First Responder program has overcome many hurdles

Hannibal’s First Responder program recently passed its 10-year anniversary. However, at its outset virtually everyone seemed to have a bone to pick with it.
Among those suspicious of the motives behind the new program was the Marion County Ambulance District.
“Our relationship with the ambulance district initially was hostile ... extremely hostile,” said Dr. Brian Brown, chief medical officer of the HFD. “The fear on their part was that we were going to go take over the ambulance service. That wasn’t our intent. I’d be absolutely scared witless if I had to. We were there as an augmentation and after working together, side by side for awhile, that progressively changed and we’ve got an excellent working relationship with the ambulance district at this time. It’s teamwork.”
Cathy Williams, administrator of the Marion County Ambulance District, has been a full-time employee of the district for almost two decades. She agrees that the days of animosity are long gone.
“The attitudes of the fire department versus the ambulance, that’s all changed. I think that we work very well together,” she said.
There were skeptics at city hall.
“A couple of city managers ago, there were some concerns of costs,” said Brown. “We actually sat down and figured out what the incremental costs of our First Responder run was. Exclusive of capital purchases we figured out that by utilizing pre-exising equipment and personnel, our incremental cost for First Responder runs was about $25. That’s dirt cheap. The equipment was here. What we were doing is being more efficient in utilizing it.”
In 1998, as well as in 2008, there are those who will see an ambulance and First Responder truck following each other and ask, “What’s the point?”
“I’ve heard people say, ‘Why are you running an ambulance and a First Responder? Isn’t that kind of stupid?’” said Mayor Roy Hark, who was the city’s fire chief when the First Responder program was being launched. “If I get there a minute ahead of the ambulance and get life saving procedures started... Every second counts. It could be the difference between life and death, or maybe life with a disabling medical condition such as a stroke.
“We’re not there to compete with each other. We’re there to help each other for the benefit of everyone that we’re here to serve. We’re there to serve the public. That’s what we want to do.”
“There’s a lot of misconceptions out there about what we do,” said Brown. “In the last 10 years we’ve taken programs and beefed them up dramatically to where these guys are trained to do just about everything. We’ve got the equipment to do just about everything.”
Finally, there was even some resistance within the fire department regarding the program.
“You had guys who had been on the department for 20 years that didn’t hire on to do this,” said John Baker, assistant fire chief and HFD training officer. “Throughout the department, they were professional enough that they were going to do a good job. To a man they all pitched in and did a great job of embracing the new disciplines.”
Why were members of the HFD so willing to take on new duties?
“We were only wanting to improve ourselves ... make ourselves a little more valuable,” said Hark. “Instead of standing around in the middle of the street looking at each other and just picking up a cot, we wanted to be able to help. And that’s what we did.”
Brown applauds the work that firefighters have put in to provide the service they do today.
“We get a level of dedication from our guys that I have never seen anywhere. Never,” he said. “These guys really worked at doing a good job at it. Over the past 10 years they’ve continued that. They don’t back down. They show a level of professionalism that I’ll put up against anybody in the country ... anybody.”