By Clarence Cromwell
Paramedics will arrive at the scene of an emergency minutes sooner in some parts of Saratoga because the Central Fire District has put firefighters with paramedic training and advanced life-support equipment on its Cox Avenue fire engine.
The paramedic training is part of an agreement among the fire district, the county Emergency Medical Services Agency, and American Medical Response, the company contracted to provide ambulances for emergencies in the county. San Jose already has a similar arrangement, and other fire departments in the county are considering following suit.
The agreement will shorten the critical time between a 911 call and the arrival of paramedics at accident scenes to four minutes. The county's ambulance company was previously allowed 10 minutes by contract. AMR will pay for additional training to upgrade firefighters from emergency medical technicians to paramedics because the new arrangement saves the company money.
Another benefit for seriously injured patients is that a paramedic-firefighter can ride in the ambulance to help treat the patient, doubling the care the patient receives. Although ambulances now contain two paramedics, one of them is also the driver.
The West Valley Station on Cox Avenue has had a paramedic on duty 24 hours a day since Jan. 11. Scot Graham, Jim Kosinski and Ian Wallace, already paramedics, transferred to the West Valley Station from other CFD stations in December.
Last week, their engine was stocked with medical supplies and equipment, including a defibrillator, used to jolt heart-attack victims back to life.
The first four stations to house paramedics are the West Valley Station, the Shannon Station in Los Gatos, the Monta Vista Station in Cupertino and the Redwood Station in Redwood Estates. The three-stage project will eventually put a paramedic in each district firehouse 24 hours a day, said CFD Chief Steve Staump.
The second stage, to be completed around July 1, will put paramedics at each of three additional fire houses: Winchester Station, Campbell Station and Los Gatos Station.
The remaining stations will receive paramedics one or two at a time, as the district hires or trains them. Firefighters will have to finish 1,032 hours of training to earn their paramedic credentials.
Staump said the district also eventually wants to put paramedics on a second piece of firefighting equipment at each firehouse.
West Valley Station is one of three CFD stations that serve the northern and eastern parts of Saratoga. The Seven Springs station on Stelling Road in Cupertino and the Quito Road Station in Monte Sereno also serve parts of the city of Saratoga.
The county Emergency Medical Services Agency, the office that licenses paramedics to work in the county, signed a letter of understanding with the CFD last June allowing firefighters to perform paramedic duties.
An unusual provision of the ambulance company's contract requires it to help local fire departments pay for paramedic training, equipment and supplies.
Anne Moses, acting director of the public health agency, said the move will save AMR an estimated $1.3 million annually, depending on how many fire departments decide to participate.
Moses' agency hired an independent consulting firm to review the company's books. The savings will be partly a result of cutting paramedics from the company rosters and instead hiring emergency medical technicians, who earn less and require less training.
Under an amendment added in July 1995 to the county's contract with AMR, the company is to pay the $1.3 million savings back to the county, to be allocated to fire departments employing their own paramedics.
San Jose gets $800,000 to help pay for paramedic training, medical supplies and equipment, under a program similar to CFD's. The remaining money is to be split up later.
So far, 23 AMR employees have resigned and gone to work for the San Jose Fire Department. But no paramedics will be laid off, said Wayne Davis, director of operations for AMR's Santa Clara County office. Some may be transferred to jobs in one of the 13 other counties served by AMR.
An additional savings for the company comes in the form of more time to answer each call. Because paramedics arrive with the fire trucks, ambulances can now reach an accident scene within 12 minutes on 90 percent of their calls, rather than the old standard of 10 minutes. The extra time means fewer ambulances can cover the same territory.
AMR also agreed to train firefighters, setting up a class for up to 24 of them, beginning in April. Classes will be taught in firehouses so the firefighters can learn while on duty--they can drop their pencils and rush to a fire if necessary.
The cities of Milpitas and Mountain View are considering similar contracts with AMR.
Saratoga Fire District is still considering a paramedic program, said Chief Ernie Kraule. But if it starts one, he may decide to put two paramedics on each engine, rather than one.
Some jurisdictions have resisted making a deal with AMR.
Sunnyvale declined to do so because the city's policy of transferring public safety workers from police to fire work after a given period of time would make such a deal unwieldy. Santa Clara is trying operate its own ambulance service through the fire station.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, Wednesday, January 17, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.