For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net
Advanced Life Support Service Now Offered to Littleton Community
LITTLETON — Fire Chief Scott Wodzinkski and Police Chief Matthew Pinard are pleased to announce that round-the-clock advanced life support (ALS) care will be available to Littleton residents beginning next month.
Littleton Fire officially began providing ALS service to the community on July 21 with support from neighboring departments, but will be maintaining continuous ALS care on its own in August.
Chief Wodzinski started the process of implementing ALS service through the fire department in 2016, rather than contracting through a private company and the department received its license on July 6.
With the implementation of ALS, the fire department will now be able to offer residents a higher level of care as soon as they arrive on scene, including cardiac monitoring and intravenous drugs.
“Transitioning to ALS service is extremely important to be able to continue to offer our residents and visitors the absolute highest quality of care,” Chieff Wodzinksi said. “I would like to thank the community for their support in making this change possible.”
Additionally, Littleton’s Dispatch Control Center operators will now all be certified in emergency medical dispatch (EMD). This means that dispatchers can aide a 911 caller through a medical emergency until EMS personnel arrive, in addition to making them feel comfortable and communicating necessary information.
“Now that we are providing EMD in-house, our first responders will have critical information much sooner when they are responding to an incident,” Chief Pinard said. “This is a vital resource to our community, especially when seconds matter during an emergency.”
As part of the ALS implementation and continued rise of emergency service calls for both fire and police in town, Littleton Fire and Police have hired six paramedics and are in the process of hiring two additional dispatchers. The Dispatch Control Center will now have two dispatchers on from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m.
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