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Contact: Donna Mancuso
Public Affairs Manager
(732) 499-6118
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For Immediate Release:
Monday, March 05, 2007
For Imediate Release
RWJ University Hospital at Rahway’s
Paramedic Service Celebrates 25 years
RAHWAY - Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway’s paramedic service, which brings the life-saving skills of an emergency room to the community, celebrates 25 years of service this month.
The hospital’s mobile intensive care unit is the first hospital-based, paramedic-staffed service in Union County and one of the busiest in northern New Jersey, serving Avenel, Carteret, Clark, Colonia, Linden and Rahway.
The hospital’s paramedic service handles more than 6,000 requests for help a year. Over the past 25 years, the hospital’s paramedics have responded to more than 196,000 requests for help, treating more than 75,000 patients. Each year, the service treats about 4,000 patients a year. In its first year, it treated 1,300 patients.
Paramedics are the second tier of the state’s emergency management system. The first tier is Basic Life Support (BLS), which is provided by local first aid squads or fire departments. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) staff these units and provide first aid treatment and transportation to the hospital.
The more advanced life-saving care is given by Mobile Intensive Care Units, staffed by specially trained paramedics. Paramedics can perform cardiac monitoring and administer as many as 55 different medications. They can intubate patients, draw blood, run intravenous lines and give breathing treatments, among other life-saving procedures.
Training Paramedics receive extensive training, beginning as certified Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). After at year of EMT experience, they must earn 37 college credits of classroom training, plus more than 800 hours of on-the-job training at a sponsoring hospital. The hospital training includes rotations in the Emergency Department, Operating Room, Surgical Intensive Care Unit, OB/GYN, IV therapy team, Laboratory and Cath lab, among other locations. Training also includes 400 hours on the mobile intensive care truck.
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