Gold Cross Staff Attend Homeland Security Training

A number of Gold Cross staff recently completed training offered by the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Alabama. The CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation.

The CDP develops and delivers advanced training for emergency response providers, emergency managers and other government officials from state, local and tribal governments.  The CDP offers more than 50 training courses focusing on incident management, mass casualty response and emergency response to a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist act.  Training at the CDP campus is federally funded at not cost to state, local and tribal emergency response professionals or their agency.

Resident training at the CDP includes healthcare and public health courses at the Noble Training Facility, the nation’s only hospital dedicted to training healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response.

A number of resident training courses culminate at the CDP’s Chemical Ordinance, Biological and Radiological Traning Facility (COBRA).  The COBRA is the nation’s only facility featuring civilian training exercises in a true toxic environment using chemical agents.  The advanced hands-on training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to and recover from real-world incidents involving acts of terrorism and other hazardous materials.

Responders participating in CDP training gain critical skills and confidence to respond effectively to local incidents or potential WMD events.

Information about CDP training programs can be found at http://cdp.dhs.gov.  Visit the “News & Media” tab at the top of the site to download images, share CDP training articles and find out what others are saying about CDP training.  For more information about the CDP, contact the CDP External Affairs Office, at (256) 847-2212/2316 or e-mail pao@cdpemail.dhs.gov.

It’s Official! Waupaca/Weyauwega Area Ambulance is Part of Gold Cross

Gold Cross Begins Ambulance Service to Waupaca Area May 1st

Waupaca /Weyauwega Area Ambulance President Barry Tomaras with Gold Cross Ambulance Operations Director Mark Fredrickson

Starting Wednesday, May 1, you might not recognize the ambulance going down the highway if you live in the greater Waupaca area. Instead of seeing the green ambulances of Waupaca and Weyauwega Area Ambulance, you will now see deep blue vehicles with a gold cross on the side. Tuesday, April 30,  the merger of Gold Cross Ambulance Service and Waupaca Area Ambulance will be finalized. The following day, Gold Cross will become the emergency medical service provider to Waupaca Area mbulance’s service area, including the cities of Waupaca and Weyauwega, and their surrounding communities.

All that’s changing for area residents is the color of the ambulances and the uniforms worn by the EMS personnel.  The high quality of care and emergency response delivered by Waupaca Area  Ambulance for more than 30 years will not change. Anyone experiencing a health emergency should still dial 911. Patients will be transported to the hospital of their choice, including ThedaCare’s two local hospitals, Riverside Medical Center in Waupaca and New London Family Medical Center.

The merger is a result of a mutual agreement by both organizations to ensure the legacy of Waupaca Area Ambulance, providing quality EMS care for Waupaca area residents into the future. With the  addition of Waupaca County to its regional service, Gold Cross now serves almost 260,000 people in four counties.

“This is an exciting time for our organization,” said Gold Cross Ambulance Executive Director Jack Hill. “We’re eager to serve the Waupaca area, and we’re ready to respond to the needs of the  surrounding communities.”

Gold Cross will deploy four ambulances in the Waupaca and Weyauwega areas. Every Gold Cross ambulance is equipped with satellite vehicle tracking, which allows dispatchers to send the  closest ambulance to an incoming call, and an AutoPulse, a device that administers high quality, consistent CPR compressions.

Gold Cross is jointly owned by Affinity Health System and ThedaCare. With the merger, Gold Cross increases its number of employees to 180, from 160, and its fleet of ambulances to 18, from 13.

“After dedicating 30 years of my life to Waupaca Area Ambulance, it’s a bittersweet moment,” said Barry Tomaras, owner of Waupaca Area Ambulance. “Although it is tough to say goodbye, it feels  good to be handing over the reins to a quality organization.”

Gold Cross Ambulance provides paramedic-level  care for 911 medical emergencies, and non-emergency transport services to almost  260,000 people in 1,170 square miles of portions of Outagamie, Winnebago,  Calumet and Waupaca counties. In 2012, Gold Cross responded to more than 15,000  calls. It also brings Emergency Medical Service expertise to the region through  its management contracting services, linking more people to quality EMS care.

