Community Appreciation BBQ Set for Saturday, March 14

By Patric Hedlund

The Kern County Fire Department responded to its first-ever call for paramedic aid on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:59 a.m. Pine Mountain’s Station #58 helped a 24-year-old woman who was severely bitten in the face by her dog.

A-shift firefighter paramedic David Whitman arrived at 8:08 a.m., used Advanced Life Support skills for emergency intervention to stop the bleeding and close the wound, administering ALS medications. Hall Ambulance arrived at 8:21 a.m. The paramedic assisted with loading the patient, who was taken to Kern Medical Center.

"Our medic did not leave with the ambulance. There was a transfer of patient care. Treatment was given early and with a higher level of care than would have been possible before," KCFD Information Officer Sean Collins said. "The paramedic program is an insurance policy that you never want to cash, but it is good that it is there in case you need it."

A community party will be held Saturday, March 14 at 11 a.m. in Lampkin Park in Pine Mountain to celebrate the new paramedic program.

The firefighter-paramedic program officially began this month, at 8 a.m. March 1, after a five-year effort by members of the Mountain Communities to secure more rapid Advanced Life Support response to the far-flung Pine Mountain area.

Until 2007, response time for a paramedic ambulance to Kern County’s rural areas was allowed to be as long as 75 minutes, even in Pine Mountain with 3,500 residents. It is currently 25 minutes in parts of Lebec and Pine Mountain and shorter to Frazier Park and Lake of the Woods. Response time for firefighter paramedics will be about nine minutes to Pine Mountain residential areas.

This is part of the March 13, 2009 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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