By Aaron Hale
The Naples Daily News
NORTH NAPLES, Fla. — After a nearly two-year hiatus, North Naples Fire Control and Rescue District is now just weeks away from reintroducing its advanced life support (ALS)program.
That program has been the center of a public safety debate in Collier County.
The Florida Department of Health issued the fire district a state license to perform ALS on Monday, following the Collier County Commission’s approval in January to start its own program.
ALS certification allows a paramedic to use more potent drugs and enhanced medical tools in severe pre-hospital emergency situations.
Following a training dispute with county Medical Director Dr. Robert Tober, North Naples firefighter paramedics had been barred from performing ALS without supervision of Collier County Emergency Medical Service paramedics since 2009.
Opponents of the district’s ALS program have argued that without Tober’s training protocol, ALS techniques can be potentially harmful to patients in the field.
Although the training dispute was never settled, the North Naples fire district will now be able to start its own program under the supervision of the district’s medical director, Dr. Jeffrey Panozzo.
Although the required paperwork is in for the district to provide ALS, Jorge Aguilera, the district’s deputy chief of EMS, said he doesn’t expect the program to be operational until the end of March.
Currently, about 30 paramedics are going through a training program led by Panozzo.
The paramedics still have to take a three-day written exam that will be administered through Hodges University and undergo a comprehensive assessment from Panozzo.
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