The Spring Lake Township Fire Department is launching a new paramedic service. The department launched its Advanced Life Support service last week. Tucker Chartier, a firefighter and paramedic, says new equipment and more advanced training of five paramedics means a higher level of emergency care that can address critical conditions more quickly. “Becoming a paramedic, we are able to do more advanced care, as in starting IVs, performing intubations to get us a more secure airway and providing more medications that an EMT can’t provide,” Chartier said.
Firefighters are often the first to arrive at a medical call, and the Advanced Life Support service means they won’t have to wait for an ambulance to quickly start those procedures. “It can be anywhere from five minutes to 30 (for an ambulance). It depends on when they’re coming from and how many calls they’re on. But it’s normal that we are beating them to the calls,” Chartier said. If the patient needs to be taken to the hospital, crews will transfer them to an ambulance with some treatment already started.
