'A Texan now,' man thanks those who saved his life. Missouri man, in town for trade show, collapsed on bridge but was saved by passers-by.
Drew Elam was walking from his hotel to the convention center when he collapsed on the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. Fred McGhee , an archaeologist, was driving on the bridge moments later and saw Elam on the ground. He quickly pulled over and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation until emergency responders arrived. Austin police officer Kevin Kelly also was driving in the area, pulled over and used an automated external defibrillator on Elam. Their collaborative actions saved Elam, 44, in town for a construction trade show, who was suffering a heart attack due to blockage with a blood clot in one of his arteries.
The job performed by the staff of Austin-Travis County EMS can be inspirational and heart wrenching at the same time. There are moments when intervention can be the defining moment between life and death. In other instances, irreversible damage has been done. But even in those moments we still look to help where we can.
ATCEMS Ranks in the 95 percentile on a Nationwide Customer Satisfaction Survey
In January 2008, ATCEMS participated in a national customer satisfaction benchmarking survey. The department had the opportunity to compare itself to several high-performance EMS providers where it counts – the opinion of the patients for which it cares.
Through teamwork and strong partnerships, there were many improvements to the Austin-Travis County EMS Fleet last year. Small teams of paramedics were formed to take part in various fleet improvement projects. These projects were developed to improve the processes by which ambulances are placed into service and maintained in a ready and available status.
Based on emerging medical literature and extensive input from the Travis County medical community ATCEMS introduces two major cardiac arrest initiatives.
ATCEMS Outperforms the Nation in Cardiac Arrest Survival Benchmarks
The ultimate measure of success for cardiac arrest treatment is the survival rate of cardiac arrest patients. In FY 2007, ATCEMS joined the CARES (Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival) program as one of its initial participants.
ATCEMS Consistently Exceeds the Golden Hour Standard for Trauma
When someone has received serious or life-threatening injuries – from a fall, auto accident, shooting, or another cause – rapid assessment and surgery by specially trained hospital teams is required to save their life and return them to health.
ATCEMS Improves Response Times While Call Volume Increases
According to the City of Austin demographer, the Travis County population grew by nearly 10% between 2005 and 2008. In the same period, A/TCEMS incident volume grew faster, over 14%.
Serving our Patients
'A Texan now,' man thanks those who saved his life. Missouri man, in town for trade show, collapsed on bridge but was saved by passers-by. 
The job performed by the staff of Austin-Travis County EMS can be inspirational and heart wrenching at the same time. There are moments when intervention can be the defining moment between life and death. In other instances, irreversible damage has been done. But even in those moments we still look to help where we can.
Through teamwork and strong partnerships, there were many improvements to the Austin-Travis County EMS Fleet last year. Small teams of paramedics were formed to take part in various fleet improvement projects. These projects were developed to improve the processes by which ambulances are placed into service and maintained in a ready and available status. 
Based on emerging medical literature and extensive input from the Travis County medical community ATCEMS introduces two major cardiac arrest initiatives.
The ultimate measure of success for cardiac arrest treatment is the survival rate of cardiac arrest patients. In FY 2007, ATCEMS joined the CARES (Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival) program as one of its initial participants.
When someone has received serious or life-threatening injuries – from a fall, auto accident, shooting, or another cause – rapid assessment and surgery by specially trained hospital teams is required to save their life and return them to health. 
Call processing is the interval between the time a EMS Communications Medic receiving a 911 call and a unit actually being dispatched.