Charlie Breitrose
The four Watertown Firefighters – Pat Carritte, Anthony Caruso, Dave Messina and Jon Mazzola – manning the ambulances on the first day that the Watertown Fire Department provided its own paramedic service.
After a simple ceremony, which included a priest’s blessing, the call went out from the Watertown Fire Headquarters, “Medic 1 now is service.”
While the celebration was a quiet one, but the change is a major one for the Watertown Fire Department and the people of the town. For the first time, paramedic services will be provided by Watertown firefighters in ambulances based in Watertown.
This will mean quicker response times to medical emergencies because private companies would often send ambulances based in surrounding communities to cover calls in Watertown. The town will also be able to collect fees charged for ambulance service, which had gone to the ambulance companies.
Preparation started about a year and a half ago when the Town Council approved funding for the Advanced Life Support (ALS) service, and the firefighters signed their new contract, said Fire Lt. David Meagher, who is in charge of training and EMS for the department. The Fire Department has wanted to do this for many years.
“This has been a long time in coming. It was the vision of Chief (Mario) Orangio since he was appointed chief,” Meagher said during the ceremony.
Charlie Breitrose
Father Matthew Conley, vicar of St. Patrick and Sacred Heart churches, blesses the Watertown ambulance before it goes on duty with full paramedic services.
Father Matthew Conley, the Parochial Vicar for St. Patrick and Sacred Heart churches gave the blessing Tuesday morning. He said it has special meaning for him because his brother has been a firefighter in East Boston for 10 years.
“I am wearing a special stoal with the symbol of your patron saint, Saint Florian,” Conley said. “Today we ask for his intercession and the intercession of the Father and all the saints.”
After reciting a prayer, Conley blessed Medic 1, the ambulance based at the Fire Station on Main Street, with holy water and made the sign of the cross on the vehicle.
Until Tuesday, Watertown contracted out paramedic, or ALS, services to private providers. To prepare to provide paramedic services, the Fire Department hired some firefighters with paramedic training from other departments or private ambulance companies and now have 11 trained medics. Two more firefighters are taking the year-long medic school course, Meagher said.
The inside of the ambulance looks much the same, but firefighter Anthony Caruso – one of the paramedics – said it is equipped with new medications and equipment.
The medications include narcotics, Narcan – given to people overdosed on heroin or opiates – and a drug given to people who have breathed in hydrogen cyanide.
“A lot of couches and furniture gives off gasses that could be fatal to firefighters or occupants of the home,” Caruso said.
Charlie Breitrose
This Watertown ambulance will now carry life saving medications and equipment with the Fire Department’s initiation of paramedic service on Tuesday.
The ambulance also has a new cardiac monitor which can check not only the heart rate but also measures carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide.
“Anything they can do in the emergency room we can do, for the most part,” Caruso said.
Paramedics can perform an intubation, which is placing a tube in an obstructed airway, as well as give IVs and provide electrical cardiac therapy, said firefighter Dave Messina, a trained paramedic. This includes the defibrillator shocks when a heart has stopped, as well as providing pace making and other assistance.
To begin with, the Watertown Fire Department will have one ambulance for Advanced Life Support (paramedic) and a second for Basic Life Support (the level provided in the past). Rob Mannix, a firefighter and president of the union, said a third ambulance is being purchased and in the future the Fire Department hopes to have two ALS ambulances.
That’s my Brother, Anthony Caruso. The most dedicated FF and medic around. Watertown is very lucky to have his addition to their team. No doubt, this will make a huge impact on the community. God bless him and Medic 1 and all the FF’s who serve.
Let’s keep them all safe and in our prayers! My little brother is a FF on WFD too. <3
Why did we hire paramedics from other towns or private services instead of giving Watertown firefighters the advanced training they need to become paramedics?
The short story is time and money (a lot of both). There are currently two FF’s enrolled in a training program, but will not be finishing for months. If the Department sent the number of FF’s required to start the program up, it would have taken many additional years.
Dear “Advocates for the Best Interests of Patients”
First, to your question about staffing. The ambulance is staffed with two paramedics at all times.
Second, you insinuate that somehow the fire department paramedics are substandard and that the municipal leaders and residents need to perform ‘due diligence. For that, I can only conclude that you do not understand the process to become a paramedic nor to work as one.
These medics have a great deal of experience. To those who don’t know, to become a medic, one has to passed a year long intensive medic training program. That’s after spending six months in an EMT training program, passing the EMT state certification and then working a minimum of one years as an EMT so that you can apply to take the Medic Course. Most programs won’t take an EMT with just the one year as an EMT. Once you pass the Paramedic program you have to pass a state written and skills exam to earn the title, “Paramedic”.
The medics that we have range from a few years experience (as a medic) to over 15+ years experience. One is an RN as well. They all operate under the license of a Medical Director (Doctor) and under his guidance have passed additional scrutiny in the way of skills performance and knowledge testing before allowed to work as Paramedic in Watertown. Their performance is continually reviewed both weekly and monthly by the Medical Director(Doctor). Every single call that they respond to is reviewed for quality assurance and quality improvement.
They are all dedicated and their training is on-going and constant. As they must pass annual written and skills testing.
If you have any additional question, I suggest you stop by fire headquarters during the week or it would be more convenient to call my office to set up an appointment. I’d be happy to discuss any concerns that you might have. Just ask for the EMS Coordinator.
I do know, from tonite, that they will only take you to one of the two closest hospitals, where you will then need to be transferred to city hospital. In a second ambulance.
When a person in Watertown is a patient at MGH, it shouldn’t be a choice between Mt Auburn and Somerville Hospitals if the emts are trained to support them on the short route to the hospital they are asked to go to. By the spouse of the compromised individual.
Normally I would not be interested in too much questioning the motives of commenters, but this commenter has violated Charlie’s “Real Names” policy and instead has a name that basically sounds like the name of a Super PAC for private ambulance companies. Don’t take this one too seriously folks.