Patients in need of an ambulance now will be transported in a sleeker, more modern medic unit by Ottawa emergency personnel.The fire department’s new ambulance went into service Friday after necessary inspections. The vehicle was delivered to the department Thursday.

The Medtec Type 1 ambulance module is custom built to specifications drawn about one year ago. The city purchased the ambulance from Foster Coach Sales of Sterling at a cost of nearly $167,000.

The ambulance, which will replace a 1999 model, will be one of two ambulances operated by the fire department.

The new ambulance will be stationed at the main fire station on Lafayette Street.

Fire Chief Jim Duback said the new vehicle will serve Ottawa and surrounding areas for many years to come, and comes with all the “bells and whistles” built in to afford continued excellent patient care and treatment.

The ambulance is mounted on a 2008 International 4300 low profile chassis purchased for $64,662. The ambulance box cost an additional $102,326 for a total cost of $166,988.

The 1999 model had a trade-in credit of $19,000.

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A brave pair of EMT workers in High Point were recognized on Wednesday for going above and beyond last month.
Dec. 9 is a day that Tavia Starborn and her EMT partner Chris Harrison will not soon forget, but that now memorable call for help had some very routine beginnings.
Around 2 p.m. that Sunday afternoon, the Piedmont Triad Ambulance and Rescue Unit was dispatched on a non-emergency back pain call, but when Starborn and Harrison arrived, they found the situation to be quite different than what they expected.
“We found out we had a very pregnant female patient that was experiencing back labor and started moving toward the women‚Äôs hospital,‚Äù explained Starborn. ‚ÄúShe didn’t state that she was pregnant, she didn’t state that she was in labor [when she called], so when we got there that’s when we found out it was baby time.”

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  No Rest for Emergency Medical Workers for the Holidays.

For most, the day before Christmas is considered a holiday…a day free from work, but for paramedics at Tri-State Ambulance, Christmas Eve is just another day of helping those who need it the¬†most.¬† “The thing is everyday, no matter whether it’s a holiday or a regular day so to speak, being able to be there in the time of somebody’s need. ¬† Whether it be a true emergency or just being there for somebody, that may be a little bit more rewarding during the holidays” says Tri-State Paramedic Nick Eastman.

EMT workers not only miss spending holidays with their families, but other important occasions as well.¬† “It’s not just the holidays that we miss,¬†¬†it’s those other days too.¬† Family birthdays, graduations, things like that, are something to think as well too,¬†and not just the paid services, like the ambulance service, fire department…things like that…but the volunteer services as well” Eastman added.

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Action Care Ambulance Service was in need of addition snuggle quilts from volunteers of Firehouse Quilts last month. These ambulances not only serve the metro Denver area but out in some of our more ‘rural’ and suburban areas. You’ll see them almost everywhere you go, available to help when it is needed.
Be sure to see all 3 photos to the right and click directly on a picture for a larger view of it.

64 additional snuggle quilts were delivered November 16, 2007 by Jane Layng (FHQ volunteer) and Dusty Darrah, organizer of Firehouse Quilts.

A new group of technicians were in a training meeting when Jane & I arrived with replacement quilts. We invited them outside for a quick picture and to educate them on their FHQ ‘job’ to give these quilts out to children they see on their emergency runs.

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Woodbridge officials unveiled the new 2007 Med-Tech ambulance last week that is now available to respond to emergency and lifesaving calls in Port Reading, among other areas in the township. “Public safety is, without a doubt, the most important responsibility of municipal government,” said Mayor John E. McCormac. He was joined by 3rd Ward Councilman Greg Bedard, president of the Port Reading First Aid Squad Brian Small, township Director of Emergency Management Walter Hanks, as well as members of the township Board of Fire Commissioners, and members of the Port Reading Fire Department and the First Aid Squad. Together, they unveiled the new ambulance at the squad’s headquarters, 916 West Ave., on Nov. 19.

The new $121,000 Med-Tech ambulance for the Port Reading First Aid Squad was made possible by the township’s partnership with the ProLogis Corp., a Denver-based distribution facilities developer, as they develop an eight-warehouse complex in Port Reading, announced by the mayor in January.

The new ambulance will be the squad’s third.

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Three men are giving up Christmas to drive an ambulance 3,500 miles (5,632km) from Anglesey to Gambia. Their 1969 ex-military Land Rover ambulance will then be donated to a health clinic in Africa.

One of the drivers, Guto Roberts, said it was going to be “one heck of an adventure”.

They will set off on 19 December with a convoy of about 20 vehicles taking part in the Plymouth Banjul Rally to raise money for health care in Gambia.

Mr Roberts, Huw Owen and David Griffiths, who are all 27 and from Anglesey, will sleep in the back of the ambulance en-route and hope to arrive in Gambia after three weeks on the road.

Mr Roberts described the vehicle as “very sturdy, very slow and very thirsty”.

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Howard Tuthill still doesn’t know exactly what happened right before his Suburban careened off Interstate 70 and down a steep bank and collided with a boulder on April 3.

Howard was returning to his Eagle-Vail home from Columbine Market, his Gypsum-based grocery store, when the accident occurred around 7:30 p.m. It was a routine commute home, right up to the moment of the accident.

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GUILDERLAND, N.Y. — It was a very special holiday for one woman who hasn’t been home since January.

Maria Hofer is a resident at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland and has a condition that makes it unsafe for her to travel. A team of EMT’s decided to make the extra effort and bring the woman home for the holiday in order for her to spend Thanksgiving with her family and her family couldn’t have been happier.

