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• City of Falcon Heights City Council Notes on the Rescue (EMS) Workshop August 18, 1999 Mayor Gehrz began the workshop at 7:05 P.M. Councilmembers present were Hustad, Kuettel, Jacobs with Councilmember Gibson Talbot arriving at 7:15PM. Mayor Gehrz explained that the workshop was an information gathering opportunity for the council and the public. The first part of the workshop would involve describing the ambulance services responding to emergency medical calls in the city and the second part would be a review of the financial projections on the future of the rescue (EMS) fund from the city auditor. TERMS: EMS Emergency medical services ALS Advanced Life Support ambulance with paramedics BLS Basic Life Support ambulance with emergency medical technicians EMT Emergency medical technician Mayor Gehrz asked Administrator Hoyt to present the decision that the council • was considering. Adminstrator Hoyt explained that the Falcon Heights basic life ambulance (BLS)/emergency medical technicians (EMT) service served the city as the responder to 911 calls for medical emergencies. In 1997 the city's medical director wrote that the city needed an advanced life support (ALS) paramedic service to respond from the 911 call. St. Paul currently provides the ALS service and Falcon Heights the BLS service. With the decrease in calls for service and transports for the BLS service, the Falcon Heights BLS service cannot support itself. Since the BLS service is designed to operate as a self- supporting business, the city council must decide whether to continue the BLS service in addition to the ALS service provided by St. Paul at a cost to the city or to have St. Paul ALS/paramedics respond to all medical calls in Falcon Heights and charge the patients' for the service. Chief Huisenga, EMS chief for St. Paul Fire, answered several questions about how the ALS/paramedics are trained and respond to emergencies. Tim Butler, Communications Director for St. Paul, explained the dual dispatching currently used for the ALS/paramedics using a series of cards determining symptoms which result in a dispatch. Both Chief Huisenga and Mr. Butler said that the dispatch system is designed to dispatch in the direction of the most possible medical care needed on the emergency scene. Lieutenant John Ohl, St. Anthony Police Department, explained that the police • are dispatched to medical emergencies and typically arrive within less than two minutes. They are trained as first responders to the scene.