Emergency Medical Services
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE OF THE YEAR 2011
Personnel/Staffing
The EMS Division is integrated into and administered through the 64 member Liberty Township Fire Department. As a result, all EMS personnel are also fire fighters experienced in a wide range of rescue techniques, extrication, fire suppression and mitigation of hazardous materials incidents. All fire fighters are specifically trained and respond to an increasing number and wide variety of incidents.
The EMS coordinator oversees the EMS Division. He is responsible for fiscal management, complaint disposition, and compliance with all bulletins, orders, policy and procedures.
More than 50 state-certified EMT-Paramedics are available to staff the engines, ladder, and medic units. This is a more than adequate supply of EMS trained personnel to meet current and projected community needs. The department staffs the transport vehicles with three personnel with most of the time, all being paramedics. All full time staff are paramedics so even the fire apparatus are comprised of most if not all paramedics as well. The future supply of EMS personnel is ensured by the departmental requirement that all new members have both fire and EMS certifications.
The State of Ohio recognizes and provides certifications for four specific levels of pre-hospital care professionals. They are:
First Responder - Most law enforcement officers and other public safety personnel are trained to this level. They are trained to use an Automatic External Defibrillator, assist patients to breathe, and identify trauma related injuries. First Responders must recieve 15 hours of continued education every three years.
Basic EMT - Many Ambulances transporting patients to area hospitals have basic EMT's providing the care. They are trained to deal with many facets of pre-hospital care. Maintaining this certification, EMT's must received in a three year period 40 hours of continued education to include 4 hours in pediatrics, 2 hours in geriatrics, and 2 hours in trauma guidelines.
Intermediate EMT - This level of EMT allows for more invasive procedures to include more pharmaceuticals to be given, specialized techniques to maintain an airway and treating trauma related injuries. Maintaining this certification, they must receive 60 hours of continued education to include 8 hours in pediatrics, 4 hours in geriatrics, and 2 hours in triage guidelines. All these hours must be recieved within a three year period.
Paramedic - Provides the highest level of pre-hospital care to the sick and injured. They are trained to understand the anatomy, physiology, and the pathophysiology of patients at any age. This level of care, paramedics work under a medical doctors license which provides written documentation to what a paramedic can provide in a pre-hospital setting. Most paramedics can maintain an airway with numerous techniques and devices, interpret EKG's, give medications, start intravenous therapy, and accomplish life saving procedures while outside the hospital environment. Maintaining this certification, a paramedic must recieve 92 hours of continued education every three years. This education must include 12 hours in pediatrics, 4 hours in geriatrics, 12 hours in emergency cardiac care, 8 hours of trauma related topics, and 2 hours in trauma triage and transportation guidelines.
Liberty Township's full time staff are all certified paramedics. When either an ambulance or a fire truck arrives on scene to a medical or traumatic emergency, the personnel assigned are well qualified pre-hospital professionals. In three years, the paramedics will be exposed to more than 180 hours of continued education. This doubles what the State of Ohio mandates for re-certification.
For more information regarding what procedure the above certification levels can do, view the following: Scope of Practice (PDF).
Demand for Services
Historically one out of every 10 citizens will use EMS at least once during their lifetime. Each year there are approximately 2,100 EMS incidents involving over 2,400 patients or potential patients. Due to the growth of the township, the numbers of runs have risen each year over the past 10 years. EMS incidents represent almost 70% of the public demand on the fire department for emergency services.
Request an EMS Report
As an essential part of our commitment to you, Liberty Township Fire Department maintains the privacy of certain confidential health care information about you, known as Protected Health Information or PHI. We are required by law to protect your health care information and to provide you with a Notice of Privacy Practices.
The Notice outlines our legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI. It not only describes our privacy practices and your legal rights, but lets you know, among other things, how Liberty Township Fire Department is permitted to use and disclose PHI about you, how you can access and copy that information, how you may request amendment of that information, and how you may request restrictions on our use and disclosure of your PHI.