Chuck's Emergency Medical Services Page

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"And on the eight day God Created EMS Workers"

As you well know, on September 11th, 2001 the city of New York lost many of it's bravest citizens. The media had called them "firefighters, police officers and rescue workers". In fact the rescue workers were EMTs and Paramedics. Actually, two paramedics lost their lives in the Trade Center attack and about 15 were injured. When you see two people sitting in an ambulance, remember that just because they don't chase bad guys or run into burning buildings, does not mean their jobs are not just as dangerous. My sister found a refrigerator magnet for me some years ago that said "and on the eight day God created EMS workers". This may be true or not. However those who risk their lives in ambulances everyday for, on average, the same pay rate as the guy that gives you your french fries at McDonalds may very well have been created from a higher power.

My prayers go out to the families and friends of the fallen heroes of September11th, 2001.

Emergency Medical Services

   Welcome to my emergency medical services page. This page is designed to educate the E.M.S. illiterate in the way E.M.S. operates in this fine state of ours. However, fear not, because those of you that are emergency service professionals can enjoy this page too. Especially the links to other helpful E.M.S. sites at the bottom of the page.
    Unlike law enforcement and fire fighting, emergency medical services have evolved over only the last thirty years or so. Prior to the late sixties, funeral homes and hospitals provided, in most cases, rather crude pre hospital transportation.   In many cases this amounted to two guys getting out of the ambulance, picking up the patient and throwing them in the truck. Feet first if they were dead and headfirst if they still had a chance. Then they both would jump back in the front seat and head to the hospital.
     This was not limited to our country. I remember my father, who was also an E.M.T., telling me the story about when he broke his leg in a football (soccer) match. He grew up on a small Scottish island in the River Clyde. It was the late forties and he had suffered a compound fracture of the lower leg due to a swift kick from an opposing team member. The island's ambulance was operated not by the small hospital on the island but rather by the town mechanic. Earlier that day, the mechanic slash ambulance driver had been using the ambulance to collect old tires. When he arrived on scene he discovered that he had forgotten to take them out. The whole back end of his rig was jammed with old tires. My father was transported to the local hospital by taxi. He was later transferred to the mainland where an orthopedic surgeon put three silver plates in his leg to repair the fracture..

    The advances in pre hospital medicine in the sixties and early seventies brought about worldwide change through out the medical community. Changes in regulations forced out the small funeral homes, closed many rural hospitals and spawned a need for an organized emergency medical system.    Today's E.M.S. systems are designed to get the right patient to the right hospital.

We have went from the days of being ambulance drivers with little or no training to well educated health care professionals. We have went from simply being a taxi service for sick people (all though there are some days it still seems that way) to having a large arsenal of training and equipment to perform skills that in some cases only a few years ago were reserved for only hospital physicians. Never the less, the most important tool an E.M.S. worker can have is their compassion and love of the job.

EMS INFORMATION

Many of these requirements will be changing soon as a result of Michigan becoming a National Registry State.

Emergency medical providers in Michigan must meet the following requirements.

E.M.S. License Level	Education	Skills
Medical First Responder (M.F.R.)	60 hours of classroom education	Basic life support, basic airway management, in some areas operation of automatic external defibrillators
Basic Emergency Medical Technician (E.M.T.)	194 hours of classroom and clinical education.	All the skills performed by the M.F.R. Automatic external defibrillation in most areas. Administration of a limited amount of medications in some areas. Advanced airway management in some areas.
Emergency Medical Technician Specialist (E.M.T.-S.)	Completion of an E.M.T. Basic course and possession of an E.M.T. Basic license, 100 hours of classroom and clinical education.	All the skills of a Basic E.M.T. plus advanced airway management and I.V. therapy.
Paramedic	Completion of a Basic E.M.T. course and possession of an E.M.T. Basic license, 550 hours of classroom and clinical education.	All the skills of an E.M.T.-S, manual defibrillation, cardiac monitoring, administration of medications and other advanced procedures depending on the local protocol.

Emergency Medical Services in Michigan are divided up into the following levels.

Service Level	Description and staffing
First Response Unit/Agency	Agencies, usually Fire Departments, which provide non-transporting units to stabilize patients until a transporting service arrives. These must be staffed at a minimum with M.F.R.s.
Basic Life Support Transporting Unit/Service	Vehicles must be staffed at minimum by an M.F.R. and an E.M.T. but usually two E.M.T.s
Limited Advances Life Support Unit/Service	Vehicles must be staffed by a minimum of an E.M.T. and E.M.T.-S. Some services may have a non-transporting unit staffed by one E.M.T.-S. to intercept with basic life support units.
Advanced Life Support unit/Service	Vehicles must be staffed by a minimum of an E.M.T. and a Paramedic. Some services may have a non-transporting unit staffed by one Paramedic to intercept with basic life support units.

Many services run a combination of vehicles to suit the needs of the communities in their area.

E.M.S. Links

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This page last updated
SEPTEMBER 2000

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