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Published on 06/15/1998 All articles from this issue

Paramedics on duty 24 hours at area fire stations

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

She's a lucky woman. The day this Los Altos mom collapsed unconscious onto her kitchen floor was the first day of 24-hour paramedic service at the nearby fire station.

"We didn't know if it was her heart or an (accidental) overdose of her regular medication," said Capt. Jim Callahan of the Santa Clara County Fire Department, who is based at the Sequoia Station on Almond Avenue in Los Altos.

"Before we had paramedics, we wouldn't have had a clue," said Richard Sticker, a Santa Clara County Fire Department firefighter/engineer, also at Sequoia Station.

But a firefighter/paramedic went to work, like a detective, checking out various scenarios. Soon the woman was receiving the help she needed.

Since that first day, "I've noticed already an increased level of care for our patients," Sticker said. "Instead of just 'load and go,' we're saving people now."

Having the paramedic on board also "has raised my skill level as an EMT (emergency medical technician)," Sticker said.

As of May 26 all three local fire stations have had a paramedic on duty 24 hours a day, every day, with an average response time of two to four minutes, said Harry Franklin, a Santa Clara County Fire Department firefighter/paramedic.

The city's contract with the Santa Clara County Fire Department, which provides fire service to Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, required that this service be in place by July 1. But it was in place "ahead of time and under budget," said district fire Chief Steven E. Staump, with the Santa Clara County Fire Department.

And it has already made a difference.

On June 5 the firefighters and paramedics responded to two different stroke calls, in two different parts of Los Altos.

On one, "the woman had everything in the world wrong, and she needed a paramedic," Callahan said.

On June 8 a call came from an 86-year-old woman with sudden chest pain. "Her heart was 30 beats per second," Franklin said.

"She received an IV, oxygen and heart medication. It picked up her heart rate for her trip to the hospital. That's something that was not possible three weeks ago," he said.

In January paramedics were at the El Monte station on the Foothill College campus in Los Altos Hills; in February, paramedics came to the Loyola station on Fremont Avenue; and recently paramedics were added at the Sequoia station on Almond Avenue.

From January to June 3 paramedics have been used 125 times in Los Altos, Staump said. And 65 percent of the total fire calls are "emergency medical."

Of the 275 firefighters with County Fire, 42 are also accredited paramedics.

Once accredited, the firefighter/paramedic receives a pay increase of 7.5 percent in the first year. Then the "differential in pay goes up to 10 percent," Staump said.

The California Administrative Code sets the training program for paramedics, which requires 1,100 hours, takes about 18 months to complete and for which the firefighter receives 30 units of college credit.

County Fire contracts with Foothill College to provide the training, Staump said, which is held in a County Fire facility.

The firefighters have an average response time of two to four minutes, Franklin said.

Average response time for the ambulance is 10 to 20 minutes, Franklin said.

These extra minutes "give a person time," Stickler said. "It ups the chances for the person's survival."

The fire engines now carry all the same medical supplies and equipment that an ambulance carries, Franklin said.

"It's so gratifying to administer medication and have the person say they are feeling better."