History of The Evanston Fire Department – Part 81

From Phil Stenholm:

Another installment in the History of the Evanston Fire Department.

ADVANCE OR JUMP

After World War II, Advance Ambulance became the leading private ambulance service on the North Shore, primarily transporting patients between hospitals, nursing homes, and residences. Their Evanston station was located in a former American Railway Express garage at 1019 Davis Street, with additional stations in Skokie and Chicago.

In the 1970s, Advance moved its three suburban ambulances to a new three-bay facility at 2421 Dempster Street in Evanston, near the Skokie border. In 1980, they proposed an innovative plan to the City of Evanston and Village of Skokie: to take over medical transport services from their Dempster Street location. The idea was to replace the existing MICU ambulances with Advance units staffed by EMTs, handling billing and insurance while guaranteeing rapid response with up to five ambulances available simultaneously.

The fire departments would still provide paramedic care, but instead of having firefighters assigned to ambulances, paramedics and ALS equipment would be integrated into engine companies. This would allow for fully staffed engine and truck companies across both departments. A fire department paramedic could ride in the Advance ambulance, allowing the crew to remain operational with a smaller team.

Evanston had plans for three paramedic engine companies, one non-paramedic engine, a truck company, and a quint company, while Skokie would have three paramedic units as well. Both communities ultimately rejected the proposal, though it could have led to a cooperative automatic-aid agreement.

In 1987, Chief Sam Hicks retired after 37 years. Raymond Brooks, the second African American chief in Evanston, took over. He introduced the Jump Company Plan in 1988, assigning paramedics to three engine companies. However, this led to longer response times and confusion, highlighted by an incident in 1991 where a firefighter transported a patient alone during a fire.

A year later, a scandal involving falsified paramedic records affected 80% of the EFD’s paramedics. Though no criminal charges were filed, many were suspended, and a re-certification process was required. Several paramedics declined to retest, and some failed. Chief Brooks resigned in 1991, later becoming a fire chief in California and Alabama.

With the Jump Company Plan abandoned, EMS returned to a more traditional model, with two front-line ambulances and a third “jump” unit. By 1999, all five fire stations were equipped with ALS gear, and nearly two-thirds of EFD members were certified paramedics, reducing the need for dedicated MICU ambulances.

Linoleic acid type perilla seed oil

Perilla Edible Oil,Perilla Oil Healthy,Perilla Oil,Perilla Seed Oil Pregnancy

Jilin Chunyi Industrial Co., Ltd , https://www.perillaseed.com