Gold Cross Ambulance and Waupaca Area Ambulance Merge – 02-25-2013

Gold Cross Ambulance and Waupaca Area Ambulance announced today they have signed a letter of intent to merge their services this spring. After the merger, Gold Cross Ambulance Service will be the emergency medical service provider to Waupaca Area Ambulance’s service area, including the cities of Waupaca and Weyauwega, and their surrounding communities. Service to the area will continue uninterrupted during the transition.

The merger is a result of a mutual agreement by both organizations to ensure the legacy of Waupaca Area Ambulance and to provide quality EMS care for Waupaca area residents into the future. Barry Tomaras, owner of Waupaca Area Ambulance, noted that the new relationship  continues Waupaca Area Ambulance’s growth. “During the past 30 years we’ve grown from six employees, one ambulance and 800 runs to 30 employees, five ambulances and 2,400 runs. Although we’ve grown, changes in healthcare will make it more difficult for small providers going forward,” he said. “This merger brings resources and technology to Waupaca Area Ambulance, and serves the community well. We’re excited by the opportunity.”

“This is an exciting time for our two organizations,” said Gold Cross Ambulance Executive Director Jack Hill. “We each are a quality business, and we’re coming together to ensure the Waupaca area retains its high quality emergency response service.”

Gold Cross Ambulance is jointly owned by Affinity Health System and ThedaCare. The company has 160 employees, and operates a fleet of 13 ambulances. Gold Cross transports patients to the hospital of their choice, and its clinical protocols are closely aligned with  its owner health systems’ hospitals. ThedaCare owns and operates Riverside Medical Center and New London Family Medical Center, the two hospitals most frequently accessed by Waupaca Area Ambulance. Regional 911 dispatch services are already coordinated through Gold Cross, so those services are unchanged.

“It’s tough to say goodbye to something you’ve invested in for years, something you’ve built,” Tomaras said. “But I have confidence in this decision. We’ll be strong partners, and patients will be well served.”

Gold Cross Ambulance provides paramedic-level care for 911 medical emergencies, and non-emergency transport services to more than 240,000 people in 950 square miles of portions of Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties, responding to more than 15,000 calls in 2012. It also brings Emergency Medical Service expertise to the region through its management contracting  services, linking more people to quality EMS care.

Andrew Werth Recognized at Brillion Meeting - 02-11-2013

At last evening’s Committee of the Whole meeting in Brillion, Andy Werth was recognized from the City of Brillion, Brillion Ambulance and Gold Cross Ambulance for his 15 years of dedicated service as an EMT, a paramedic and a supervisor for Brillion Ambulance.

Andy has started his new role as Operations Manager for Clintonville Ambulance. Congratulations Andy!  Best of luck in your new endeavor.

Gold Cross Works to Expand AEDs in Fox Valley - 01/26/2013

Courtesy Appleton Post Crescent reporter Kyle Daly and photographer Wm. Glasheen – 01/26/2013

Former Menasha library director Tasha Saecker thinks a tragedy would have occurred during a committee meeting three years ago if a device to help heart attack victims had not been within reach.

When John Nebel, a library board member, suffered a heart attack during the Oct. 5, 2009, meeting, Saecker and other quick-thinkers retrieved an automatic external defibrillator near the library’s entrance and came to Nebel’s aid. The device sends an electric shock in an attempt to restore the heart’s normal rhythm.

“I think that (the AED) was really a large piece of what … allowed John a full recovery,” Saeker said.

The incident illustrates why Gold Cross Ambulance Service — the Fox Valley’s emergency medical service agency — wants to increase the number of AEDs in downtowns and place them in neighborhoods in the Fox Cities.

There are 352 defibrillators available for public access in the Gold Cross service area, which includes portions of Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties. But Steve Radich, administrative director at the private organization, says that number is not enough.

“We want to make them as common as fire extinguishers — that’s our goal,” Radich said.

In the past six years, Gold Cross has installed the devices in bars, hotels, coffee shops and other public establishments in downtown Appleton, Neenah and Menasha. The downtown programs are paid for through the Gold Cross HeartStart Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. Since its inception in 1998, the fund has spent about $200,000 for AEDs,
first-aid training and community awareness.

