For decades, Seattle has led the nation in 911 medical response with a strategy of basic life-support services by firefighters trained as emergency medical technicians, advanced care by paramedics when needed, and citizen participation in lifesaving.The local ambulance system is "based on a medical model," said Michele Plorde, a section manager for strategic planning and data management at King County Emergency Medical Services, which includes Seattle and surrounding communities. "The design flowed from wanting to best serve patients with an appropriate amount of care."
Seattle firefighters take pride in getting quickly to the scene of a medical emergency - employing measures such as defibrillating a stalled heart with electrical shocks and blocking a hemorrhage. All of Seattle's firefighters are trained as emergency medical technicians who can provide basic lifesaving skills. Seattle's paramedics are drawn from the ranks of its firefighters.
"We do things a little differently from most other cities around the country," said Bill Hepburn, Seattle's assistant fire chief for operations. "Seattle is a city that probably has the fewest paramedics on duty in the country. ... The system has been here so long that if someone wants to come into the Fire Department just to go to fires, they've come to the wrong place."
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