911 Emergency Services

LifeMed has been the sole contracted provider of 911 EMS services for the North Manchester area since 1990. A well run EMS system is a team effort requiring the cooperation of many different agencies. In the North Manchester area, Basic Life Support (BLS) non-transport services are provided by the fire departments of North Manchester, Chester Township and Pleasant Township in Wabash County and the Sidney Fire Department in Kosciusko County. All four departments are equipped with oxygen and defibrillators and fill a critical first response role.

Critical trauma patients, when necessary, are flown directly from the scene of an accident to a regional hospital, based on the patient's needs, by either Lutheran Air or Parkview Samaritan. This type of rapid transport is especially important to patients with life-threatening injuries due to the transport time involved in taking them by ground.

Except for the most serious cases, patients have a choice, within reason, of what hospital they are transported to during an emergency. The hospitals most often selected are Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Wabash County Hospital in Wabash, Kosciusko Community Hospital in Warsaw,  Parkview Huntington Hospital in Huntington, Parkview Whitley Hospital in Columbia City and Woodlawn Hospital in Rochester.

Through an aggressive medical control system LifeMed's paramedics and EMTs have the ability to provide much treatment that just a few years ago was available only in the hospital. A few of the advanced procedures available include 12-Lead ECGs, administration of CPAP, Rapid Sequence Induction (RSI) and other advanced airway control procedures and Intraosseous infusions.

Hospital to Hospital Critical Care Transfers

Most smaller local hospitals don't have twenty-four hour access to many specialty services that can be found at the larger regional hospitals in Fort Wayne, South Bend and Indianapolis. When a patient arrives at a local hospital and it is determined that transfer to a larger hospital is appropriate, the patient is usually transported either by helicopter or by ground ambulance. Since 1993 LifeMed has successfully completed thousands of these transfers. The majority of these patients are transported to Fort Wayne, followed by South Bend and Indianapolis, but have gone as far away as Chicago and Cleveland. 

Non-Emergency Ambulance Transportation

Many patients require non-emergent transportation to the hospital, dialysis center or physician's office but are not able to walk or sit in a chair due to their medical condition. These are often elderly patients or those with chronic medical conditions that cause severe weakness, decreased mental status or contractions. About a third of LifeMed's ambulance transportation requests are for this type of service.

Wheelchair/Ambulatory Transportation

Patients requiring transportation to or from medical appointments and can either walk or ride in a wheelchair are transported in one of LifeMed's wheelchair vans. These patients do not require monitoring by a paramedic or EMT and do not require a stretcher. This transportation alternative is less costly than transportation by ambulance. This service is not covered by Medicare, however it is a Medicaid covered service.

Special Event EMS Coverage

LifeMed provides special event coverage for events requiring EMS availability on-site. These events are generally those involving large gatherings where the possibility of an event participant or spectator becoming ill or injured is likely. 

There are two types of event coverage offered by LifeMed EMS: Dedicated and Non-Dedicated. For dedicated event coverage an EMS unit is assigned to the event and will not leave to handle calls outside the event. Dedicated units are paid for by the organization hosting the event. Non-dedicated event coverage is free within our 911 coverage area, however the unit may be required to leave the event to handle other calls.

LifeMed EMS units are called upon to provide coverage at many local events each year including High School and College football games and graduation ceremonies as well as other sporting and special events.