PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to introduce the Burbank Fire Department Paramedic Assessment Program to City Council. The assessment program provides a Paramedic on all first responding companies as staffing permits.

BACKGROUND:

On January 20, 1975, through the auspices of the City of Burbank, the Fire Department placed into service its first Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU).  This MICU, commonly known as a Rescue Ambulance (RA), was manned by rotating three Paramedic/Firefighters per shift between an Engine Company and the RA.  Each Paramedic had completed a six month, 1200 hour course designed to educate and certify the Firefighter/Trainee as a Mobile Intensive Care Paramedic.

The citizens� response to this new service was overwhelming.  It was not uncommon for the RA to respond as many as twenty times or more in a 24 hour shift.  It became apparent within two years that the need had outgrown the resource.  As an interim measure, an Engine Company was equipped and manned with a paramedic team and placed into service as a Paramedic Engine Company to respond to multiple calls for aid.

On February 1, 1978, a second RA was placed into service.  The demand by the citizens for on-site medical care and the availability of public resources had been balanced.  The two RAs, the Paramedic Engine Company, and the complement of 24 Paramedics, supported by a First Responder System consisting of EMT-1 (Emergency Medical Technician) trained Firefighters providing Basic Life Support (BLS) services would meet the challenge.  Then in August of that same year, the Fire Department began utilizing the full capabilities of the RA�s by adding a transport component, thus creating the �comprehensive paramedic service� that is currently provided today.  Lastly, on September 15, 1999, a third paramedic unit was placed into service in order to handle a steady increase of EMS calls and better serve the citizens of Burbank.

DISCUSSION:

The public need for Paramedic services is well known and documented.  Demand has steadily grown from 3,735 responses in 1982 � 1983, 5,128 responses in 1991 � 1992 to our present response rate of approximately 6,576.  The Burbank Fire Department is constantly making efforts to enhance the current EMS delivery model and provide optimal EMS services to the citizens of Burbank.  The most recent service improvement took place on January 16, 2006, when the new Assessment Personnel model was implemented.

The new model makes any apparatus in the city with a single Paramedic assigned to it eligible to operate as an assessment unit.  Doing so would mean Advanced Life Support (ALS) intervention, including medications, could be rendered immediately by the first arriving company with a Rescue Ambulance en route.  The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has recently embraced the value of assessment units, giving fire departments more flexibility by eliminating the 24/7 staffing requirement and increasing the medication inventory to include drugs specific to cardiac and breathing related illnesses.

In response to the change, the Burbank Fire Department implemented the city-wide Assessment Paramedic Program.  This program not only staffs all Engine Companies with EMT-1 and EMT-P�s within the city approximately 95 percent of the time, but also gives Paramedics who are promoted or reassigned the opportunity to maintain their Paramedic certification within the Department of Health Services and continue to serve the citizens of Burbank in a Paramedic or Assessment Paramedic capacity.

The goal of the new assessment program is to maintain paramedic staffing on all engine companies whenever possible. This will enable us to provide advanced life support measures by the first responding company at the emergency scene, improving the overall speed and quality of EMS delivery provided to the citizens of Burbank.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The assessment model does not require any increase in staffing or equipment. Therefore, there is no fiscal impact resulting from the implementation of this program.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

To endorse the Burbank Fire Department�s continued effort to strive for the best customer service possible to the citizens of Burbank and neighboring communities.

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