Matt Rourke/AP
A new program launched by Eagle County Paramedic Services in partnership with Eagle Valley Behavioral Health and Vail Health seeks to prevent opioid overdoses and death with the use of naloxone in the home.
“This is a harm reduction initiative,” said David Miller, a community paramedic at Eagle County Paramedics who is spearheading this program. “By distributing naloxone to patients who are abusing or are at risk of abusing opioids, including prescribed opioids after surgery, we’re hoping we can prevent opioid related deaths from overdose. It’s similar to having public access defibrillators in community spaces to assist people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest.”
Eagle County Paramedic Services
International Women’s Day was honored for the first time in 2011 in Denmark, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A century later, March 8 is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
At Eagle County Paramedic Services, we see the gender difference in our field daily. According to the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, 34% of EMTs are female and only 21% of paramedics are female. In other first responder careers, approximately 12% of the national police force is female and only 4% of paid firefighters are women.
Daily file photo
This story has been corrected to reflect that all patients are eligible for the ET3 program.
The local ambulance district is set to join a federal pilot program that could reduce costs for some patients.
Eagle County Paramedic Services is a participant in a federal program called “ET3.” The acronym stands for “Emergency Triage, Treat and Transport.” The program’s intent is to give any patient options to avoid an ambulance ride to an emergency room. Those are expensive forms of care, for individuals, insurers and government agencies.
Kevin Creek, the district’s community health specialist, said the program will launch locally in March. Other ambulance services have launched the program in the first weeks of this year. The program is run by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Kim Nelson, who joined Eagle County Paramedic Services as a part-time employee in October 1995 and became a full-time employee in January 1999, will retire Jan. 31.
Eagle River Fire Protection District/Special to the Daily
At about 1 p.m. on Thursday, Eagle River Fire Protection District crews were dispatched to a report of smoke from a structure in a large single family residence on Spring Creek Place in the Cordillera Valley Club area of Edwards.
Due to the complexity of the fire’s location, it took several hours of thermal heat tracing and overhaul operations before crews were confident in calling the fire out Thursday afternoon.The property was unoccupied, and no injuries were reported. The cause is still under investigation.
A person passing by reported smoke but no flames coming from the eaves of the structure, according to the ERFPD. Firefighters from Engine 12 reported seeing smoke from U.S. Highway 6 as they responded, and once on scene, they immediately accessed the roof to begin an offensive attack near a chimney. The roof was opened up, and a deep-seated fire was traced back to an adjacent chimney, with the fire reaching to the