Fire Department
Emergency Medical Services IF ONE LIFE COULD BE SAVED...IS IT NOT WORTH IT? In December of 1995 the Columbus Fire Dept. added a new responsibility to their mission, responding to Emergency Medical Calls. The Columbus Fire Dept. responds to only Life Threatening medical calls. Severe bleeding, car accidents with injuries, heart attacks, difficulty breathing and any other calls that are determined to be life threatening. The ambulance service is also dispatched at the same time as the fire dept. The fire dept. having fire stations strategically located throughout the city have shorter response times and are able to provide life saving techniques in many instances. CFD Firefighters are trained to the Emergency Medical Responder level and many are trained to the Emergency Medical Technician level. This training allows us to administer life saving techniques such as the Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), oxygen and basic first aid. All CFD fire trucks carry an AED, oxygen and other first aid equipment. MAKING A DIFFERENCE On February 15, 2000 Station #3 was dispatched to a call by 911 that a person was down at a store. As we were coming up to the store, there were people out in the highway from the store stopping traffic to let us into the parking lot. I knew we had something when people are blocking traffic for you. I told Kirk to get the AED, that we might need it. When we got inside we found a lady on the floor. A lady working their told us that they both worked there and the lady on the floor had been on the phone when she collapsed. I thought I saw her take a breath right when we came in, but she wasn't. I checked for a pulse but she didn't have one. Kirk put the AED pads on her. The AED told us that she needed to be shocked. We got clear and shocked her. I started doing CPR when the ambulance showed up.. They hooked our leads to their monitor and shocked her again. Her heart started beating and her color came back. |
