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Saturday July 05, 2008 (21:04:02 EST) |
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EMS DIVISION
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 The City of Winchester Emergency Medical Services Division is one of Kentucky‘s best-recognized and well-trained EMS units. The Department is always looking toward the future and at innovative ways to provide the highest quality services to the residents of Winchester and Clark County. Winchester Fire-EMS has grown to include 18 licensed paramedics and 38 certified EMT‘s. We operate five advanced life support ambulances from 3 fire stations. Winchester Fire-EMS responded to approximately 4300 calls last year in Winchester and Clark County. Many of our calls are inter-facility transports from Clark Regional Medical Center to other surrounding hospitals. |  The fire service nationwide has become increasingly oriented toward emergency medical calls. Up to 80 percent of all field emergency medical care today is provided by fire service personnel. Paramedics are the vital link between patients too ill or injured to wait for treatment at the hospital and doctors in the emergency room. We are called upon to identify and treat illnesses and injuries using skills that have a profound effect on the patients we serve. Responding to a wide range of emergency medical calls, Paramedics and EMT's are often faced with heart attacks, burns, vehicle accidents, industrial and household traumas. |  We are often asked why a fire engine responds with the ambulance on many of our EMS calls. This is because the personnel on the engine are also Paramedics and EMT's that can give the same quality care as the personnel on the ambulance. The decision was made many years ago that all Winchester Firefighters would be EMT's, and thus ensure the best possible level of care to our citizens. All fire engines are equipped with EMS equipment and defibrillators. This allows members of the fire engine to provide advanced life support for a patient in the event the closest ambulance was busy, or in the event of an incident where there is multiple patients. |
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