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Proud Of Local Gov’t Emergency Services

To The Reader’s Forum:

The most important role of local government is to provide public safety services for its residents. These services are generally administered by each individual city’s police and fire departments. I was pleased to read in this week’s papers that Chautauqua County is serious about this commitment by recommending 24-hour, seven day a week coverage by “fly-cars,” as well as adding an ambulance on the same 24/7 schedule to ensure prompt transportation of victims to area hospitals.

I was fortunate to live and work as a police officer in two counties in California who provided service at a level now recommended by our county executive. There are countless people alive today who would have died outside of a hospital setting were it not for the rapid intervention of emergency medical services provided by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Orange County Fire Authority. I had the opportunity to see many people over the course of my career brought back from the dead because of a paramedic’s abilities to alter space and time to make sure their patients survive. I witnessed gunshot and stabbing victims left for dead in the street saved because paramedics were able to utilize advanced airway management techniques, administer life-saving medications, and stop profuse bleeding with complex wound management procedures. I saw people of all ages who were victims of traumatic accidents, heart attacks, choking episodes, and allergic reactions who would not be alive today were it not for the prompt response and rapid intervention of an emergency services model similar to the one now proposed for Chautauqua County.

No one should die in our county because elected officials are not able to prioritize funding for dedicated public servants who can provide paramedic services in the field. When your family member is in cardiac arrest, bleeding out, or has an obstructed airway that needs to be cleared, a prolonged response time will result in a corpse being transported to the hospital. We are fortunate to be served by citizens in this county who volunteer for their local fire departments. However, when minutes mean the difference between life and death, there should always be in place an emergency medical system where a paramedic is in their vehicle and responding within two minutes of being dispatched, whether that call is at three in the afternoon or three in the morning.

The County Executive’s proposal also addresses the growing crisis of volunteerism by providing life-saving support for our local fire departments and emergency service providers.

Tom Tarpley,

Westfield

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