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NEWS | Feb. 15, 2017

EMT, paramedics: ready for the call

By Airman 1st Class Tristan Biese 633rd Air Base Wing Publice Affairs

From treating minor abdominal pain to saving lives during emergencies, the 633rd Medical Group Emergency Medical Services personnel are here to assist patients who need to be seen by a doctor at the Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia emergency room.

The 633rd MDG Emergency Medical Services section is comprised of two of the key elements; emergency room operations and ambulance services.

The emergency room operations section is comprised mostly of emergency medical technicians and paramedics that provide help to any and all patients that come to the JBLE emergency room.

During each shift, paramedics and EMTs work continuously for 12 hours, but not all of the EMTs and paramedics work solely in ER operations.

A few are specially trained to also work as ambulance services and respond to 9-1-1 calls to help patients on scene and transport them to the hospital if need be. They respond to approximately 280 calls every year.

Their days don’t end after responding to a call, since the paramedics and EMTs are back on the ER floor helping and treating other patients as soon as they return.

“We respond to every 9-1-1,” said U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Edger Neal, 633rd MDG flight chief of emergency services. “If you call 9-1-1 on base, we’ll be there. There are no unanswered calls.”

The 9-1-1 response team knows it is time for action when they receive a dispatch call from the 633rd Civil Engineer Squadron fire department. They immediately gather their emergency response bag and any medications the may need, knowing this could mean life of death.  

Once they arrive on scene, they work side by side with the 633rd CES fire department and the 633rd Security Forces Squadron personnel to make immediate contact with the patient and initiate their assessment. 

According to Edger, on every response team, there is always a minimum of two EMS individuals, a driver, who is an emergency medical technician with an ambulance driver’s license and a paramedic, who is in charge of the ambulance. It is important to have a paramedic on the team, since they are the only one who are authorized to provide anesthetics to patients while on scene and call a doctor at 633rd MG for help or advice, if need be.

To be properly certified as a paramedic, the EMT must attend special schooling and have four mandatory certifications to include, advanced cardiac life support, pediatric advanced life support, basic life support and national registry certification.

“Our scope practice is definitely different than normal medical technicians that work around the hospital,” said U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Christine Castro, 633rd Medical Group NCO in charge of ambulance services. “Compared to a normal technician you would find around the hospital, our job is to save lives in the back of an ambulance.”

The EMS team may be broken up into two elements, but they both work hand-in-hand to help all service members and military associated civilians in the event of an emergency.