EMS saves lives

Glen Albright

The Mukilteo Fire Department is asking voters to renew the levy for Emergency Medical Service (EMS) during the Aug. 6 primary election. I wanted to share why this is important to me, personally.

My parents moved to Mukilteo in 2022. That same year on my birthday, I had plans to have dinner with them. When I arrived at their home, Dad told me that Mom wasn’t feeling well so it would just be the two of us going out for dinner.

Naturally, I asked what was wrong with Mom. My mother said, “I think I’m having a heart attack. Don’t worry.”

You have to know my mom to see the humor in this. She is tough, accomplished, and very little slows her down. I understand why she thought a little “heart attack” was no big deal.

To me? It was a very big deal. I had her sit down and I called 911 immediately. Paramedics arrived and, after a little coaxing, they administered medication to regulate her heartbeat before they transported her to the hospital.

It’s important that I call out the word paramedics. Mukilteo’s EMS program includes both basic and advanced life support – the highest level of pre-hospital care possible for patients.

Paramedics train 1,000-plus hours and are the only ones authorized to administer drugs or do other invasive procedures to save lives. Without them, Mom would not have received the intravenous medication she needed before reaching the hospital.

Seventy-eight percent of all emergency calls in Mukilteo are EMS-related. This is the most used program we offer when it comes to emergency services.

The EMS levy is capped at 50 cents per $1,000 of your property’s assessed value and can never exceed that amount. The levy renewal would fund up to six more emergency personnel, advanced training programs, and replace ambulances, medical equipment, and supplies.

The takeaway from this is simple: EMS saves lives. We hope you never need it, but we want to be here if you do.