In Webster County and all across America, teams of dedicated professionals stand ready to render medical assistance in emergencies. For some this is their career. For many others, it is a volunteer undertaking that is performed in addition to their normal employment.

It’s impossible to overstate how important emergency medical service (EMS) personnel can be to just about any of us in a moment when knowledgeable help is needed fast. Honoring the men and women who handle this vital work is appropriate at all times, but especially so just now. This is National EMS Week

In 1974, President Gerald Ford proclaimed the first National EMS Week.

Today, the event is led by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians and the American College of Emergency Physicians.

In the last year, Fort Dodge experienced a major transition in emergency medical service.

On July 1, 2018, the Fort Dodge Fire Department assumed full responsibility for the ambulance service once provided by UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center in a transition that hospital and city officials say provides outstanding care in a financially sustainable way.

The hospital had provided ambulance service since 1958, when it was known as Lutheran Hospital. That service continued as the facility’s name changed to Bethesda General Hospital in 1969, to Trinity Regional Hospital in 1974 and to today’s UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center.

When it answered its final call last June, it was the longest operating hospital ambulance service in the state.

The Fort Dodge Fire Department began providing some emergency care in 1931, when it acquired an oxygen inhalator and the firefighters received some training from a local doctor.

For decades, the department responded to all medical emergency calls in the city with a fire truck staffed by firefighters who were crosstrained as emergency medical technicians or paramedics.

In 2012, the department began providing some ambulance service to supplement the hospital’s service.

The decision to have the Fire Department assume full responsibility for ambulance service resulted from dialogue between city and medical center officials and followed a consulting firm’s study in 2017 that made recommendations for strengthening the way EMS was provided in our community.

The Fort Dodge Fire Department is by no means the only provider of emergency medical care in Webster County. There are volunteer EMS units in Gowrie, Dayton, Clare and Vincent. Firefighters, deputy sheriffs and police officers serve in a vital first responder role before the ambulances arrive.

Throughout the region there are other EMS agencies ready to assist at a moment’s notice.

The public is grateful for the service of all EMS providers, and we are as well.