This month, the third EMS squad in the county began to gear up to go paramedic. It’s a prospect that costs money — in this case Broad Creek EMS has a procured a $54,000 loan from Beaufort County in order to purchase items like a $33,000 defibrillator/monitor, medications and more.

Less than 8 percent of all people who suffer a heart attack outside of a hospital setting live to be discharged from the hospital once they get there. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans die from heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest, largely because they don’t get help in time. Typically, heart attack sufferers arrive at the hospital somewhere between two and four hours after the event, but in order to increase the lifespans of those who do have heart attacks, the ideal timing would be to arrive as soon as possible, within the hour at the least.

The plan for Beaufort County is have a paramedic on the first truck out for every emergency and to have every resident, at the most, only a 15-minute ride away from the help that’s on the way. With that in place, any resident suffering from a heart attack could conceivably make it to the hospital within an hour, but what happens within the rescue truck on the way to the hospital can be just as vital to the victims.

Paramedics can start a patient on life-saving drugs. Paramedics can use a defibrillator. Paramedics can monitor the heart and determine the extent of damage to the heart muscle so emergency room employees can be notified ahead of time and have the appropriate equipment standing by. In many ways, having paramedics and their equipment is the equivalent of loading up part an emergency room and its personnel and taking it on the road.

Aiming to have all county residents accessible by a higher level of lifesaving personnel and equipment is well worth the expense. EMS squads are in the business of saving lives and saving lives means spending money. In a time when people are clamoring about the hardship imposed by taxes, the rate for county EMS service is one that everyone should be able to live with.