Richmond firefighters to respond to calls in medical emergencies

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Reprinted from: The Richmond News Leader, October 31, 1990

By Gordon Hickey

 Beginning tomorrow, Richmond's 500 firefighters will respond to calls for emergency medical treatment.

 The firefighters have been trained as "first responders," and because they are located throughout the city, they can arrive at the scene of an emergency in many cases faster then ambulance crews.

 The firefighters have been trained to provide basic emergency care, such as giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation, clearing airways and controlling bleeding.

 The "first responder" program will begin at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Similar programs already are in operation in Chesterfield and Henrico counties. Richmond's program was announces last year.

Trained in pilot program

  Fire Chief Ronald C. Lewis siad at a news conference yesterday that the fire bureau began a pilot program in March. The city spent $2.5 million to train the firefighters in emergency care and "we're ready to offer this service to the city," Lewis said.

 Under the program, firefighters will be sent, along with ambulance crews from Richmond Ambulance Services Inc., on calls to 911 involving life-threatening situations. Twenty-nine fire companies are stationed in 21 locations around the city.

 Lewis said the firefighters will stabilize the patient before the ambulance arrives.

 Lewis said firefighters will arrive at most emergencies in three to five minutes. Currently, the ambulance service averages seven minutes to respond to a call. "To make a difference" in treating heart attacks, a Richmond ASI spokesman said emergency personnel should arrive in three to five minutes.

 The heart attack survival rate is greater then 70 percent when emergency personnel arrive in three minutes but is lower then 10 percent when treatment does not begin for at least seven minutes after the attack.

 Lewis siad about 200 of the city's 500 firefighters also have been trained as emergency medical technicians, a level of training higher than required in the new program.

Defibrillator training due

 He said the firefighters will begin defibrillator training in February. That training will allow them to treat potentially fatal heat problems.

 The program will increase the workload of firefighters by about 40 percent without an increase in pay, Lewis said. He said the extra work will be taken in to consideration during evaluations for merit raises.

 The chief also said the fire bureau has considered the possibility that having a large number of people on emergency duty will cut into the number of people available to fight fires. The bureau will have the option to suspend the first responder program in cases when more then two-thirds of the firefighters on duty are on fire calls.

 Lewis said that situation is likely to arise fore or five times a year.

 Also yesterday, the city announces that 1,500 households have joined the city's ambulance insurance plan. Households that pay a $49 annual membership fee will not be charged for ambulance services.

 Tomorrow is the deadline to register for the plan.

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