In 1990 the Sun City Fire Department initiated advanced life support response to medical calls throughout the city. Sun City has, through its unique demographic makeup, a special demand for advanced life support services. To meet this special need of our citizens, the emergency medical arm of the department instituted afar reaching aggressive approach to handling the over 6,000 emergency medical calls answered by the department annually.
All field personnel are trained as basic EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians). This program consists of a minimum of 120 hours classroom and hospital training. Additionally, 36 of the district’s firefighters have received advanced life support training as Paramedics requiring an additional 1200 hours of education. Training consisted of advanced life support, pharmacology, trauma life support, pediatric life support, and environmental injuries to name only a few.
Each fire department engine company staffs a minimum of 2 Sun City Fire Department paramedics that are utilized on all medical calls in Sun City. Through use of phone and radio communication, each paramedic may consult with an emergency department physician from the scene of the emergency, ensuring the most advanced life saving techniques are available for emergency treatment of life threatening injuries/ Illnesses to our citizens.
In 1990, the department became involved in a pilot program to study the effectiveness of transcutaneous pace makers for field use and equipped all units with this lifesaving technology. Through data gathered by this field program, cardiac pacing has now become approved for emergency services use statewide.
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