Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Division

ALS Engine Fleet
EMS Equipment
Advances in Technology
Patient's Privacy

The Hanover Park Fire Department (formally known as Ontarioville Fire Protection District) has been the sole provider of emergency ambulances to the area since the 1940s.  This service was upgraded in 1976 to the paramedic level, starting with four volunteer paramedics and one set of Advanced Life Support equipment.  Initial paramedic response was made from a small rescue squad with paramedics “jumping” to the ambulance when a patient required advanced life support care.  As the demand for advanced level care grew, additional equipment was purchased and the paramedic services were moved to the department’s ambulances.  Currently the department operates three ambulances and three advance life support engines. 

Advanced Life Support services are designed to bring rapid emergency room care to the side of a patient struck with a sudden illness or injury.  Paramedics are trained to conduct a comprehensive patient assessment and then treatments designed to stabilize a patient’s condition prior to and during transport to an emergency facility.

• The road to paramedic certification begins with licensure as an Emergency Medical Technician – Basic.  Emergency Medical Technicians undergo a six month training program covering the following topics:
  • Medical Ethics and Legal Issues
  • Scene Size-up
  • Anatomy and Physiology
  • Patient Assessment
  • Basic Airway Management
  • Assessment of the Medical Patient
  • Respiratory Emergencies
  • Cardiac Emergencies
  • Pediatric, Adolescent and Geriatric Care
  • Poisoning and Overdose
  • Environmental Emergencies and Burns
  • Behavioral Emergencies
  • Obstetric and Gynecological Emergencies
  • Bleeding and Shock
  • Trauma to soft tissues, skeletal system, head and spine
  • Lifting and Moving of Patients
  • Communications
  • Documentation
  • Ambulance Operations
  • Triage
• After a minimum of six months as an EMT, application can be made to attend paramedic school which is an intensive 18-month program designed to teach advanced assessment and management skills.  Education builds on what was learned as an EMT with students trained in the following areas:
  • Comprehensive patient assessment
  • Advanced airway management including intubation, needle cricothyrotomy and surgical cricothyrotomy
  • Pulse Oximetry, End-Tidal Carbon Dioxide Monitoring, and Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)
  • Fluid and Electrolyte Balance including intravenous therapy
  • Pharmacology
  • Chest Decompression
  • Care for the Cardiac Patient including EKG interpretation, Defibrillation, Cardioversion, Transcutaneous Cardiac Pacing
  • Anaphylaxis

Hanover Park Paramedics work under the direction of Sherman Hospital as part of The Greater Elgin Mobile Intensive Care Program.  Paramedics are required to attend 96-hours of continuing education every four years to maintain their license.

The Department operates a fleet of three Advanced Life Support Mobile Intensive Care Ambulances.  One ambulance operates from Fire Station Number 1 and a second from Fire Station Number 2.  The third unit is used as a back-up.
 

ALS Engine Fleet

The department also has three paramedic equipped engines.  One operates from Fire Station Number 1 and a second from Fire Station Number 2.  The third is used as a back-up. 

The Advanced Life Support Engines are designed to begin patient care prior to the arrival of an ambulance.  Engine Company Paramedics are also used to assist the ambulance personnel with patient care.

EMS Equipment

Paramedic units are equipped with cardiac monitors capable of reading the heart’s electrical currents as well as providing electric shocks to a heart that has stopped pumping blood.  The monitors also have external pacemaker capabilities, will monitor blood pressures, blood oxygen saturations and exhaled carbon dioxide levels.

The ambulance cot is designed to hold a patient weighing 500 lbs, as well as a cardiac monitor and oxygen tank.

The cots can be raised or lowered to a variety of positions.

Each ambulance is also equipped with a folding “stair chair” for ease of moving patients up and down flights of stairs.  This piece of equipment can also double as a second stretcher when needed.

Patients involved in a fall or a motor vehicle accident are placed on a backboard, along with a neck brace and head immobilizer. This equipment is used to prevent further injuries to the neck or spine and is frequently used as a precaution until a patient can undergo an x-ray at the hospital to rule out a spinal injury.

Smaller backboards are carried to immobilize pediatric patients.

All ambulances and engines carry a portable suction unit to help protect the patient's airway from vomit, blood or secretions.

Advances in Technology

Since the inception of our paramedic program numerous advances in equipment have been made.  Originally, paramedics used a 25-pound radio to contact the physician located in the emergency room and to transmit the EKG they were seeing in the field.  This radio has been replaced with a cell phone weighing less than 8 ounces.
 

In the past paramedics used the LifePak V to monitor a patient’s EKG and provides defibrillation when needed.

Current monitoring is accomplished with the LifePak XII which provides 12-Lead EKG, defibrillation, cardioversion, and serves as a cardiac pacemaker, will monitor blood pressures, blood oxygen saturations and exhaled carbon dioxide levels. The unit can also fax the patient’s EKG to the physician at the hospital via a cell phone. 

The 12-Lead EKG, different than what was obtained in the past, gives a complete view of the heart’s electrical systems and can definitively identify a need for heart catherization immediately upon arrival at the emergency room.

Sherman Hospital, as the resource hospital, maintains all patient care records generated by the department.  Questions regarding copies of a medical report should be addressed to Sherman Hospital EMS Office:

934 Center St.
Elgin, IL   60120
Phone 847-429-8737  

Hanover Park has a comprehensive cost recovery ordinance which allows patients to be charged for emergency medical services. Costs are as follows:

• Resident
  • Basic Life Support Care $300
  • Advanced Life Support Level I Care $350
  • Advanced Life Support Level II Care $500
  • Response and treatment without transport $100
• Non-Residents
  • Basic Life Support Care $500
  • Advanced Life Support Level I Care $550
  • Advanced Life Support Level II Care $700
  • Response and treatment without transport $100
• Additional Charges:
  • $6 per transport mile with a minimum charge of $48
  • Extrication rescue charge of $250

Any billing questions should be directed to

Andres Medical Billing  
3323 N. Ridge Ave   
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
Phone 847-577-9515

Patient's Privacy

All patients receive a Notice of Privacy Practices form, either at time of treatment or mailed to their home address following the incident.  For a copy of this form click here.

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Village of Hanover Park
2121 West Lake Street
Hanover Park, IL  60133
(630) 372-4200
Hours:
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Thursday, 8:00 am - 7:30 pm

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