Medical Police Bern

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bern Medical Police is an institution of the City of Bern in Switzerland and is responsible for the ambulance service of the City of Bern and its surrounding communities. Despite their name, the employees have no police powers. The Bern medical police provide the rescue service for the city of Bern and for 38 surrounding communities with around 320,000 inhabitants. The medical police are part of the Bern Protection and Rescue Service and were founded in 1904. Although the name leads to confusion among outsiders, renaming is not an issue at the moment. In addition to the rescue service and patient transport, the medical police are also responsible for water rescue and operate their own group of divers. This group of divers also performs maintenance and other work on behalf of the city and patrols with boats. Tasks that are normally carried out by a professional fire brigade. It also organizes disaster control for the city of Bern. The medical police operate their own training center for paramedics HF, paramedics HF. The training lasts three years. It also operates the medical emergency number 144. In 2019, the medical police will carry out 16,379 primary transports and 2,887 secondary transports. In total, the medical police were deployed 22 388 and moved out an average of 61 times a day. Daniela Habegger has been the commandant of the medical police since 2016

history

The Bern Medical Police was founded on November 18, 1904. On August 1, the first "paramedic", the carpenter Alfred Burlaein, was employed by the city of Bern. He was trained as a "Samaritan". There was a military medical association in Bern since the 1880s and a Samaritan association since 1885, which carried out the ambulance transport in Bern. But the horse-drawn ambulance procured by the city of Bern in 1890 due to a flu epidemic could only be occupied sporadically by the voluntary members of the Samaritan Association. In 1897 a second ambulance was purchased by the city. In 1907 the medical police had 6 full-time "paramedics". In 1917 the first automobile was put into operation and in 1919 the medical police increased to 12 employees. The Spanish flu claimed more than 600 lives in Bern, which is why an increase by full-time staff was a necessity. In 1925, the previously electrically powered ambulances were replaced by vehicles with combustion engines. In 1959 blue lights and a siren were installed on the vehicles. On March 1, 2000, the first women were employed by the medical police. Since January 1, 2020, the medical police, together with the professional fire brigade and civil defense, have formed the “Bern Protection and Rescue”.

Facts

Today the medical police employ around 160 people, including emergency doctors and paramedics HF. The paramedics HF have to undergo an annual training of 40 hours. Aid deadlines: "In 80% of emergency missions with impairment of vital functions (acute danger to life) an ambulance must be on site no later than 30 minutes after the alarm." The canton prescribes this. In international comparison, this definition is considered to be extraordinarily long. (In Baden Württemberg 90% within 15 minutes, which has been criticized as too long). In 2019, the medical police were able to reach the scene of the accident in under 15 minutes in 98% of the operations. The medical police are responsible for a region with 38 municipalities, 431 square kilometers and around 320,000 inhabitants. It looks after 31% of the canton area. It operates the medical emergency number 144 on behalf of the canton. It employs 26 people for this purpose. The area of ​​the emergency call center includes the area of ​​today's canton of Bern with the exception of the Oberemmental, Biel and Jura regions. The medical police have 31 vehicles and 6 boats. Among other things, 2 emergency doctor delivery vehicles are operated, 1 ambulance for intensive care transports, 2 ambulances for transporting newborns and a hearse, which is unusual because the rescue services are not normally entrusted with such a task. A mobile medical aid station for the care of 50 people is also part of the vehicle fleet.

Web pages

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berner Zeitung Why is the ambulance service in the city of Bern called the Medical Police?
  2. ^ City of Bern medical police
  3. ↑ nau.ch statistics 2019 from the Bern Medical Police
  4. ^ Educational horizon FHS St.Gallen Daniela Habegger, one of the first women in the service of the Bern medical police
  5. ^ SRK New commander of the Bern medical police
  6. ↑ bern.ch Sanitary Police History
  7. ↑ The Bern medical police introduce themselves
  8. ↑ 20 minutes Bern medical police moved out 50 times a day