May 15-21, 2022, is the annual National EMS Week where we are celebrating our EMS providers in "Rising to the Challenge." President Gerald Ford in 1974 authorized EMS Week to celebrate Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers and the critical work they perform in our communities.

EMS Week gives us the opportunity to educate our community on what is EMS, the importance of EMS, and honor the dedication of our EMS personnel for the day-to-day services they provide. For another year our EMS providers have encountered unprecedented challenges in their jobs that have been given by the ongoing COVID Pandemic.

We salute or FF/EMTs and paramedics for providing the excellent patient care to our district despite the added layers of stress caused by increased use of personal protective gear for disease prevention, complex medical calls as the result that COVID patients present with, and an increase of 26% in EMS related responses which lead to an increase in 15% in ambulance transports from the year prior.

Today we will focus on how we do EMS at PGFPD.

Typically when we refer to EMS we are referring to our ambulance service. However, EMS at PGFPD goes farther than just our ambulances.

Our fire engine and truck personnel are all emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who respond on all 9-1-1 requests for service.

Our ambulances respond with the fire engine or truck and are staffed with at least one paramedic and either a second paramedic or a firefighter/EMT.

Our fire engine and truck are equipped with the supplies and equipment to provide basic life saving capabilities to include some medications for life saving interventions, vein (IV) access, and CPR device among other supplies and equipment to stabilize sick or injured patients.

Our ambulances are equipped to provide basic and advanced life saving capabilities. The ambulances carry cardiac monitors, vast array of medications, vein (IV) access capabilities, video laryngoscope, and a CPR device among a significant amount of other supplies and equipment needed to provide pre-hospital emergency care to those that are sick or injured.