.) Presently, we operate two identically equipped care-o-vans with a total of 14 active paramedics, one inactive paramedic, 10 active EMT-A’s, and three persons attending EMT-A school. The district is completely tax supported, with no fund raising activities employed. There are no other charges made to our citizens and no one is charged except those we provide service for that are traveling on the Tri-State Tollway. These fees are based on a set fee schedule of $100 per MICU as authorized by a tollway patrol officer or other authorized person. Our total fire district population is approximately 25,000 and covers an area of 8 1/3 square miles.
Frank W. Emry, Chief, Flagstaff, Ariz.: We provide EMT-2 service with the city ambulance serving as a back-up unit. We have trauma kits and we do not transport victims as we have no department transport. We are funded by taxes generated in our district, which covers 126 square miles.
Robert D. Aldrich, Chief, Fridley, Minn.: Emergency medical service in our community is handled with some fragmentation. Primary responsibility is the function of the police department and the ambulance service originating from the local hospital. The ambulance service provides advance life support, and the police provide basic life support with their training level at the crash injury management level. The fire department is a secondary provider except in the case of extrication, in which we are the primary service. Our department is part paid and paid on call organization, totally funded by taxes.
L.C. Cole, Chief, Forest Park, Ga.: Our department has three modular type ambulances. All of the firefighters are EMT’s and several have had advanced training. The ambulances are equipped with life support, and our service is funded by taxes.
A.F. Barrowclough, Chief, Farmington, N.M.: We provide emergency medical services with a paid department. We have EMT-A’s and EMT-P’s trained within our own department. The service is funded by city and county taxes.
