Basin marks National EMS Week
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 9 months, 1 week AGO
Last week was National EMS Week, a time to honor emergency medical professionals from all our fire departments and their partners.
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Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | May 28, 2025 12:35 AM
MOSES LAKE — May 18-24 was National EMS Week, a time to honor emergency medical personnel, according to an announcement from the Moses Lake Fire Department.
“The Moses Lake Fire Department operates two and sometimes three Advanced Life Support Medic Units on a daily basis with one dual-trained firefighter paramedic and one firefighter EMT on each unit,” the MLFD wrote in the announcement. “Fire engine company crews are also cross-trained in EMS and fire suppression.”
National EMS Week was established in 1974 by President Gerald Ford to recognize the importance of emergency medical assistance. This year’s theme is “We Care, For Everyone,” according to the announcement, to emphasize the dedication and compassion of EMS professionals.
“The (Moses Lake) Fire Department runs around 5,400 calls for service annually (and) 85% of those calls are EMS-related,” the MLFD statement said. “While the non-EMS related fire calls are less in frequency, they tend to be high acuity, staff-intensive in nature. The benefit of using dual-trained fire medics and EMTs represents a balance of providing multiple call EMS services on a daily basis with a high staffing requirement for structure fire and special rescue responses when they occur.”
Cpt. Tim Babak with Grant County Fire District 7 in Soap Lake agreed that EMS is vital to the communities fire departments serve.
“EMS is a huge part of what we do, and they're crucial in the community,” Babak said. “The majority of our calls are EMS calls, and I think that'd be the same for pretty much any fire department anywhere.”
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