Marin Independent Journal (California)
Copyright 2006 Marin Independent Journal, a MediaNews Group publication
All Rights Reserved
Winston Churchill observed, “There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.”
I believe an equally intelligent investment is to provide sustenance to a community’s life-saving paramedic services.
On Nov. 7, San Rafael’s Measure P asks for voter support in adding about $2 per month per residential unit for the funding of San Rafael’s paramedic services budget. These dollars are dedicated funds. Measure P funds cannot be used for any other purpose than paramedic services.
On a yearly average, San Rafael paramedics respond to about 4,500 emergency calls. The challenges posed are incredibly diverse, from heart attacks and strokes to burns and trauma. Paramedics address motor vehicle and bicycle accidents as well as pedestrian missteps. Seizures, shortness of breath, life-threatening infections, penetrating injuries and calamities too numerous to list occur with regularity.
I have lived in San Rafael for more than 26 years, practicing internal medicine and geriatrics, yet I am amazed and awed by the care rendered by our paramedics for the diversity of life threatening emergencies that they encounter. Paramedics must be adept at both adult and pediatric emergencies and physical trauma as well as medical emergencies. Like decathletes, they need broad-based training and education plus an ability to work under great pressure.
What many San Rafael residents may not fully appreciate is the tremendous courage required to serve as an effective paramedic. Beyond a broad-based set of skills, ongoing comprehensive training and precise clarity of judgment, a top notch paramedic must possess what physicians refer to as “intestinal fortitude.”
When approaching a mangled car wreck or performing CPR on a person at the fringes of life, it takes courage to jump in and follow through at peak effort. Regardless of the time of day or night, when the call comes in, our paramedics rise to the occasion.
For San Rafael residents, the modest increase in property assessment that Measure P proposes is a small price to pay for this top-notch service. San Rafael paramedics respond to 54 percent of calls within six minutes and 83 percent of calls within 10 minutes.
Success on Measure P is needed to maintain rapid emergency response times. More unknown, but equally pressing, is the need to keep paramedics at the ready for the omnipresent earthquake risk. This is, unfortunately, a likely challenge for which we need to stay prepared. Nothing is more costly than complacency in planning for the unknown.
As a fire commissioner in San Rafael for more than 10 years, I have watched a first-class organization constantly grow in experience, training and confidence. Although individual San Rafael paramedics may not be able to afford a home in Marin, residents of Marin can’t afford not to have this outstanding paramedic resource at the ready.
I urge San Rafael voters to vote “yes” on Measure P in order to provide the resources necessary to maintain the San Rafael paramedics at a level of excellence and readiness that is vital to our city’s future success and safety.
Stephen Mizroch, M.D., is a San Rafael fire commissioner.