ALL CITY FIRE STATIONS NOW HAVE PARAMEDIC ON STAFF.Byline: Mariel Garza Staff Writer Sick or injured residents will get speedier emergency care now that all 114 city fire stations have at least one paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic on staff, authorities said Thursday. Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California joined Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Fire Chief William Bamattre in announcing completion of the first phase the Fire Department's five-year plan Five-Year Plan, Soviet economic practice of planning to augment agricultural and industrial output by designated quotas for a limited period of usually five years. to enhance paramedic services in all fire stations. In the last two years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time Fire Department has hired or trained 200 paramedics and deployed them to all neighborhood fire stations, adding a dozen paramedics to stations in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . The city has seen decreases in the average response times for emergency medical services An Emergency medical service (abbreviated to initialism "EMS" in many countries) is a service providing out-of-hospital acute care and transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient believes constitutes a medical emergency. , by 24 seconds to 3 minutes. ``We're the only major city in the country to accomplish that,'' Bamattre said. The plan still has more to be accomplished. Although all fire stations have paramedics, 13 still don't have ambulances, including those in Porter Ranch, Granada Hills/Knollwood, Sunland/Shadow Hills, Cahuenga Pass, Laurel Canyon/Mulholland and Encino Hills. Paramedic Capt. William Wells said the paramedic improvements over the last two years have cost the department about $25 million, but the current budget crisis might slow down purchases in the next three years. For example, there are no provisions for new ambulances - which cost about $110,000 each - or new staff in the budget proposed for fiscal 2003-04. But having its own ambulance could have dramatic results in medical emergencies, when a few minutes or even seconds can mean the difference between life and death. ``In these 13 communities, it takes any where from 9 to 15 minutes for an ambulance to arrive on a call,'' Wells said. Paramedics get there sooner - in about 8 minutes - because they ride with firetrucks. But some hurt or sick people need to be transported to a hospital immediately, Wells said. Once the Fire Department can add ambulances at those remaining 13 locations, it should decrease response time by one-third. It would also improve response time in other areas, because stations with ambulances wouldn't have to help cover the unprotected areas, Wells said. ``These ambulances are shared by several communities,'' Wells said. ``So the whole city would benefit.'' |
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