Firefighter Paul Breitenstein returned equipment to Medic Engine 1 after responding to a vehicle accident.

For years, medical technician Brad Golden would hear requests for medical assistance near Fire Station 1 and wait a few minutes before hearing an ambulance respond while he did nothing even though the fire department could be on scene faster.

Not that the ambulance was slow to respond, but Cape County Private Ambulance typically responds from its base on North Kingshighway and Fire Station 1 is closer to some calls in east and south Cape Girardeau. But Golden and his co-workers couldn't respond to medical calls; they had to wait for fire calls. And it wasn't the fire department's procedure back then to respond to medical assistance calls.

That's different now.

Golden, the registered nurse, says Cape Girardeans are fortunate to have a reputable ambulance service and four fire stations scattered around town to answer medical calls or be "first responders." And the citizens in fire Zone 4, the furthest zone from Cape County Private Ambulance's base station, have the added benefit of a medic engine to offer advanced life support before the ambulance arrives.

"We don't transport patients to the hospital," Golden said, "but we can offer more services before the ambulance gets there."

Golden said the engine is equipped with advanced life support equipment donated by many organizations including Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center. The equipment is costly and wouldn't have been possible without the donations of the hospitals and others.

In addition to advanced life support equipment like defibrillators that shock the heart with an electric charge in the hopes of restarting it, the medic engine also is equipped with medications not found on other engines throughout the fire department.

"And we've received training to operate some of the equipment on board the engine and administer those medications," Golden said.

He also said the level of training on board the engines has increased with respect to medical care. At least one paramedic, an emergency medical technician and two first responders are on board the medic engine when it responds to a call. Similar certifications for firefighters exist on the other three engines responding the medical assistance calls.

And on its first day of official service, medic engine 1 responded to six calls, four of those calls needing advance life support equipment, Golden said.

The fire department has been responding to medical emergencies since fall 1993. Officials say lives have been saved because of the "first responder" status firefighters now have.

"Anyone in Cape Girardeau can have medical help within four to five minutes, 24 hours a day," Golden said.