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Fr N 0 V o 21991, Boa 90 FA�r -1 894 INDIAN RIVER COUNTY 78th YEAR - NO.43 NOVEMBER 1,1893 34 PAGES, 4 SECTIONS 259 SOME COPY County's EMS Named Best In Nation n,Mj!ur ,1 Staff Wrriter Indian River County residents are served by the best emergency medical service in the nation. The county's emergency medical tech- nicians and paramedics were awarded the EMT/Paramedic Service of the Year Award at the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics. Conference in St. Louis or Saturday. Last year, Indian River County took top honors at the state level for its emer- gency medical service. "This has been a goal of ours for the last five years, to be the best we can be," said Jim Judge, chief of emergency med- ical services. "The staff takes a lot of pride in what it does. If we won it for any- body, we won it for the community. It just so happens we got recognized along the way." Judge, who attended the awards cere- mony with County Medical Director Dr. Roger Nicosia and Operations Supervi- sor Lloyd Parker, said the county's EMS unit was awarded an 80 -pound bronze trophy depicting paramedics working on a patient. "It's a pretty darn prestigious award," said Ed Kuvlefky, a medic supervisor on duty Sunday. "A lot of work and effort went into it. It's nice to be recognized." - To qualify for the award, numerous let- ters of recommendation, including those E from Gov. Lawton Chiles and Los An- jeles Dodgers manager Tommy La- sorda, were submitted along with a detailed report of the system and local news clippings. �. "They (judges) liked so many things that we do. When we rescued the mana- tee, that caught their hearts," Judge said. :;The child safety program, the unit's in- teraction with the community and the unit's innovative chain.of command also drew positive attention, Judge said. ._ The county took over emergency medi- cal service from Indian River Memorial Hospital in February 1989 and has a paid staff of 45 with 30 volunteers. Since that time, EMS has answered nearly 50,000 calls without a single lawsuit or accident in which an EMT driver was faulted, according to Judge. What most surprised Judge at the con- vention was when an EMT from Alaska mentioned he knew of Indian River Coun-' -ty's programs.