The Good Fellowship Club of West Chester has expanded its ambulance services to include advanced life support (ALS) capabilities, a service that will permit it to speed up its response time for serious medical emergencies.
Two years ago Good Fellowship became the first basic life support service (BLS) in Pennsylvania to be licensed as an intermediate advanced life support service. The step-up in service from basic to intermediate recognized the increased capabilities of the Good Fellowship staff but now, said Chaz Brogan, Good Fellowship chief of operations, “we felt we were at a point to add the full advanced life support service to our organization.”
As a certified ALS unit, Good Fellowship can now respond to cardiac arrest, strokes, respiratory attacks and other life-threatening emergencies with a full complement of equipment and qualified personnel. “The upgrade,” said Brogan, “means that there is a 10 to 15-minute saving in response time in such emergencies – a saving that could mean the difference between life and death.”
Chester County Hospital paramedics is the primary provider of advanced life support services for West Chester Borough. “However, there have been times when the hospital paramedics have been tied up with other calls. With the addition of the ALS service,” Brogan explained, “Good Fellowship is now available for daytime emergencies if hospital paramedics are responding to other calls.”
The upgraded ALS service is particularly beneficial to the community during the early morning hours (3 a.m. to 7 a.m.) when Chester County Hospital has only one paramedic on duty, explained Brogan. “During those vulnerable hours, Good Fellowship provides invaluable back-up service; without it, the next medic unit in would take up to a quarter hour to respond.”
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