To be part of the AED program, business owners must sign an agreement stating they will use the device to help people inside or outside their establishments, if necessary.

Since 2007, the number of devices in downtown Appleton has increased from 18 to 25. Gold Cross hopes to expand the program south to include the Paper Discovery Center on Water Street. Other locations also are possible.

“We’re looking at the west part of College Avenue and possibly adding more AEDs down there too,” Radich said.

Five AEDs are located in downtown Neenah and three are available in downtown Menasha. Discussions are under way to place the devices in smaller communities with downtown districts such as Little Chute or Kimberly.

“It’s just really important to have them readily accessible,” Menasha Mayor Don Merkes said.

Efforts to increase access to the devices aren’t limited to downtown areas, however. Because nearly 90 percent of heart attacks occur in the home, according to the American Heart Association, Gold Cross is working with the Appleton Police Department to put the devices in the hands of neighborhood watch groups.

“We’re ready to go as soon as we can find a neighborhood that wants to do it,” said Radich, who added that the committee that oversees the HeartStart fund already has allocated an AED for the first neighborhood watch group selected.

Quick aid is critical when a person suffers a heart attack. A person’s chances of survival are reduced by 10 percent with every minute that passes, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Fortunately for Nebel, the Menasha library board member who suffered a heart attack, Saecker and two other library staff members took a CPR and AED training course only a few months before he fell ill.

Saecker performed chest compressions on Nebel while someone retrieved the AED.

“I think the training was part of what kept me from completely freezing,” she said.

Viewfinder: Paramedics can only wait for vital call - 11/23/2012

Courtesy Appleton Post Crescent reporter Kyle Daly and photographer Wm. Glasheen – 11/23/2012

Adam Marx talks with a patient while on a Gold Cross ambulance call from Appleton Medical Center on Nov. 5. / Wm. Glasheen/The Post-Crescent

Watch TV. Take naps. Read books. Surf the Internet. Clean.  There are multiple ways to combat boredom. For me, I tackle each of these activities with a grin and loose-fit clothing. Throw in an alcoholic beverage and I’ve got the recipe for a perfect weekend.

But how does a person approach boredom when his time-eating techniques are done specifically to waste minutes before another call? A call for help, that is.

“We do it in a little different ways,” said Gold Cross Ambulance paramedic Adam Marx. He listed the same activities I mentioned — minus the alcohol.

I recently had the privilege of spending a few hours with two Gold Cross paramedics — Marx, a 25-year-old who’s been with the ambulance service since March 2011, and Nick Romenesko, 23, who’s been on the job for about six months. Both were stationed at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Appleton for one of their regular 24-hour shifts.

It was a Thursday morning and the calls were slow. Before a photographer and I arrived at the station, Marx and Romenesko had just returned from an emergency response. Like a little kid waiting to jump on board a roller
coaster for the first time — eager, but a little hesitant about dangers that could await — I was anticipating the dispatch call.

One never came.

“It’s hit or miss,” Marx said. Some days, it’s really busy, he explained. Other days, they wait.

My photographer and I spent about four hours at the station, asking questions and watching Marx and Romenesko do, well, pretty much what I would do with any spare time. They relaxed on recliners inside the station’s living area — a place fashioned with two bedrooms, a shower room and a main lounge decked with a small fridge, microwave and TV. “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” are usually the shows of choice.

I was busy at my job, taking notes, asking questions, snapping picks on my iPhone — all the while wrapped in anticipation of possibly hearing that emergency call come over the dispatch radio in the room.

Perhaps my journalistic mindset of finding that clichéd story line, one where the hero swoops in to save the day, was fogging my mind and not allowing me to see the complete picture — that what I was witnessing was one
aspect of a paramedic’s life. They wait.

It’s not glorious, and Hollywood isn’t exactly going to come knocking. A Batman movie isn’t going to focus on Bruce Wayne taking a nap. A Spiderman movie surely won’t provide a few minutes of Peter Parker listening to a lecture from a high school teacher.

Besides, Hollywood doesn’t do its best in getting the action parts right anyway.

“They show us picking up dead people all the time,” Marx said. “That what the coroner’s for.”

