Taipei City Fire Department

The Taipei City Government Fire Department participated in the "First National Ambulance Heroes Summit" ambulance competition held by the New Taipei City Government on July 13. The contestants included elite ambulance teams from various counties and cities and teams composed of medical professionals. The Taipei City team stood out from the nine participating teams and won the grand prize, demonstrating their teamwork and superb first-aid skills.

The competition was open to one team of three people from each county and city. The competition scenarios were divided into three stations: internal medicine, surgery, and special. The ambulance personnel had to pass the tests of each station within a limited time, testing their concentration and proficiency. In addition, the entire rescue process lasted up to 45 minutes, testing the ambulance personnel’s physical strength and disposal ability under extreme conditions. Moreover, the competition also added a war injury scenario in response to the recent Ukrainian-Russian war situation. The ambulance personnel had to rescue patients with gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, and crush injuries in confined spaces such as collapsed buildings. Facing the rare rescue situation, the Taipei team still adhered to professionalism, showing the results of their usual training and winning the honor.

The Taipei City Government Fire Department stated that to improve their first aid skills, they have been implementing various innovative policies in recent years, including administering pre-hospital intraosseous needles (I/O), comprehensively promoting HP-CPR (high-performance CPR), integrating ambulance services with team resource management TRM, holding the first Global Resuscitation Alliance (GRA) Taipei seminar in the country, establishing the first emergency medical academy certified by the American NAEMT in the country, building the country's first volunteer first aid system - Guardian App, promoting PA (Pumper-Ambulance) dispatching, conducting CPR instructor (Coach) training and building a 5G ambulance video joint defense system...etc. They uphold a step-by-step and down-to-earth approach to gradually improve the chain of life and optimize the EMS system. They also selflessly share their achievements with other counties and cities, to enhance each county and city’s pre-hospital emergency medical quality.

With the efforts of the Fire Department, the Health Department and various emergency medical responsibility hospitals, since the establishment of the country's first "Golden Phoenix Special Ambulance Team" in 1999, the Taipei City Government Fire Department has rescued 1,511 OHCA patients who were able to recover and be discharged from hospital as of early July this year (2023). In the first half of this year (2023), they successfully saved 137 OHCA patients, sur-passing last year's (2022) annual total of 122, successfully saving countless families from breaking up. The survival rate of OHCA patients in the first half of this year (2023) also broke the record and increased to 12.64%, not only returning to pre-pandemic levels, but also surpassing the record of 9.86% in 2019! At the same time, the recovery and discharge rate of OHCA patients in the first half of this year (2023) also increased to 10.24%! It also surpassed the record of 6.6% in 2017, both reaching historical highs. This shows again that Taipei City has made efforts to improve its rescue capabilities, implementing Mayor Jiang's policy of "tightening the chain of life and rebuilding a city that is good at saving people", and creating a livable and sustainable city in Taipei.