October 2023 has a special meaning for Cedar Area Fire & Rescue.
In October, the department passed its state inspection required to license CAFR as Advanced Life Support agency.
“At 7 a.m. October 12, (CAFR) officially began responding as an Advanced Life Support agency,” CAFR Chief Andy Dornbos wrote in his 2023 report presented to the four townships during annual meetings last month. “Our first official response as a primary ALS transport for our citizens came at 7:52 a.m. that same day.”
In 2023 the department, which is composed of Solon, Centerville, Kasson and Cleveland townships, responded to 523 calls for service, slightly down from 2022.
Solon Township saw the most action last year with more than 170 requests for assistance. Of this, EMS (Emergency Medical Service) calls outpaced fire calls 130 to less than 50.
Kasson Township had just over 100 calls total with EMS calls also dominating the statistic.
CAFR also responded to calls in Cleveland and Centerville townships with 100 total calls each. Like the other townships, EMS calls were more frequent than fire calls in those communities.
Centerville outpaced Cleveland townships in EMS calls 80 to 65, respectively. However, Cleveland reported more calls for fire protection.
Taking a closer look at the EMS statistics, the most frequent call made in the fourtownship area was for falls — nearly 80.
This dovetails EMS response by patient age.
Females from 80 to 89 years were served by the department in 2023, numbering between 50 and 60. In the same age group, EMS just over 40 calls were placed for males.
EMS calls by men, ages 70 to 79 outpaced women, 50 to 38.
To prepare for these calls, CAFR staff completed 2,931 hours of training.