Journalism is a profession with its own stresses that I think — and my colleagues would surely agree — don’t compare to the role of a paramedic. We get hit with breaking news left and right, but we eat up the down
times by sniffing out stories and making new contacts within the community.

How would I handle a profession with such high highs and then such low lows? I think it takes a certain type of person.

“I do get antsy when it’s a slower day like this,” Marx said.

“So do I,” Romenesko agreed.

New Ambulance Dispatch System “Predicts” Emergencies

Adam Moriarty (left) and Chris Kiefer of the EMS unit explain the uses of the equipment on the Gold Cross Ambulance at an EMS Open House in Oshkosh earlier this year. Since January, the ambulance service has been using a new dispatch system module that allows operators to predict where an emergency is likely to occur. / Jeannette Merten/for Gannett Wisconsin Media

Written by Kyle Daly – Post-Crescent staff writer

MENASHA — Standing inside the dispatch room at the Gold Cross Ambulance Service’s Menasha office, Operations Director Mark Fredrickson pointed to the flat-screen TV hanging on the wall.

Displayed onscreen was a map of the Fox Valley area. Similar to weather radar, the map was blotched with various colors such as green, yellow and purple.

“You see that purple there,” Fredrickson said. “There’s a high likelihood we’re going to have an ambulance there.”

Since January, the ambulance service has been using a new dispatch system module that allows operators to predict where an emergency is likely to occur. As a result, the service has been strategically stationing its  on-duty ambulances in locations the vehicles might not have gone in the past.

The module, RescueNet Dispatch Pro, is software developed by Massachusetts-based ZOLL Medical Corporation, a company that creates products for emergency responders. Available since 2004, about 80 ambulance and fire services nationwide use the system.

Cody Doerfler, a product manager for ZOLL, said the system takes previous data on vehicle movements and emergency locations, shows where an emergency is likely to happen and then decides which on-duty ambulance would respond the quickest as well as the best route to take.

“It’s almost freakishly dead-on how we can predict where the next call is,” Doerfler said.

In fact, Fredrickson nicknames the software “the brain.”

Gold Cross Ambulance Services, which mostly monitors a nearly 1,000-square-mile area in Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties, has been using a ZOLL dispatch product for eight years. When the service implemented the new dispatch system in January, it took emergency call data from the previous five years.

ZOLL officials recommended only five years as not to “overwhelm” the database, Fredrickson said.

The system compiles the data and then figures where the emergency will likely happen based on the time of day. For example, in order to predict where a call will occur at around 4 p.m., the system looks at where  emergencies happened at that time in the past.

Doerfler said as time goes on and new data is added, the accuracy improves.

Personnel inside the Menasha office dispatch center monitor the movements of active ambulances and look at a color-coded map to see where to strategically place the vehicles. Each color signifies a different  likelihood of an emergency occurring.

Gold Cross always has at least five ambulances on duty, Fredrickson said. The number increases throughout the day as emergency calls pick up. By 2 p.m., nine vehicles are on call.

Fredrickson said unlike other emergency services, Gold Cross will actually place vehicles out on street corners.

“Many people see them at McDonald’s or something,” he said.“They think they’re eating. That’s probably a posting — I call it a ‘posting location.’”

Before the system was put in use, Fredrickson said Gold Cross already moved its vehicles to locations based on previous experiences. But now, paramedics not only have help in choosing those locations, they also  know the best route to take to an emergency.

A GPS system on the ambulance is constantly sending data back to “the brain.” It learns the traffic patterns and congestion by factoring in the vehicle speeds, a street’s speed limit and response times to a location, Fredrickson said. If a route to a certain area repetitively results in a long response time, the system will find a quicker route. Known street closures are entered into the system manually.

The system might even recommend an ambulance that is farther away from an emergency, but will get to the scene the fastest based on traffic, Doerfler said.

Fredrickson pointed out that because Dispatch Pro has only been in place at Gold Cross for 10 months, it’s still learning traffic patterns. For example, the system has yet to experience a response to the Fox River Mall around a congested Christmas season.

“It won’t even understand Wisconsin and College (avenues) until after this season,” he said.

Because the system is still learning the streets and traffic patterns, Fredrickson said it’s too early to tell whether Dispatch Pro will contribute to an overall improvement in response times. But as it stands now,  the operations director says Gold Cross times are “phenomenal” for urban areas.

