Stratford EMS Awarded National Recognition:
2005 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE
OF THE YEAR:
STRATFORD EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE
Stratford Emergency Medical Service has been named the national 2005 Emergency Medical Service of the Year. The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians presented this prestigious award to Stratford EMS in New Orleans, LA, on Thursday, 25 August 2005. Donna Best, EMS Chief, along with 9 members of Stratford EMS accepted the award.
Since 1977 Stratford EMS has been meeting the emergency medical needs of their community. Stratford EMS has been an example of what an EMS system should be, maintaining an average response time of less than 8 minutes. Certified at the paramedic level, Stratford EMS responds to approximately 6000 calls for assistance per year.
Over the years, Stratford Emergency Medical Service has achieved several major accomplishments and milestones. In 1983, Stratford EMS became the first volunteer EMS to provide Advanced Life Support to patients by administering intravenous fluids. The first Special Operations team in Connecticut was started in 1986, by Stratford EMS. While initially established to respond to mass casualty incidents, the team has evolved to provide a variety of specialized skills at Town events and atypical incidents. The use of Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) was initiated in 1987, and within the first 8 hours of our AED program, saved the life of a cardiac arrest patient. Stratford EMS created the first medical bike team in the country in 1991. Requests for information and assistance in setting up bike teams have been received from all over the nation. The EMS Explorer Post, for youth members, was started in 1991. Our Explorer Post has been recognized with various awards for the Fairfield County Council including, Best New Post, Best Chartering Organization, Post of the Year, Explorer of the Year, and Advisor of the Year. Stratford's Explorer Post has such honors as being chosen to provide emergency medical coverage to the Boy Scouts Jamboree of over 1400 participants. In 1994, Stratford EMS became the first volunteer EMS system to provide paramedic service in Connecticut. All EMS personnel have been trained in the administration of life-saving epinephrine, for severe allergic reaction, since 2001.
Stratford EMS has achieved a leadership position in emergency medical service at the local and national level. All the members of Stratford EMS, both past and present have strived to provide extraordinary emergency medical care to our community, and have been recognized for their commitment by being presented with the 2005 Leo R. Schwartz Emergency Medical Service of The Year award.