WAUKESHA, Wis.– As the Waukesha Fire Department celebrates 50 years of providing paramedic-level care, leaders are reflecting on how far emergency medical services have come- and what lies ahead.
During Wednesday’s ceremony at Fire Station #1, Division Chief of Training Dennis Graff spoke about the department’s progress, particularly on the level of care paramedics are now able to deliver outside hospital walls.
“There are so many rewarding aspects of doing this job,” Chief Graff says. “Working for the fire department and certainly fighting fires, going out to car accidents and whatnot. But the strongest majority of our work rests on the EMS calls and the medical community. All the advancements in the medical community, what we’re able to do out in the field, things that were previously only able to be done in the emergency room with nurses and doctors, we now have the capabilities to deliver that same level of service in somebody’s living room or out on the streets at a car accident.”
Graff, who has served with the department for more than two decades, said the rise in medical technology and field capabilities has made a direct impact on patient outcomes and response times. But he also acknowledged the ongoing challenges- including rising call volume, staffing demands, and financial restraints.
One solution on the horizon: Community Paramedicine. It’s a growing program aimed at reducing 911 calls by addressing the root causes of frequent medical emergencies before they escalate.
“On the horizon here, you know some of our biggest challenges is how do we continue to deliver a high level of service, sometimes with financial restraints, and still meeting the community’s needs,” Graff said. ”We’re pushing very hard for a program called Community Paramedicine, where we’re going out and trying to identify the root problem of people’s need to call 911 and hopefully reducing the burden on the 911 system and oftentimes downstream in the healthcare system as well.”
Graff also praised the community’s ongoing support, especially during difficult moments in recent years.
“The good news is that evil doesn’t overcome good. The amount of support that we have seen from our community for other community members, the amount of support that we’ve seen from our community for public safety has been absolutely astounding. We appreciate it to the core.”
