The fire department operates the emergency ambulance with an average response time to anywhere in the city limits of 4 minutes or less. Many of the same procedures performed in the emergency room can be accomplished in the field only sooner. The emergency medical technicians are intermediate trained allowing them many procedures and medications that many services cannot offer. The EMS department is in constant contact with emergency room physicians giving medical direction to the EMT’s for public care.
The Kewanee Ambulance service is operated by a group of volunteers that are trained as emergency medical technicians. These volunteers are available 24 hours a day providing transportation between hospitals and to other facilities. These ambulances also serve as back up to the fire department in disasters and during fires.
Interested individuals are encouraged to contact the fire department to find the nearest scheduled emergency medical technician course. Opportunities exist for interested individuals to become trained as EMT’s at little or no cost in return for service on the ambulance services. Training consists of classroom education as well as clinicals in the hospital and ambulance ride along. Successful candidates are then asked to maintain their education experience through continuing medical education provided by the department and surrounding agencies.