AMERICAN FORK — American Fork's emergency-response team could gain approval to have around-the-clock paramedic staffing by the end of the month.
Jay Christensen, head of the city's fire and rescue department, said the city has been looking since 2004 to obtain the required license to send paramedics on emergency calls.
Up to this point, Christensen said, the department hasn't been able to get the license because of a lack of funds.
"You have to prioritize things," said Mayor Heber Thompson. "We don't have all of the money that we'd like to do all of the programs that we'd like to do. But I think we've chosen to think of this as a high priority, and we want to cover that in this year's budget."
The city employs 34 on-call emergency medical technicians. Five are qualified paramedics — which have more training than EMTs — but they work as EMT intermediates because the city isn't licensed to employ paramedics.
With the license, those EMT intermediates could do the work of paramedics. Plus, the city could hire eight to 12 new paramedics who would work 32 hours a week.
With the additional hiring, the city would have two paramedics working 24/7 to respond to emergency situations, as well as the on-call EMTs.
"It's just about time," Thompson said. "I'm happy to have the best capability possible when an emergency arises that has a medical component. . . . I'm sure the residents are going to rest easier at night knowing that capability is there."
Paramedics receive more than 600 hours of training, while EMTs attend 150 hours of school. Paramedics are qualified to perform more extensive medical procedures when responding to an emergency scene and are also qualified to use more cardiac drugs than EMTs.
"If you are having a heart attack or cardiac problem, they have the know-how and the drugs and the equipment to treat the patient," Christensen said. "It's more of an advanced life support rather than a basic life support."
Christensen estimated the American Fork emergency-response agency responds to approximately 1,600 medical calls a year.
The agency has already received more than 20 applications to be paramedics, he said.
Christensen and Thompson said they expect the necessary $190,000 adjustment to the city's budget to allow the change to be approved in late June.
E-mail: achoate@desnews.com