Travis County Commssioners Court
February 10, 2004
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 3
3. Approve proclamation declaring February 11, 2004 as "survivor Austin day."
>> we have a theme going on here.
>> dr. Rock and richard, welcome. And would you like to introduce the people that you have here before I read your proclamation.
>> yes, sir, that would be great.
>> good morning, thank you. I'm ed rock from -- from -- medical director from Austin Travis County e.m.s. With us today to my left are debbie stewart and her daughter alison stuart who are really our guests of honor this morning. Richard harrington the director of Austin Travis County e.m.s. Mike summers and ana savana from Austin Travis County e.m.s. And June gibson from the american heart association national center.
>> welcome.
>> we do have a proclamation for you all today. I will read that. Whereas emergency medical services are a vital public service in the Austin Travis County emergency medical services system stands ready to provide life-saving care to victims of cardiac arrest 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whereas the american heart association strives to reduce the incident of heart disease and stroke through professional and public education. Whereas the Austin Travis County emergency medical services system consists of paramedics, star flight pilots, flight nurses and medics, communication medics, firefighters, park police, airport police, corporate first responders and hundreds of Travis County first responders representing 13 emergency service districts, educators and administrators. Whereas survivor Austin 2 is sponsored by the Austin survivor partnership and includes Austin Travis County emergency medical services, the american heart association, and the Austin fire department. Whereas access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery from sudden -- sudden cardiac arrest and whereas it is appropriate to acknowledge cardiac arrest survivors, their families and their rescuers and to recognize survivor Austin 2, the Austin annual celebration for cardiac arrest survivors and their rescuers, now therefore be it resolved that we the -- members of the Travis County Commissioners court in recognition of this event do hereby proclaim February the 11th, 2004 as survivor Austin day. In Travis County and encourage all residents of Travis County to join in renewing our dedication to the protection. Signed this 10th day of February, I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> comments?
>> well, thank you. And -- very, very much. As I said before, this has really been a gift that alison and her family have given to all of us. We struggle as everyone knows with cardiac arrest, a scenario where the patient's heart stops and they stop breathing and nationally survival from cardiac arrest hovers in the 2 to 3% range. We have been blessed in the Austin Travis County community that our survival rate is about 10 to 11%. And in large part, given the efforts of individuals involved in rescutation, the folks willing to go through the process to be able to take care of these patients. Just before christmas over the last year, alison suffered a cardiac arrest at school. And one of the things that -- that certainly makes a difference in survival is that all of those folks from different walks of life kick in with basically one goal, and that goal is to improve survival and get our patients back to life and home work and -- and everything else that was going on before the event. The important part about this particular process, as we were talking about out in the hallway, alison and the family give the rescuers a gift back. To take all of the science, all of the technology, all of the drugs and say, we are in the people business and the people business is what you represent and we thank you for that and we certainly thank the Commissioners court for recognizing that. Tomorrow we will be recognizing the 2003 cardiac arrest survivors and the hundreds of rescuers throughout our community, volunteer, career, fire based, in the air, on the ground, that have brought our patients back to a functioning lifestyle in this community. So thank you very much. And in -- particularly thank you all for being willing to -- to share and coming back with rescuers in this community.
>> I would like to thank you all, also. And tied into that is also response time. I know that there's been a reduction as far as response time getting to the persons out there that need the service. And I know that there's been a great reduction in response time. So -- so that is very, very critical is getting the folks in time. So I would like to am applaud you on that,ments. Reducing the response time to get those folks that have these critical emergencies, that means a lot to the folks in Travis County.
>> where is the big event tomorrow?
>> at the renaissance hotel up in the arboretum area. Starts at 2:00 p.m. We will recognize the survivors of cardiac arrest for 2003, their families, their rescuers from -- from the entire system will have a chance to -- to meet folks in a different environment than their first meeting occurred.
>> public invited?
>> public is invited.
>> even the Commissioners court? [laughter]
>> we can chat amongst ourselves. We would be honored.
>> some of us have already rsvped. What's also interesting is we are going through the e.m.s. Interlocal discussions. Some of the statistics that we have looked at is that in spite of the incredible growth within Travis County and the incredible growth in the number of ambulance runs in -- both in the city of Austin and outside, we found that our investment at Travis County in the seven neambulance stations in addition to the one that we already had out at hudson bend, we have been able to keep up with the increase in growth and in fact during that same time period, the response time related to the Travis County stations has dropped. So if anybody wonders whether that investment was worth it, alison, you were worth it. @ So makes all of the difference.
>> right.
>> thank you.
>> we appreciate all of you all and all that you do.
>> dr. Rock, I want to personally recognize and thanks dr. Rock, richard and all of the emt folks. I mean, because the one time, hopefully the only time that I will ride with dr. Rock, I did get to witness a cardiac situation and it was amazing to watch the team jump into action and to see exactly, you know, how talented and committed of a group we have. I assure you that there will be a young man one of these days that will be more than glad that you kept those beautiful blue eyes, you know, living. Somebody is going to be fortunate. I can't take my eyes off your blue shirt or blue eyes, what a beautiful young lady for such a wonderful opportunity to witness. I mean, thanks so much to all of you. And congratulations alison, look forward to, you know, being part of this program for a long time and being there tomorrow. Thanks.
>> thank you.
>> I know that we would like to have a picture, dr. Rock, is that what --
>> warren --
>> warren has asked. [laughter] the Commissioners court, would you like to -- judge, can we come down? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> I have a proclamation for you, dr. Rock and we will take a picture with everyone.
Last Modified: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 6:44 PM