Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

Flossmoor's Paramedic Program

The Flossmoor Fire Department was first involved in the South Cook County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Program at its inception in the fall of 1973 when 6 of our members enrolled in the 1st Paramedic program offered in our region. These first 6 students challenged and passed the certification examination administered by the Illinois Department of Public Health to become licensed Emergency Medical Technician Paramedics (EMT-Ps). As a result, Flossmoor's Paramedic program became operational on September 1, 1974. In 1975, the 1st full year of service, our Paramedics responded to approximately 102 EMS requests.

Today our Paramedics respond to more than 1,100 EMS calls annually. Our program is staffed by a mix of full-time, contract, part-time, and paid-on-call Paramedic and Emergency Medical Technican (EMT)-Basic licensed personnel.

EMS Coordinator

Our Paramedic program is managed by our EMS Coordinator. The EMS Coordinator is responsible for tracking EMT-B and EMT-P certifications, required annual continuing education, and relicensure of our personnel. In addition, the EMS Coordinator is also responsible for:

• Ambulance license renewal
• Drug and controlled substance inventories
• EMS inventory tracking
• EMS program coordination with the South Cook County EMS System
• Maintaining EMS equipment
• Tracking cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructor certifications and CPR classes

Ambulance

Flossmoor maintains two ambulances for the provision of services which allows us to handle two ambulance calls simultaneously. Should subsequent calls be received, a "Mutual-Aid" ambulance from an adjacent community is dispatched. Additionally, we maintain a shared reserve back-up ambulance with the Villages of Homewood and Hazel Crest. This reserve ambulance is pushed into service when one of the three communities has a primary ambulance out for repairs or routine maintenance. This is just one example of how we work collectively with our neighbors.

EMS Responses by Year