The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Emergency Medical Services Division licensed the Grand Rapids Fire Department as a Non-Transport Prehospital Basic Life Support Agency, or BLS. The department has been working toward the certification for the past two years and began providing BLS services in September.
Non-transport prehospital BLS is a set of life-saving medical procedures performed in the early stages of an emergency to patients who need continuous medical monitoring. The goal is to simply maintain the life functions of a person who is having a medical emergency until more advanced care can be provided.
According to the GRFD, its department is first to arrive on-scene more than 90% of the time, so the BLS certification was a natural next step in the on-scene services they provide.
The upgrade allows GRFD emergency technicians to deliver basic life support services to individuals upon arrival at an active scene, enhancing its ability to save lives and provide emergency medical care prior to the arrival of ambulance services.
Out of the approximately 25,000 alarms the department responds to each year, about 17,000 (or 68%) are medical related.
