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47 ATTEST: BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF ROWAN COUNTY By: J. Newton Cohen, Chairperson Kelly Dickinson, Clerk to the Board Adoption of 0rd%D~Dce Amending Chapter 26, Article III, Fir~ Responder Program, of ~h~ ¢0de of Ordinances UPON MOTION of Commissioner Barnhart, seconded by Commissioner Niblock and unanimously carried, the Board adopted the following Ordinance. Ordinance No. 1998-14 BE IT ORDAINED that the following portions of Sections 26-51 through 26-68, Part II of the Code of Ordinances, Cabarrus County, North Carolina, Chapter 26 Emergency Services, Article III First Responder Program, are hereby amended to read as follows: ARTICLE III. FIRST RESPONDER PROGRAM Sec. 26-51. Purpose of article. The county emergency medical service has transport vehicles certified by the state office of emergency medical services (OEMS), which are manned by personnel trained and certified as Paramedics (EMT-P). The service has (6) stations which serve Cabarrus County. The main station, Station 1, is located in the northwest part of Concord. Station 2 is located on Highway 49 across from Central Cabarrus High School. Station 3 is located on Jackson Street in Mount Pleasant and provides coverage for the northeast section of the county. Station 4 presently operates out of Fieldcrest-Cannon's Fire Station on North Loop Road and serves the northern part of Kannapolis and the northwest section of the County. Station 7 is staffed at Concord Fire Station Five on Pitts School Road and covers the western part of the County. Station 8 is staffed at Midland Volunteer Station on Highway 601, South and covers the southern-most part of the County. Presently our average response time is less than five (5) minutes. The primary goal of an emergency medical service system is to reduce the probability of death of a victim by providing trained, well-equipped personnel at the scene of an accident or illness in a prompt, efficient, and coordinated manner. Research studies indicate that 50 percent of those who die from traumatic injuries die outside the hospital emergency department. Seventy percent of our nation's traffic fatalities occur in rural areas; however, rural areas represent only 40 percent of the nation's population. The ACT Foundation (advanced coronary treatment) reported that the chances for recovery of a victim in ventricular fibrillation (a form of cardiac arrest) is 25 out of 100 when the medical response time is within five minutes. The rate drops to 1 out of 100 when the medical response time is ten minutes. A victim of cardiac arrest may die in 4 6 minutes. It is not economically feasible to operate and maintain an ambulance service in every town and junction in the county. However, it is most desirable to have medically trained personnel located in close proximity to the citizens so that life sustaining measures may be given in the first few minutes after the occurrence of an accident or illness. A first responder program is a logical and economically feasible way to ensure that prehospital care is available to the rural citizens in the first minutes when life or death may be decided. Sec. 26-52. Requirements for certification of a first responder agency or an individual first responder. (a) No agency or department shall furnish, operate, conduct, maintain, advertise, be engaged in or profess to be engaged in service as a first responder agency unless that agency holds a currently valid certificate to operate as a first responder issued by the county department of emergency medical services and approved by the county board of commissioners or its designated representative. (b) No person shall operate, conduct, maintain, advertise, be engaged in or profess to be engaged in business or service of a first responder unless that person is affiliated with a certified first responder agency and holds a currently valid medical responder certification issued through the state office of emergency medical services. Sec. 26-53. Application and granting process for certification as a first responder or an individual first responder. (a) Application for a certificate to operate as a first responder agency in the county by an applicant agency shall be filed with the county department of emergency medical services. This application shall be made upon such forms as