Wadsworth, please consider supporting the EMS levy
letter to the editor
To the Editor:
You wake in the middle of the night not feeling quite right. You’re short of breath and have pain in your chest and shoulder. You ask yourself, why am I sweating so much? "Dear... Call 9-1-1." That’s the last thing you remember.
Within minutes. Wadsworth EMTs and paramedics arrive at your home and begin providing vital emergency medical care. They quickly assess you and begin CPR, while others attach the EMS unit’s heart monitor and deliver an initial defibrillator shock. They continue CPR and call for additional personnel to assist with a full arrest. Personnel begin managing your airway and initiate the provision of onboard oxygen. An onboard IV/IO solution is started and paramedics administer onboard cardiac drugs to increase blood pressure and normalize heart rhythms pursuant to their training and emergency protocols. CPR and shock cycles continue with heart rhythm analysis conducted through the use of the EMS unit’s cardiac monitor. Medical control is contacted and advised of a cardiac arrest. Your condition begins to stabilize as the ALS ambulance and EMS crew transport you to the hospital.
Cardiac arrest incidents like this and other medical emergencies requiring EMS responses occur regularly in our community. On average, Wadsworth EMS responds to just under six EMS calls for service a day. Prompt, professional and necessary community based EMS response depends upon the essential funding provided by the EMS levy.
On Tuesday, May 2, Wadsworth voters will be asked to approve a 2.5 mill EMS levy. The levy consists of a 2.3 mill renewal and a 0.2 mill increase. The proposed five-year levy will replace the current EMS levy set to expire on Dec. 31, 2017 and will cost the owner of a piece of property with an appraised value of $100,000 approximately $71.23 annually. That is approximately 20 cents a day for these essential life-saving services.
The EMS department and its members have made efficient use of your tax dollars and stretched the current millage rate funding over nearly a decade of service needs. The EMS department receives no other tax based funding and relies heavily upon the levy to cover all operational and capital expenses. In recent years, the current millage rate has been unable to keep pace with rising EMS medical equipment, supply and personnel costs, demand for services and continuing community growth.
Passage of the proposed levy will allow for a stable, dedicated and sustainable revenue source that will maintain staffing levels for quick response times and provide for the continued certification and advanced training of EMS personnel, the acquisition of modern lifesaving EMS equipment, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, the maintaining and scheduled replacement of Advanced Life Support level ambulances and allow the EMS department to keep pace with community needs and future growth.
On May 2, I urge you to vote "yes" for the Wadsworth EMS levy.
Matt Hiscock
Director of Public Safety
Wadsworth
You wake in the middle of the night not feeling quite right. You’re short of breath and have pain in your chest and shoulder. You ask yourself, why am I sweating so much? "Dear... Call 9-1-1." That’s the last thing you remember.
Within minutes. Wadsworth EMTs and paramedics arrive at your home and begin providing vital emergency medical care. They quickly assess you and begin CPR, while others attach the EMS unit’s heart monitor and deliver an initial defibrillator shock. They continue CPR and call for additional personnel to assist with a full arrest. Personnel begin managing your airway and initiate the provision of onboard oxygen. An onboard IV/IO solution is started and paramedics administer onboard cardiac drugs to increase blood pressure and normalize heart rhythms pursuant to their training and emergency protocols. CPR and shock cycles continue with heart rhythm analysis conducted through the use of the EMS unit’s cardiac monitor. Medical control is contacted and advised of a cardiac arrest. Your condition begins to stabilize as the ALS ambulance and EMS crew transport you to the hospital.
Cardiac arrest incidents like this and other medical emergencies requiring EMS responses occur regularly in our community. On average, Wadsworth EMS responds to just under six EMS calls for service a day. Prompt, professional and necessary community based EMS response depends upon the essential funding provided by the EMS levy.
On Tuesday, May 2, Wadsworth voters will be asked to approve a 2.5 mill EMS levy. The levy consists of a 2.3 mill renewal and a 0.2 mill increase. The proposed five-year levy will replace the current EMS levy set to expire on Dec. 31, 2017 and will cost the owner of a piece of property with an appraised value of $100,000 approximately $71.23 annually. That is approximately 20 cents a day for these essential life-saving services.
The EMS department and its members have made efficient use of your tax dollars and stretched the current millage rate funding over nearly a decade of service needs. The EMS department receives no other tax based funding and relies heavily upon the levy to cover all operational and capital expenses. In recent years, the current millage rate has been unable to keep pace with rising EMS medical equipment, supply and personnel costs, demand for services and continuing community growth.
Passage of the proposed levy will allow for a stable, dedicated and sustainable revenue source that will maintain staffing levels for quick response times and provide for the continued certification and advanced training of EMS personnel, the acquisition of modern lifesaving EMS equipment, medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, the maintaining and scheduled replacement of Advanced Life Support level ambulances and allow the EMS department to keep pace with community needs and future growth.
On May 2, I urge you to vote "yes" for the Wadsworth EMS levy.
Matt Hiscock
Director of Public Safety
Wadsworth
