Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, February 24, 2012
www.issaquahreporter.com
Focusing fire aid Program frees firefighters from non-emergency medical calls
Preschool students line up outside Sunset Elementary School. From the left, Cash Sorensen, Kennedy Chung, Rylie Clark, Tosia Nealis, William White. Below, Diego Garcia.
BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
CELESTE GRACEY, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
Little People
Big Needs BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
E
rinn White knew there was something wrong with her son when he was born, but a diagnosis eluded doctors. William’s weight fell off the charts, and at four months he still couldn’t hold up his head. Specialists prepared the family for the worst possibilities – it could be muscular dystrophy. The little boy spent a year in physical therapy before he could sit up. He turned two before taking his first steps. But as he progressed, Erinn’s fears melted into hope. William still has what specialists call motor and speech delays. He’s clumsy on his feet and occasionally slurs a sentence, but the 4-year-old now romps around the playground with peers. A few weeks ago he
was even seen cutting in the slide line by climbing up a ladder. William still doesn’t have a diagnosis, and so the White family can only guess where he’ll be 10 years from now. However, early intervention made his ability to walk before preschool possible, Erinn said. “Even just the fact that we’re talking
Preschool program gives special needs kids a head start about putting him in a kindergarten class feels wonderful.” One force helping with William’s progress is the Issaquah School District, which is required to provide education for children with disabilities from birth. As a baby, William received services through Kindering, a Bellevuebased nonprofit for disabled children. The district paid some of the cost. When William turned 3, he joined the district’s preschool program, designed for children with a range of challenges. The program has 100 students spread across three schools. SEE PRESCHOOL, 7
Eastside Fire and Rescue will no longer be sending out fire trucks to every medical call. A new program will keep a medical technician 12 hours a day to handle non-emergency medical problems, which make up a tenth of EFR’s call volume. The move would free up fire crews to focus on heart attacks and house fires, said Greg Tryon, EFR’s deputy chief of operations. As it is now, if firefighters respond to a non-emergency call and an emergency call comes in, they have decide whether to split the team or leave the patient. Under the new program, the Community Medical Technician would have responded to the first call. The program also will reduce wear and tare on expensive aid cars and fire engines, providing a cost incentive. The CMTs use an SUV truck. King County Public Health put forward $243,000 a year to pay for the one-year pilot program, plus money for new equipment. The University of Washington also has an interest. It’s studying the CMT program as well as something similar in Woodinville. It won’t require EFR to hire any new staff, and will draw from about 60 firefighters who volunteered for the program. SEE FIRE, 5
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