From Jan. 1 to Oct. 16, the average response time to an emergency in Appleton was 4 minutes and 36 seconds. In Neenah, it’s 4 minutes and 21 seconds. And in Menasha, it’s 4 minutes and 39 seconds.

“From the time you call 911 and we’re at your side, it’s less than 5 minutes,” Fredrickson said. “It’s pretty good.”

— Kyle Daly: 920-993-1000, ext. 430, or kdaly@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @kyledaly2

Gold Cross Donates Zoll AED Trainer

Gold Cross recently donated a Zoll AED trainer to the Appleton Park & Rec Dept’s director Kabel Helmbrecht today. They will use this AED trainer for their lifeguards and city employees.

Gold Cross HeartStart Fund Donates AED to Neenah Boys & Girls Brigade

Steve Radich, Administrative Director, donates an automated external defibrillator (AED) to the Neenah Boys & Girls Brigade. Accepting the AED is their Executive Director, Laura Kemps. The AED was made possible by the Gold Cross HeartStart fund through the Community Foundation. Funds are made possible by an annual charity golf event held by Gold Cross to increase public awareness of sudden cardiac arrest, public CPR and AED donations.

More Than $90,000 Donated to Local Non-profits

Courtesy of Fox Cities Marathon

APPLETON, WIS. – The Community First Fox Cities Marathon Presented by Kimberly-Clark recently donated more than $90,000 in proceeds from last year’s event to 25 local non-profits and schools in the Fox Cities. Representatives from local organizations were presented their donations during a group celebration on July 19.

“As a non-profit organization, the marathon’s goal is to give back to the community, and we are proud to contribute to the success of such worthy organizations,” said Scott Stielow, Chairman of the Board for the Marathon. “The event is successful because of the support and involvement that we get from our participants, sponsors, volunteers and staff. It is only right that the money raised goes directly back to positively impact their communities. No matter what the level of participation, every little bit helps.”

This year 13 organizations benefited from the proceeds. The organizations include:

·       YMCA of the Fox Cities – Strong Kids Program

·       Fox Valley Technical College Foundation

·       Gold Cross Ambulance – Heart Start Program

·       UW-Fox Valley Foundation

·       Pacesetters of the Fox Cities

·       Fox Cities Diaper Bank

·       City of Neenah – Summer Fun Runs

·       Kaukauna Fire Department

·       Neenah/Menasha Fire & Rescue

·       My Team Triumph – Fox Cities

·       FVTC – Student Nursing Program

·       Rawhide – About Face Program

·       Appleton School District – Fit & Fun on the Run

In addition, 10 schools and two local breast cancer foundations also received donations.

“We’re thrilled to receive this generous donation from the Fox Cities Marathon,” said Bill Brieder, president and CEO of the YMCA of the Fox Cities. “The Marathon has always placed its focus on the community and giving back to the organizations who do the same. The youth, adults, and families of the YMCA will benefit greatly from these funds.”

“We’re very thankful for Fox Cities Marathon’s continued commitment to the community and our Heart Start program,” said Steve Radich, administrative director at Gold Cross Ambulance. “As a local non-profit, we are grateful to be chosen as a recipient and plan to put these funds to good use by creating awareness related to the importance of CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) deployment
throughout the community.”

To date, the Community First Fox Cities Marathon presented by Kimberly-Clark has raised more than $450,000. This year’s race events are scheduled for the weekend of September 21 through 23.

For more information on the race and its charity partners, visit www.foxcitiesmarathon.org.

Fox Cities Marathon Raises Funds for Portable Defibrillators

Courtesy of WBAY TV 2 – Green Bay

Runners are in full training mode for the Community First Fox cities Marathon coming up in September. Meantime, organizers are in full fund-raising mode.

Some proceeds from the marathon will help people suffering heart attacks.

“Here’s what happened,” John Nebel describes. “I was shuffling papers, got my agenda out, stood up, and dropped dead.”

Few people live to tell a story like that without exaggeration, but Nebel did. Inside a room at the Menasha Public Library on a morning in October, 2009, his heart just stopped.

“It was a dandy. I really should have been dead.”

