Tama County Sheriff Casey Schmidt, Chief Sheriff Deputy Joe Quandt, AEMT Chris Harris, EMS Administrator Jimmy Hicklin, City of Tama Police Sergeant Jake Kessler, and City of Tama Police Chief Jason Bina pose in front of Medic 1. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED.

You may have seen it swerving through the streets, lights flashing, siren blaring, but you weren’t sure what it was. It’s not a cop car. It’s not an ambulance. It’s Medic 1.

The red truck is what is known as a fast response vehicle, and it’s all about time and speed. Tama EMS Administrator Jimmy Hicklin explained.

“We wanted to lower our page out time to en route time to scene and as low as we could so we could start treatment sooner,” he said.

Some places are quicker to get to than others, and sometimes a minute, a second, a moment is what stands between life and death for those in crisis.

“One of the most important reasons behind getting the response vehicle is to get to our community and rural patients fast, so we can start treatment quicker. Everything is about getting treatment started sooner for the people we serve. Our community deserves the very best from us, and we want to give them the best,” Hicklin said.

Medic 1 is known to get to the scene approximately 10 to 12 minutes before the ambulance even leaves the garage, and be able to start treatment.

Fully stocked with everything that they may need, Jimmy explained what equipment Medic 1 has.

“The response vehicle will carry our heart monitoring system, oxygen, pediatric bag, burn bag, medications, and medical bag. Everything that is carried is also on every ambulance,” he said. All of the Tama EMS employees are allowed to get behind the wheel of Medic 1 when the need arises.

“Anyone of our crew providers is able to drive the vehicle. Usually, driving to a scene will be the paid professional employees of the city. That way we can start Advance Care sooner,” Hicklin said.

Usually, it’s only bigger cities with a response vehicle like Medic 1, but Tama has been thinking about this addition for awhile. Members of Tama EMS have been conducting time trials in their own vehicles to see and show the need for a response vehicle because, in these situations, timing is everything.

“For the past two years, a couple of employees have been responding to calls in our own vehicles to get to the scene quicker. We have also utilized Tama PD and Meskwaki PD for these time trials also. All time trials were done at the posted speed limits since no Emergency was happening at those times,” Hicklin said.

Medic 1 actually knows Tama County pretty well, as it used to be a sheriff’s vehicle.

“We had been looking around for a while at vehicles. Tama Police Chief (Jason) Bina and Sergeant (Jake) Kessler suggested talking to the sheriff’s department to see if they had a vehicle that they were getting rid of,” Hicklin said.

Once the vehicle was in hand, there was just one last order of business: a name.

“We had people giving ideas for a name, and when it came down to the final name, it was decided that we wanted everyone to know that a medical personnel were responding in the vehicle, so Medic1 it was,” Hicklin said.

And there it was, the new addition to Tama EMS. As this project took multiple people to complete, Jimmy wanted to show Tama EMS’s gratitude.

“Special Thanks to the Tama County Sheriff’s Department, Sheriff Casey Schmidt, and Chief Deputy Joe Quandt for spending the time setting up and donating Medic 1. Special Thanks to Tama PD Chief Jason Bina and Sgt. Jake Kessler for helping us locate and set up Medic 1,” Hicklin said. “Special Thanks to the Tama County Board of Supervisors and Tama City Council for seeing the importance of this vehicle and putting our community members first.”

So, if you see the red beast known as Medic 1 speeding down the street, get out of its way. That’s Tama EMS, and they are going to save a few lives. Zero to 60 before the 911 call ends.