PORT ANGELES — When seconds count, patients being transported to the hospital via Clallam County Fire District No. 2 can rest assured that paramedics giving them aid have been certified by the state to provide advanced life support.
Clallam County Fire District No. 2 on Friday received official advanced life support, or ALS, certification from the state Department of Health.
ALS is a set of life-saving protocols that go beyond basic life support — the level of medical care that is used for victims of life-threatening illnesses or injuries until they can be given full medical care at a hospital — by aiding blood circulation and ensuring the patient has an open airway to allow breathing using various medical techniques, fire officials said.
In the event of a life-threatening medical emergency or traumatic accident, patients transported in District No. 2 now have the “best available care possible” provided under strict adherence to the highest standards of medical practices in the state, the officials said.
“Perhaps the most significant aspect here that this is the first ALS trauma-verified license issued in Clallam County in approximately 20 years,” said Fire Chief Sam Phillips.
Two-year process
The certification process involved hundreds of staff hours and took nearly two years to complete, he said.
“We are so very proud of our volunteers and career staff who worked hard to make this certification possible,” Phillips said.
“It is truly reflective of their tireless efforts to improve emergency medicine.”
In March, the fire district that surrounds the city of Port Angeles, which has its own fire department, submitted a 43-page application to the Health Department documenting how the fire district responds to emergencies, including its dispatching plan, training, equipment, vehicle maintenance, response times, back up plans for service, mutual aid agreements, operating protocols, inter-agency relations and consistency with a regional strategic plan for emergency medical services.
‘Best I’ve seen’
“The verification packet turned in for evaluation by the Department of Health was one of the best I have seen,” wrote Michael Routley of the Department of Health in a letter to the fire district, adding that the submitted records were “very helpful.”
After reviewing the records, the Department of Health determined there was a demonstrated, data-driven need for additional ALS ambulance service within the district, he said.
Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue is the fourth agency to attain this level of certification in Clallam County. The other providers include Sequim-based Clallam County Fire District No. 3; Olympic Ambulance, also based in Sequim; and the Port Angeles Fire Department.
District No. 2 provides fire suppression and emergency medical service to 9,500 people living in about 85 square miles.
It is bounded on the east by Deer Park Road, on the west by Lake Crescent, on the south by Olympic National Park and on the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Communities served include Deer Park, Gales Addition, Black Diamond, Dry Creek and Lake Sutherland.
Thirty volunteer and four full-time firefighter/paramedics working for the fire district respond to an average of 1,200 emergency calls per year.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, cmcdaniel@peninsula
dailynews.com, or on Twitter @PDN_Editor_CMcD.
