On April 24 the voters of Snohomish will decide if they want to pay for paramedic service at the District 4 Fire Department. As Medical Advisor to this department (Dr. Finn) and Medical Program Director for Snohomish County EMS (Dr. Brown), we want to emphasize the importance of this decision.
We are both emergency physicians at Providence Everett Medical Center and Valley General Hospital, and have worked with the fine group of men and women at Snohomish Fire and Rescue for several years. During this time the voters of Snohomish have repeatedly failed to pass levies to fund a paramedic program. Now the levy has expired, leaving the district without funding for EMS activity.
Departments from the surrounding fire districts have been supplying paramedics to Snohomish, under contract, but District 4 has run out of money. Since Jan.1, there has been only EMT coverage.
The Emergency Medical Technicians are a dedicated group who daily provide emergency medical care. However, EMTs are qualified to perform only basic care – applying splints, giving oxygen, stopping bleeding, giving emotional support and driving fast to the hospital. Paramedics are highly trained experts qualified to do much more – start IVs and give medications, place a patient on life support, perform EKGs in order to immediately recognize a heart attack.
For seriously injured trauma patients, patients who cannot breathe, who are having seizures, heart attacks, who are bleeding severely, who are having serious strokes or have overdosed, they can provide immediate and life-saving care. Daily in our emergency departments we see the life-saving results of paramedics’ work.
We strongly recommend the citizens of Snohomish vote in favor of the levy. It is a very small amount of money from each household, and will without a doubt mean life or death to some of you in the coming years.
Samuel Finn, MD, FACEP
Medical Advisor
SC Fire District No. 4
Ron brown, md, facep
Medical Program Director
Snohomish County EMS
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