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   (DRAFT) EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE

 

Background
Over the years, the subject of Fires Service has blended in with that of Emergency Medical Service, when contemporary Fire fighting agencies added "And Rescue" to their mission statement.  To fulfill that mission, firefighters became trained in basic life support operations.  Through time, professional status was enhanced for the personnel who also became trained in advanced life support.

 

Within Lee County not all fire districts emphasized "and rescue" equally.  As Lee County population grew, the Lee County Board of County Commissioners established its own Emergency Medical Service that encompasses almost the entire County.  This role has continually evolved over the decades, changing from traditional "ambulance," a role previously provided by funeral parlors, to that of advanced life support at the scene of an emergency, to emergency support and transport (including aerial transport), to specialized event coverage and response, and transport to outside of county special emergency care.

 

This Emergency Medical Service and the command, control, and communication systems related to it served as the training and experience needed for the 9-1-1 program.  The National 9-1-1 program was developed out of a recognized need to coordinate emergency response of every type, when the complexity of governance became a hindrance in urban areas for quick response to public safety issues.  Lee County BoCC assumed the role of 9-1-1 provider in 1987, built around its EMS response center, which of course has become much more than that.

 

Current Situation

Rescue services are provided from about 50 locations, which are the fire stations of the municipal and independent Fire Districts.  EMS Advanced Life Support/Transport is provided from 21 locations, (usually collocated with Fire Departments), by Lee County EMS, Fort Myers Beach F/R and Lehigh Acres F/R and also with Air Transport helicopter service by Lee County EMS.  There are also peak period "roving" ambulances in areas of recorded high incidence and demand.

 

The destinations for these emergency transports are few–the three emergency rooms within the County, and specialized centers elsewhere in the State, in Tampa Bay and on the East Coast.  Lee County EMS has the depth of equipment and staff, supplemented with its agreements with the municipal and independent districts, to be able to dispatch equipment to out of county destinations without creating gaps in service coverage within the County.