Lake
Chelan
Community Hospital EMS
Chelan, Washington
In 2007, Lake Chelan Community Hospital
EMS marks its 20th year of life-saving service to the residents
and visitors
in the Lake Chelan Valley of North Central Washington. When
Director Karl Jonasson, a firefighter paramedic from Kitsap
County, was hired in 1989, the department was an all-volunteer
service with three basic life support ambulances that answered
428 calls a year. Under his leadership, the department has
grown to include five full-time paramedics, four full-time
EMTs, and 20 on-call and volunteer EMTs who respond to more
than 1,100 calls annually. “We are well supported by
our citizens, the medical community and our hospital board
and administration,” says Karl. “That allows
us to do our job, saving lives and lessening suffering.” Home
to nearly 14,000 residents, the area’s population can
swell to 60,000 in the summer. And the diverse geography
may require EMS rescuers to fly, boat or hike to reach their
patients. Karl teams with police and fire departments, the
U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and agencies like
Airlift Northwest to create a network of providers. “They
are all key parts of our EMS system,” he says. “It
takes all of us working together.”
(More
patient and partner stories here)
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