Elgin fire engines may get lifesaving upgrades

Soon paramedics on fire engines in Elgin may be able to similar kinds of advanced life support procedures to what they do ambulances.

Fire Chief John Fahy is asking city council members to approve funding for five new cardiac monitors to outfit the fire engines that don’t have them. The department is in the running to receive federal funding for three of those monitors. If it comes through, Elgin’s portion will be $55,471. If it doesn’t — the scenario council members will consider Wednesday — the city would be responsible for $138,680.

“Every day I have paramedics on the engines but they don’t have the equipment to give you that lifesaving technology if they get there before the ambulance,” Fahy said.

A time study for fire department personnel shows ambulance paramedics spending only minimal amounts of time responding to medical calls. With ambulances traveling farther than they used to with the new Sherman Hospital location and fewer ambulances available, Fahy said it is time for a change.

“Our way of being more efficient with the taxpayer dollar was trying to go to this paramedic engine concept,” Fahy said.

Naperville fire engines also are outfitted for advanced life support, providing a model for Elgin. The upgrades would allow the fire engine crews to do all the same lifesaving procedures as ambulance crews, except actual transports to hospitals.

Fahy said up to 80 percent of fire department responses are for emergency medical service, prompting a change to the common thinking that firefighters arrive in fire engines and paramedics arrive in ambulances.

Council members also are set to consider approving the purchase of tablet computers and associated software for mobile medical reporting and fire inspections during Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting.

The technology upgrade would bring the fire department into the 21st Century, leaving behind a documentation practice that has been around for decades. Using the tablet computers, firefighters who do inspections or file medical reports can fill them out electronically, allowing for easier records access from year to year.

The computers and associated software would cost a little more than $100,000.