“I am so glad that she was chosen, because we wouldn’t have been able to do it if it hadn’t been for the Guilderland Ambulance Association,” said Lori Iannelli, HoferÔø?s daughter.

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(WCCO) When your health’s on the line, money isn’t your primary concern. Even with insurance, trips to the doctor can be expensive and trips to the hospital are even worse. When you finally get the bill, you may feel like you’ve been taken for a ride.

“And is it extra per mile?” asked one man in Minneapolis.

It sure is. An ambulance ride in St. Paul costs more than $1000 plus $11 per mile and there are additional charges. A recent 1-mile long ride topped $1400.

Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis charges $925 plus $17 per mile.

“Essentially we’re bringing the emergency room to the patient,” said Dave Rogers who is the Paramedic Supervisor at HCMC. “We base our costs on what our expenses are.”

An ambulance costs $140,000 plus another $40,000 in equipment. The paramedics are highly skilled and ready to go 24/7.

“What do you do when you have to transport someone who doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have the means to pay for the ride?” asked WCCO-TVs Ben Tracy.

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(CBS4) CENTENNIAL, Colo. A South Metro Fire & Rescue paramedic got a heart felt thank you Tuesday from a man he saved.

Owen Jones was in cardiac arrest when quick action brought him back from death.

“Justin is our hero,” Owen’s wife, Jeanie, told CBS4.

Justin Comfort was the lead paramedic when Owen’s heart stopped. In his 10-year career, he calls that day his best.

“Out of all the years I’ve been doing this; times I’ve been punched, kicked, called racial names or any other type of name, that one day helped make up for all those years,” Comfort said.

Owen had been driving with his wife when the heart attack hit. He said that everything went gray and he doesn’t remember anything until three days later. His wife remembers every second of the ordeal.

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VALE – Quita Biggerstaff always knew that she wanted to be in education. However, she had no idea that she would ever be interested in becoming an EMT and joining the rescue squad.

After a few years of teaching, she went to classes, got her Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification, and joined West Lincoln Rescue. She has been teaching by day and doing rescue work by night for more than 20 years.

Currently, she combines her rescue work with a new position in the school system as the assistant principal at Battleground Elementary School in Lincolnton.

Biggerstaff said she is very proud of her school career while remaining loyal to her hard work to get a position onto the West Lincoln Rescue Squad. So loyal, in fact, that she spends every Friday night during football season standing near the end zone with other rescue members to be there in case of injuries.

And the popularity with the children – no matter if she’s wearing the hat of a rescue squad member or school administrator – continues to grow. In fact, when Biggerstaff thinks about how well she interacts with the children, she busts out in laughter.

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FORT ATKINSON, Wis., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ — EMS Magazine, the No. 1 educational publication devoted to the emergency medical services community, and the National Association of EMTs have announced the winners of the annual Gold Service Award: Slaterville Volunteer Ambulance Inc., located in Slaterville Springs, NY, and Baxter Regional Medical Center Ambulance, located in north central Arkansas in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.

Slaterville Volunteer Ambulance Inc. consists of only 16 active providers, but their commitment to EMS care is huge, says squad member Beth Harrington. The group of two paramedics, three critical care technicians, three basic EMTs and eight drivers provides full ALS service 24/7, 365 days a year at absolutely no cost to patients. Average response time (call received to ambulance leaving the station) is between 5-6 minutes. Because the coverage area includes 55 square miles of rural farming country, Slaterville Ambulance realized early on that responding long distances with a BLS crew, then having to wait for ALS to arrive, wasn’t providing the best patient care. As a result, an ALS provider is scheduled for every response, whether or not ALS care is needed. As an integral part of a small rural community, ambulance crew members actively participate in various community functions, says Harrington, including fire and safety demonstrations at the local school, and emergency and disaster preparedness committees.

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SNOHOMISH — One paramedic is here and more are on their way.

Voters in Fire District 4 in Snohomish approved spending money on paramedics in April. Since then fire officials have hired five paramedics and sent four of them to training. One other paramedic is expected to be hired by November.

Fire Chief Mark Collins expects around-the-clock coverage by late-November.

Five times since 2001, voters turned down EMS levies. The district used paramedics from other districts, but fire officials were forced to cut a contract for paramedic services at the beginning of the year.

Fire officials worried that critical patients would have to wait too long for advanced medical care. Voters agreed and approved a $1.2 million levy.

Meet the first paramedic onboard, Neil Broumley.

Q: How long have you been here?

A: I started August 9. I’m one of the guys that used to come over from Monroe. I’m running some calls when I’m on shift during the day.

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OCALA – If the sound of a wailing ambulance speeding down a county road gets a rise out of Liz Roden, it’s easy to understand why.

After all, the filmmaker still has part of her heart riding with an emergency medical crew. As a graduate student at the University of Florida’s Documentary Institute, she and two co-directors chronicled the daily lives of two Marion County ambulance crews.

The result is “Life With Sirens,” a 32-minute documentary film based on the experiences of four frontline employees of the Marion County Emergency Medical Services Alliance. The film follows paramedics Bret Cyr, Jennine Paoli and Stacy West and emergency medical technician Gregg Crosby.

While it skips the politics surrounding that agency, it does raise some interesting issues about how residents use and abuse the county’s emergency medical service. And the film puts a spotlight on a program at Central Florida Community College that trained all four first responders, as well as many of the EMTs and paramedics serving area residents.

Roden produced the film with Jenna Carlson and Kory Krinsky. It was their master’s thesis. They selected Marion County EMSA because Krinsky used to work there, had some contacts and it was near Gainesville.

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