Nebel’s friends sprang into action, racing down the stairs to grab an AED, an automated external defibrillator, just recently installed in the lobby.

They shocked his heart and saved his life.

Steve Krantz is a clinical educator with Gold Cross. “Without a doubt, the fact the AED was at the library and the fact that women trained in CPR could do chest compressions with the AED until EMS arrived was huge,” he said.

Now Gold Cross Ambulance Service is working to add dozens more of these portable defibrillators to public places around the Fox Valley through its Heart Start program.

“We already have planned free CPR and AED classes in August with the monies  that went into the community foundation for the Fox River Valley,” Gold Cross Ambulance Administrative Director Steve Radich said.

This is all thanks to a big donation from the Community First Fox Cities Marathon.

It’s part of the marathon’s goal each year to give back to the community.

“It’s very important and very rewarding,” says the marathon’s executive director, Steve Zich. “We’re so happy we have the ability  to be able to do that and share proceeds with different organizations  such as Gold Cross. It’s so great stories like this can happen.”

Nebel knows how lucky he is, and hopes the additional AEDs help others to live to tell a story like his.

“There’s no question, I’d have been kaputzkied, but they all do a great job,” Nebel said.

Medic 10 … Update … Squad 49

Gold Cross donated the former Medic 10 to the City of Menasha Police Department as their crime scene / crime prevention unit late last year.  The city’s former crime scene / crime prevention unit was a 1987 Ford ambulance that Gold Cross donated back in the ’90′s and has been in need of replacement. We are honored to be able to help out the Menasha police department once again. Here is the result of that donation…a very unique paint scheme.  This is a unit the Menasha Police department can certainly be proud of.

Medic 3 … the After … Squad 32

On November 23rd, Gold Cross donated the former Medic 3 to the Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue Dive Team. Here is the result of that donation … Squad 32 … a unit they can all be proud of.

Squat 32 will serve as a command center for their water/dive rescues and house all their water and dive rescue equipment.  The unit will also serve as a tow vehicle for the Winnebago County Sheriff’s rescue boat. It will also provide a means of shelter for rescues during inclement weather.

Above in the photo are Gold Cross Operations Director, Mark Fredrickson and NMFR Assistant Fire Chief, Mike Sipin.

Gold Cross Open House

Gold Crosss Ambulance held its open house on Saturday, May 19, 2012, on the eve before EMS Week at the Gold Cross headquarters in Menasha. The weather was fantastic for the event and it was very well attended.  We wish to thank the following for participating in this year’s open house. … Fox Valley RTAC for grant approval for the bicycle safety helmets for the kids, Pete Koons from Appleton Wheel & Sprocket for bicycle “tune ups”, Wisconsin EMS Honor Guard, Town of Menasha Fire for their vehicle tour and for the Jaws of Life Demo. City of Neenah Police and Officer McGruff the Crime Dog, Sargeant Elena Leon from the City of Menasha Police and also K-9 Officer Matt Speigel with Officer Gomez, his German Shepard. Also special thanks to ThedaStar for flying in and giving tours.

A special thanks to our committee for making this event happen; Peggy Davis, Belinda Engels, Samantha Hilker, Katie Stuczynski, Mark Kuchenbecker, Tim Hanson and Brian Scheer.

Please feel free to check the “Photo Gallery” out to view some of the photos taken at the open house.

Happy EMS Week all!

AED Donated to Fox Cities Salvation Army

Gold Cross Ambulance HeartStart Committee donated a  Philips AED to the Salvation Army-Fox Cities yesterday.  The AED will be located in the Salvation Army  headquarters on Appleton Rd. in Menasha.

Major Jose Tamayo, Corps Officer Salvation Army-Fox  Cities, accepted the donated AED from Steve Radich, Administrative Director, Gold Cross Ambulance Service, Inc.

State of Emergency

Click HERE  for a recent article in the Fox Cities Magazine on recent developments in emergency medicine in the Fox Cities.

Fox 11: Roving ambulance launches in Fox Valley

GRAND CHUTE – The number of emergency situations in Grand Chute hasn’t necessarily gone up, but more people in the community are likely crossing paths with an ambulance.

