Mayor Thomas M. McDermott, Jr. and The Hammond Fire Department would like to announce that the Ambulance at Station #8 in Hessville will be a Paramedic staffed ambulance effective Friday, January 9th. Currently the ambulance is staffed with 2 Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT) and they provide Basic life Support (BLS) level of care. Now it will be staffed with at least 1 EMT and 1 Paramedic at all times. Paramedics will be providing Advance Life Support (ALS) level of care for those who need it.
BLS care provided by EMT’s includes administering oxygen, managing injuries with bandaging and splints, administering a couple of medications, inserting non-visualized airways to breathe for patients, and providing CPR. ALS care provided by Paramedics include the above along with starting IV’s and administering a wide variety of medications, visually inserting an airway into the trachea to breathe for patients, cardiac monitoring, administering IV fluids for trauma and advance trauma life support, etc.
The Hammond Fire Department recently purchased a new ambulance for Station 8 which will be put in service within the next couple weeks, providing an enhanced level of ALS care to the City of Hammond.