Emergency Medical Services

Since 1974, the Cottage Grove Police Department has been a pioneer of providing emergency medical services through a police-based paramedic service, and is one of only 3 departments in the state of Minnesota whose officers perform this unique dual-role service. Its paramedic officers provide Advanced Life Support medical treatment through Cottage Grove EMS, operated by the Cottage Grove Department of Public Safety.

The department has 22 Paramedic Police Officers, with a minimum of 2 paramedics on patrol, 24 hours a day. Paramedic Police Officers carry a full set of advanced life support first responder gear which includes oxygen, airway/intubation kit, a Lifepak 12 cardiac monitor/defibrillator/external pacemaker, and a comprehensive medication kit. Paramedic Officers respond to the scene of a medical emergency in their patrol vehicles and with this equipment are able to begin treatment before the ambulance arrives.

While Police Officer Paramedics are the primary providers of emergency medical care, their services are augmented by two full-time Firefighter Paramedics, as well as 55 paid on-call firefighters EMT's. Paid on-call firefighters/EMT's are paged out on all calls, and respond with one of three Advanced Life Support-equipped ambulances.

	Cottage Grove is only 1 of 3 departments in the state of Minnesota that has a police based paramedic service.

Firefighter/EMT's assist the paramedics in treatment and transportation of the seriously ill, or transport those patients requiring only Basic Life Support treatment.

Cottage Grove EMS provides medical service to the cities of St. Paul Park, Newport, and Grey Cloud Township, an area of approximately 42 square miles. In addition, Cottage Grove honors EMS mutual-aid agreements with the adjacent cities of Woodbury and Hastings, as well as the private HealthEast ambulance service. In 2005, Cottage Grove EMS responded to 1500 medical requests for service.

Cottage Grove EMS is committed to excellence and is proactive in its delivery of emergency medical care to the community. Under the medical direction of Regions Hospital EMS, its paramedics are trained to perform advanced procedures, including rapid sequence induction (medication assisted intubation), instraosseous infusions (pediatric and adult), needle chest decompression, pericardiocentesis, and surgical crycothyrotomy. Paramedics have also recently begun participating in a "Code AMI" program, in which they perform and interpret 12-lead EKG's, and transport those suspected of having a heart attack to one of three hospitals having the capability to intervene immediately in the heart catheterization lab.

All of the Cottage Grove Paramedics are licensed by the State of Minnesota and in accordance with the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians standards and continuing educational/testing requirements. They receive their medical direction and continuing educational training through Regions Hospital EMS. Regions Hospital is the only Level 1 Trauma Center located in the St. Paul, Minnesota area. If you are currently a licensed paramedic who wishes to also become a police officer, visit our employment page for more information on how to join our team.

To get a better understanding of the roles and capabilities of the Cottage Grove Paramedics, make a visit to Regions Hospital EMS. There you can review our medical direction and patient care guidelines as well as our medications, procedures and equipment.

Cottage Grove EMS is required by law to maintain the privacy of certain confidential health care information. You may download a description of how medical information may be used and disclosed and how you can get access to this information. This document is in PDF format. To view this file, the Acrobat Reader plug-in needs to be installed on your computer. This free application can be downloaded from the Adobe web site.

Did you know? Cottage Grove is only 1 of 3 departments in the state of Minnesota that has a police based paramedic service.