Yesterday’s Beacon contained a very humorous ad by Michael Plunkett, who frequently will poke fun of himself on the council, just like he does here.
It gives me an opportunity to talk about Paramedics, and how a paramedic differs from an EMT, and how Michael Plunkett worked to save the paramedics.
If you, god forbid, should ever have a heart attack, two units from the Edmonds fire department will deploy. The first is a basic life support unit, which will leave from one of the three fire stations in our community. Its goal is get there within 4 minutes so they can continue CPR and use a defibrillator. The second unit is called the advanced life support unit, and it has paramedics. This dedicated paramedic unit is stationed at one fire station. Its goal is to bring drugs and advanced life support tools (such as portable pacemakers) to the scene. These paramedics essentially act as the hands of a doctor.
The combination of basic life support with EMT’s and advance life support with paramedics has given Edmonds and Lynnwood some of the best success rates in the country.
The dedicated advance life support units were not always part of the fire department. Instead, they had their own organization called Medic 7. It started with volunteers, then it grew large enough to support two advanced life support units, which served Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, and Edmonds.
Early in my career, Mountlake Terrace decided to leave Medic 7. Since all three cities contributed to its funding, Medic 7 now had a big whole in their budget. Could we continue to have two advanced life support units available 24 hours a day?
Michael Plunkett, the Mayor, and the rest of the council worked with Lynnwood to fill the whole. We brought one Medic 7 unit into Edmonds, and the Lynnwood fire department took the other. Each city assumed the full cost of keeping the units, which meant we had cough up some money in the budget. But it was worth it, because we saved the advanced life support units. Public safety should be our top funding priority, and Michael Plunkett passed this test with flying colors.
You notice the ad above also takes a shot at Priya Cloutier, Michael Plunkett’s opponent. Priya Cloutier is the only candidate for any position on the council that failed to cast a vote for our EMS levy. Without this EMS levy, we wouldn’t have advanced life support units at all. Priya’s lack of enthusiasm for the EMS levy causes me to doubt her enthusiasm about public safety.
Michael Plunkett truly has a Strong public safety record.
It gives me an opportunity to talk about Paramedics, and how a paramedic differs from an EMT, and how Michael Plunkett worked to save the paramedics.
If you, god forbid, should ever have a heart attack, two units from the Edmonds fire department will deploy. The first is a basic life support unit, which will leave from one of the three fire stations in our community. Its goal is get there within 4 minutes so they can continue CPR and use a defibrillator. The second unit is called the advanced life support unit, and it has paramedics. This dedicated paramedic unit is stationed at one fire station. Its goal is to bring drugs and advanced life support tools (such as portable pacemakers) to the scene. These paramedics essentially act as the hands of a doctor.
The combination of basic life support with EMT’s and advance life support with paramedics has given Edmonds and Lynnwood some of the best success rates in the country.
The dedicated advance life support units were not always part of the fire department. Instead, they had their own organization called Medic 7. It started with volunteers, then it grew large enough to support two advanced life support units, which served Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood, and Edmonds.
Early in my career, Mountlake Terrace decided to leave Medic 7. Since all three cities contributed to its funding, Medic 7 now had a big whole in their budget. Could we continue to have two advanced life support units available 24 hours a day?
Michael Plunkett, the Mayor, and the rest of the council worked with Lynnwood to fill the whole. We brought one Medic 7 unit into Edmonds, and the Lynnwood fire department took the other. Each city assumed the full cost of keeping the units, which meant we had cough up some money in the budget. But it was worth it, because we saved the advanced life support units. Public safety should be our top funding priority, and Michael Plunkett passed this test with flying colors.
You notice the ad above also takes a shot at Priya Cloutier, Michael Plunkett’s opponent. Priya Cloutier is the only candidate for any position on the council that failed to cast a vote for our EMS levy. Without this EMS levy, we wouldn’t have advanced life support units at all. Priya’s lack of enthusiasm for the EMS levy causes me to doubt her enthusiasm about public safety.
Michael Plunkett truly has a Strong public safety record.
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