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Show Have first-response vehicle will travel J . i ; ... ..... ' . ' ' . j, i I ; 2-, ' ' - , T. . - . a , - w . Don't panic if you see the First Response-Rescue Truck parked in your neighborhood. Dave Vickers, Director of Emergency Medical Services for Pleasant Grove, always has the truck in his possession and so wherever he goes in the city it goes along. Dave is a full-time city employee working out of the Water Department. Depart-ment. He might be replacing broken meters, checking for leaks or shutting water off for non-payment of bills. He said he has had a number of people become alarmed thinking that their neighbors needed medical assistance when they saw the truck sitting in front of a home. He would like the people to know that most of the time when they see him or the truck he is just doing work for the Water Dept. However, with the truck at hand at all times, it is becoming increasingly in-creasingly evident of what an asset it is to the community to have the First Response program in effect. He gave an instance which oc- already has developed. He reported that the biggest contribution that the First Response Program has made is the amount of time saved in getting medical assistance to a victim. He said that with the rescue truck the response time is well under three minutes. The response time for the ambulance am-bulance is about 6 to 8 minutes. The ambulance personnel and first response officer are continually in the process of recertifying, Dave said. They are always up-to-date on their training. He also noted that most calls come during the day and early evening with less than one-third coming at night. The rescue vehicle is equipped with nearly everything that is required for any type of rescue, Dave said. One big feature is the generator and the powerful lights which can extend above the truck and give the flood lighting necessary in fires and other emergencies which occur at night. The lights can completely light up the outside and the inside of a home, he noted. The First Response program has an opportunity to get a defibrillator which could be used to save more lives. The Ambulance Association would have to come up with matching mat-ching funds for a grant to purchase the $9,000 defibrillator. The Ambulance Association will be sponsoring fund raisers and seeking donations from the public for the purchase of this equipment, Dave said. The emergency room physicians say that if an emergency vehicle crew can stop bleeding, keep an airway going, and defibrillate they have provided the major service needed for a victim until they get to the hospital. The First Response' and Ambulance Am-bulance runs have been running well ahead of last year. Dave said that he anticipates that they will respond to more than 300 calls this year. That is considerably more than in 1984. Dave Vickers, left, gets ready to install new water meter while Natalie Mills gives expert advice. Dave's work takes rescue truck into city neighborhoods. curred last week when he got a call to go to the Senior Citizen Center. He was in the truck and only a block or t two away. He was on the scene in less than 60 seconds. j In this case, a woman had , collapsed and was in cardiac arrest. ' He had been giving CPR for five j minutes before the ambulance arrived. The woman was revived with the CPR. Last week there were four cardiac arrest cases in the Pleasant Grove-Lindon Grove-Lindon area. Two of the four survived. sur-vived. Dave is currently enrolled in a rescue operations course at Utah Technical College in Salt Lake. This training will enhance the skills he . |