Fire District Adds Paramedics, Putting Help Closer To Hand
By Brian Lee, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.
Jan. 6–Three extra pairs of helping hands will be coming to the aid of Monterey-Salinas Highway drivers and residents in distress.
On Monday, the Salinas Rural Fire District added three firefighters trained as paramedics to improve emergency medical treatment around the Laureles Fire Station, which serves the area from west of Toro Regional Park to the Monterra Ranch subdivision at Olmsted Road.
“Really what it brings is a component of the emergency room to the scene of an accident or to someone’s home,” said Fire Chief Michael Urquides.
Firefighters can provide basic life-support services, such as splinting fractures, applying bandages and providing CPR, oxygen and automated defibrillation.
With paramedics, firefighters can give advanced life support, including intravenous therapy, medication and specialized airway support.
Urquides said 43 percent of calls are for emergency medical assistance, while only about 10 percent involve fires.
In their first week, Shaun Kamnikar, Dave Craddock and Scott Babione were called to three emergencies with patients complaining of chest pain. Instead of waiting for ambulance personnel, the paramedics administered immediate care and helped speed the patients’ trip to the hospital by preparing them for transport, Urquides said.
Westmed Inc., the ambulance company serving Monterey County, loaned supplies to the fire district to help start the service.
“We wouldn’t have been doing this unless they let us borrow $30,000 worth of equipment,” said Urquides.
More than 1,000 hours of intensive classroom training, as well as a hospital and field internship, mark the difference between an emergency medical technician and a paramedic.
“It is a very tough program,” said Urquides, “and these employees are not getting any extra pay.”
Kamnikar said an experience as a teenager led him to volunteer for training.
“I watched paramedics attempt to save my grandmother, and that inspired me to go through the training to be a firefighter and paramedic,” he said. “It is very rewarding to help the community and try to make a difference in someone’s life.”
Craddock, who started working on an ambulance in 1990, volunteered for the paramedic services.
“You get to work with someone you never met in your life and help them when they are having a really bad day,” he said.
Babione said the additional service gives firefighters another tool to save lives.
“The care was there before,” he said, “but we are basically stepping it up a notch.”
Brian Lee can be reached at write2brianlee@hotmail.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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