Medic Six now available 24 hours a day
Thurston County’s Medic 6 unit is now a fulltime response unit. Medic 6 serves the northeast Thurston County-Hawks Prairie area and is one of the paramedic advanced life support (ALS) response/transport units. Medic 6 is located on the Steilacoom Road and is operated by Lacey Fire District #3. “Medic 6 is the most recent upgrade to the county-wide Medic One ALS response service and is a welcome addition to the county-wide EMS system.” says Sandra Romero, Chair of the Board of Thurston County Commissioners.
Medic 6 was previously staffed by five paramedics operating on a 12 hour basis but County Commissioners authorized a gradual phase-in to enhance paramedic response times. “Since July of 2012, we have added a new paramedic and increased service every six months for a total of three added medics. Eight paramedics now provide full staffing of the unit 24 hours per day/seven days a week,” said Steve Brooks, Chief of Lacey Fire District 3. The unit not only provides service to the NE county area but provides backup to the entire county wide paramedic system of seven total vehicles. This year, Medic 6 has responded to 660 9-1-1 calls for help county-wide from Black Lake to Bald Hills. “We anticipate Medic 6 handling between 1,700 and 1,800 calls this year with some overall improvement in response time,” said Steve Romines, Director of Thurston County Emergency Services/Medic One.
Medic One’s seven county wide paramedic advanced life support response/transport vehicles responded to 9,331 of the 26,012 EMS calls to 9-1-1 last year. The county wide average paramedic response time was 7.2 minutes and just under 6 minutes in cities of Olympia, Lacey Tumwater.