For the past week, Gold Cross, which provides ambulance service throughout Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties, has had a 24 hour roving ambulance to get a head start on an emergency.

“We’re putting them in designed locations throughout Grand Chute where the likelihood of another call, or the probability of the call is great,” said Mark Fredrickson, the operations director for Gold Cross. “The reason we’re doing this is that seconds count in an emergency.”

Fredrickson says at a fixed location, it typically takes a paramedic between 60 and 90 seconds to get in their ambulance and on their way to an emergency. The 60 to 90 seconds is referred to as the chute time.

With the roving ambulance and crews required to be in the vehicle, Fredrickson says the chute time is out the window.

“When the emergency comes in, many times, they hear it on the scanner, even before we get the call and they start moving to that location,” said Fredrickson.

During FOX 11’s interview with the roving ambulance paramedics, an emergency call came in. The chute time from being dispatched was six seconds. The crew couldn’t say whether they in fact were closer to the scene, but they got going quicker.

“It’s improving the response times,” said Fredrickson. “They were good before. They are just going to be better.”

Fredrickson says response times should be even better in 30 days. That is when new software is expected to arrive to help guide the roving paramedics.

“It goes back five years and dumps data of all our calls of that region, that area, so we will know the likelihood of where the next call will be just from the computer,” said Fredrickson.

For now, the new rover will remain on the prowl in Grand Chute as the paramedics hope to be closer to where they are needed more often than they are now.

Gold Cross, owned by 4 area hospitals, plans to put two more of its nine Fox Valley ambulances on the prowl in the next two years.

Medic 3 Donated

On November 23rd, Gold Cross donated the former Medic 3 to the Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue Dive Team. The unit will serve as a tow vehicle for their rescue boat as well as storage for their rescue equipment and as a means of shelter for rescues during inclement weather.   Another story will follow once the unit receives a new “facelift” sometime next year. We are more than happy to assist the dive team with the donation of this vehicle.  Below NMFR Assistant Chief Mike Sipin receives the keys to the ambulance from Gold Cross Executive Director, Jack Hill.

The Stars Visit the Capitol

Nominated by their respective ambulance service employers throughout the state of Wisconsin as the best of the best, twenty Stars of Life from the class of 2010 and 2011 were honored at the State Capitol in Madison on October 18th. A Joint Resolution was voted on in their presence in both the Senate and Assembly acknowledging their EMS professionalism, which was accompanied by a standing ovation from elected leaders in both house chambers. The day-long event was proudly produced by the Professional Ambulance Association of Wisconsin.

The group was welcomed in the Capitol Rotunda by Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Kitty Rhoades, a longtime advocate of EMS, Joint Resolution co-sponsors, Senator Sheila Harsdorf and Representative Dean Kaufert, himself a newly licensed EMT, as well as State EMS Office ALS Program Coordinator Fred Hornby. The Stars then moved to the Senate chambers, followed by the Assembly, for reading of the Resolution and high honors of congratulations extended by the State.

Stars also met individually with their local legislators to discuss EMS and have photos with their elected leaders. Over 26 legislative appointments were scheduled for Stars honorees, to include a meeting with Governor Scott Walker.

Stars from our Fox Valley area that attended the event at the Capitol were Steve Radich, Shelley Donner, Steve Krantz, Karen Dallman and Ron Flegal (Gold Cross Ambulance), Barb Tyler-Lord (Brillion Ambulance) and Doug Schoen (Hilbert Potter First Responders) and Ben Schoenborn (Calumet Medical Center Ambulance).

According to PAAW President Patrick Ryan, “Stars stood up for EMS today at the State Capitol. It was nice to see their contributions and this award noted, honored and recognized.”

Medic 10 Retired and Donated

Gold Cross has donated the former Medic 10 to the City of Menasha Police Department as their crime scene / crime prevention unit.  They will be having it re-painted/lettered in the near future and at that time, will do a follow-up story.  The city’s former crime scene / crime prevention unit was a 1987 Ford ambulance that Gold Cross donated back in the ’90′s and has been in need of replacement. We are honored to be able to help out the Menasha police department once again. Below, Operations Director, Mark Fredrickson hands the keys off to Menasha Police Officer Martin Schrampfer.