From left, Miami Township Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Steve Kelly, regional director of Mission: Lifeline STEMI Systems of Care Jeff Gaylor, Trustee Mary Makley Wolff, Assistant Chief Dan Mack, Trustee Karl Schultz and Lieutenant Ross Pawlak stand with the department's Mission: Lifeline EMS award. Mack announced the department achieved the gold level, the highest level, during the Aug. 16, 2016 trustee meeting.

From left, Miami Township Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Steve Kelly, regional director of Mission: Lifeline STEMI Systems of Care Jeff Gaylor, Trustee Mary Makley Wolff, Assistant Chief Dan Mack, Trustee Karl Schultz and Lieutenant Ross Pawlak stand with the department's Mission: Lifeline EMS award. Mack announced the department achieved the gold level, the highest level, during the Aug. 16, 2016 trustee meeting.
By Kelly Cantwell
Editor

The Miami Township Fire and Emergency Medical Services had a lot to celebrate during the Aug. 16 Miami Township Trustee meeting.

In July 2015, the department announced they were one of the silver recognition Mission: Lifeline EMS award winners. Since they met the silver criteria, which requires the department to meet 75 percent compliance on each achievement measure, in 2015 and in 2016, they achieved the gold level this year.

The achievement measure are: Percentage of patients with non–traumatic chest pain age 35 or younger, treated and transported by EMS who received a pre–hospital 12–lead electrocardiogram, percentage of ST elevation myocardial infarction patients treated and transported directly to an STEMI receiving center, with pre–hospital first medical contact to device time in 90 minutes or less and percentage of lytic eligible STEMI patients treated and transported to an STEMI referring hospital for fibrinolytic therapy with a door–to–needle time of 30 minutes or less.  “

It is not enough to just simply have the equipment. The equipment has to not only be used properly, but also used within a certain period of time,” said Miami Township Assistant Chief Dan Mack.

It is also critical that the patient is taken to the right place for their condition, he said. Jeff Gaylor, regional director of Mission: Lifeline STEMI Systems of Care, deals with nearly 200 EMS agencies in the region.

“It’s a great indication of the kind of care that’s being provided to your community and your residents when the culture spreads like wildfire through the firehouse and through the chain of command, out to the public and to the trustees. That’s the sense that I get when I walk in here, is that it’s a culture of people that are invested in care,” Gaylor said.

Mission: Lifeline was created by the American Heart Association to help save lives and improve outcomes for people suffering from STEMI and non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome heart attacks, according to the AHA website.

The program makes first responders, hospitals and other healthcare providers into a team that uses guidelines to treat those patients, the website states.

Miami Township was one of 57 agencies in Ohio and one of 565 agencies nationwide to receive the award this year, Gaylor said.

It takes a whole department to win this,” he said.

By achieving the gold level, the department has shown that they can sustain excellence, which Gaylor said is by the dedication of those delivering care, in addition to the administration.

“Today we’re celebrating lives saved because of the hard work and dedication of Miami Township Fire and EMS,” Gaylor said.

The department makes 3,400 EMS runs a year, and a high percentage of that are residents who have chest pain or cardiac issues, Mack said.

He also recognized Lieutenant Ross Pawlak for the time he has put into keeping statistics, which help the department see where they are headed and helps them keep benchmarks. Without Pawlak, Mack said, the department would not be receiving this award.

“We’re very proud of our safety services,” Karl Schultz said.

Trustee Mary Makley Wolff thanked the residents for voting for levies to help fund the departments.

“This is a tremendous community we live in,” Wolff said.

The department also recognized Evan Page for saving a peer who was choking during a summer camp. Page, a Boy Scout, was one of the many Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, residents and more that the department has trained.

“Since its inception Miami Township Fire and EMS has placed a strong emphasis on offering CPR and first aid training to residents of our community,” Mack said.

It is very helpful to the department if someone is able to start giving care before paramedics are able to arrive on scene.

“It’s especially satisfying when we learn that one of our students who has gone through one of our classes was able to use the training they received from,” Mack said.

On June 16, Page was attending a camp at Tata Consultancy Services in Miami Township when he realized another camper had an airway obstruction and was choking. His training kicked in and he performed the Heimlich maneuver on the other boy.

“For this reason we’re pleased to present Evan Page this Civilian Life Saving Award,” Mack said.

Page’s instructor, James Petry, also attended the meeting and presented the award to Page.

“Thank you for taking action when needed,” Petry said, in addition to saying he was honored to give Page the award.

The department also celebrated another resident for his helpful actions.

John Reusing emailed Chief Steve Kelly a few months ago asking if he could paint the fire hydrants along Tara Ridge. Kelly said that he did not mind.

Reusing felt that the hydrants along his street could be improved. However, the 11 hydrants he has painted so far have not just been on Tara Ridge, but in other locations in the township as well.

We’re honored tonight to present Mr. Reusing with our Community Service Award,” Kelly said.

He added, “Thank you for your civic mindedness and the effort that you put in this to make everything look a little bit nicer.” Reusing, his wife and some of his family members were in the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Southgate, Kentucky on May 28, 1977, a fire that killed 165.

“We saw what all the firefighters went through with all of the people that didn’t make it,” Reusing said.

He added, “Ever since then I’ve always appreciated you guys.”