Travis County Commissioners Court
May 22, 2007
Item 3
Number 3 is to approve proclamation recognizing may 20th through 20062007 as emergency medical services week in Travis County. Should I go ahead and read the proclamation?
>> yes, sir.
>> it reads, whereas emergency medical services is a vital public service to our community, whereas the members of emergency medical services teams are ready to provide life saving care to those in need twoashz 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whereas access to quality emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury. Whereas Austin Travis County emergency medical services consists of paramedics, pilots, flight nurses, flight medics, communication medics, educators, administrators and others. And the Travis County Austin e.m.s. System consists of over 2,000 members, including volunteer and career firefighters, park police and hundreds of Travis County first responders. Whereas the members of emergency medical services teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life saving skills and whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and the accomplishments of emergency medical services providers by designing emergency medical services week, now therefore be it resolved that we the Travis County Commissioners court here by proclaim may 20th through may 26th, 2007 as emergency medical services week in Travis County and encourage all residents of Travis County to recognize and appreciate our emergency medical service providers. And I move approval.
>> second.
>> morning.
>> good morning. Judge and Commissioners, this is one of those rare moments where we all get to come together and celebrate together emergency medical services week. I'm dan any hobby. I'm the executive director for emergency services and it's quite an honor for me to be sitting next to these professionals because I get to see them at work and all the many staff that they are associated with at work, and what a job that they do for us. And so to be able to have a week of where we can thank them is indeed a great privilege for me. So I would like to if I could just pass this along because we have representatives in this room, components of which make the system work as a whole. So I'd like to start if I could with the deputy director of emergency medical services for the city of Austin. He'll say a few wore. That will be on the ground side. Then we'll move to the air side and that will be with casey, the program manager, as well as our aviation director, willie is here with us, which is rare because he's usually flying around here, but he's with us today. And of course we have our first responders, and what would we do without them. And Ron mull enberg, the fire chief of Pflugerville, is part of our first responders.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. Thank you so much for taking time to celebrate with us. This is an important time for us. Every year we have e.m.s. Week. And for e.m.s. It's a big deal. It's the only time that we actually get to stop and think about what we do and why we do it? So not only is it a time for the public to see what we do, it's a time for us to sit back and try to remember what it was that got us into this in the first place. Paramedic, emt's, firefighters, all of us, we have to do some tough stuff out there. And it sticks with you through the rest of your life, every one of those cases becomes part of you. So it's important for us to take time every now and then and stop and think about that. One of the thing that we're doing this year is to give back to our community is we're doing some open houses and some opportunities for the public to come in and visit some of our stations. It's too many to list, so I'll give you the website, atcems.org. We have a newsroom there and I encourage you to go in and look and see what some of the events are that we're doing. And to come out and join us, take a few minutes and have a soda pop with us and talk about what we do directly with our medics and hear some of those exciting stories. We're very proud of what we're doing. This is my first year here, so I spent a large part of it learning how this system works and I've found a lot of very good things, which is great. But this is also a time of renewal for us, renewal of relationships and opportunities. And I really look forward to working with all of you in the future as we go through that renewal and partaking of opportunities. Thank you very foch this morning.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners. On behalf of all the Travis County first responders, e.m.s. And public safety personnel, we'd like to thank the Commissioners court for the effort that you do because a lot of what we're able to do and provide to the community as a result of continued support from our elected and political officials because without the support that you guys give us we just couldn't provide the service that we do. So I wanted to take this opportunity to not only recognize what e.m.s. Does, but also what happens behind the scenes that make it all possible. So thank you.
>> good morning, judge Biscoe and Commissioners. Tomorrow, may the 23rd, from fivep.m. To nine p.m. We'll be having an open house at the as far flight hanger. You all received an invitation. I would like to personally invite you all out as well as the citizens of Travis County to come out and visit with us tomorrow night. Starflight has made a lot of changes the last year and we will have all of our nice rescue equipment on display for all of you to see, including the public.
>> no dismition fee?
>> no admission at all.
>> [ laughter ]
>> I want to say y'all are doing a good job. As recent as this morning I heard that starflight was deployed to rescue a couple of folk that was caught up in a water crodding situation. -- water crossing situation. So just the whole operation, ground and air, y'all are doing a great job and I think -- in fact, I will give you a round of applause. You do a great service for this county.
>> [ applause ]
>> keith?
>> judge, Commissioners. I am the fire chief in district number 2, the Pflugerville area. I'm here this morning on behalf of all the emergency service districts, first responder program in Travis County to thank you for this proclamation to shine a light on a system that's built with a lot of pride and a lot of genius and a lot of special skill. But more importantly in shining the light through the proclamation on the e.m.s. System for Austin and Travis County, I thank you a special thank you, as casey has said, without the support of the Commissioners court and other elected officials, we would not have the system that we have today. So I thank you and you must share in the limelight that we have this week. Thank you very much.
>> thank y'all.
>> is that it?
>> I think that's it, judge. We thank everybody else for coming that's with them and with us today.
>> we appreciate all you do. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
>> [ applause ]
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Last Modified:
Wednesday, May 23, 2007, 8:00 AM