PARAMEDIC UNIT'S LOSS CAUSES WORRY.Byline: R.A. Hutchinson Daily News Staff Writer The loss of a paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic assessment unit under a realignment re·a·lign tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns 1. To put back into proper order or alignment. 2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between. of Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La resources has sparked concerns despite assurances that the addition of a second paramedic rescue squad
“Rescue squad” redirects here. For other uses, see Rescue squad (disambiguation). to the east of the city will offset the change. Stephen Alexander Stephen Alexander (born November 7, 1975) is an American football tight end who currently is on the Denver Broncos. He previously played with the Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers, and Washington Redskins. , assistant fire chief for District 7 of the department, said the one-person, 24-hour paramedic assessment unit at Fire Station 144 in Westlake Village will be downgraded when a second rescue unit is added to the Ventura Freeway The Ventura Freeway is a freeway in southern California running from Ventura to Pasadena. It is the principal east-west route through Ventura County and in the southern San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. corridor this summer. However, he said the fire engine at Station 144 will be equipped with a semiautomatic external defibrillator defibrillator, device that delivers an electrical shock to the heart in order to stop certain forms of rapid heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). The shock changes a fibrillation to an organized rhythm or changes a very rapid and ineffective cardiac rhythm to a to be used in evaluating cardiac victims. Currently, the paramedic assessment unit carries lifesaving equipment, including a manual defibrillator, a cardiac monitoring unit, tracheal tubes and some pharmaceuticals. ``There's a perception that you're losing something, but you're really not,'' Alexander said. ``If there is a heart attack, we still have the automatic defibrillator; if there is a trauma, we still have the EMTs.'' However, Carl Price, a paramedic at Station 144, fears there will be a trade-off in local service. ``There will be a higher service-care average for the area - and that's a good thing - but we lower the direct service to Westlake Village,'' Price said. Price, who said he plans to take his concerns to the City Council at its Wednesday meeting next week, would like to see the assessment unit retained, in addition to the two rescue squads that will be located at Station 65 on Cornell Road in Agoura and Station 68 on Calabasas Road in Calabasas. Councilwoman Betty DeSantis said she is concerned that Station 144 will lose some of its service but is willing to see how the Fire Department's restructuring works out before requesting additional services. ``Chief Alexander has assured us our service won't be less. If it is, you can bet you'll hear us yelling and screaming,'' DeSantis said. Under the department's restructuring plan, which was made after an evaluation of where the greater volume of calls was originating, paramedic units will be in place at two locations along the Ventura Freeway and at two locations on the coast, one near Malibu Canyon Road and one near Kanan Road. All four squads serve as backups for each other. |
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