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History
Early History
In August 1981, the La Porte Area Emergency Corps was organized. The Emergency Corps consisted of about 24 personnel, which included full-time, part-time, and volunteer staffing. Also, 2 ambulances were certified as basic life support units. In 1984 the La Porte Area Emergency Corps was adopted by the City of La Porte and was made a division of the Police Department. And in 1987, the City of La Porte Emergency Medical Service (EMS) became a division of the La Porte Fire Department.
By this time, the City of La Porte EMS was known as one of the top emergency providers in the State of Texas.
In August 1981, the La Porte Area Emergency Corps was organized. The Emergency Corps consisted of about 24 personnel, which included full-time, part-time, and volunteer staffing. Also, 2 ambulances were certified as basic life support units. In 1984 the La Porte Area Emergency Corps was adopted by the City of La Porte and was made a division of the Police Department. And in 1987, the City of La Porte Emergency Medical Service (EMS) became a division of the La Porte Fire Department.
By this time, the City of La Porte EMS was known as one of the top emergency providers in the State of Texas.
Growth
In 1988, a new EMS building was constructed and dedicated on North C Street. The new building became the residence for the ambulances providing closed bays and new living quarters for the personnel.
On into the 1990’s, the City of La Porte EMS has continued to grow into the service as we know it now. The response area has increased. The City of La Porte consists of approximately 30 square miles with in the city limits. We also cover the Bayport Industrial District, the Battleground Industrial District, the City of Morgan’s Point, and a portion of the Port of Houston. This increases our total area of coverage to approximately 75 square miles. Many of our local chemical facilities have chosen to use the City of La Porte EMS as their emergency care provider.
New Facility
August of 2007 was a really exciting time for the City of La Porte EMS as that was when they relocated to their present facility located at 10428 Spencer. The new facility consists of over 4000 square feet of administrative and crews area along with an additional 4000 square foot apparatus bay.
In August of 2011, the City of La Porte's Mayor and Council approved the funding to add a 3rd on-duty ambulance to be operated on a full time basis. Efforts to hire 6 additional paramedics to staff the 3rd ambulance began in October of 2011 with completion in December. The ambulance officially went into service on January 2, 2012.
Staff
Our staff consists of a Chief, Assistant Chief, Shift Captain, Paramedic III, Paramedic II, Paramedic I, EMS Interns and a Billing Specialist. All full-time personnel are required to maintain Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) provider certifications. All full-time staff must also maintain the CPR-Instructor certification. The City of La Porte EMS has a state approved on-line continuing education program. All personnel are mandated by management to continue their EMS education and encouraged to pursue college level course work.
Equipment
The City of La Porte EMS currently has 5 fully stocked Texas Department of State Health Services certified Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) ambulances in its fleet, and has three MICU ambulances on-duty at all times along with ALS equipped 1st responder vehicles that are operated by on-duty EMS supervisors. The City of La Porte has seen fit to provide us with state of the art equipment. All units are outfitted with Medtronic LIFEPAK 12 or 15 EKG monitors, LUCAS CPR Devices, Stryker Power Stretchers with Power Load Systems, CPAP generators, RAD 57 Pulse CO-Oximetry, Auto-Vent 3000’s, Lactate Monitors, EZ IO kits and Surface Pro 3 Tablets.
Medical Director
One of our real strengths as an EMS organization has been our progressive Standing Orders. In 1997, Oscar Boultinghouse, M.D. became the current medical director for the City of La Porte EMS. Dr. Boultinghouse was a professor of emergency medicine at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston from 1994 until 2008. During a part of that time, Dr. Boultinghouse was the medical director for the UTMB Galveston Life Flight program which was forced to shut down due to funding in 1997. Dr. Boultinghouse is currently the Senior Vice President of NuPhysicia, a world-wide leader in advanced telemedicine services.
Dr. Boultinghouse brings with him a vast amount of knowledge and experience and provides us with very aggressive pre-hospital emergency care protocol's such as Rapid Sequence Intubation's, Retrograde Intubation's, CPAP, EZ IO's, Induced Cooling by EMS I.C.E. and many new progressive treatment modalities.
In 1988, a new EMS building was constructed and dedicated on North C Street. The new building became the residence for the ambulances providing closed bays and new living quarters for the personnel.
On into the 1990’s, the City of La Porte EMS has continued to grow into the service as we know it now. The response area has increased. The City of La Porte consists of approximately 30 square miles with in the city limits. We also cover the Bayport Industrial District, the Battleground Industrial District, the City of Morgan’s Point, and a portion of the Port of Houston. This increases our total area of coverage to approximately 75 square miles. Many of our local chemical facilities have chosen to use the City of La Porte EMS as their emergency care provider.
New Facility
August of 2007 was a really exciting time for the City of La Porte EMS as that was when they relocated to their present facility located at 10428 Spencer. The new facility consists of over 4000 square feet of administrative and crews area along with an additional 4000 square foot apparatus bay.
In August of 2011, the City of La Porte's Mayor and Council approved the funding to add a 3rd on-duty ambulance to be operated on a full time basis. Efforts to hire 6 additional paramedics to staff the 3rd ambulance began in October of 2011 with completion in December. The ambulance officially went into service on January 2, 2012.
Staff
Our staff consists of a Chief, Assistant Chief, Shift Captain, Paramedic III, Paramedic II, Paramedic I, EMS Interns and a Billing Specialist. All full-time personnel are required to maintain Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) provider certifications. All full-time staff must also maintain the CPR-Instructor certification. The City of La Porte EMS has a state approved on-line continuing education program. All personnel are mandated by management to continue their EMS education and encouraged to pursue college level course work.
Equipment
The City of La Porte EMS currently has 5 fully stocked Texas Department of State Health Services certified Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) ambulances in its fleet, and has three MICU ambulances on-duty at all times along with ALS equipped 1st responder vehicles that are operated by on-duty EMS supervisors. The City of La Porte has seen fit to provide us with state of the art equipment. All units are outfitted with Medtronic LIFEPAK 12 or 15 EKG monitors, LUCAS CPR Devices, Stryker Power Stretchers with Power Load Systems, CPAP generators, RAD 57 Pulse CO-Oximetry, Auto-Vent 3000’s, Lactate Monitors, EZ IO kits and Surface Pro 3 Tablets.
Medical Director
One of our real strengths as an EMS organization has been our progressive Standing Orders. In 1997, Oscar Boultinghouse, M.D. became the current medical director for the City of La Porte EMS. Dr. Boultinghouse was a professor of emergency medicine at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston from 1994 until 2008. During a part of that time, Dr. Boultinghouse was the medical director for the UTMB Galveston Life Flight program which was forced to shut down due to funding in 1997. Dr. Boultinghouse is currently the Senior Vice President of NuPhysicia, a world-wide leader in advanced telemedicine services.
Dr. Boultinghouse brings with him a vast amount of knowledge and experience and provides us with very aggressive pre-hospital emergency care protocol's such as Rapid Sequence Intubation's, Retrograde Intubation's, CPAP, EZ IO's, Induced Cooling by EMS I.C.E. and many new progressive treatment modalities.