1977-06-09 Regular Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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t • • • The Honorable Mayor and Members of the City of La Porte La Porte, Texas RUFUS GAYLORD SMITH 1612 ROSCOE STREET LA PORTE, TEXAS City Council Dear Sirs and Ms. Cline: May 19, 1977 May I commend to you an instance of fine and precise per- formance by our La Porte Ambulance Service which occurred on April 25. Among their varied and frequent runs, the one which originated about 2000 that evening was, I'm sure, more or less routine. But for me it became anything but a routine evening. Without warning I was floored by sudden and. severe heart disturbance in my home. Fortunately I was not alone and both me andmy family's first thought was to trundle me into a car and take off for Pasadena-Bayshore's Emergency room. But luckily my son, Stdphen, who has had EMT training intervened and called our Ambulance Service. They responded immediately and with expertise and oxygen, got me to the hospital with efficiency, flawless driving, and still alive. Stephen's wife, Chris, had the presence of mind to forewarn Dr. Blumenthal and he arrived there only a step or two behind. our ambulance. Had any one of four or five steps in this scenario been bungled my return would undoubtedly have been via Art Simpson's. Probably the most significant step of all was the fine exe- cution of proscribed procedure by the ambulance crew. I now have a Pacemaker, will never again "manana" even minor warn- ing signs, and am told that I may even make it to the 21st Century. It occurs to me that if even I, a 30 year resident of La Porte, with a former ambulance driver in the family, nearly made a fatal mistake in attempting #o go by car without oxygen, etc., how many more citizens there must be in La Porte and nearby communities who may not even know this fine service is avail- able and how vital it may be to use it, rather than improvise. I was quite surprised to find that my share of the fee for this service was only 430.00. I'm sure that Mr. Carpenter and his group have some ideas on how to publicize and possibly post prominently in every home a step by step and daily re- minder of what our Ambulance Service supplies and how and why to use it. I'm sure their know-how is available to s:xch a project without charge. I cannot imagine a more beneficial use for some of the City's surplus funds. If somewhere I