Travis County Commssioners Court
October 29, 2002
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Item 1
1 is to approve proclamation recognizing Austin-Travis County ems rescue
paramedics and Austin fire department in taking top honors at the statewide
rescue competition in 2002.
>> judge, we have thrilled that we have a lot of super stars
with us today, we would like to ask all of those folks to please gather themselves
around the microphones as we begin the proclamation. Come on, gordon, get
'em moving. [ laughter ] and commissioner warren, I will share the honors
in terms of reading the proclamation. Commissioner Moore and I will share
the honors. Whereas Austin Travis County e.m.s. Rescue paramedics have been
awarded two top honors in the annual wilderness rescue competition at garner
state park, the advanced category rescue category and the overall high point
travelling trophy, whereas 12 special operations paramedics competing in the
three day competition and Austin Travis County special operations has won
the overall high point tracking trophy six times since 1992 and whereas the
Texas association of emergency medical technicians sponsors the grueling three
day competition and public safety organizations throughout Texas compete in
a series of real time mountain and wilderness scenarios involving a critically
injured victim. The teams are tested on their efficiency, effectiveness, rescue
preparedness, teamwork, incident command, management, scene safety, emergency
medical skills, troubleshooting and team communications.
>> and whereas Austin Travis County e.m.s. Special operations
paramedics and nurse's staff, six especially equipped rescue ambulances and
the star flight helicopter placed strategically throughout the 1100 squire
mile Austin and Travis County response -- square mile Austin and Travis County
response area and whereas 19 members of the Austin fire department special
operations section also participated in the competition as an independent
team. And took top honors in the vertical rescue category, that is [inaudible]
rescue scenario on a cliff face, and now therefore be it resolved that we
the Travis County commissioners court do here by commend the Austin Travis
County e.m.s. Rescue paramedics and Austin fire department special operations
section for their achievements at this year's annual wilderness rescue competition
at garner state park, on this the 29th day of October, 2002, I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> congratulations.
>> good morning.
>> five microphones. [ laughter ] all of them working.
>> chief warren, dr. Rock is here, somebody please come forward.
Richard harrington. This is our command structure. [ laughter ] come forward
please.
>> somebody come forward. [multiple voices]
>> chief, if you will do the honors to start. Have a seat.
>> okay.
>> richard.
>> you can tell these are people of action. [ laughter ]
you would think all of these gentlemen, somebody would be brave enough to
step forward.
>> you all squish together.
>> well, they are very modest about what they have done,
but the truth of the matter is that these guys really train hard. They work
very hard. If we didn't even tell them to, I think they would be doing it
anyway. They love to do this kind of work. And they get a lot of -- of rewards
out of the fact that they are able to hone their skills to such a high level.
It's true, for both fire and e.m.s., That they work hard on this stuff and
they want to do it. So -- so it's not like I have anything to do with this.
To make them do this. They do it all on their open and they deserve all of
the credit.
>> super.
>> thanks, chief.
>> I echo what chief warren just said. This community is
very fortunate that we have such a large and high caliber group of people
trained in the special operations throughout the county. Specially after the
last 10 days of rain, only less than a year ago that we had -- where we had
county wide rescues going on. It's really comforting to know that we have
people not only committed to doing this, I agree with chief warren, they would
do it whether or not we were sponsoring them or otherwise. In fact most of
them have. So I would like to congratulate each of the teams and look forward
to working together for many, many more years.
>> casey, did you want to say anything on behalf of star
flight?
>> well, we have some star flight personnel that attended
this year, but I really think that to echo what chief warren and director
harrington said already, this was a perfect scenario I think for us in Austin.
You had two teams from Austin that both did very well in different categories,
I think that shows the diversity of the rescue capabilities that we have here,
which means a victim or a patient is in an environment, our teams are going
to find ways to manage that event and homely have a positive outcome. Hopefully
have a positive outcome.
>> where is garner located ?
>> down around leaky.
>> where is leaky? [ laughter ]
>> southwest of san antonio. This was, what, state-wide or
regional or --
>> state-wide.
>> it's been a state-wide conference that has -- has teams
from all over the state that come to an annual competition. It's really a
team building effort, also, because you get to interact with other people
from across the state. So ...
>> congratulations to you.
>> I'm feeling safer all of the time.
>> thank you all. [ applause ]
>> wait, wait.
>> we appreciate all that you do. All in favor? That passes
by unanimous vote.
>> they wanted to get a picture.
>> thank you all, thanks to y'all.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 10:25 AM