The Homewood Fire Department will be celebrating 50 years of providing emergency medical services with a party Aug. 13.
The celebration will bring together the dozens of people who were part of the initial program or gave special support to the fire department’s efforts in the early 1970s to be one of the first with firefighters trained in emergency care and with a fully equipped ambulance.
The party at the fire house will be a barbeque with delicacies from a Homewood restaurant. The group will be recognized by the Homewood Village Board at its regular meeting that night. Persons interested in attending the gathering can register at [email protected].
Before the initiative to start a medical service, care for the injured in Homewood fell to the police department. Officers would be at the scene giving first aid while waiting for a private ambulance to arrive.
Under Fire Chief Joe Klauk, the Homewood Fire Department geared up to be the second department in Illinois to have EMS capabilities. The first was neighboring South Holland. It also led to the Homewood Fire Department moving from a volunteer force to hiring full-time firefighters. The community donated to a fund to underwrite the first ambulance that went into service in 1974.
St. James Hospital in Chicago Heights had the first training class for emergency medical technicians. When the efforts expanded to paramedic care, training shifted to Ingalls Memorial Hospital.
Today every firefighter in Homewood is also a trained paramedic.