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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October
30, 2006
Contact:
Contact: Steve Romines,
Administrator Phone: (360)
704-2780
THURSTON
COUNTY
DEDICATING NEW MEDIC UNIT INTO
SERVICE
OLYMPIA
—The
public is invited to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Thurston
County Medic One medic unit, “Medic
6
.” The ceremony will be held on November
2
,
2006
,
6
:
30
PM Lacey Fire District Station
3
-
4
,
8407
Steilacoom Rd. The new unit is a partnership between Lacey Fire District
3
and Thurston County Medic One.
Thurston
County Board of
County
Commissioners
approved a contract earlier this year to add a new paramedic ambulance to
Thurston County Medic One service. The new level of service is to be added to
the rapidly growing northeast/Lacey area. Lacey Fire District #
3
has hired four additional paramedics to help staff the new advanced life
support vehicle. “Medic
6
,” started responding to calls for emergency medical help on October
2
,
2006
.
Lacey
Fire District currently contracts with Medic One to manage two other paramedic
units in Lacey and Yelm. The new paramedic unit will be in operations
12
hours per day in the northeast/Lacey area. It will help relieve the peak load
on the current Lacey paramedic unit “Medic
3
” and neighboring Olympia and Tumwater units, as well as provide additional
paramedic transport capability Thurston County wide. “Annual cost of
operations for ‘Medic
6
’ will be approximately $
400,000
, and is part of the overall Medic One operation.
Last
year, Thurston County Medic One/EMS basic life support agencies responded to
21,336
calls within a nearly
750
square mile territory. Of those calls
11,439
responses proved severe enough to require a paramedic-tier (Medic Unit)
response. Medic Units then transported over
5,411
people facing a life-threatening emergency to an area hospital, including over
200
patients whose hearts had stopped. The six county-wide Medic Units average
response time is
8.9
minutes, up from
8.7
minutes in
2004
and
8.6
minutes in
2003
. The new unit’s goal will be to improve response time and reverse the
current trend. Local fire/EMS units usually arrive in less than
7
minutes. Thurston County’s population of over
231,100
citizens benefit daily from nearly
450
dual role fire/EMS personnel countywide that respond quickly. Nearly
60
% of the personnel are fire volunteers.
Thurston County Medic One completed its
32
nd year in August
2006
. Medic One started responding to emergencies in August
1974
as the first county-wide, tiered response, dual role fire/EMS emergency
medical system in the nation. It was patterned after Seattle Medic One.
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